I recently found the Rhodia ScRipt Fountain Pen ($72) on JetPens. I think its been available for a bit but somehow got lost in my mental shuffle so I decided to take it for a test drive. It reminds me a lot of the looks and color as the Faber-Castell Neo I reviewed a few weeks ago so I thought it was a good time to try it. First, I don’t get the weird upper and lower case spelling of the model name. As Rhodia currently only offers one model of fountain pen, for the rest of the review, I’m just going to call it “Rhodia Fountain Pen” because I will inevitably butcher that uppercase S, lowercase c, uppercase R nonsense.
The Pen:
The Rhodia Fountain Pen is currently available in three colors of brushed aluminum: Sage, Orange and Black. I get that the Orange and Black are Rhodia’s Signature colors but I have to admit I’m surprised they chose Sage as the third color option. I’m not complaining, I love green, just that within their branding, I would have though a brushed silver or blue that matches the “ICE” line would have been more in keeping.
The nib options are only fine and medium. The barrel and cap are soft hex-shaped but the grip section is a smooth tube making it pretty comfortable to hold. The cap is friction fit-style snap cap which makes a great notetaking pen as its fast and easy to cap and uncap it as need.
The nib is custom branded with the Rhodia name and mountain logo. I can’t be for sure if its a custom brand of a JOWO nib or if they make their own. I suspect its a JOWO based on size and shape but I can’t swear to it.
The full length barrel allows for a full sized converter (INCLUDED!) or two short International cartridges can be stored in the body: one in use and a back-up. This is a style I recommend for offices where refilling from a bottle might not be a readily available option. Having a spare cartridge in the pen means you can quickly swap in a new cartridge while in a meeting or in the midst of a project without fuss or mess.
When posted, the pen is quite long.
Writing Samples:
The fine nib in the pen is probably close to a 0.5 to 0.7mm gel pen. Its a bit wider than I like for day-to-day use but solidly compares to a Lamy or other European Fine.
Compared to other pens:
I have two other pens in my collection that are comparable to the Rhodia Fountain Pen — the Caran d’Ache 849 Fountain Pen and the Faber-Castell Neo. All three are European brands, snap caps and will hold a full converter or two short international cartridges. Both the Rhodia and the Caran d’Ache feature hex-shaped barrels.
The material and colors of the Neo and Rhodia are very similar but the Rhodia pen is a bit richer color and has a slightly more polished feel where the Neo is a little more tactile on the exterior.
When comparing the posted lengths, the Rhodia and Caran d’Ache are about the same length. You can also see in the image above that the grip section lengths of the Rhodia and Caran d’Ache are similar but the Faber-Castell is a much shorter grip length. Depending on how you hold your pen, that short grip might be quite uncomfortable.
Overall, I like the look and feel of the Rhodia fountain pen. It writes smoothly, preforms well and features some of my favorite features (snap cap, international cartridge/converter AND ships with a converter). I wish they offered an EF nib but I can always try swapping the nib or taking it to a nib grinder. It is a bit more expensive than the Faber-Castell Neo ($52) but after purchasing a converter, the price difference is about $10 and the Rhodia has a longer grip section. So, if I was going to recommend one or the other, I would lean in favor of the Rhodia over the Faber-Castell. I still love the crazy neon colors of the Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pen (average MSRP $82-$90)but I just wish the prices hadn’t gone up so much making it the most expensive of the three.