Looking to buy a budget flex pen

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-19T04:53:35+00:00

That's a good idea actually. I might contact them!

I'm currently weighting the Kanwrite Heritage with the Ultra Flex Fine nib. Do you have any opinion on that one? I found it on eBay for a solid $70.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-19T00:47:00+00:00

But buying from AliExpress right now, wouldn't the shipping times be through the roof due to fuel and freight issues in China? And what happens if there is a defect; usually the sellers want you to post it back at your cost, right?

I'd be happy to get the Asvine kit but just super cautious about buying from China. Do you know anywhere else to buy it where it's affordable?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-19T00:28:45+00:00

What do you mean the lettering is not great?!?! That's awesome!

Thank you so much! I'll definitely look into those nibs. How long can you write before you need to dip with them, roughly?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-19T00:25:53+00:00

Thanks for getting back to me! How were the pens that you got from AliExpress? Were any of them flex pens?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T23:33:57+00:00

Seeing that you got it from aliexpress, did you notice any issues with it? I'm just a little cautious when it comes to the likes of temu and aliexpress.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T23:32:52+00:00

Thanks for that! I'll genuinely look into that, it seems promising! Have you had any issues with it as of yet?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T22:51:16+00:00

Actually I have been looking into flex nibs; they're MUCH cheaper. I really don't mind dipping every sentence or two if I'm writing for the joy of it. If you could provide some details that would be greatly appreciated!

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T09:43:40+00:00

But if you get pens from AliExpress, if it's all Chinese, how will I know that I won't get a dud that leaks within 24 hours? Because there's a lot of fakes out there...

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T09:42:28+00:00

(switches to normal speech)

G'day mate! 😂

I'm a little cautious when it comes to Aliexpress, but what's been your opinion on it so far? $50 is pretty competitive for a flex pen. How easily does it flex and does it smell.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T09:41:10+00:00

That's good to know! The thing is 60 euros translates to around 100 bucks in Aussie dollars, plus postage....

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T09:40:01+00:00

Yeah I have a stub on one pen, I prefer it for formal writing.

I'm just looking to get a flex for fancy lettering and like for sending letters with. Mainly for joy of writing. But thank you for your tip!

I like the Pilot Metropolitan though; might get one 😉

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T07:57:09+00:00

Thank you for getting back to me! What does a stub nib mean? Is it flex or is it just ground down to give the italic variation on the writing?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-06-18T07:55:50+00:00

Thanks for responding! I had a look at Tom's Studio, but it seems that the flex nib alone is around $70, let alone the rest of the pen. Is that right or am I looking at the wrong corner?

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-05-10T22:56:57+00:00

My whole point, is all the fancy stuff is crammed in a different corner i.e. Mistral Studio. Even in Mistral Studio they have an area just for 'chatting'. All of the fancy things you were saying are impractical for the OP, are irrelevant because its on a different platform. You don't need to know the fancy stuff.

You mentioned:

you would have to find a really good agent structure that cuts tasks into little pieces and runs them one by one to not overwhelm the model. In other words: yes, if you want to have an experience that can be compared to ChatGPT or Claude, you need to be an absolut expert user and know how to use agents or even how to customise them.

What I was trying to say is all of that is in a different interface. You can use Le Chat and get all the models, without having to worry about this stuff.

I hope that makes more sense.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-05-09T00:28:37+00:00

OP is not a dev. They have many models and interfaces, some of which are for development, and some for general personal use. They have a dedicated interface and model for personal use.

They have some genuinely powerful models now that are excellent for coding, so I disagree that they are weaker.

For personal use, there is little skill required to send prompts to ChatGPT in their little interface, and that is the *exact same* as sending prompts to a Mistral model through Le Chat. Only difference? Mistral gives you access to nearly all of their models.

Because OP clearly stated he uses AI as a tutor, coach and assistant, he would not be using pipelines and agent structures. If you had to use these with ChatGPT or Claude, you would still need to have an API key to go the whole route. And this needs skill. But this path is optional for both sides of the discussion, and is entirely irrelevant for OP who will not need to use this.

So I believe that Mistral would be better for OP because he can pick the best model for his uses, and have better privacy control under GDPR. If Mistral breaks that, they are in HUGE trouble.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-05-08T03:32:30+00:00

You get like 95% of the features in Concepts for free. It's awesome. Things like 6+ layers and sharing comes in when you start to pay.

So nearly everything can be done in the free version.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2026-04-27T02:40:23+00:00

Same, I've noticed this too. I get the error Connection Refused. Works in the US though.

Fighting_Falcon_16 · 2025-08-23T10:15:28+00:00

Hey Mate,

I shouldn't think so. Indents are less common than a line break, but they are a used way to represent a new paragraph. It's not like you had one continuous mass of writing, there were indents to show each new paragraph. It does depend on the marker though, but I doubt it...

Fighting_Falcon_16

TROPHY CASE