I'm curious about how Esterbrook EF nibs compare to famed Asian* nibs like Pilot 78G's F or the Hero 237-1 Accountant XXF. I have an Esterbrook with a 9556 fine nib and I really like the line. However, I'm looking for something narrower as in a 0.4 mm line width that one can find in my favorite gel pen the Sakura Gelato 0.4.

For those of you who have the Firm 9555 EF or the Flex 9128** Ef, how do these nibs perform in terms of line width, smoothness, and flow compared to your other brands' EF's.

*Edit: Hero pens aren't Japanese, so I wish to include all Asian pens.
**I meant 9128 not 9048.

I'm a great lover of Japanese pens (I used them exclusively for a while), and like my lines to be as fine as possible, therefore I can report my delight when I found that the Esterbrook 9550 nib offers a completely satisfying line. I'm also looking forward to trying the 9128. I 'won' one on ebay this weekend. When it's received I'll post my notes on that, though other XF-XXXXF'ers on this board have had nothing but good things to say about it.

I have a couple 15XX nibs (more common versions of the 95XX nibs) and I can't write with them worth a crud. I can however use a Hero F nib pretty good and a Waterman Phileas F nib.

The 15XX nibs I have flow just fine but the lines are skinny as compared to the Hero F nib. Hope this helps a little and I have attached pics of said Hero nib, a Esterbrook 1550 (which will draw blood if your not careful) and a 9128 EF (which I can use somewhat).

I guess in short, I can use the Asian F nib easier than the Esterbrook F/EF nibs but all of them flow very well.

Thanks for the photos and the comments. I guess what I really want is something like the 9556 that I have but finer. Mine writes nicely. It's smooth yet providing some tactile feel, nice fine line variation, and has smooth flow. I'm not so interested in the non-9XXX Estie nibs as they're not Iridium tipped.

I also have a Waterman, but it's the Kultur with an F nib. It's still a little too thick for my taste. Even my Pelikan M150 with EF nib is thicker than my Estie 9556 fine nib. This is even more so with my Lamy 2000 EF. It's hard to get a standard on Western F/EF nibs and I'm just really glad that Esties may be comparable to Asian nibs which really give finer lines given the 20+ strokes in the characters they have to write with.

PS. I'd appreciate any scanned writing samples of Estie F's and EF's

Here's a scan. As said earlier, I don't yet have the 9128 to compare with. Personally, as a Japanese pen enthusiast, and someone who prefers as fine a line as possible, I've been very impressed with the 9550 nib.
Edit to add larger scan, and to say that paper is Rhodia lined.
Click to view attachment

Wow! Thanks Falika and Event Horizon for taking the time to post scans and photos. With this comparison, I'm thinking that I may have to go with either a Pilot or Sailor to get the EF I'm looking for, which is a Japanese fine point. I still like the 9550 though and will get one just to use with one of my Esties.

I was using a 9550 regularly at the time that I got a Cross Solo XF (which is really a Pilot XF), and I found the lines to be virtually indistinguishable.

-- Brian