Fountain Pens ? ( Which one )

[old4570]

I have not owned a fountain pen for over 40 years ...

In my teens I had a few of them .. A side lever and a cartridge pen ..
I have considered getting into it again , but ?
Anyhow , I just shelled out $10 ozzi bananas on some Chinese Pens , but was wondering .. What would be a decent FP to own ?
Does not need to be high end , but rather something to use as a yardstick ! ( A known quantity so to speak )

Parker Vector Standard CT (?) , Pierre Cardin Veer (?) , Parker Beta Special Edition (?) , Parker Beta Standard (?) or something else ?

[fqgouvea]

I think something from Lamy would be a good choice: a Safari or an AL-Star.


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[carlos.q]

Lamy Safari and Pilot Metropolitan are both good choices.

[Scooby921]

Unfortunately it's always a hard question to answer. Personal preference plays a huge part in whether or not you like a pen. We can all recommend some of our favorites, but there is no way of knowing whether the pen will feel as good in your hand as it does in ours.

What is your budget? What specific Chinese pens did you buy? Do you like the weight, the length, the barrel diameter, the section/grip diameter? Do you prefer black and gold pens, black and rhodium/silver, clear demonstrators, colorful pens?

[old4570]

I have no idea what I like ... ( FP )
All Chinese FP are cheap ones , HOAU , JINHAO 599 , WING SUNG 3003 , JINHAO 599-A , Unbranded ...

Max price - Probably $20 USD - I kind of remember why I stopped using FP's .. But that was like 40+ Years ago .
Probably more of a mechanical pencil collector .. ( Writing utensils )

Who writes that much these days ? Mostly Emails now ...
But I do scribble quite a bit .. And for that I use one of my Cheaffer Reminder clip pens , or ( At The Moment ) a Pentel GraphGear 1000 ( 0.9 )
Been itching to try a FP for about 10 years now ..

[SaoDavi]

My favorites under $25 USD are the Lamy Safari/Vista and the Nemosine Singularity.

At $50, some kind of TWSBI or a Faber Castel.

I'd also recommend a converter and a bunch of sample vials from Goulet Pens.

[Kaputnik]

Without urging you to buy any one pen in particular, maybe look over the line of Pilot pens, from cheap (Kakuno, Metropolitan), mid range (Prera, Cavalier) to fairly pricey but not luxurious (the Custom, and Custom Heritage models).

And look at the lineup of Platinum brand pens as well. See what people have written about specific models before. And when you think you have some candidates that might suit you, ask questions about those models.

Plenty of other good brands too, of course: Pelikan, Lamy, etc. These broad "what should I buy?" questions are always difficult. Easier if you've already narrowed it down a bit.

[RocketRyan]

An italix pen is often a good start.

[Paddler]

Who writes that much these days? I do. I write out about 1 ml of ink per day. That's an ounce per month.

If I was starting out all over again, I would buy 3 Parker 45 pens; one each with F, M, and B nibs and decide which one I like best. Then I would quickly add a set of so-called "calligraphy" pens (Parker, Sheaffer, and Manuscript make acceptable kits) and write with those for a while. Then, if you decide to go down this rabbit hole, you won't fall down; you can jump down.

[old4570]

Hmmm .
Was tired last night ( just woke up ) , terrible nights sleep ( Too warm here in Oz )

Ok - What I was looking for was a yardstick . An affordable , easy to find , current production pen that anyone anywhere in the world can buy regardless of their financial status .
That guy working in a sweatshop in Vietnam to the guy in a NY Office ..
That guy earning $25 a week does not have quite the buying power of say the guy earning $2500 a week . ( Such is the world )
So the pen I am after is manufactured to a standard that is maintained through production and QC . As well as being one that anyone can buy ..
Not really looking for a Personal Pen , looking for a yardstick ..

My bad , was tired last night .. And I did look a little more on Feebay to see what was available before going to bed .
Thank you for the responses , some interesting pens .
Will spend a few hours scowering Feebay - See whats what ..
Thank you everyone .

[Bold2013]

Kaweco sport and the new one (not sure what it's called)

[fqgouvea]

[QUOTE=old4570;233473]Hmmm .
So the pen I am after is manufactured to a standard that is maintained through production and QC . As well as being one that anyone can buy ..
Not really looking for a Personal Pen , looking for a yardstick ..
/QUOTE]

Yup, got that. Lamy and Pilot are both good choices for this. They both make good entry-level pens that can be had for under $30 and both have reputations for good quality.

