The PenBBS 480 is a redesign of the 349 model introduced in March of 2018. The 349 was not a huge hit for PenBBS for a couple of reasons. It was close in size to the very successful PenBBS 308 and the metal section construction precluded it from being filled as eyedropper.

I never got a 349 myself. The ball clip wasn't my cup of tea. I believe the 349 was the only PenBBS pen to sport that clip.

The PenBBS 480 does away with the metal section so the pen can be eyedroppered. It also features PenBBS's sword clip. Measurements for the 349 are hard to come by, but it looks like the 480 is a couple of mm shorter in length.

Every once in a while I decide to opt for some of PenBBS fancier acrylics. Sunset is a perennial favorite among PenBBS fans and tends to sell out quickly. Verdure is a newer color. So I got onto Taobao the day the pens went on sale and ordered both. Fortunately, there was a sale on that day. The 480-107 Verdure was under US$18 while the 480-68 Sunset was under US$24.

Both pens came with upturned F nibs as the only option. The Sunset pen came with a cool pen sleeve. You gotta love the tag-style PenBBS label inside the sleeve.

Birds of a Feather

If the PenBBS 349 was similar to the 308, the 480 is even more so. The 480 is just bit a longer when capped, but essentially indistinguishable uncapped and posted. The barrel of the 480 slightly slimmer than the 308.

In terms of construction, both the cap and barrel of the 480 are turned from single blocks of resin - neither has a finial as a separate piece. To my eye, that adds something to the refined feel of the pen.

The cap band is the narrower style used in the original 349 and adopted for the 352. I like it as a design. The cap posts like a champ and goes on and off with no cross-threading.

The Sunset pen did have a little hitch in the final turn when closing the pen. Like a click right at the very end. I didn't pay much mind initially. The Verdure model was entirely smooth.

With top and bottom o-rings on the nib assembly and an o-ring on the section, the pen is ready for for eyedropper filling.

Adventures in Nib Swapping

I was looking forward to replacing the PenBBS upturned F nib with a Moonman #6 nib on the Sunset version of this pen. I enjoyed reacquainting myself with the PenBBS mini-fude on the PenBBS 309 but wasn't planning on making a habit of that nib.

I ran into problems from the start.

The Moonman nib doesn't fit very securely in the PenBBS nib assembly. It wiggles. It seems like there's not enough contact between the feed and the nib.

Anyway, I charged forward. With the Moonman nib in the Sunset pen, the cap wouldn't close correctly. There was resistance during the final fraction of a turn. Something was going wrong inside the cap.

Uncapping the pen showed the nib badly skewed. I straightened the nib and tried again. Same story. Clearly there wasn't enough room in the cap.

I was ready to accept that the PenBBS 480 was not compatible with #6 nibs, but then saw a post in an online group from a person who had successfully swapped a #6 nib in their 480 Sunset! There was photographic evidence!

I tried again. This time with the same generic "Iridium Point Germany" #6 nib I'd seen in the post.

Still no go.

So I tried the Verdure model. I used a #6 nib I'd previously fit in my PenBBS 350.

To my surprise, it fit perfectly. The cap closed just as it should.

Switching the #6 nib assembly from the Verdure to the Sunset didn't work. Same problem. 

I put the #6 nib assembly back in the Verdure body and tried the cap from the Sunset. Bingo. So the problem was the Sunset cap.

In the end, I swapped a PenBBS M nib in the Sunset. That works well enough, though even the PenBBS nib is slightly displaced if I tighten the cap firmly. 

A Happy Eyedropper 

On the other hand, eyedroppering the pen works a treat.

I decided to try the Sunset model, mainly because the barrel isn't very translucent. I love it. To my surprise, a full barrel of ink as an eyedropper is still lighter than the pen when it uses a converter.

I don't think I'll eyedropper the green pen, but I like the idea of the Sunset pen with a barrel full of ink. It's like a secret superpower for the pen.

As a Writer

Nib rigamarole aside, the PenBBS 480 is a wonderful writer. I guess that was to be expected given how similar it is to the 308.

The section is comfortable and long. The cap threads are unobtrusive and far enough up the barrel. The pen itself is big enough to write with unposted comfortably, but the cap posts perfectly for a larger pen feel while maintaining excellent balance.

Conclusions

There's a lot to like with this pen. I'm a big fan of the 308 so it's tough to contemplate the 480 displacing that pen, but the argument is there.

It's a wonderful writer, in the best tradition of PenBBS. The materials are excellent and the style is well considered. I do wish PenBBS had done better QC on my Sunset model. The cap disfunction is the most serious manufacturing anomaly I've run into with one of their pens.

It's good I like both the materials a great deal. If I had to pick, I might actually pick the green.