What do you guys write with everyday? So far I have 2 pens 1 piston, and 1 piston converter. Never used cartridges b4. I travel alot and Im thinking cartridges will be good for that correct. Thoughts?

I have always focused on the writing characteristics and comfort of a pen rather than the filling system. I have no particular favorite filling system, but the majority of my pens turn out to be cartridge/converter, with piston fillers running a second. When I travel, especially if I fly, I like to use cartridges. I find them convenient and not messy. From time to time if I am traveling on land only, I will carry a bottle of ink and one or two piston fillers in addition to a couple of cartridge pens.

As you travel with FP's yourself, you will develop your own habits, I am sure. Cartridges are definitely one of your practical options for living with FP's

Good luck.

Three of my five fountain pens are converter/cartridge fillers.
One is a cartridge filler.
One is an aerometric filler.

I don't prefer one over the other, really...Although I use the cartridge-filler the least.

Most of the pens I currently have are cartridge/converter fill, except for my Pelikan M400. I use the converter that came with them for all of the pens(Jotter, Vector, Vista) and bought a converter for the one that didn't(Pelikano) so I can have more choices in terms of ink color. I always carry a bunch of spare cartridges in my pencil case 'just in case', but have yet to have absolute need for them. I guess one could say that they are more convenient, but for me, it gives me a kick to refill from the bottle and see my ink supply slowly decreasing.

I've taken to using eye-dropper fillers. I like to put powdered ink in for maximum saturation, and tears of vexation to regulate the flow.

Speaking objectively, I think the piston filling mechanism is the best. Subjectively, I think lever fillers are amazing...


Patrick

I have lots of piston fillers and the rest are primarily c/c fillers. I don't really prefer one over the other. I might if I had to travel much.

I don't like bladder fillers of any sort. I have a devil of a time operating a lever filler. But I'm not the most graceful person on the planet.

Lever-- a fun snap to them, but they can make a guy nervous with fiddliness.
Button-- Very retro-techie, but the blind cap can wander duting filling.
Piston-- Very sensible. Germanic, even.
Snorkel-- Super-spy squirty fun!
Vacumatic-- Prolonged. Kind of cool to watch if the pen's clarity is good.
Vacuum fill-- Great if it works....
Touchdown-- Ease and squirt of the Snorkel, less moving parts to go wrong.

I love it. I have a new word. This is a word my daughter would come up with.

fiddliness.

Excellent word. Even "sounds like what it means" if that makes any sense.

For me it's cartridges all the time and always has been. I have a couple of piston and aerometric pens, but cartridges are my no mess no fuss get straight back to writing preference. I've never encountered any of the stated drawbacks to cartridges (like ink starvation), and generally think of cartridges as the universal historical destiny of all fountain pens past and future, but that's just me.

Cheers,
Eric

Cartridges are good for travel, since you can fly with the pen empty easily. However, you are more limited in choices (no Noodler's in factory fill carts) and may end up tossing quite a bit of ink if you have to take the carts out often to travel.

I don't care, personally, what the filling system is so long as the pen holds ink. I take a Parker "51" filled with bulletproof or near bulletproof ink with I have to fly, but that's not often and not for work. I guess I'd take a bottle of ink with me and my Snorkel Statesman if I HAD to go for a long enough time to use up a full fill of ink.

Peter

I like the practicality of a piston filler. You can fill from a bottle and carry some cartridges for backup if you're travelling. Some Sheaffer touchdowns also offer this flexbility, though not all. It might not be elegant, but it's practical. My favourite? Vintage button fillers.

I choose my pens on the merits of their nibs and adjust, accordingly, to the filling type. I can carry a small Visconti travelling inkpot in a coat pocket, a bottle of ink in my luggage, or a few cartridges (finishing them all off now).

I have one lever fill and about 10 cartridge fill, plus Varistys( Varsities?). I like the convenence of cartridges, plus my lever fill has a habit of running dry( because you cannot see the ink level and I have not yet gotten good at telling when it is about to run out of ink), I would like to try other filling mechanisims.

Twist fillers!



