Nice Snap Cap Pens

[Maurizio]

I'm trying to help someone in my office find a good fountain pen. She says she prefers a snap cap. My knowledge is not encyclopedic by any means. I know the Japanese make one or 2 nice snap caps, but can't recall which ones at moment. Thought this was a perfect question for the collective wisdom here.

 

So can you folks please give me some suggestions for decent snap cap fountain pens both Japanese and European?

 

Thanks for the help.

[chromantic]

Platinum Plaisir is nice, it's like a Preppy except it has metal barrel and cap instead of plastic and comes in a variety of colors. Very smooth writer, .3 F or .5 M nib, can let it sit for ever and it'll start right up; uses proprietary cartridges, though (or a converter). Starting ~$11 on ebay. I have the "Akajiku" version, which is just red barrel and black cap, as opposed to matching cap and barrel of regular Plaisir.

[Betweenthelines]

Pilot metro and Lamy 2000 are my favorite snap cap pens.

[jar]

Many Waterman pens; Preface, Gentleman, Man 100 & Man 200, Opera ...

 

Parker "51", 45 "61" & "75".

Edited January 12, 2017 by jar

[aderoy]

Don't forget about Cross Apogee and Townsend.

FaberCastell also have a number of snap cap fp's

Caran d'Ache Ecridor

Platinum 3776 Briarwood (or cousin Nakaya version) most excellent in hand if I do say so

 

Way too many to list

[Sailor Kenshin]

Platinum Plaisir is nice, it's like a Preppy except it has metal barrel and cap instead of plastic and comes in a variety of colors. Very smooth writer, .3 F or .5 M nib, can let it sit for ever and it'll start right up; uses proprietary cartridges, though (or a converter). Starting ~$11 on ebay. I have the "Akajiku" version, which is just red barrel and black cap, as opposed to matching cap and barrel of regular Plaisir.

 

And if you have enough different Plaisirs, you can play that game yourself.

 

Lately, I've had a thing for the Pilot Prera. Talk about color!

[majolo]

Pilot Prera is my favorite cap mechanism. Smooth, secure, satisfying click. Less force to uncap than Metropolitan or Preppy (haven't compared to a Plaisir), but quite secure feeling.

[Jamesbeat]

Many of the Chinese pens (Jinhao, Baoer etc) are quite nice and almost all of them have snap on caps.

 

They are an inexpensive way to get started, but be aware that the snap on inner cap will probably split eventually.

 

Someone described them as 'semi-disposable' because of this problem, and I think that's a good way to look at it, but I have had a couple in daily use for over a year and they're still ok.

 

 

I just thought I'd suggest this as another avenue to explore.

Many of the less expensive brand name pens with snap on caps look like student pens, which may or may not appeal to your colleague.

 

If money is not an issue, I would definitely second the suggestion above of a Parker "51".

It is one of the very best pens in the world in my opinion, and will last a lifetime if looked after properly.

[sandy101]

Faber Castell Loom

 

Anything by Cross - the Century and Townsend are fine.

 

Parker & Waterman have a wide range - Hemisphere, Sonnet, Perspective & more

 

Lamy Studio or Lamy 2K

 

Visconti Rembrandt

 

Mont Blanc 254.

 

Platinum have a range

 

Pelikan Stola III.

[dennis_f]

St Dupont... They all close with a nice audible "click!".

[jar]

St Dupont... They all close with a nice audible "click!".

Except of course for the Montparnasse family and St Germain line; they are threaded cap.

[Maurizio]

Thanks folks. A good bunch of pens from which to creat a nice shopping list of pens to try at the store. Our ofiice is close to Fountain Pen Hospital and we may take a lunch hour trip there soon.

[dennis_f]

Except of course for the Montparnasse family and St Germain line; they are threaded cap.

I did not know that about those two lines. Thank you Jar.

 

Also, aren't some of the Graf Von Fabers (the guilloche line, I believe) snap cap? Or would it be more accurate to call those "push cap" (in that they don't really snap into place).

[jar]

I did not know that about those two lines. Thank you Jar.

 

Also, aren't some of the Graf Von Fabers (the guilloche line, I believe) snap cap? Or would it be more accurate to call those "push cap" (in that they don't really snap into place).

Yup, it is a snap or slide on cap. Also the GvFC Intuition family are snap caps.

Edited January 13, 2017 by jar

[Mister5]

+1 for the Platinum Plaisir. If you don't like the nib on it it, you can buy a Preppy and swap it out on the cheap. I plugged an extra fine nib from a Preppy on a gunmetal Plaisir and it's my knockaround pen.

The Platinum Balance is also nice, though at a higher price point.

[arrScott]

Lamy Safari: The best snap-cap pen I've used. Affordable, reliable, consistent, delightful color options.

 

Jinhao X750: Second best snap-cap pen I've owned, I've had some hard-starting nibs in Jinhao, and one came with a bad cap seal. But at the price, you can buy two and count on one to be a throwaway and it's still a terrific value, and a sturdy everyday knockabout pen. And the spare probably will be just fine.

 

Visconti Michelangelo & Van Gogh: Not technically a snap-cap, and pricy. But the magnetic cap is my favorite pen cap, and the acrylic colors are among my favorite pens,

[Arkanabar]

+1 on both the Platinum Plaisir and the Pilot Prera; I have both.

 

The Platinum cartridge can be refilled with a polypropylene 3ml disposable pipette. This may be preferable to the Platinum converter, which needs greasing with pure silicone grease to last very long. There is also an adapter allowing Platinum c/c pens to use international cartridges and converters. My wife picked up and tried her Plaisir after leaving it in a pen roll for months, and it wrote on the first stroke. I had one I used for markup, which meant a LOT of capping and uncapping, and it caps less firmly now than the one I got a couple of years later.

 

The Prera usually comes with a Pilot CON-50 converter, which is a piston-action converter that works well in my experience. Pilot's cartridges can be refilled with any eyedropper, once the little cap is pulled out from it. At times, this one has dried out on me, after a week or so of neglect.

 

As these are Japanese pens, their fines write XF, and their mediums write fine. I recommend the mediums for western writers. Or possibly a stub; demonstrator Preras can be had with a 1mm CM (Calligraphy Medium) nib, which is also available on the (screw-cap) Pilot Plumix.

 

I also have had good luck with a Rotring Surf, Parker "51" aerometric (which often do not require refurbishing to make workable), and Jinhao Bulow 750. Others may recommend Sheaffer TipDip Imperials and/or Cadets.

 

I don't like the Lamy Safari. I think the grip section is too narrow, and the facets not only make it even narrower, but also make me hold it in an uncomfortable way. The same section is used on several of Lamy's other pens -- Al-Star, Vista, and Joy, and also the Jinhao 599 (available for 1/10 the price of the Safari). But lots of people love this pen, and your friend may be one of them.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Arkanabar

[Ada]

+ 1 for the Prera; I have several. The snap caps work very well and they are good dpendable writers.

 

The Waterman Expert 2 is a snap cap and writes very smoothly; I haven't tried the current version of the Expert though.

 

I'd give the Cross Apogee and Waterman Perspective a miss, however. I have both, and they are pretty pens but I'm not impressed by the quality control on either of mine.

[TMLee]

http://www.franklin-christoph.com/model-20-marietta.html

[antichresis]

The Prera has the best snap cap I have ever tried.