I've always loved Cross pens. I received a twist ballpoint as a graduation gift & I have my grandfather's set that he received for his retirement. One of the first fountain pens I ever bought was a Cross. It was a bit of a funny story, my then husband gave me a gift card to Staples for Mother's Day one year. Everyone I knew thought that was a pretty lame gift, but for me, it was the best thing EVER! We didn't have a lot of money, so I never would have spent money on a pen for myself, but having a gift card was so much fun! I bought a brushed stainless fountain pen, a box of cartridges & rustic leather journal. Pens & journals have always been something that I loved, & Cross will always hold a special place in my heart.
I have the regular Cross Baily, and it's one of my favorite steel nib writers. The nib is smooth as butter. It was an impulse buy. I walked into a Staples, it was on a rack at the front of the story, and only forty-nine dollars. Cross, Parker, and Sheaffer were magic names when I was a kid, and I still have a soft spot for all three. I couldn't resist. Cross is still the pen preside nt's use to sign bills into law, or still was last time I checked. The Baily Light is less than half the price of the standard Baily, and i haven't seen one in person, so I don't know whether they use the same nib. I do know Cross makes some of the best steel nibs oput there, and some of them cost hundreds of dollars, but the Baily is the most inexpensive Cross I've owned since I was a kid, so I don't know how good their lower end nibs are. The nib on my Bailey isn't soft, but it isn't nail hard, either, and you can get some line variation from it, though I never do so with a non-flex nib. Anyway, cross makes good pens, and the ones I've owned all make good daily writers.
So I have the Cross Aventura w/ a medium nib, it’s an acrylic/plastic pen and that thing it’s a smooth as butter nib. I just picked this up and as soon as I can get to my bottle of Parker Blue-Black I’ll do a test run and fill you in, but I had to comment on the Aventura being a great writer. I just want a fine nib in a pen for work use since I tend to write in a tight format with my cursive.
My very first fountain pen was a cross baily, a gift from my dad and in the entirety of the tiny I’ve had it, it has been such a good writer. It’s smooth, fits nice in my hand, and just an over all good pen, although the cap is on there good
Holding the same pen in my hand at the moment, gifted to me by a friend, a pen collector with her own channel. I agree very much with your review. First pleasantly surprised by the smooth flow of the fine nib. I went ahead and purchased a converter after trying it out with the cartridge. Thanks for your review... 4 years later 😊. I did a search on the Cross Bailey Light to see what others were saying.
Came across Bailey light a couple of days ago and it looked so classy in the picture that I placed an order immediately! Burgundy Medium with Golden trim is on the way ( 30 USD here in India ) !
Well, I love the FP and RB versions of the Bailey Light, and have been enjoying them and their excellent pricing for the quality of pen you really are getting. The Clip Posting issue can be resolved by, quite simply giving it a decent shove onto the end of the barrel, it then stays there, in my experience. The Nibs are abit inflexible but to their credit and very well made. The balance of the pen, especially posted, is superb, no hand cramping after long writing sessions, and the material used does not precipitate finger slippage and the annoyments the tandem such hijinx. I particularly like the Extra Fine nib, and have made sure I have a couple of them around so I'm assured of it's smooth, glidey goodness on all papers so far. The clip looks great but is probably the weakest aspect of the pen's manufacture. Light weight, that's usually an all round bonus. Value for money; if you lose it, you can replace it without really taking one for the stupid team. Not being leaky or messy to use are also a fine incentive to prefer the Fountain Pen. Snobs Beware: They are an excellent pen. if you have to use your Mont Blanc, you could get one as a back up and I bet you will appreciate it's charms soon enough! Anyway... Great Range. Expanding all the time. Great gift ideas, too. What a cracking little find for those that 'know'! He!-He!
Enjoyed your review. I have the same pen in blue. It writes butter smooth. I have not come to the end of the first fill yet, but with the regular Bailey, I have found that it keeps writing to the last drop of ink. Very reliable. I have not had any alignment issues, but I do notice that it gets cranky if I bear down on it.
Well, bearing down on any pen that doesn't have a true flex nib is a very bad idea. My grandpa always said he saw more nibs damaged from too much pressure than from every other cause put together, including dropped pens. From my experience, he was one hundred percent correct. A dropped pen that hits nib first "can" mimic a nib damaged from too much pressure, but it very seldom does. With experience, you can usually tell one from the other. I know every reviewer out there, even the "experts" check for line variation, but most of them know it's a bad idea. But if they don't check, the comment section is often full of people wanting to know if they can get good line c=variation from that nib.
