Cheap Ink Cartridges

[Bibliophage]

For me, 'cheap' is more important than some ephemeral quality, some je ne sais quoi, about the tone. As I've said before, I spend most of my time writing on copy paper (time sheets tracking jobs), rather than fine quality notebooks. As long as the ink lasts a few years in the dark (filed away), and it's not running like a cheap felt tip marker, I'm good. In fact, I prefer the ink to flow a bit more freely, so that I don't feel the nib scratching away at the paper as I quickly note down what I've been doing.

 

I would not be surprised, however, to find that the cartridges come from the same plant in Slovakia used for Sheaffer, Thorntons, and who know how many other brands.

[bob_hayden]

Ink Cartridges from Zambia

 

Why not?  The heading on the eBay listing is

 

Disposable Blue & Black Fountain Pen Ink Cartridge Refills Fountain Pen Refills

You get 40 for $5.99 which is a good price.  You can get black, blue, or 20 of each.    The listing says the seller is in Shenzhen, China, but the ink arrived from Zambia (in about two weeks).  The cartridges have a nipple to match international cartridges, but the body of the cartridge is longer and thinner (and so may not fit inside the body of every pen expecting short internationals).

 

I got back ink.  It is about par for the course for black ink from a pen manufacturer -- not a gourmet hyper-black but not washed out either.  I see no traces of any color but black and neutral grey.     I tried five cartridges in seven pens.  In two I could never get the ink to flow but in the other five it took a while to start but then flowed freely.  So I put the non-flowing cartridges in different pens and they worked.

 

These are certainly an option and at the bottom of the price scale but I would prefer to buy from "majus" who is a highly reliable source of highly reliable cartridges which are actually slightly cheaper than these and more colors are available.  Here is the title for just one of his many current listings. 

 

200 Fountain Pen Ink Cartridges, Refills ( you pick from from 9 colors

[bob_hayden]

12 colors from Aihao

 

These cartridges come in packages of 12, one of each color.  They fit the Hero plastic Safari clone, which is to say most current inexpensive pens from China.  Their main claim to fame is the variety of colors -- quite uncommon in cartridges to fit such pens. 

 

A while back I bought some CHREN cartridges on eBay that looked nearly identical to these.  I liked those and hoped to buy some more but received these instead.  This type of cartridge has a plug in the closed end that is usually color-coded to tell you what color ink is inside -- a nice touch.  The codes on these were exactly the same as the CHRENs but the inks were slightly different.  Both were coded for a dark green and a light green.  That is what you get from CHREN, but from Aihao the dark green was a medium green and the "light" green was a dark green -- darker than the CHREN dark green.  The other difference was with orange.  The CHREN was a bright orange reminiscent of fluorescent highlighters.  It was a nice color but not readable enough to use for a one-page letter.  The Aihao orange is a duller pumpkin color that I was not crazy about but it is much more legible.  Some folks on FPN are paying top dollar for similar shades of gourmet orange ink so they may want to check this out. 

 

Functionally, it was hard to get ink flowing from these cartridges.  I did manage in all but one case.  When I moved the balky cartridge to another pen it worked fine.  The new pen was a Parker so these might be an option for some Parker's or Lamy's though the different shape may mean you cannot fit these in the bodies of those other pens. (They will not fit in a Parker Beta for example.)

 

I prefer CHREN but do not see any available right now.  These re inexpensive and I am not aware of any other place you can find such a range of colors in cartridges for the pens these fit.

 

eBay listing title

 

12Pcs multi-color ink Cartridges Refill Universal design ink pen Fountain X7E3

[bunnspecial]

Back around the first of the year, I bought 60 cartridges of Pelikan Royal Blue for around $20 on Amazon. That will last me a long time since I don't use many cartridges, but it's good(if boring) Pelikan ink that I'm not afraid to put in any pen.

 

These came carded with 6 packs of 5 on one card. The $20 bought two cards.

 

Poking around a bit, I've also seen jars of 100 Pelikan cartridges that, if in stock, run about $30. I'm GUESSING that those are targeted at the school/education market.

[ParramattaPaul]

I have Platignum and  Waterman cartridges in unopened, original packaging that I bought last century.  Why do I have a supply of such old cartridges?  Because I found converters so much more convenient use, and they allow me to use a greater variety of inks.

