Noodler's Ink Refills X-Feather Black Bottled Ink - ND-19046

These inks are such an incredible value that I cannot but rate them 5 stars. I do have other inks which I prefer under certain circumstances, or for particular properties, but for everyday use these are entirely adequate and you simply cannot find a quality ink at this price point aside from Noodlers.And if you want interesting things like UV reactants or highlighter-like hues, Noodlers has you covered.I got a couple of colors:X-Feather, Black:Nice and dark, and it really doesn't bleed or feather badly at all. I tested it head-to-head with other inks that I typically use and Noodlers X-Feather is now my everyday ink. All other fountain pen inks that I have used bleed more (some MUCH more), even some ballpoint inks that I have bleed more. Markers bleed more, dip pens and India ink bleed less. Not as dark, and a little shinier than Heart of Darkness, though darker and less shiny than just about anything I've seen come out of a ballpoint pen or gel roller.EDIT: De Atramentis Document Black performs as well or better in terms of feather and bleed (on the papers I've tested it with), appears to smear less easily once dried, and maybe it's just to my eye, but it does appear blacker.. although it is also rather a pricier ink and any slight advantage is probably immaterial to the majority of users.Mont Blanc Permanent Blue performs better in terms of feather and bleed than X-Feather, it can be significantly, although not completely faded with an eraser, although does appear otherwise as permanent as noodlers... Again a much more expensive ink (although the bottle it comes in is also the most handsome I own).Lexington Gray:A fairly dark warm gray ink. Based in preliminary tests is compares in darkness with a 4B pencil at its lightest, while being warmer in tone than graphite. It can be layered, for a gradually darker values (almost to black), and the little bit of pooling that's common at the tail end of a stroke will be notably darker than the main lines of the stroke. It has no shine, does not feather badly and is dry to the touch within 10-20 seconds, depending on paper and the thickness of the line.The ink quality is great, especially for the price, and I anticipate buying other color from Noodlers.

I fill my Scriviener with this ink and use it daily. Much less smudging (left handed) than the other inks I've tried. Great for lochby, moleskine, and even pen+gear paper. Be careful opening the lid. They give you all the ink they can!

The media could not be loaded. Lost one star for the smell

The ink flows well and has a rich color. I am very happy with this product.

Let me begin by saying I exclusively write with an Extra-Fine (EF) nib w/Pilot Pens on generally terrible copier paper (Walmart HP kind of paper). I only recently moved over and tried a TWSBI Extra-Fine (EF) but the jury is still out as I haven't written much with it as of yet. I have tried many black inks from Amazon, I find it is best (safer) when not happy with the ink to be able to return it without hassle. So far I have tried Noodler's Heart of Darkness, Platinum Carbon Black, Pilot Namiki (bottle), Pilot Namiki (cartridges), and finally Noodler's X-Feather. I almost didn't try X-Feather due to the negative reviews and my experience with Noodler's Heart of Darkness was absolutely terrible given the conditions I write in as given above. Heart of Darkness feathered so much on standard copier paper I couldn't even in good conscience take notes. It was extremely dark however, which I liked. Even on Dot-Grid Book brand paper and Cognitive Surplus (FP safe) paper, I made my Pilot EF pens write like mediums. I then tried the Plantinum Carbon Black and thought I had found a solution, but the Platinum Carbon only wrote with little feathering on "some" papers. On copier paper it was terrible but on my son's composite notebooks it wrote beautifully. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯I then went back to the standard Namiki cartridges and while I like that ink a lot, it is also fairly inconsistent even when using it in the bottled form. I tried all of these inks in my Pilot Prera, Penmanship, Metropolitan pens.I was about to give up and go back to my Pilot G2 0.38 pens when I figured I would try Noodler's X-Feather, ignoring the bad reviews and I am glad I did! This ink is ALMOST perfect for me. This ink writes very consistently on all of my paper stock with the exception of one such 32lb paper that I use, it doesn't feather when used on it but it does make my EF Pilot nib write like a Western Fine nib. Again, no feathering but quite bold. Overall, I am pleased with Noodler's X-Feather and have now officially committed to it being my daily ink.

A nice dark black that works on cheap paper. No feathering.

I love this ink.

Have not tested the long-term staying power of this ink nor do I have a long-term waterproof rating to share simply because I have not used it for longer than about 3 months. So far so good - highly satisfied with the results. Is fairly quick drying and does not bleed. Nice quality for a reasonable price. Will try additional inks in other pens.