@@jamesaritchie1 I agree with your grandpa! Bearing down may have been the wrong description. What I find with the Bailey is that even the light pressure you might need with a gel pen can be too much. It's happiest skating over the paper under its own weight.
Hi James! Very interesting review ... complete ... it is always a pleasure to learn from your analyzes. As for the Cross Bailey Light, have you seen its box well? I was sorry to buy this important American fountain pen made in China ... maybe only the nib is made in the USA ...
I did notice that, and wondered the same thing, if maybe nib is American made, but not the body? Or is it like an iPhone, designed in Cupertino, CA, but assembled in China? I'm not sure, and decided not to speculate this time.
@@JG3Reviews Thanks James for your reflection. I like other collectors suppose that if all the fountain pen was made in the USA on the box there was the writing Made in USA ... Especially on boxes of Cross fountain pens for the Italian market ...
I don't have any Cross FPs in my collection so far, which has been a matter of circumstance rather than choice. I don't really know much about the brand but this model.seems to be quite well received, so I have a couple on order. I'm looking forward to trying them out.
I have 2 of them, teal one and dark blue one. Teal is amazing to look at, really attention-stealing pen, and I even got colour-matching ballpoint. For that money real value. I can talk hours about how my Sailor 1911S is the best pen I ever had but as my EDC, Bailey Light is what I use. Even regular Bailey is good, blue version is gorgeous. My only gripe is not really appealing blue ink from Cross (black one is solid), too light for my use, and sometimes harder to get cartridges/converters. I use my Cross pens with Montblanc Permanent Blue or black Cross cartridges. Fine and medium nibs have pretty much the same feedback, they are hard, really hard (they have the same profile like old Parker Duofold, drop-nose instead of straight), with no line variation to speak of and feedback itself is consistent, not obtrusive but even on smooth paper you know that you are writing with steel nib. Honestly, I prefer it before Lamy's Fine, feedback is similar but there is something about Lamy's nib that make it more noticeable. I also prefer wider grip of Bailey before Lamy's facets. Bailey line is the only Cross fountain pen line that appeals to me, and it is bloody shame. If they ever make something like Bailey but with gold nib, I wanna buy it. Even Bailey Light with gold nib would be great!
I agree, I had a basic Lamy and the triangle grip was a downer, couldn’t get used to it. I lost the pen and made a poor effort to find it and instead replaced it with a Cross Aventura.
The big issue for me is that cap on the heavy Bailey won’t post. It’s a short pen and makes the writing experience a bit dodgy. This light version appears to have resolved that.
I have the regular Cross Bailey (I prefer the weight) and it really is a pleasure to use. I find that more weight helps neaten up my legendarily awful handwriting! Thank you for an informative and entertaining look at the Bailey Light.
Just talked to Cross. I was confused because all the specs on the Bailey Light indicate the "slim" cartridge. However, mine came with the standard size ink cartridge, allowing for a spare to be stored in the pen..a Cross feature i really like. It seems impossible to get my favorite blue-black ink cartridges. Cross customer service said that a standard size cartridge goes in the Bailey light...common sense at last...and when can I order some blueblack carts? ...nobody has 'em and if they have any color the price is outrageous, even on Amazon. The rep said they are not throwing their fountain pen customers under the bus snd they will have blueblack standard cartridges in August. I hope so...I want this great brand to succeed.
Wow..am I confused. I received my Bailey Light fountain pen today and discovered a smaller (not slim) cartridge uninstalled but stored within the pen itself. I had bought some slim cartridges to be prepared and they fit but SO does the the smaller, little fatter cartridge. I installed the smaller cartridge in the pen and it works as you describe. I couldn't store a spare slim cartridge in the pen as I've always done with my Cross fountain pens including the original Bailey. I like this feature and I can put the spare smaller cart inside the pen body. I prefer this smaller "standard" cartridge but why is this working when the specs call for the slim model? And where can one find these standard carts in blue-black? Seem impossible to find and order.
Abhijit the 8751 def works however you might have the same problem I did!! The Bailey Light I received had a spare ink refill stuck in the back of the pen so the converter didn't fit!! I had to stick a very thin screwdriver in and pierce the refill to get it out and dispose of!! Then the 8571 converter fit just fine.
