Priority when purchasing pens.

[Scooby921]

Pelikan (4 out of 7 bad), Sailor (3 out of 3 bad), Pilot (4 out of 6 bad, the good ones were both Metropolitans, the bad ones all a lot more expensive), Noodler's Neponset (all 3 bad, replaced the nibs completely). Please take into account, though, that this reflects my personal preferences for smooth, moderately wet nibs, and as we all know, one man's poison is another man's cake. And all of these nibs (except for the Neponsets) could fairly easily be smoothed out and/or adjusted for flow or nib width. The last big 'miss' was a Peli M400 with a "fine" nib that wrote wider than the notoriously broad Lamy2000 medium (that one's a .9mm stub now ).
However, if I were to try out any of these pens in the store, and find them to have these nib flaws, and knew nothing about nib treatment, I'd probably not buy them...

I've discovered a lot of the same. Getting a really good writer can be a lottery from some brands. I have a love-hate relationship with Visconti over their Dreamtouch nibs. Very smooth, but generally too wet, and often overly polished such that baby's bottom shows up and causes skipping and start issues. The MB's I own were used pens to start with, so I don't know what owners might have done, but both had baby's bottom issues as well. I have had the opposite experience with Sailor and Pelikan though. In both cases 2 of 2 have been fantastic writers right out of the box, with Sailor probably being the best nibs I've used.

[RocketRyan]

I'm really intrigued to try a sailor nib, but I haven't found a sailor pen that has made me want to buy one yet. I find the designs are bit generic. The classic pens LB5 really is cool but far to expensive for me at this time

[Scooby921]

Sailor's high end limited edition pens are very pretty, but pricey. The boring nature of their standard lineup is precisely why I sold my first Pro Gear. Looking at my collection of pens it was just a boring black resin / plastic pen with rhodium trim. Nothing special about it. After I sold it I started to think about how well it fit my hand and how absolutely wonderful the nib was. The 21k is available as a 2-tone which adds to the visual appeal. It's the only pen I've sold which I actually missed writing with, so I now own another one.

[RocketRyan]

Sailor's high end limited edition pens are very pretty, but pricey. The boring nature of their standard lineup is precisely why I sold my first Pro Gear. Looking at my collection of pens it was just a boring black resin / plastic pen with rhodium trim. Nothing special about it. After I sold it I started to think about how well it fit my hand and how absolutely wonderful the nib was. The 21k is available as a 2-tone which adds to the visual appeal. It's the only pen I've sold which I actually missed writing with, so I now own another one.

I just wish they would take some material ideas from aurora or Visconti, then i would be all over them.

[Scooby921]

Sailor's high end limited edition pens are very pretty, but pricey. The boring nature of their standard lineup is precisely why I sold my first Pro Gear. Looking at my collection of pens it was just a boring black resin / plastic pen with rhodium trim. Nothing special about it. After I sold it I started to think about how well it fit my hand and how absolutely wonderful the nib was. The 21k is available as a 2-tone which adds to the visual appeal. It's the only pen I've sold which I actually missed writing with, so I now own another one.

I just wish they would take some material ideas from aurora or Visconti, then i would be all over them.

Agreed, but at the same time I'm quite happy the Pro Gear Classic is only $250. If they used materials like Aurora or Visconti the pens might be the price of an Aurora or Visconti. As they sit you get a better nib in a cheaper pen.

[inklord]

Pelikan (4 out of 7 bad), Sailor (3 out of 3 bad), Pilot (4 out of 6 bad, the good ones were both Metropolitans, the bad ones all a lot more expensive), Noodler's Neponset (all 3 bad, replaced the nibs completely). Please take into account, though, that this reflects my personal preferences for smooth, moderately wet nibs, and as we all know, one man's poison is another man's cake. And all of these nibs (except for the Neponsets) could fairly easily be smoothed out and/or adjusted for flow or nib width. The last big 'miss' was a Peli M400 with a "fine" nib that wrote wider than the notoriously broad Lamy2000 medium (that one's a .9mm stub now ).
However, if I were to try out any of these pens in the store, and find them to have these nib flaws, and knew nothing about nib treatment, I'd probably not buy them...

I've discovered a lot of the same. Getting a really good writer can be a lottery from some brands. I have a love-hate relationship with Visconti over their Dreamtouch nibs. Very smooth, but generally too wet, and often overly polished such that baby's bottom shows up and causes skipping and start issues. The MB's I own were used pens to start with, so I don't know what owners might have done, but both had baby's bottom issues as well. I have had the opposite experience with Sailor and Pelikan though. In both cases 2 of 2 have been fantastic writers right out of the box, with Sailor probably being the best nibs I've used.

While the Sailor nibs didn't suit me (and I believe a lot of that is personal preference) in the beginning, once I smoothed them out and refined the boundaries of the tipping, they turned out to be some of my favorite nibs; I still have all three original pens, and love their writing characteristics. My pelikans were largely too wet and too broad, so I now tend to stub my Pelikans. And I never had any complaints on their 2xx steel nibs other than that the gold plating rubs off after a few years... thanks for your perspective!

[VertOlive]

#1 Looks. I just really care.

#2 How it feels in hand. Because I write a lot.

#3 Does it cost more than the English Bulldog? If so, game over.

I own all kinds of nibs and have yet to develop a preference between steel vs. gold.

[Stickler]

1. How does it write?
2. Is it part of a product line that I like
3. Is there something emotional that I connect to with the pen

[TSherbs]

1. Price
2. Looks
3. Size
4. YouTube reviews

[snowbear]

Can I afford it?
How does it feel in my hand?
Do I like the overall look?
Will it attract women? Not that I'm looking.
How will I feed it (converter, cartridge, universal, proprietary)?