For those of us that arent raking in the FAANG dosh for a 3 figure pen, give TWSBI a try. theyre just as good. https://www.twsbi.com/
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Classic fountain pens
31–40 of 180 posts
Re: Classic fountain pens
#32For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
A big problem with Safaris is they dry out quickly. There are many great pen varieties nowadays, none of which have this common fountain-pen shortcoming. Safaris are suitable for people who write daily; others should look elsewhere.
A few years ago I bought a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen. It's decent, but the ink evaporates really quickly.
Last year I bought an inexpensive Platinum Preppy and it doesn't have this problem at all. No idea why the Pilot is so bad or if I can fix it, but it basically makes the pen useless to me because I do not write daily. Even if I did use it daily, the disappearing ink means I'd have more maintenance to deal with than I really want.
The other thing many people don't think about is paper quality. Fountain pen ink really soaks through many types of paper. It took me a while, but I finally found a yellow legal pad brand that is great with a fountain pen. Mintra canary premium legal pads are inexpensive and nice to write on.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#33For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
The grip is the best part of the pen!
Re: Classic fountain pens
#34For a beginner, its hard to improve on the "pilot penenship"
Its only flaw, in my opinion, is its lack of a clip
Re: Classic fountain pens
#35For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
I'd go one step further and suggest a Pilot disposable fountain pen. Their nibs are remarkably good, and you're only out around $2 if you dislike them. And if you like them, well then, have fun with your new hobby!
I second the recommendation to try Pilot first, though I haven't used any of their recent disposables. Pilot nibs are just remarkably consistently good. As a starter I'd suggest the Pilot Metropolitan with a medium nib (as Asian nibs tend to be a little finer than European nibs with the same designation) although my personal favourite ‘cheap’ pen (that is, in the Lamy Safari price range) is the old-style Prera (in the US, from JetPens).
Re: Classic fountain pens
#36For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
I'm partial to the metropolitan pens. But, realistically, any pen is a fine starter nowadays.
I am a huge fan of the larger nibs. I tried getting into calligraphy, but haven't managed the eye for it, yet. Tons and tons of fun, though.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#37For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
In my view, Lamy Safari is way overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's far from bad, a pretty consistent pen for the price. But the ink dries fast-ish if you don't use it, and especially, the cartridges are proprietary so you're tied to the brand's cartridges and ink colors (there's a piston converter, but converters, meh).
A Pilot Metropolitan is approximately the same price and at least in my view, it's better as it uses standard international cartridges. A TWSBI Eco is more expensive, but not by that much, and it's an absolute reliability monster.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
A big problem with Safaris is they dry out quickly. There are many great pen varieties nowadays, none of which have this common fountain-pen shortcoming. Safaris are suitable for people who write daily; others should look elsewhere.
Do you have a recommendation?
Three I know about are the TWSBI Eco and Diamond, and Pilot’s disposable Vpen. They’ve already been mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
Beyond those, do research. Fountain pens drying out is a major problem that catches newcomers off-guard. When you can buy EnerGels for peanuts, fountain pen manufacturers really need to up their game to stay remotely competitive with other pen types. And many don’t.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#39What advantages do fountain pens still have over modern gel ballpoints? I like the whole experience of fountain pens, how nice they look and the 'old-school' aspect, but sadly I don't feel they are practical any more.
Objective advantages are: more ink capacity, more variety of ink colors, reduced plastic waste (if you use bottled ink).
Re: Classic fountain pens
#40For those of us that arent raking in the FAANG dosh for a 3 figure pen, give TWSBI a try. theyre just as good. https://www.twsbi.com/
Lamy Safari has been my go-to for years, but for anyone starting out I recommend the TWSBI Eco. Only downside imo is inability to easily swap out nibs in a TWSBI.