I've been into fountain pens, now, for all of a couple months, and been a member of the forum for just a couple weeks, I think. So far so good! I've gotten some great advice on a few things, in terms of helping me make some decisions about what sorts of pens and writing experience I prefer. My interest has mostly been functional, in that I want to improve my penmanship, and I enjoy journaling and writing by hand, in general.

I started-out with a couple Lamy Safaris, a Pilot Metro, Pilot Explorer, and Kaweco Liliput. Based on my experience with those pens, I started gravitating toward pens that produces really fine-fine lines. The Pilot pens quickly became favorites, and I thus bought a Pilot Custom 74 in fine, as my first "nice" pen.

Since then, I purchased a couple TWSBI vac-filler pens, and I really like those a lot. I love the whole concept of filling the pen, itself, with ink, rather than involving a cartridge or converter. Functionally, it just seems more straightforward. One of the TWSBI pens is a square/italic nib, which I have really taken to. Both pens, in fact, led me to veer back toward liking a broader line width.

So, based on that, I decided to pull the trigger on a Lamy 2000, which had been my initial target for a really nice pen. It's quite a splurge, for me, and that'll round-out my small collection for a while. I decided I liked the overall look of the 2000 enough to spend the money and take the risk that I may not like it. I've yet to take delivery of it.

Next up, I would like to try Pelikan, Platinum, and Sailor pens, in that order. The Pelikan I have in mind is an M205 -- the olivine-colored piston filler. I'd like a Platinum 3776 and Sailor 1911, although I have to say I am less excited about both those pens, now, since they are both cartridge/converter, and I am beginning to think that for my really nice pens I might want to start sticking to piston, vacuum, or eyedropper fill only. We'll see...

I may simply hold-out and get a Pilot 823 -- I think that might be my "ultimate" pen, at this point.

Other, outlying pens I kinda want to try: a Faber-Castell, probably a Loom; a Caran d'ache 849; a Pilot Elabo flex-nib. Honestly, I really enjoy the TWSBI pens quite a bit. I may acquire a couple more of those.

I've taken a peek around eBay, and a few other sources, for vintage pens, but as of yet I'm not sure that's a direction I really want to go. I can tend to get really quite overly-consumed, early-on, with new hobbies. I want to keep something in reserve, and remember that the reason I even got a fountain pen, in the first place, was just to practice my writing :-)