heath
August 27th, 2014, 06:53 PM
This is my breakdown on the value of inks. I'd love to get your input. I wrote this for Ink Week going on over at my blog if you want to check that out you can click here. (http://penpaperinkletter.com/ink-week-august-24-30-check-reviews-posts-articles-related-ink-week/)
This might be a loaded question to some as the value of an ink may be more than the sum of its parts. For the sake of this post though that’s all we are going to look at. What inks, per ml, provide the most value. I’ll also say that some may be underpriced in my mind and in some cases even some of the best value inks might be useless or undesirable to me.
Several people have posted portions of lists and information that I will partly pull from and you can find links to all sources in this article.
Outstanding Value
Looking over current prices I would say anything under $.15 ml is an extremely great value. There are some in this range I’d likely not make my everyday ink but on the other hand some actually are my favorites. Some Noodler’s, Monteverde, Cross, Pelikan and Lamy Inks fit in this category. Some of these brands also offer some that cost more but the ones that sit below the $.15 per ml price feel like steals to me every time I buy one.
Really Good Value
This range runs right up to around $.25 per ml for me. We add offerings from Diamine, Private Reserve, Sheaffer, Omas, Waterman, Mont Blanc, Sailor Jentle, Parker and Stipula among a few others here.
Decent Value
For me this is the end of value inks and it reaches to around $.45 ml. Once we leave this category we get into the price ranges where you are paying for attributes, colors or brand names that aren’t catering to the entire market. Here we add some bottles of many of the brands already listed as well as some offerings from J. Herbin, Platinum, Aurora, Visconti, GvFaber-Castell and Pelikan Edelstein. Kaweco ink is right on the line here but for the offerings it provides I’d sit it on the other side of the line.
Boutique and Expensive Inks
For me these inks aren’t reaching for the entire market and sit over $.45 a ml. Some might have favorable characteristics but it would be hard to find one that can’t be matched by and ink in a category below although some do indeed pull that off. That doesn’t mean that some of my favorite inks aren’t in this category or that I don’t buy them but it means I am spending more than I have to. Here we have Montegrappa, Delta, J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary, Pilot Iroshizuku, Caran d’Ache and maybe a few more.
Here are links to some charts breaking down the prices per oz and ml. Some aren't as up to date as others but I still found them helpful.
Anderson Pens Ink Volume Comparison (http://www.andersonpens.net/Articles.asp?ID=250)
Jared on FPN – Bottled Ink Prices (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/257861-bottled-ink-cost-per-ml/)
Glenn’s Pens – The Price of Ink (http://www.glennspens.com/views/2010-02.html)
Buying by Bottle Price
Taking all the above into consideration I must also say though that I don’t always buy by the ml price. I know I might not use every drop of every ink as well. Sometimes it’s just as easy or helpful to just look at the by the bottle pricing. In that case some things move around from above but for the most part it’s not all that different. Bottles under $10 are steals for sure but there aren’t many. Anything under $15 feels like a steal and anything over $25 a bottle feels a bit high.
Ink Samples
Taking a step further if you are just looking to try a bunch of inks the best value might be sample vials. There are a few companies that do this but the two I am most familiar with are the Goulet Pen Company and Anderson Pens. The prices vary slightly but the way I look at it I would just buy from the one you are most familiar with. Goulet has the Ink Drop Program which is what drew me to them but Anderson Pens has slightly larger volume per sample which is a big plus too. The price per ml isn’t going to be as good as a bottle for sure but the effort it takes to make the sample vials and package and ship them in odd collections can be huge.
I hope this helps you in your decision on what inks to try out. For me I still end up buying and trying inks based on color swabs and particular features I am looking for first but if I had to pick between two I wanted to use long term I would likely break it down by ml.
-Heath
@WeThePPIL
This might be a loaded question to some as the value of an ink may be more than the sum of its parts. For the sake of this post though that’s all we are going to look at. What inks, per ml, provide the most value. I’ll also say that some may be underpriced in my mind and in some cases even some of the best value inks might be useless or undesirable to me.
Several people have posted portions of lists and information that I will partly pull from and you can find links to all sources in this article.
Outstanding Value
Looking over current prices I would say anything under $.15 ml is an extremely great value. There are some in this range I’d likely not make my everyday ink but on the other hand some actually are my favorites. Some Noodler’s, Monteverde, Cross, Pelikan and Lamy Inks fit in this category. Some of these brands also offer some that cost more but the ones that sit below the $.15 per ml price feel like steals to me every time I buy one.
Really Good Value
This range runs right up to around $.25 per ml for me. We add offerings from Diamine, Private Reserve, Sheaffer, Omas, Waterman, Mont Blanc, Sailor Jentle, Parker and Stipula among a few others here.
Decent Value
For me this is the end of value inks and it reaches to around $.45 ml. Once we leave this category we get into the price ranges where you are paying for attributes, colors or brand names that aren’t catering to the entire market. Here we add some bottles of many of the brands already listed as well as some offerings from J. Herbin, Platinum, Aurora, Visconti, GvFaber-Castell and Pelikan Edelstein. Kaweco ink is right on the line here but for the offerings it provides I’d sit it on the other side of the line.
Boutique and Expensive Inks
For me these inks aren’t reaching for the entire market and sit over $.45 a ml. Some might have favorable characteristics but it would be hard to find one that can’t be matched by and ink in a category below although some do indeed pull that off. That doesn’t mean that some of my favorite inks aren’t in this category or that I don’t buy them but it means I am spending more than I have to. Here we have Montegrappa, Delta, J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary, Pilot Iroshizuku, Caran d’Ache and maybe a few more.
Here are links to some charts breaking down the prices per oz and ml. Some aren't as up to date as others but I still found them helpful.
Anderson Pens Ink Volume Comparison (http://www.andersonpens.net/Articles.asp?ID=250)
Jared on FPN – Bottled Ink Prices (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/257861-bottled-ink-cost-per-ml/)
Glenn’s Pens – The Price of Ink (http://www.glennspens.com/views/2010-02.html)
Buying by Bottle Price
Taking all the above into consideration I must also say though that I don’t always buy by the ml price. I know I might not use every drop of every ink as well. Sometimes it’s just as easy or helpful to just look at the by the bottle pricing. In that case some things move around from above but for the most part it’s not all that different. Bottles under $10 are steals for sure but there aren’t many. Anything under $15 feels like a steal and anything over $25 a bottle feels a bit high.
Ink Samples
Taking a step further if you are just looking to try a bunch of inks the best value might be sample vials. There are a few companies that do this but the two I am most familiar with are the Goulet Pen Company and Anderson Pens. The prices vary slightly but the way I look at it I would just buy from the one you are most familiar with. Goulet has the Ink Drop Program which is what drew me to them but Anderson Pens has slightly larger volume per sample which is a big plus too. The price per ml isn’t going to be as good as a bottle for sure but the effort it takes to make the sample vials and package and ship them in odd collections can be huge.
I hope this helps you in your decision on what inks to try out. For me I still end up buying and trying inks based on color swabs and particular features I am looking for first but if I had to pick between two I wanted to use long term I would likely break it down by ml.
-Heath
@WeThePPIL