Originally Posted by
azkid
I'm pretty pleased with the gold nib on my Stargazer which I guess is a fancy Stella 90s. I've tested a Pilot Falcon and a couple other gold Pilot nibs all of which were really quite nice.
Based on my own experience and what I've read about low end Pilot nibs—not only have they all worked for me, they all write exactly the same—I have a feeling you're very unlikely to get a bad high end Pilot nib. That's why I got the stargazer as my first $150 pen
I have a feeling Pilot has applied automation and Denning style statistical process control to their nib manufacturing. To me they are the Seiko of pens where even the cheap stuff is really good and consistent.
I've also tried high end Pelikan (400, 600) and those were excellent without qualification. But the M205 I just got is really disappointing. It looks and feels really cheap and the steel F nib writes really rough, like a stick on cement, as if it was "polished" with 80 grit sandpaper. Ugh.
My Kaweco Dia2 is easily twice the pen and more, and the nib is very nice, albeit small-looking. The level of detail, fit and finish, and overall design just exudes high quality. It is about as heavy as a Metropolitan.
If you have a local pen group that meets that is the best way to try different pens and get a better sense of what impresses you and what doesn't.
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