No me gusta que las plumas y bolígrafos Cross, Shaffer de alta gama, como una Townsend Platino, no este fabricada en Lincoln, sino en China y a ese precio tan caro: 460 euros en España. Crítica a las marcas reivindicativas. Un amante de las estilo gráficas de Alicante, España, molesto por ello.
I've always loved Cross pens. I received a twist ballpoint as a graduation gift & I have my grandfather's set that he received for his retirement. One of the first fountain pens I ever bought was a Cross. It was a bit of a funny story, my then husband gave me a gift card to Staples for Mother's Day one year. Everyone I knew thought that was a pretty lame gift, but for me, it was the best thing EVER! We didn't have a lot of money, so I never would have spent money on a pen for myself, but having a gift card was so much fun! I bought a brushed stainless fountain pen, a box of cartridges & rustic leather journal. Pens & journals have always been something that I loved, & Cross will always hold a special place in my heart.
That's a simple yet beautiful looking pen. I guess I'll have to get my hands on one of those. Thanks for the review it's pretty helpful.
Thanks for watching!
I have the regular Cross Baily, and it's one of my favorite steel nib writers. The nib is smooth as butter. It was an impulse buy. I walked into a Staples, it was on a rack at the front of the story, and only forty-nine dollars. Cross, Parker, and Sheaffer were magic names when I was a kid, and I still have a soft spot for all three. I couldn't resist. Cross is still the pen preside nt's use to sign bills into law, or still was last time I checked.
The Baily Light is less than half the price of the standard Baily, and i haven't seen one in person, so I don't know whether they use the same nib. I do know Cross makes some of the best steel nibs oput there, and some of them cost hundreds of dollars, but the Baily is the most inexpensive Cross I've owned since I was a kid, so I don't know how good their lower end nibs are.
The nib on my Bailey isn't soft, but it isn't nail hard, either, and you can get some line variation from it, though I never do so with a non-flex nib.
Anyway, cross makes good pens, and the ones I've owned all make good daily writers.
So I have the Cross Aventura w/ a medium nib, it’s an acrylic/plastic pen and that thing it’s a smooth as butter nib. I just picked this up and as soon as I can get to my bottle of Parker Blue-Black I’ll do a test run and fill you in, but I had to comment on the Aventura being a great writer. I just want a fine nib in a pen for work use since I tend to write in a tight format with my cursive.
Yes, bailey light also. It looks elegant. Lamy seems more rugged. something i could drop (with cap on), its so light weight. But cross is smooth.
My very first fountain pen was a cross baily, a gift from my dad and in the entirety of the tiny I’ve had it, it has been such a good writer. It’s smooth, fits nice in my hand, and just an over all good pen, although the cap is on there good
Really fantastic review, James. I love your style.
Thank you!
great review! it was really clear and HD and factual and happy! I was curious about this pen! thanks!
Nice review. I have the metal version. I like Cross fountain pens they work well
Holding the same pen in my hand at the moment, gifted to me by a friend, a pen collector with her own channel. I agree very much with your review. First pleasantly surprised by the smooth flow of the fine nib. I went ahead and purchased a converter after trying it out with the cartridge. Thanks for your review... 4 years later 😊. I did a search on the Cross Bailey Light to see what others were saying.
A blue version of this pen was my first fountain pen back in 2019. I recently had to disassemble it to clean the feed. Serves me well to this day.
Came across Bailey light a couple of days ago and it looked so classy in the picture that I placed an order immediately!
Burgundy Medium with Golden trim is on the way ( 30 USD here in India ) !
How did you like the pen?
@@humanfirst11 It has smoothest nib in my little collection of pens:
ruclips.net/video/6hB_WWDR0MA/видео.html
Well, I love the FP and RB versions of the Bailey Light, and have been enjoying them and their excellent pricing for the quality of pen you really are getting. The Clip Posting issue can be resolved by, quite simply giving it a decent shove onto the end of the barrel, it then stays there, in my experience. The Nibs are abit inflexible but to their credit and very well made. The balance of the pen, especially posted, is superb, no hand cramping after long writing sessions, and the material used does not precipitate finger slippage and the annoyments the tandem such hijinx. I particularly like the Extra Fine nib, and have made sure I have a couple of them around so I'm assured of it's smooth, glidey goodness on all papers so far. The clip looks great but is probably the weakest aspect of the pen's manufacture. Light weight, that's usually an all round bonus. Value for money; if you lose it, you can replace it without really taking one for the stupid team. Not being leaky or messy to use are also a fine incentive to prefer the Fountain Pen. Snobs Beware: They are an excellent pen. if you have to use your Mont Blanc, you could get one as a back up and I bet you will appreciate it's charms soon enough! Anyway... Great Range. Expanding all the time. Great gift ideas, too. What a cracking little find for those that 'know'! He!-He!
