Best And Worst Pen Purchases Of Recent Years

[Z-Tab]

Among modern pens, the Waterman Exception Night & Day stands out in my mind for design, balance, and build quality.

 

The most disappointing was a large Visconti Divina. I love the design, but I find Pd nibs to be lifeless writers and Visconti's poorly implemented captured converter filling system to be quite disappointing. Give me one of their old 14k nibs and a real piston (or even a decent c/c implementation) and I would definitely consider trying Visconti again.

[RocketRyan]

Best Delta dolce vita federico, so good for the money.

Worst Platinum cool. Thought it was a write off with the ef nib, but alot of work later it's now usable.

[Barkingpig]

Best: probably my Lamy 2000 BBBBBB with a big fat nib and incredible ink capacity and Bauhaus looks. I love it to bits. I have more expensive pens, I have more colourful pens, but this pen is just such a wonderful beast. Love it to bits.

 

Recently joined by the M400 tortoise brown with italic broad nib.

 

Worst: the monster Wing Sung 590. Was fun for a couple of days but it's just too big for me, plus the nib squeaks.

 

Did I read your Lamy 2000's nib description correctly as "6B's"? I did not even know there was such a thing! Mine is a OBB & is the broadest nib I own, I am surprised to hear about yours, is this the MAXIMUM width offered by Lamy?

[MuddyWaters]

 

Did I read your Lamy 2000's nib description correctly as "6B's"? I did not even know there was such a thing! Mine is a OBB & is the broadest nib I own, I am surprised to hear about yours, is this the MAXIMUM width offered by Lamy?

 

There is no nib on his pen. He just pushes the end of the barrel directly across the page.

 

This thread is really good, keep it up. It's nice to hear the pluses and minuses of the pen world.

[Candleinthewilderness]

Best: I love work horse pens esterbrook J , parker 21 , and waterman cf. Some oddball coldwar piston filler hooded nib like a parker I believe was from hungray.

 

 

 

Worst: many so called restored ebay nightmares.

[amk]

 

Did I read your Lamy 2000's nib description correctly as "6B's"? I did not even know there was such a thing! Mine is a OBB & is the broadest nib I own, I am surprised to hear about yours, is this the MAXIMUM width offered by Lamy?

I think it's only *officially* a BB but after tweaking by a nibmeister writes like a BBBBBB - fat, wet, slightly italic, magnificent! If you have an OBB you probably know what I'm talking about. I have a 'regular' B as well but it's nothing like as impressive as its sibling.

[Arkanabar]

Best recent purchase: Pilot Prera demonstrator, orange with CM nib. I'll tell y'all what I think of my FPR Himalaya after I use it. So far I like the balance, the form factor, and the slight bit of tack that the ebonite provides.

Less pleased with the Nemosine Singularity in Onyx Smoke with 0.6mm stub nib. The cap lip has cracked after I dropped it onto a linoleum floor a few times, and I have managed to unscrew the section from the barrel when trying to unscrew the cap from the section. It's not going to work with me in the foreseeable future.

Worst purchase ever: Noodler's Konrad Pequod's Smoke demonstrator. I love everything about this pen, except that it dries up in a few hours.

When capped.

I'll have to see about dipping the cap into some paraffin to seal it up at some point.

What a fun thread!

 

I am very new to fountain pens, but my favorite so far is a Lamy Vista, F nib. Writes so nicely and I love snap caps so I can start writing without putting my coffee down!

 

I bought a couple of Jinhao 159's that I gave away within a week - they were just too heavy for me, although they wrote quite nicely.

juulz, you might prefer the Jinhao X750; it uses the same nib and feed as the 159, but is a fair bit lighter (still rather heavy compared to a Lamy Vista).

[Calabria]

My worst pen ever was a Parker Falcon. It wrote dry, the nib was hard and blobby, and then the clip just broke off. I had to glue it back on with epoxy, and finally gave up on it. That was a long time ago, kind of like the Ford Pinto of pens.

 

I'm going to skip the years when I "collected" OMAS celluloid pens, many of which developed odd symptoms - I've had cracks, leaks, color changes, shrinkage, oxidation ... you name it. There were some good ones, too.

 

The pens I'm happiest with right now: A NOS Pelikan M800 red with a 1990s EF nib; a current M800 green with a current EF nib ... it's the most dependable pen I have. And some Sailors ... 1911 with an old-style Naginata nib, and the ProGear Imperial Black with a M nib that has a strange, almost Naginata-like geometry at the tip.

[overwriter]

Best - A Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a medium nib. I could(and often do) write all day with this thing.

 

Worst - A Sailor Pro Color in Red with a Medium nib. It is the finest medium I have ever seen. I just can't use it.

[LuckyKate]

Best: A Mozart Tribute I got for a great price. The M nib is one of those special ones, finer than the medium on my 146 and just delicious. Also it posts and is the perfect size for traveling. I find myself using it a lot out of town, for scribbling in cafes, and am very fond of it, like a gaudy little bird that's three times heavier than I would expect.

 

Worst: A Pilot MR retropop. I like the blue color and balance, but can't stand the dry scratchy F nib. It seemed like a good deal for $15.

[Zookie]

The best so far this year, a Parker 21, a Sheaffer Stylepoint, and a Wearever cartridge pen. Got them for 5USD each.

 

The worst, a pair of Serwex pens. I thought they'd be OK, but turned out to be real stinkers.

