Confused

[serpent]

other than my TWSBI EDC's my next choices would have to be either a Lamy 2000 or Pilot VP.

[GING GING]

Teat...

[GING GING]

Test...

[mhosea]

It's even further wrong of you to say that over time a small pen is better on the hands than a large pen. This isn't just the difference in opinions, you're just flat out wrong.

That would indeed be wrong to say, but did he actually say that? The quote says a lighter pen is better over time than a heavier one. A larger pen can be lighter and sometimes is, especially when comparing anything to a mostly-brass Chinese pen. "Lighter" probably is better in general, all other things being equal, but I confess that I'm not sure how weight of the pen intersects with the issues that CTS raises in particular. I'm usually more concerned with the geometry of the pen since it simply hurts to bring the thumb close to the fingers when my wrist has stiffened up.

[Mags]

I would recommend a few pens on your budget. I used a Targa in University and some uniball gel writers 20 + yrs ago. Not loosing the Targa was a challenge.

For that reason I would definitely suggest buy a few fountain pens. The Jinhao is a great recommendation. Get one for sure. Also the Namiki Falcon in resin at $142 from Classic Pens, possibly a TWSBI, the Sheaffer NOS Targas in a med or fine nib ( they wrote a bit broadly so choose a nib accordingly).

A Sheaffer school style cartridge pen got me through English and Philosophy as I needed to doodle and liked to look at the ink in the transparent barrel.

Bottom line buy what you like. I love bigger pens. They gave me pen fatigue writing in finance and marketing classes. I ended up using a gel pen that was skinny and my handwriting morphed into a horrible chicken scratch to keep up. That which was important was inserted in cursive in fountain pen in a unique colour later.

I always used green ink uniballs and that left blue, black and red fountain pen inks for my study notes and assignments.

Good luck in all your studies.

[pajaro]

The first fountain pen I had was a Scripto for $5. When I was 10, 55 years ago. Not a bad pen. In school I also used a few Sheaffer cartridge pens with the translucent barrels. Cost was $0.98 each. Then I used ballpoints for years.

When I got out of college I bought a Parker 51 new in 1970. I still have it, and it stands comparison with every other pen I have tried. Nice and smooth. Never any problem in 44 years. The only other pens I have liked very much are Montblancs (144 and 146), Sheaffer Imperials with 14K nibs, Pelikans (M200, M400, M600, M8xx and M1000) and a few Watermans (Phileas, Laureat and Carene). I have tried Sailor 1911 and the smaller one and found them mediocre.

Cross pens are often excellent. Townsend is impressive. Century is very good and ATX is excellent.

I think I would try one of the Pelikans, The gold plated and other steel nibs are excellent, but, in order to feel what Pelikan is all about you might get an M200 and also get a nib unit in 14K from the M400 line. The gold plated nibs are particularly smooth from fine to wider nibs. The 14K nibs are a bit better finished and smoother. These nibs make the Sailor feel very ordinary. The Japanese nibs run finer than Western nibs by about one size. Japanese medium is like western fine, etc.

You might consider a now out of production and used Parker 51 aerometric filling pen. It's as good as anything and likely to last your lifetime. You can find a great one for under $100 from a reliable pen seller. A good place to start.

[pajaro]

You can always sell any of these pens with an ad on "For Sale" section here, if you find you don't like them.