Inexpensive, Buttery Smooth, Ergonomic Pen Suggestions?

[Descartes]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the FPN and am currently at college looking for a pen make a lot of notes daily (30-40 pages). I am interested in piston fillers over cartridges because I find cartridges too expensive and don't have a problem carrying an ink bottle around with me. Actually the idea of being the only one with a romantic ink bottle in class seems amazing . I also like the ink variation you have with piton fillers. I don't need the pen to be beautiful, at all, just ergonomically sound (lightweight-ish and with a comfortable section for lots of writing). Eyedroppers seem a bit messy for college use in my honest opinion. SMMOOTHNESSSS is a huge thing for me. I love it when a pen glides across the paper like butter on glass so that is VERY important to me. Cartridge converters will do if they store enough ink.

I currently own a LAMY safari and as excellent a writer as it is, and a smooth one, it just isn't good enough for me. I want no feedback from a pen. I also have a pretty tight budget (£80) for the pen. Any recommendations from you wonderfully wise people out there?

 

To summarise I'm looking for a pen which is:

• fairly lightweight (about 10-30g)
• BUTTERY smooth (even more so than a LAMY safari + no feedback)
• stores a lot of ink
• not an eyedropper
• ergonomically comfortable for extended use
• under £80
• reliable
• with a good manufaturers warranty

 

Thank you for bothering to read this essay

 

[Colors]

How about an Italix Parsons? Although, they are kind of heavy, but so smooth, inexpensive (but look very expensive).

[Lorna Reed]

My recommendation would be an Italix Parsons Essential, except it is a cartridge/converter pen, so maybe you wouldn't want to consider it. At just over £40.00 it is well within your budget, comes in black, blue or amber, and a choice of about eight different nibs.

The nibs are amazingly smooth and just glide over the paper. I don't know whether you like to post your caps (that is - stick the cap on the end of the pen when in use) If you do, it might be a little heavy.

Easily available in the UK from mrpen.co.uk. I think if I could only have one fountain pen it would be the Parsons Essential, as it is absolutely reliable.

There is a very good youtube review of the pen which you might want to look at. Hope this helps.

[Descartes]

Thank You for both brisk replies Yes I saw Doc Brown's coverage of this beautiful pen and it seems really cool. I was just thinking though that it is only sold at Mrpens which means its a little less mainstream. I'm not an expert with nibs in the slightest and an imperfect nib would not be easily dealt with by me. I was thinking about the pelikan m200 which I've heard is more likely to have a perfect brand new nib as it is more widely produced may be a better alternative. What do you guys think?

[Lorna Reed]

Pelikans are great pens too. I have several, but not an M200, so can't speak from experience. Mr. Ford at mrpen is extremely helpful.

When I had a small problem with one of my Parsons Essentials he sent me a replacement pen straight away. I am not connected in any way with the company, just an extremely satisfied customer. Hopefully someone with experience of the Pelikan M200 will reply, to help you make an informed decision. Best of luck, and let us know what you decide on.

[welch]

(1) Lamy 2000...depending on the pound / euro conversion rate! I got my L2K for about $120 from Art Brown's, in Manhattan. About three or four years ago. Smooth nib, large capacity pen.

 

(2) Pelikan 200 might be less expensive, but their steel nibs are more like "soft with a bit of tooth" than butter-smooth. I got mine from Richard Binder, the nib master. A gold nib for the Pel 200 would result in something close to the Pelikan 400 (a 200 with gold nib and more glitzy trim). It's also nearly $100 by itself, which prices it out of your range.

 

I put fingernail polish on the all-metal grip of my Lamy because it was slipping. The Pelikan 200 had a nice ridge ("table"?) at the end of the grip. The Pel is smaller, but very comfortable when you "post" (= write with the cap on).

 

(3) Obligatory: for 80 pounds you can probably find a good English-made Parker 51 aerometric, medium nib. The all-time greatest pen, but it might need a small amount of tuning.

[Pterodactylus]

A Pelikan M200 or M215 would be a very good choice.

You can also consider a TWSBI Mini or 580.

 

Btw.

It's easy to get a buttery smooth nib on every of your pens.

Some people think only expensive pens can have such smooth nibs, but this is not true.

You can make the cheapest Chinese pen as smooth as the most expensive pen (no matter if its a steel or gold nib)

Smoothness is a inherent property of the iridium alloy corn surface.

Most factory default nibs (no matter which manufacturer) are not as smoooth as they could be.

It's easy to polish a nib to make it as smooth as you like.

There are many threads describing how to smooth a nib.

