This must be boringly repetitive for any who still don't skip my replys, but it's the LAMY 2000.
Reasons? I personally like simplistic, minimalist designs in most things I use; the pen writes well all the time, fresh out of the box as well as years later (I purchased 6 L2k's so far, 0 duds); the pen has a flawless piston filling system (my favorite method of filling) with good (1.2ml) capacity; it can easily be dismantled from the front end for cleaning/lubrication; it has a firm, but slightly elastic 14k nib with voluminous tipping that writes well as is and can easily be ground into anything a penman/-woman may desire (though it will never achieve flex); through its breather hole in the underside of the nib section it can draw inks from nearly empty bottles, and its feed holds ink for a full page of medium-width writing after the ink window first shows 'empty; it is a real classic of German post-war design, and it is inconspicuous enough to not draw unwanted attention; now that I've owned one for the better part of a decade, one of its most remarkable features has revealed itself as well: a quality of "shutaku", a Japanese expression of gradually increasing beauty from being polished through the use by [human] hands: my first L2k is by now mirror shiny at the sides near the finial and in a few other spots; the balance and durability of the design are both excellent; the price is incredibly low for a gold-nibbed, piston-filled European-made pen.
Lamy as a company also recommends itself as a proponent of high standards of corporate ethics, only occasionally flawed by somewhat clumsy (goofy?) marketing strategies.
Any flaws to this pen? When you leave it in a rapidly heating environment after being in a cool place, it will burp ink into its cap, and the cap is not easy to clean 'in the field' unless you always carry cotton swabs around... (by now, I do!)
That being said, there are many others I like, but this is the one that has it all in the price range I worked with so far (US$10.- to $500.- from various companies)
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