[old4570]

[QUOTE=fqgouvea;233477]

Hmmm .
So the pen I am after is manufactured to a standard that is maintained through production and QC . As well as being one that anyone can buy ..
Not really looking for a Personal Pen , looking for a yardstick ..
/QUOTE]

Yup, got that. Lamy and Pilot are both good choices for this. They both make good entry-level pens that can be had for under $30 and both have reputations for good quality.

Yeah , me too ( Got that ) ...
Just cruised for some more Chinese budget jobs ...
Now going to see about the yardstick .. I have some pilot pencils - they are well made ... I think I saw a Pilot for around $22 USD

[FredRydr]

...Will spend a few hours scowering Feebay - See whats what ....

eBay is not the best place to answer your original question.

[old4570]

Ebay is simply Easy ...
It by no means represents everything ...

I find it interesting simply for comparison , find something and then read some reviews ( Subjective ) .
Anyhow my brain is screaming for mercy , and the pen I got is not really listed ...
PIERRE CARDIN President .. It was available locally , and I liked what I saw in a review ( Video )
I may latter get a Pilot ..

So many video reviews : Gave me some idea of what to look for in a pen .
I am ready to give this a rest for now .

List of FP ... ( Chinese )
801 baoer
Hero 91
Jinhao 992
JINHAO 599
WING SUNG 3003
JINHAO 599-A

As well 2x No name , and 2x Packaged pens with ink ...
The Chinese pens were Uber Cheap , $1 to $3 and I am looking forward to seeing what you get for $1 ...
If they don't completely suck , I may end up collecting $1 pens , what the hell , buy all of them ...

[Skwerlmasta]

I'll say that it completely depends on what you like. I gave away my Lamy Safaris, I gave away all of my Kawecos, I even gave my girlfriend my Visconti.
I bought many pens that I simply hated, although they are all considered to be very good pens.
Why?
I have learned through trial and error that I simply hate extremely smooth pens. My pens must have a little feedback. I typically write with EF or F nibs to get just a little tooth in it. You know how some people hate writing with markers? That's the sensation I get when writing with some pens and I simply cannot tolerate it. My girlfriend, however, loves the smoothest pens. She likes her pens with Medium nibs and smooth as butter.
If you like smooth pens, I will say you can't go wrong with Kaweco. The Lamy Safari is a love it or hate it pen because of it's shape. If you can do with a pen that isn't cartridge, my girlfriend has a TWSBI that has the bottle to fill it. I think she paid 60 for the pen and 15 for the bottle and that's her everyday pen. The Visconti pen is a close third for her behind that and a Kaweco AL-Sport.
So there are some excellent quality pens at or below the 25 dollar mark - Lamy Safari, KAweco Sport.
There are some nice ones when you step up a little more in money - TWSBI
You have to first decide on the features you need. Cartridge or internal reservoir? Do you want to write in black/blue or do you want to be able to use other colors(some cartridges don't have much in the way of color options)? Do you like smooth pens or do you want some feedback when writing? Do you like a pen with some weight or do you want a pen that's light? Full size or pocket pen? What's the budget you want to stick to?
If you narrow these choices down, you can get much better recommendations that are tailored to you.

[SIR]

Old4570, there are so many decisions to be made - like shopping for a car; what filling system would you prefer, are you looking for flex or not, vintage or non-vintage, what do you plan to use the pen for mostly? - are just some of a few key questions, particularly if looking for one pen to use as a baseline (which, of course, assumes it is not just one pen and there will be many more after!) ...

[old4570]

Simply dont know ?

I havent used fountain pens in over 40 years ...
Been watching youtube reviews , and forming some opinions on what would be important to me ( writing ) ...

How you fill the pen ? Not really sure it matters that much ( To me ) ..
Any how I think I am done buying fountain pens for March ....



I tried to buy all the $1 ... Pens and a few other ...
This will do for now ... I am sure there are a few repeats because of the Ebay sellers using different descriptions and photo's ( angles ) ..

One may wonder why I would fall off the wagon so quickly ?
A) If your going to do something do it properly ( I actually like cheap things )
B) I really like doing product reviews ( I have done a few )
C) I want to polish my review skills and a entirely new subject matter may help
D) Love photography , so I will be using my camera skills - developing subject photography ( presentation )
E) My video work needs improvement
F) Nothing like throwing yourself into the deep end ( Actually - this might be the shallow end )