Hi All,

I'm a college student looking to buy (invest in?) a new fountain pen. I've been writing with fountain pens for about 7-8 years now. My first pen was a cheap pen that I absolutely loved at the time, but looking back, it's not something that I'd like to write with again (not that I could tell you the brand anyway since I haven't used it in probably three years). The pen I'm currently using was another gift that my roommate brought back for me from China. It says that it's a Hero 278A, although the roommate says it could be a knockoff. I love this pen, but I'd really like to have another fountain pen, mainly because I'd like to be able to use more than one color of ink at a time. I'd really appreciate any suggestions you all can give me.

Also, if you're interested in another hero, or some other good chinese pens, check out isellpens.com, or hisnibs.com, both provide chinese pens, that i can remember off the top of my head. I bought a Wing Sung #235 from isellpens that's been a surprisingly smooth and more surprisingly semi-flexy writer for less than 10 dollars.

Here are important factors for me:

1. It has to either only use bottled ink or have a converter available (I'm not opposed to buying the converter separately, though).
2. I'd like to stay under $30 or $35
3. I have extremely small handwriting, and so I need something where my writing wont smudge together. Does that mean that I'm looking for a fine nib? Or Extra Fine? Or will some mediums be okay?
4. Weight doesn't particularly bother me, nor does length, but (I think because of my small handwriting), I'd like a really small barrel size (or at least a small circumference down where I place my fingers). At the same time, I'd like something that holds as much ink as possible since I use my fountain pen for all of my writing. I realize that having these two things together might be impossible, and I'd take small barrel size over large ink capacity.
5. I don't care over much about looks but I'd like something sleek looking if at all possible. It's the least important aspect for me.

Some pens that I've looked at include the Lamy Safari (actually I'd probably get the Vista because, well, it's pretty), the Kaweco Sport Classic, the Pelikano (but can I get these with a fine nib?), and the Pelikan Future. But, again, I'm open to any other suggestions as well. I'm also open to another Hero if it's not too expensive, but where do I find them for sale?

Thanks in advance for any help!
~Ginnie