[dadbar]

The best for me was a used ST Dupont Classique (first gen) with Chinese lacquer finish. Really smooth writer and the lacquer feels very rich to the touch. I liked the pen so much that I bought matching ones in sterling silver and gold. I like these pens since I can take them to client meetings and people don't know what they are, but when I let people use them, they comment on how nice they feel. I even bought the matching rollerballs to take with me in the field and on planes. These pens really fly under the radar.

 

The worst was a Lamy 2000 with EF nib (horribly scratchy and unpleasant to write with) and a Parker Slimfold (a disappointingly mediocre scratchy writer).

[Bluey]

The worst was a Lamy 2000 with EF nib (horribly scratchy and unpleasant to write with)

I've often wondered about this because I had considered going to another supplier to get the Lamy 200 in EF, but I got the medium because it was on offer for £82 at W.H.Smith.

The nib is quite flat so I'm wondering if those people that find it scratchy do so because they write at a steep angle. If writing at a typical 45% or less angle then it should be smooth (it can't be anything other than smooth because of the shape)

[Vespagirl]

I love this thread. Since I relatively new to the FP world, I enjoy hearing everyone's takes on the different pens. There are some general trends, but, like most things, everyone has their own personal preference: one person's best is another's worst. No wonder there are so many great pens being resold.

 

I guess it is only fair for me to chime in as well. My worst is one that will remain nameless (it was a gift). Just too big and heavy/poorly balanced for long writing sessions. Unposted, it is managaby, but I have to post my pens or I will set the cap down somewhat and spend a week looking for it.

 

I also have two free pens which are simultaneously my best and worst. On cheap paper (I am a teacher and I write on cheap paper a lot), the pens literally drip ink everywhere. This is somewhat amusing when grading in red; I kept waiting for someone to call a doctor to check on me.

 

On good paper, however, they write like butter!

 

I also have an amazing Parker 51 which I cannot get enough of writing with. Unfortunately, the barrel does not fit properly, so I do not use it as much as I would like. I hope to work on getting this fixed at September's Dallas Pen Show.

 

I am holding out hope that I may soon be changing my favorite pen; I will be receiving my first Sailor pen next week. Oh, I just cannot wait to try out that nib I keep hearing about!

[Cryptos]

[dogpoet]

Sticking purely to pens in production at the moment:

 

The best (or at least the most pleasantly surprising) I've tired recently is probably the Pelikan Twist. Okay, it's a gimmicky novelty aimed at schoolkids, but it also has the same nib as the current Pelikano, looks a lot better* and is very, very comfortable in the hand due to the fat triangular section. Much better pen than it tends to be credited as, and brilliant for prolonged use, even if it does look a little toylike.

 

The worst is (of course) the Noodlers Ebonite Konrad. On paper this looks brilliant: a bigger Konrad that holds more ink and doesn't have the curious aroma of the other Noodlers pens because it's made out of hard rubber rather than recycled resin stuff? Sadly, it adds a range of new issues to the traditional failings of the Konrad, and ends up as an even worse pen due to the added hassle of tracking down a limited edition and the added expense of paying for one. Bleah.

 

*(YMMV, obviously)

[pajaro]

Best purchase has been a black Sheaffer Imperial Dolphin with gold nib and gold filled cap, EF for about $11 on ebay. A cartridge pen that I refill cartridges for. A perfect writer obviating the need for most other pens I have. All the Sheaffer Imperials I have bought recently are the best pens, followed very closely by several Sheaffer school pens I have bought. These pens stand up as just about as good as the Parker 51s and Montblancs I have had for some years.

 

The worst purchase was a MB 146 that skipped for a long time until Danny Fudge of The Write Pen straightened it out. It now writes perfectly, but in the proceess I realized that medium nibs are too much for me, so it is on ebay. Bad because of all the hassle I went through flushing the pen out, etc., thinking some crud must have gotten into it. Turned out well in the end, because I followed someone else's recommendation and sent it to someone who made it perfect.

[PorterPie]

Best: Pilot Prera. Nib is medium but writes more like Fine. Smooth. Nice secure snap-on cap. I got the squeeze converter so the main drawback is not knowing when it will run out.

Worst: Parker IM. It dries up in minutes with the cap on. It's not supposed to be airtight but it's just ridiculous how easily air passes through. I was going to try paraffin on the inside of the cap to seal it better.

[tonybelding]

BEST: Sheaffer Targa, sterling silver, 14K F nib. I found this at the Dallas Pen Show, and it was not cheap ($200+) for a semi-vintage pen. It was worth it. It's got everything: smooth and expressive semi-flex nib, cap that snaps on with exactly the right tension, posts perfectly, sleek shape that clips into the pen loop of my vest perfectly to go anywhere, the subdued look of tarnished silver (I never polish it), easy to fill, fits my hand perfectly, etc., etc. I feel like I unwittingly stumbled across The Holy Grail.

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/pens/targa/sterling_silver_targa_02.jpg

 

WORST: TWSBI Vac 700. I thought this was going to be the ultimate, but then came the cracked and broken parts, plus chronic ink flow problems with two of these pens. Even though there's much to like about them, I don't feel like I personally can trust a TWSBI again.

Edited January 25, 2017 by tonybelding

[eyesa]

Best overall experience in pen buying? A red striated Pelikan M400, with an F nib. It was my first big purchase and the seller was a sympathetic pen person, taking time to answer all my questions and made me feel comfortable and happy with my purchase.

Worst? Kaweco sport, skippy, scratchy medium nib, cheap feeling, ill-fitting in the hand and uncomfortable. Not a good fit all around. Judging by other positive reviews, it might have just been bad luck with my individual pen. I also memorably purchased a Noodler's Ahab with a flex nib. I just could never get the hang of it.

Edited January 25, 2017 by eyesa