Fountain Pen: Lemon M5 Panda

VISUAL

Lemon is a brand that I'm not very familiar with, but I really liked the look of this pen. The M5 is a decently chunky metal pen. It has an 8-sided faceted cap with a static yet decently springy clip. The body is a textured metal covered in white lacquer. The texture is subtle yet tangible - it isn't clear coated. The section and finial are both black with gold accents.

The real fun part of this pen is the cap finial and the gold band on the barrel. They are decorated with cute panda designs that look amazing!

The long piston rod slopes down at a dramatic angle, making a very interesting silhouette.

TACTILE

This is a heavy pen. It feels substantial in the hand. Proportionally, the cap is fairly heavy and makes the pen very front-weighted while capped. I think the cap is metal (brass?) coated in lacquer, which surprised me as I assumed it would be plastic like the piston knob. The body has a slight texture to the chevrons, and the lacquer feels decently durable. The panda design on the barrel is slightly raised with moderately sharp edges, but this is not noticeable during writing. At least in my hands, the pandas are far enough forward that they do not rub against my skin.

PRACTICAL

I ordered this pen with a hand ground 'Blade' fine nib, which did need a little extra tuning after I started using. It was only a little - I just felt it was writing a bit dry. Now, I have no complaints! It adds just a little subtle line variation.

This pen is a piston filler, and I have no issue with the mechanism. The piston knob being so large originally had me concerned, but it has enough turn resistance that I don't feel like it's going to accidentally cause a leaky mess.

The cap technically posts, but does require a bit of pressure to grab onto the end of the barrel.

On the plus side, it grabs up high enough that I don't feel like posting onto the piston knob is going to be an issue. On the downside, the cap is so heavy that it does backweight the pen pretty significantly, and I worry about it spontaneously ejecting since it doesn't feel like it's very firmly posted. However, the pen is a really comfortable size to use unposted, and feels very balanced to use it that way. If I was smart, I would definitely write with this pen unposted all the time! It's my own fault and love of posting that has me writing in non-ideal ways regularly.

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STATISTICAL

Pen Measurements:

Weight:42.5g

Weight of Cap: 17.5g

Length Capped: 143mm

Length Uncapped: 131mm

Length Posted: 163mm

Nib: 6mm 'Blade' Steel

Body Style: Tapered

Fill Method: Piston

Fill Volume: 1.0 ml

Comparison Pens: Pilot Metropolitan, LAMY Safari

My Fountain Pen Database

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OVERALL

Pros:

• Very cute panda theme

• Substantial, really unique pen

Cons:

• No ink window

• Questionable posting - heavy cap

  
  

I find myself loving this pen more as I continue to use it. It writes very reliably, and the nib writes very smoothly for a sharper grind. I have been using it for weeks and keep gravitating back to it. The panda design is extra bonus points!

DISCLAIMER: Pens and inks purchased by myself. Photos and opinions are my own.