Many people using buff sticks, I personally prefer a leather strap (with a whiff of polish paste on one side, but it works also without polish paste) as shown here:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/244017-simple-nib-smoothing-technique/?p=2656828

[dspeers58]

Faber Castell Onodoro is a very nice, smooth, buttery pen and it pretty light. It runs between $85-140 online, depending on sales etc. I believe Fountain Pen Hospital had the white ones on sale for a time. $85, I believe. Very good pen, decent amount of ink. A bit heavier, but seems to have the same nib is the Basic, which sells for about $40-70.

[myn]

You wouldn't have to worry about your nib from MrPen. You choose your nib and they make it there for you in that they grind it to what you want. I ordered one several months ago and it writes beautifully. As for the converter you can always purchase a spare I would think.

 

I would also second the TWSBI 580 - it holds a lot of ink, is a solid, all round good pen. It doesn't have the cracking issues that the 540 was prone to. Nib tweaking for it is basically a thorough rinse out before inking it the first time. Jowo nibs are pretty darn smooth out of the box, so to speak.

 

No affiliation with MrPen other then a very satisfied customer.

 

edit typo.

Edited May 6, 2013 by myn

[Vendome]

The Reform 1745 fountain pen is a cheap, smooth writer. (Based on an older style discontinued Pelikan model.)

NOS 1745s can be found on E-Bay.

[Descartes]

Thank you for all your replies

I just ordered the italix parsons as it seems so classy and you all reviewed it so highly. I looked into the ondoro suggestion and found it to be a bit on the expensive side. The Faber castell loom has the same nib as the ondoro but for the amazing price of £25. This means I couldn't resist ordering the loom as well as the parsons. I understand the nib smoothing advice you have given and will look to purchase a kit for it if the nibs are scratchy. The lamy 2k and the m200 were also a bit expensive and I thought I'd rather get 2 cheaper (i prefer inexpensive) pens to add to my young, developing collection. Thanks to everyone for the great advice!

[Bugmerc]

Be sure to let us know what you think of the pens when you get them! I hope they work out well for you.

 

 

[Edwaroth]

I have found the Nemosine Singularity to be both inexpensive (20USD) and quite smooth. I also +3 the Parsons Essential.

[DriedUpBob]

I see you have already decided and launched your purchase. I'm sure you'll be pleased with it. So for your growing collection (it's only a matter of time )

 

+1 for TWSBI 580.....I too like buttery smooth with no feedback and in my newbie 3 years I have spent a substantial amount of my toy budget trying to find that. What I have learned is there are different levels of users' "Buttery Smooth" and the TWSBI has been the best out of the box experience for me personally.

 

Bob

[de_pen_dent]

Faber Castell. Light, inexpensive, superb nib.

 

The Parsons isnt a light pen. TWSBI is very good if you can get a properly working one. FC is just a really good pen, period.

[tomkeb]

I'd recommend you Pilot MR, it meets everything on your list, except the ink capacity is just average. It comes in <F> and <M> nib options and it's really cheap if you buy it from abroad ($ 14).

[Descartes]

Thanks for all the suggestions I've already made my order but love all the other interesting suggestions so keep them coming! I'll definitely give feedback on the pens when I receive them especially the loom which I find isn't very reviewed on this site.

[Descartes]

The pens have arrived and all I can say is that I am blown away. The parsons is super smooth (more so than both my lamy safaris) albeit a little on the heavier side and boy do I love the finish. I know when you guys said it looks like a pen 5 times its price, you weren't joking. I prefer the look to even the montblanc 149 and the pelikan souveran m200. I think this is a very nice pen with a smooth nib but the only thing I would say I didn't like was the weight (36g). Now, don't get me wrong, it's not the pens fault for having that weight and I should have done my research before buying. Furthermore, some people like a weight to their pens so its not a bad pen by any means. I just feel that for its a bit heavy for college daily use and writing 40-50 pages daily.

Then I opened the LOOM...

This pen is an absolute steal. I felt like calling up thewritingdesk and apologizing for robbing them. For £25, you get a pen that is about 20g uncapped (good weight), a nice chrome finish and an air hockey nib. I LOVE the nib. There is no resistance. Simple as. It glides across the paper exactly as I hoped. I have large handwriting and used a bold nib and specifically told thewritingdesk to smoothen it and they did an amazing job. I love this pen. I will purchase a c/c and a few bottled inks. I think it's awesome that I have a fancy-ish pen (the parsons) and a smooth pen (the LOOM) for my little collection and the addiction is really starting to get hold of me. I will wait for the TWSBI diamond 580 to come back in stock then make my move when I find the money. Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions and I hope this thread has helped other newbies other than myself

[Lorna Reed]

I'm very happy that you are pleased with your pens. I don't find the Parsons too heavy, but then I'm not writing for long periods as you are. I have to admit I had never heard of the Loom before. I must look into it for the future. (My pen budget is all spent for now). What ink are you using in your shiny new pens?

[Fabienne]

Good going, I just ordered myself a Loom. I hope you are happy now.