[bob_hayden]

bunnspecial, where are you located?  I have hard about such big tubs of loose cartridges being available in Europe but rarely see them in the US (or the prices are not competitive).  Where I am (US of A) the German cartridges from "majus" are about 1/3 the price of those Pelikans (in quantities of 200).  Not sure how to put a price on the brand name but as this thread is about cheap cartridges I tend to list the cheapest I can find.

[bob_hayden]

ParramattaPaul, these days I use mostly bottled inks, but back before I retired I favored cartridges because spares were so much easier to carry in my pocket that a two-ounce (glass) bottle of the same ink.  In any case, the thread is about cheap cartridges so I direct my posts at people interested in same.

[bob_hayden]

Gelisi red ink cartridges for cheap Chinese pens

 

These fit the many Chinese pens that take the same cartridges as the Hero plastic Safari clones.  That was a new non-Western style of cartridge a few years ago that now dominates the market in China.  While pens that take these cartridges are plentiful on eBay, cartridges that fit those pens have at times been hard to come by, especially if you want a color not a variation on blue or black.  These are less than $9 for 50 which is a bit cheaper than CHREN or Aihao assortments, and of course to be preferred if you want all red ink.  The Gelisi brand name appeared on the cartridges I received but not in the eBay listing.  Here is the eBay listing title:

 

50x Fountain Pen Ink Cartridges Sac Refill Calligraphy Writing Stationery School

The seller is in China but the ink was mailed from the West coast of the US of A. It took a little over two weeks to reach me on the East coast.

 

They seem fine to me. The red is a bit on the pale side but closer to a true red than many Chinese inks which tend toward orange or pink.  (The CHREN and Aihao are even paler.)

 

If you want red ink cartridges for the pens these fit they are the best deal I know of.  The one I am testing is in a Parker Frontier and that seems to be working fine and opens the door to cartridges for (some) Parker pens that cost much less than Parker brand.  However, Parker cartridges often leak in the pens these fit so compatibility is still under study.  For that application these are available in blue, black, and a "deep blue" that looks like blue-black to me.  (I do not think these would fit in a Parker Beta or Vector.)

[ParramattaPaul]

2 hours ago, bob_hayden said:

ParramattaPaul, these days I use mostly bottled inks, but back before I retired I favored cartridges because spares were so much easier to carry in my pocket that a two-ounce (glass) bottle of the same ink.  In any case, the thread is about cheap cartridges so I direct my posts at people interested in same.

Ta Bob.  Yes, cartridges are more convenient for portability. Being retired, that isn't as much of an issue as it was.

 

The one question I have about cheap cartridges that you perhaps can answer is whether there is any appreciable difference in the inks used in the cheaper cartridges?  I ask this because I have only ever used platginum and Waterman cartridges.

[bob_hayden]

If I detect any problems with these cartridges I report them here, but I only see what comes up in normal use.  I do not do any procedures meant only to test the inks.  I recall that years ago when the Thornton inks were being clearanced at ridiculously low prices I had a lot of trouble with their cartridges for Parker/Lamy.  Most every pen I put the black ones in became incredibly hard to start every time I picked it up.  I noted that some of the cartridges I tried recently were very slow to start initially, but it is too soon to say if that behavior will continue.  I should probably also say that all were tried in pens that had been cleaned, dried, and stored for a while so one would normally expect it to take time for ink to make its way down to the tip of the nib.  I do keep records of what I put in what pen and if one combination acts up I can go see what ink is inside. 

 

I have no way to test for fading over the years so for checks and legal documents I used bottled Koh-I-Noor document ink which is actually very reasonably priced.

[ParramattaPaul]

7 minutes ago, bob_hayden said:

If I detect any problems with these cartridges I report them here, but I only see what comes up in normal use.  I do not do any procedures meant only to test the inks.  I recall that years ago when the Thornton inks were being clearanced at ridiculously low prices I had a lot of trouble with their cartridges for Parker/Lamy.  Most every pen I put the black ones in became incredibly hard to start every time I picked it up.  I noted that some of the cartridges I tried recently were very slow to start initially, but it is too soon to say if that behavior will continue.  I should probably also say that all were tried in pens that had been cleaned, dried, and stored for a while so one would normally expect it to take time for ink to make its way down to the tip of the nib.  I do keep records of what I put in what pen and if one combination acts up I can go see what ink is inside. 

 

I have no way to test for fading over the years so for checks and legal documents I used bottled Koh-I-Noor document ink which is actually very reasonably priced.

Ta Mate.