This pen looks gorgeous.. 😍
Enjoyed your review. I have the same pen in blue. It writes butter smooth. I have not come to the end of the first fill yet, but with the regular Bailey, I have found that it keeps writing to the last drop of ink. Very reliable. I have not had any alignment issues, but I do notice that it gets cranky if I bear down on it.
That may be all it is. I've not messed with it, and I've suspected it's user error. It's definitely an enjoyable pen.
Well, bearing down on any pen that doesn't have a true flex nib is a very bad idea. My grandpa always said he saw more nibs damaged from too much pressure than from every other cause put together, including dropped pens. From my experience, he was one hundred percent correct.
A dropped pen that hits nib first "can" mimic a nib damaged from too much pressure, but it very seldom does. With experience, you can usually tell one from the other.
I know every reviewer out there, even the "experts" check for line variation, but most of them know it's a bad idea. But if they don't check, the comment section is often full of people wanting to know if they can get good line c=variation from that nib.
@@jamesaritchie1 I agree with your grandpa! Bearing down may have been the wrong description. What I find with the Bailey is that even the light pressure you might need with a gel pen can be too much. It's happiest skating over the paper under its own weight.
Hi James! Very interesting review ... complete ... it is always a pleasure to learn from your analyzes. As for the Cross Bailey Light, have you seen its box well? I was sorry to buy this important American fountain pen made in China ... maybe only the nib is made in the USA ...
I did notice that, and wondered the same thing, if maybe nib is American made, but not the body? Or is it like an iPhone, designed in Cupertino, CA, but assembled in China? I'm not sure, and decided not to speculate this time.
@@JG3Reviews Thanks James for your reflection. I like other collectors suppose that if all the fountain pen was made in the USA on the box there was the writing Made in USA ... Especially on boxes of Cross fountain pens for the Italian market ...
Cross was my first fountain pen. Great pen!
I don't have any Cross FPs in my collection so far, which has been a matter of circumstance rather than choice. I don't really know much about the brand but this model.seems to be quite well received, so I have a couple on order. I'm looking forward to trying them out.
I was previously looking at a Cross Bailey Light. The cost of the converter was nearly as much as the pen. I assume it is a premium converter.
I have 2 of them, teal one and dark blue one. Teal is amazing to look at, really attention-stealing pen, and I even got colour-matching ballpoint. For that money real value. I can talk hours about how my Sailor 1911S is the best pen I ever had but as my EDC, Bailey Light is what I use.
Even regular Bailey is good, blue version is gorgeous.
My only gripe is not really appealing blue ink from Cross (black one is solid), too light for my use, and sometimes harder to get cartridges/converters. I use my Cross pens with Montblanc Permanent Blue or black Cross cartridges.
Fine and medium nibs have pretty much the same feedback, they are hard, really hard (they have the same profile like old Parker Duofold, drop-nose instead of straight), with no line variation to speak of and feedback itself is consistent, not obtrusive but even on smooth paper you know that you are writing with steel nib. Honestly, I prefer it before Lamy's Fine, feedback is similar but there is something about Lamy's nib that make it more noticeable. I also prefer wider grip of Bailey before Lamy's facets.
Bailey line is the only Cross fountain pen line that appeals to me, and it is bloody shame. If they ever make something like Bailey but with gold nib, I wanna buy it. Even Bailey Light with gold nib would be great!
I agree, I had a basic Lamy and the triangle grip was a downer, couldn’t get used to it. I lost the pen and made a poor effort to find it and instead replaced it with a Cross Aventura.
Great review, thank you!
Great review James, I really do enjoy them! Though now I'm going to be adding this to my June purchase lottery. 😁
Purchase lottery? Cool idea!
