I am interested in getting a larger pen for daily journal writing. I have fairly large hands and am looking for something failry good size without going to an oversize pen. I would like something somewhat understate in appearance, "well balanced" not to heavy, and has a very smooth medium nib. Ideally I would prefer a piston or lever fill. So far the three pens that look good to me are:

Pelikan 800/805
Sailor 1911
Filcoa Atlantica

Any comments/experience with these pens would be appreciated.

Any other suggestion for similar sized pens in roughly the same price range?

Thanks

Jim

Jim, any of those three would work fine for daily journal writing. But for about the same price, you could get a Dani-trio Ban-ei. It's a hand made pen, a bit larger than the Pelikan 800, but in the light side. Talking about understatement, besides the clip, and the cap's ring, you get a pen made of plain black, urushi-coated ebonite with an unadorned 14k nib. The added plus is that they are really limited edition pens. When the the 200 made are gone, will be gone for good.

Jim, I forgot to mention that the Ban-ei is an eyedropper, and hold a lot of ink.

Can't go wrong with any of those choices:)

May I suggest that you consider the Omas Ogiva ? Comes in several variations, most of which fall into the same price range as the Pelikan 800 series. I have used an Ogiva Vision with the so-called high tech finish (i.e. transparent body with silver colored trim) for several years and thought it was the bargain of the Omas line (got it for about $170). If you don't like demonstrators, the Ogiva comes in several very conservative finishes, ranging from black/silver, black/gold, to a very beautiful "autumno" celluloid. It's quite large, but comfortable, light, and well-balanced in hand posted or unposted. All variants are piston fillers with an very large ink reserve and the nib is the equal of my far more expensive Omas Arco or Extra Lucens LE.

Good luck on your choice !
Ken

Depends on how comfortable you are with the zen-like approach to an Eyedropper. I love it because it slows me down. But if you live a hurried life and demands that pen write like a workhorse and on demand, then you will not like ED in general since they need time to warm up.

So fast-pace life :
Pelikan M800 (writes on demand even after prolonged storage)
Also consider M1000. I confirm that it is a myth that this pen is heavy and big. In my small hands, it feel no different than a M800. But the nib on the M1000 is much better if you like springy smooth (M1000) Vs smooth firm (M800) nibs.

I have sold my M800 and waiting to take in a M1000 because I like the nib of the M1000 much better after trying it in person.

Not sure about Sailor since the US Distributor is in the middle of re-organization.
Sailor nibs (Med and up) are glassy smooth. Never like their FINE which has tooth. But they are boring nibs to me, maybe because they are too firm (?)

Not sure if the Filcao is steel nib or gold nib. But it never got my attention.
If it is steel nib, then Filcao's steel nibs are pretty smooth.

Leisurely Journal Writing:
1. Dani Trio Eye dropper e.g. Ban-ei, raw ebonite series, urushi series.
2. Conway Stewart 100 : but CS has inconsistent quality control problem, my 100 did not have a flow issue but my Churchill is 1/2 bad and needed professional ink flow tweak.
3. Modern Duofold Centennial
4. OMAS Paragon or Bologna or 360 (if you can handle the comfortable triangular shape)

Enjoy !

The pens with about the same size and weight that I have good experience with are:

Pelikan M800
Sheaffer Legacy II
Sheaffer Balance II
Visconti Skelaton
Lamy Personna
Waterman Carene
vintage Parker Duofold Senior

Other sexy pens that I have had more on/off luck with are:
Waterman Liaison (fixed now)
Bexley Ebonite and Equipoise (now perfect)

I think your shortlist can’t be complete without the Montblanc 146...

Don't rule out a Parker Duofold Centennial.

Also consider:
Aurora Optima
Stipula Etruria
Conway Stewart Duro or Churchill

Martin

Here are my preferences based on the pens I have used.

Pens I have found that work flawlessly and have extra smooth nibs include the Waterman Medium carene and the Montblanc 146 Medium. Get the Medium nibs for a pleasant medium line and total smoothness.

If you go with a MB 149 and you want a firm and very smooth nib, get one made in the last ten years and get a Fine. It will write like a medium and be very smooth. People like to pick on MB but start talking to users and you will find that the pens work well and write smoothly.

I like Pelikans. The 800's I have have smooth nibs but not really glassy smooth. Some people want the nib to write like a soapy finger on wet glass, and others want it to write like a wet finger on smooth paper. Just depends.

The Pelikan 1000 nib is a lot more fun than the 800 nib. However, the 1000 nib flows like a demon, and if you get a Medium 1000 nib it will gush all over with even the slightest pressure. So if your hand in moderate to heavy touch-wise, this nib may well not be for you.


