I've had my vintage P51 for about two months now. It's a 1950s made in England gold nib (M) model I really like it.

I really wanted another P51, but this time with a fine nib. I could have bought another vintage but modern 'deluxe' P51 really caught my attention... So I got it, but I now see why this modern pen gets a lot of criticisms.

What I like:

It writes perfectly. I cannot fault the nib, it is as buttery smooth as buttery smooth can get. Real pleasure. I know there has been annoyance at the fact that the nib is the same as the nib on a Parker Jotter and nothing unique/special but it does write very well. Just as good as the vintage.

The cap design, I actually like this more than the original. I like the gold band bearing the Parker logo at the bottom and prefer the modern arrow clip.

The nib protruding out just a tad more than the original P51. Just my personal preference, I like it.

The screw on cap. Again, just my preference, I like screw on caps.

Things I dislike... in fact hate:

The screw on mechanism. I cannot believe how cheap the mechanism is. There is an awful lot of friction and the thread almost always catches. I really did not expect this from such an expensive pen…

The plastic body. Forgive me if I’m wrong but it really feels like Parker are using a really cheap plastic resin? It is very light and you can feel how hollow the pen body is. It's horrible. My Wing Sung 601 feels more sturdy in the hand. The vintage P51 plastic body is light years ahead in quality and feel, has a noticeable amount more weight and thickness to it. I’ve been walking around the office with this pen in hand and honestly… it feels so lousy in my hand lol. Clearly some cost cutting involved here.

Nib drying out, of course due to air vent in the cap. Really can become frustrating.

On balance, I would only purchase this pen if it was heavily discounted. At the moment I will be returning this pen, sure it writes very well but there is just zero build quality when you’re spending three figures… quite sad really as looks wise the pen is great. But in hand it’s unsatisfying.