@@JG3Reviews Well, people keep doing reviews of these interesting foountain pens. I can't buy them all! :-)
I have both Cross Bailey and Cross Bailey Light. They are both great pens, with good smooth nibs, medium in both of my pens.
Have you tried a converter with the light? Does the same converter work for both?
My Cross Bailey has a screw in Cross converter and the Bailey light has a push in Cross converter, so I don’t think are interchangeable.
The big issue for me is that cap on the heavy Bailey won’t post. It’s a short pen and makes the writing experience a bit dodgy. This light version appears to have resolved that.
I have the regular Cross Bailey (I prefer the weight) and it really is a pleasure to use. I find that more weight helps neaten up my legendarily awful handwriting! Thank you for an informative and entertaining look at the Bailey Light.
Peeping that delguard pencil nice 👌👌
Is the nib scratchy compared to Lamy Safari?
I wouldn’t say it’s scratchy. I do prefer most Lamy nibs, though.
@@JG3Reviews you mean lamy safari fine nib writes better than this? (you prefer)
And it's also a difference in price Cross Bailey Light it's about 25 $ and Cross Bailey Metal it's about 50 $ .
Nice 👌
Hi James do you know what convertor came with the pen I would like to order one up, thanks!!
It is the 8751.
@@JG3Reviews Thank you!!
Just talked to Cross. I was confused because all the specs on the Bailey Light indicate the "slim" cartridge. However, mine came with the standard size ink cartridge, allowing for a spare to be stored in the pen..a Cross feature i really like. It seems impossible to get my favorite blue-black ink cartridges. Cross customer service said that a standard size cartridge goes in the Bailey light...common sense at last...and when can I order some blueblack carts? ...nobody has 'em and if they have any color the price is outrageous, even on Amazon. The rep said they are not throwing their fountain pen customers under the bus snd they will have blueblack standard cartridges in August. I hope so...I want this great brand to succeed.
Wow..am I confused. I received my Bailey Light fountain pen today and discovered a smaller (not slim) cartridge uninstalled but stored within the pen itself. I had bought some slim cartridges to be prepared and they fit but SO does the the smaller, little fatter cartridge. I installed the smaller cartridge in the pen and it works as you describe. I couldn't store a spare slim cartridge in the pen as I've always done with my Cross fountain pens including the original Bailey. I like this feature and I can put the spare smaller cart inside the pen body. I prefer this smaller "standard" cartridge but why is this working when the specs call for the slim model? And where can one find these standard carts in blue-black? Seem impossible to find and order.
Good review but does it POST? The original Bailey didn't...huge disappointment. The light appears to post in your video...so does it?
Yes, this one does post. 👍🏻
With the converter is this how you use the ink glass jar to soak up the ink and refill or can you only use cartridges?
Yes, the converter is for bottled ink. You can use either in this pen (though the cartridges are proprietary and must be from Cross).
Pleass, add measures in grams and milimeters for foreigners to Imperial system. Thank you...
Just an older video. All most recent videos include both system.
I am trying to use the 8751 converter, and it doesn't seem to fit. Can u please mention which converter are you using for Cross Bailey light
It takes the 8756 screw-in converter.
Abhijit the 8751 def works however you might have the same problem I did!! The Bailey Light I received had a spare ink refill stuck in the back of the pen so the converter didn't fit!! I had to stick a very thin screwdriver in and pierce the refill to get it out and dispose of!! Then the 8571 converter fit just fine.
I rather to see you show us how to insert the ink in the pen
I have a video on that: ruclips.net/video/7x6GE6Zwyzw/видео.html
This pen uses either simple push in cartridge or the included piston converter.
Я посмотрел несколько видео, действительно очень интересно, но у меня есть вопрос, вы подписывайтесь Джеймс русским шрифтом-?
Yup. That's why I get mad at my Cross, Bailey. That up-stroke from lower left to upper right gouges the paper. Hate it.
I can’t figure out how to take the pen apart to put the ink in LOL
Джеймс? Бонд? Можно просто Бонд? 🤓
No me gusta que las plumas y bolígrafos Cross, Shaffer de alta gama, como una Townsend Platino, no este fabricada en Lincoln, sino en China y a ese precio tan caro: 460 euros en España. Crítica a las marcas reivindicativas.
Un amante de las estilo gráficas de Alicante, España, molesto por ello.
Bog oak shop:
www.etsy.com/au/shop/DejavuPen