Duofolds are nice but nib smoothness varies greatly from pen to pen. I have eight of them and they have come with nibs that are wonderful all the way down to terrible nibs. On the other hand, I bought a duofold mosaic and the nib was really bad and I sent it to Richard Binder and it is now one of my favorite nibs. He made it very smooth and very tolerant of angle of attack, by which I mean I write fast and tend to turn the nib here and there when I write and so I needed a nib that was not fussy about the angle at which it was held.

The funny thing about having nibs smoothed is that the it does not seem to be a gigantic, costly effort and so one wonders why the **** fountain pen companies can't get it done better in the factor.


Bexley makes a smooth nib. I have had a few that skipped and had to go back but their service is good and fast. A smooth Bexley medium would be a really nice pen. I have an Americana and it is a dream writer.


The smoothest medium nib I have used is the steel nib made by Dani trio. I know this sounds crazy. It produces a full-bodied medium that is a little wet but it is very smooth on the paper and tolerant of which kind of paper you use, unlike say my Waterman Liaison nib that is smooth only on good paper. Maybe email Winedoc and ask what he has available with a steel nib? He may have a large alphaplus or some such pen kicking around for a darn good price with a steel nib. I am not affiliated with winedoc but am a happy customer.


A FIlcao Leader would be a good pen with a smooth nib. Great service from Filcao, and if you buy from Richard Binder he tunes the pen before mailing it.



Conklin nibs are usually glassy smooth. Some people have had issues with them, but I have one of their nozacs and it is glass smooth and works fine.


The waterman Phileas is a superb inexpensive pen with a smooth, full medium.



All recommendations based on my limited experiences. Enjoy JC

WOW! Thanks for all the posts and info - a lot to consider! Somehow I will muddle through!

Jim!

I love my Ban-ei but they are no longer made and they are becoming harder and harder to find.

I second the OMAS Ogiva!! They are great pens with an 18 kt gold nib and it comes in either HT High Tech (silver trim) or GT Gold trim. They have use a piston filling system, ebonite feed. The pen is a full size pen but not an OS pen. They are wonderful writers and easy on the pocket book

A platinum Very Presidential are wonderful pens for the money. A cross between a MB and a Sailor!! Starting to become harder to find after the US distributer is no more.

Well foks - I made a decision, and the pen is on the way!

If you want to know what I decided to get skip to the end of the message. I thought some folks might be interested in how I decided what to do so this message is a little long!

A lot of great choices out there, and a bunch of great reccomendations. In addition I have been reading pen reviews left and right! The information I got from reviews and here let me know that there are a bunch of great writing pens out there that fit my needs. As I have always admired Italian design and culture, and since I currently have no Italian pens, I decided that I would concentrate on the Italian pens out there that fit my criteria. This eliminated many fine pens, I admit, but that just leaves possiblities for the future!

I went back through the list and reviews concentrating on the Italian pens, and the Omas pens kept 'popping' up. Great style, and good reviews - I was getting close. In further looking I had settled on either the Paragon or the Ogiva Guilloche.

Now it was just a matter of where to buy the pen. I thought about going up to WorldLux in Seatle to look at pens and pick one up and even got a price quote from them. In the end I decided to purchase the pen through nibs.com. I liked the idea that the pen would be pressure tested and the nib adjusted for me. Since the most important thing to me was how the pen would write it seemed like having the pen 'tweaked' would be worthwhile.

I called the folks at nibs.com and was very pleased with the experience. Pat answered the phone and gave me price quotes on the two pens. The Ogiva Guilloche GFT was on sales (as was a very pretty Paragon Venice Blue GFT.) I decided to go with the Ogiva because I really like the way the pen looks. The lower price was atractive as well! Pat then passed me over to John Mottishaw who took down my information and talked to me about my writing pressure and what kind of flow I wanted so he could tune the nib.

I was very impressed with both Pat and John, and I am looking forward to having my new pen next week!


For those who want the short and sweet version I settled on the Omas Ogiva Guilloche!

Jim

I would add one more pen to the various suggestions.

Cross Townsend.

I just got one recently and it is a fairly heavy, yet well balanced pen. I have a steel nib on mine and it is very smooth and a pleasure to write with.

I think Cross fountain pens are underrated and underappreciated.

Good luck.

Matt C.

My Ogiva has arrived! Showed up in today's UPS shipment! What a beautiful pen! Weight and balance seem superb! I have yet to actually ink the pen, but will report back when I do!

Jim