I love to buy expensive pens but after getting my Duke Bamboo I must admite that value doesnt mean a pen writes better.
The nib on my Duke is very small and very simple,its a simple steel nib but it is simply a pleasure to write with and thuse proving to me that value has not connection to the way a pen writes so I chose the second option.

i'm with you, but i have to admit i don't own very expensive pens. my most expensive is a Sheaffer Valor someone gave me as a gift. i have a couple of dukes and they write superbly, specially the dream-world with a steel nib.

I think an expensive pen may be like staying in a five-star hotel. Sometimes it's a luxurious, breathtaking experience and sometimes it's a disappointment.

To this day, whenever I want a long-haul pen for taking notes or traveling, I grab one of my (originally) $3.99 Sheaffer school pens (the slim, squared off at the cap and bottom sort, not the fat sort). Writing with it and my $7.99 Kaigelu is pure heaven.

But then, I've been told the luxury pens are smooth as butter to write with, while I need a bit more scratchy experience. So, I guess it's all in the eye of the purchaser?

Writing with the pen is about the total experience.
I love writing with my Lamys because they're fun, colourful, and write well. But when I write with my Omas, or Stipula, it's about the total experience, the look, weight and feel of the pen adds to the total experience.
I suppose it's like driving a car: any car will get you from A to B and well. Cheaper cars are often fun and stylish and still take you to the right place, but get in that Alfa in your picture....

By the way, the poll needs a third section, the way it writes is part of the experience.

I like youstruckgold's take on the total writing experience. I have found that a large number of inexpensive pens write excellently. Some of my more expensive pens do offer a more rounded experience mixing writing excellence with choice materials and aesthetics. But retail cost and writing ability do not necessarily correspond.

I must admit I whole heartly agree with you guys that its all about the total experiance not just the nib.Saying that I still must tell you when it comes down to writing my Duke will write and excite almost like a 1000$ pen.
So I still think that its not about the total value but about the basic design of the pen and of course how it writes.Some of the cheap Chenes pens or to that matter cheap pens from anywhere else can simply leave you amazed how well they write for so little money.

I don't think that anyone would seriously try to defend the ridiculous notion that price and "how a pen writes" are directly correlated. That's just silly.

Now, what a pen writes, that's a whole other ballgame. Heck, it's a whole different sport.

More expensive pens write more interesting, smarter, and funnier things that cheaper pens. They also write neater. This is because people who choose to invest in expensive pens are more interesting, smarter, funnier, and better looking than people who do not choose to spend money on expensive pens.

But that's obvious.

Seems to make no difference to me. A well made pen does not have to cost you an arm and a leg. My MB Meisterstueck writes as well as well as my Diplomat at $50.00. How much money the pen cost has nothing to do with it.

That's all in the head.



......Stani

I have $7 pens that write as well as my $200-$500 pens. The hundreds of dollars are spent for aesthetics and lux, not function or nib performance.

That said, all the pens I use for personal writers have been tuned, either by myself or Richard Binder. The chances of getting a great out-of-box performance goes up with the $$$ you spend (to an extent), but just about any pen that is manufactured with some semblance of quality can be made to write well. The 1745 is an excellent example, perhaps the example, of an under $20 pen that can run with the best of them.

Spoken like a true retailer! ... and a phenomenally good looking one with extraordinary insight!

I voted don't know/other, because my answer is other. The VALUE of a pen is directly attributable to how a pen writes. A pen which does not write has zero value, as a pen; as a work of art maybe, but not as a pen. That being established, the COST of a pen has little or no bearing on how a pen writes. My best writers cost half what my Parker 51 cost, and all write better than the 51. I have a limited budget, and the Parker 51s I have are the most expensive pens I have purchased.

I have never used a pen which sells for $100 or more, so I cannot speak to the high dollar pens ability to write, but that has been discussed extensively on this board, and I defer to the wisdom of the evaluators. The reviews do bear out my statement that cost has little if any bearing on how a pen writes.

Donnnie

I agree with you guys, that it is the total experience not just the nib that is important.

One of my first pens, a Waterman Laureat has a dream nib on it and I just love the way it writes. However I much prefer the feel of my Sheaffer Heritage which makes for a whole different writting experience. The Sheaffer just fits my hand perfectly with a good weight to it, the thickness is just right and the nib is pretty good too.

The person wielding the pen is the most important component in writing.

This is a subject close to my heart..... I have had serious money in some pens and been dissapointed, no disgusted, as to how far short of even mediocre performing these pens have fell.

No manufacturer is free from blame in this. I have now turned to nib tuners to get the pen to how it should perform rather than cross my fingers and hope it is ok when I buy it. Why the hell I should send nibs over to the USA just to get them tweaked is truly beyond me but its a labour of love thing the pen hobby so I except it but friends in various walks of life just dont understand my tolerance when it comes to shoddy writing expensive pens.

My last YOL Viceroy Grand in Victorian finish was that bad it was, in the end, funny and gets told many times when in non-pen people company. Yard O Led by the way has great customer back up and take a great interest when their products go wrong but come on so they should !! After the third, thats 3rd, nib/ink feed replacement I decided to call it a day with YOL and sold it to a workmate. I will never forget seeing him at work one day with a 4 inch ink patch in one of his designer shirt pockets.......we still speak but the YOL subject is never talked about, it went on its way again via e-bay and no doubt somewhere it keeps proffesional dry cleaners in business.

I've paid a $1 and I've paid $1000. It's true that the more expensive pens tend to preform better than the cheaper models, but some of my favourites are Chinese cheapies. It's often the ink and the paper that makes the difference.

Thats one helerious story.
Thank you for sharing it.Oh remind me not to buy YOL if I ever decide to buy one.