Seriously, I have Sheaffer Vacuum-Fillers, Eyedropper fillers, lever-fillers, twist filler, Touchdowns, Snorkels, button-fillers, vacumatics, aerometric/squeeze fillers, a lonely piston filler and cartridge/converters. Also a 1947 Webster that uses a really funky pull-piston, where you use a shaft to pull the piston back, twist the shaft and then push the shaft alone back into the pen, leaving the piston where it is. I also have a Schnell slide-flip thingy, but it isn't restored yet.

My preference is probably for the Sheaffer Vacuum-fillers, Eyedroppers, Touchdown, Twist-filler, lever-filler, button-filler - in that order, though I almost always have an Aerometric 51 or Hero 100 inked.

For travel I usually go through my current inked pens and figure out what I want to bring. I usually take one cartridge pen and some cartridges as a back-up, one big eyedropper pen, one Parker 51 or Parker 51 clone (I have a Hero 100 that is fitting the bill right now). I usually toss in a couple more pens that I just feel like - depending on the trip they may be cheapies that I don't mind taking a few risks with, like a Parker 21 or Wearever, or they may be a nice pen for formal wear, or one that I just want to use. I always have at least one ef-flex nib, and one stub. And I never worry about any of the airplane issues - I have a 4-pen case I carry and I keep it upright - never had any problems if I keep the pens upright from Eyedroppers to lever fillers.

John

EGAD! I hope you're wrong.

and that's just me.

Cartridges means forever having to use syringes/pipets to fill my pens. I don't mind that part of the time, but always and forever? What a pain.

I haven't had bad experiences with cartridges and think they can be very useful. But many inks I love come in bottles only or the pens I have use proprietary cartridges (Pilot, Sailor) and their ink color ranges leave something to be desired. IF all ink makers (including Pilot and Sailor) decided to make the same inks, i'd be less frightened by going all c/c.

The point is bottle of ink are sooo beautiful and cartridges soooo boring!!

Just kidding. The real disadvantages is - for a guy like me rotating pens weekly - that almost every brand has a propietary cartridge system: Pilot, Sailor, Diplomat, Parker, Lamy and so on. Only Italians maker and Pelikan are somehow "aligned". That would mean fill my house with small plastic cylinders: hence my choiche: if it is cartridge filler, don't panic: one converter will save me!

Cheers,

Currently I use mainly cheap European pens, a Pelikano, a cheap Sheaffer, and an Esterbrook SJ, so standered cartridges, Sheaffer Cartridges and bottled ink cover all my pens. I want to get a Sheaffer Prelude and/or a Sheaffer School pen so that I can have more than one pen with the same type of cartridges. My Bic Easy Clic takes ONLY short standered cartridges (it is currently inked with J. Herbin Violette Pensée as it is a violet pen).

The only pen I've had leak was on a cable car trip up to the top of an Alp. Must have been operator error, since the pen's behaved ever since.

I've found that my preference is a piston filler. I love Pelikan's filling system; I find it extremely easy to use & I love the ink capacity.

I too love pistons my MB is only a piston, ad my phiales has only seen the converter, but I can't help but wonder.

Oh my indeed!! I have them all and if I had to pick a single favorite it would be the Piston filler. Most have windows that you can see how good of a fill you got and how much ink is left and they have a huge ink capacity. I similarly like Parker Vacumatics for the same reasons. C/C fillers are next on my list because you can at least pull the pen body and see how much ink is left. Bladder fillers (lever, coin, hatchet, button, crescent, aerometric, snorkel, touchdown) are at the bottom of my list as you never know how much ink you got and how much is left and they never seem to hold very much ink. Of course some of my most beloved vintage pens are bladder fillers so I happily use them but I never go out with just a bladder filler without at least one pen that I know for sure how much ink is left! Oh I forgot Sheaffer Vac-u-fil, I still don't think these actually work! And I don't have any Eye Dropper fillers to give an opinion on them.

Piston is EASY to clean and holds a lot. Aero is my second in line

I have a Sheaffer Touchdown redux that fills as a Touchdown. The ink-holding unit can be removed and filled as an aerometric unit. The pen can also take cartridges. So, how do you categorize this pen?

custar

Surely you mean to say they frequently don't work. Once they're back in shape, they work brilliantly-- it's like the pen is puking in reverse: Glarp! Full!