Newbie Looking For Affordable Fountain Pen

[MCAntunes]

Hi guys!
I bought a Platinum Preppy 03 to try fountain pens for the first time. I liked it so I'm looking for a new smoother and sturdier fountain pen to become my everyday pen, mainly for school.
My budget is around 25€ including a converter (if necessary) and without ink.

I like fine, but not to fine nibs as I write a bit small and I do lots of diagrams and graphs. I also would like for the pen to show sheen and shading as I started discovering this new world.

I've been looking a the Kaweco Classic Sport EF and F and the Pilot Metropolitan F and M.

The Kaweco I can get a local store for 22€ and the Metropolitan I have to buy through eBay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/282714201286?ul_noapp=true).

I don't like the triangular shape of the lower end of Lamy pens.

I'd like to know your opinion about this.

 

Thank you,

Miguel

 

[RocketRyan]

I would go for the Kaweco personally, i find it more comfortable.

[akrohn2010]

The Metro is a fine choice. I have not tried a Kaweco but many seem to like them.

 

The main complaints about the Metro I hear is the section is narrow and has a sharp step down which is tough for larger hands or if you hold the pen up higher (it does not bother me at all).

 

One other option I would suggest is a Nemosine - the Singularity is very inexpensive and the Neutrino is nice if you prefer a metal pen. The main draw of a Nemosine would be the nibs. If you like sheen and shading get a medium nib or a stub if you feel adventurous (I would avoid broad or a stub above 1.0 mm since you write small) The Metro comes with a 1.0 stub option and the Nemosine has 0.6 and 0.8 stubs. All come with converters.

 

Personally the consistent quality control of Pilot and durability of a Metro would make it a better first pen but just my opinion.

 

Good luck and welcome to FPN!

 

~AK

Edited March 15, 2018 by AK-47

[wastelanded]

Penbbs 323, punches about 20,000 feet above its weight. The black acrylic feels very expensive.

[Runnin_Ute]

How about a TWSBI Eco? Under $30 USD with nibs in EF, F, M, B and 1.1 stub. Goulet sells it for $28.99 USD - that is what 23 euros or so? Piston filler.

[ErrantSmudge]

I was just going to recommend the TWSBI Eco, but Runnin_Ute beat me to it.

 

One huge advantage of the Eco over the Metropolitan is its ink capacity. The Eco is a piston filler that holds a huge amount of ink. The Pilot Metropolitan, as with most Pilots, has a smallish converter that doesn't hold much ink even in comparison to other C-C pens.

[stevekolt]

I agree with all the above But I would definitely give the Nemosine a try. In my opinion the nib options just make it the winner. I currently have 2 inked up on my desk. Both are clear demonstrators, one with a .6mm stub nib inked with R&K Alt.-Goldgrun, and the other has an .8 mm stub inked with Diamine Ancient Copper. As far as I know they are the only pens offered with these nib sizes.

[senzen]

I have a Metro in medium and a Kaweco Sport in fine; both have nice nibs, the Metro's seems of higher quality: I gently pressed on the Metro's and it became a bit wetter, I did the same with the kaweco and it bent, one feels made of steel, the other of tin.

 

The Kaweco converter is a nightmare, but I can save you the long and painful road: should you get it, also buy some silicone grease, take the converter apart and grease it up, it will save you endless bangings of the head. The Metro is a more reliable choice, but I since don't care for the included squishy type, I got a con-50.

 

With respect to design, which is of course subjective, to me the Metro looks nice in any colour as long as its black, Kaweco offers many more options. I was kindly given the black checkered model, it's not my most beautiful pen, to put it kindly.

[holgalee]

Hi Miguel, I'm a fan of affordable fountain pens, so I was glad you asked a good question. Although I own a number of Japanese fountain pens, I've recently ventured into Chinese pens. There are some really decent ones being manufactured by some companies that are excellent value for money. My top recommendations for students, or anyone looking for inexpensive pens with huge ink capacity are:

 

-Penbbs 309 or 323. The 309 is a piston filler which looks and feels a lot nicer than a Twsbi Eco to me. The 323 is a clipless pen but I like the shape of the pen and its section very much. It can be converted into an eyedropper. Penbbs pens sold on Ebay come with Asian F sized nibs (slightly finer than most European or American EF nibs) in size 6, a very small number of models and colours are available on Taobao (the Chinese version of Amazon) with Asian EF nibs. Search the FPN Chinese forum, reddit fountain pens and YouTube for more information about Penbbs pens.

 

-Caliarts Ego 2. Also a piston filler, with clear feed and piston mechanism. Its dimensions are quite similar to that of the Twsbi Eco but it looks a lot more sleek and refined. Comes with two nib sizes in the tin, spare O rings and a wrench in case you want to take apart the piston mechanism. The pen is a lot more sturdy than it looks and is easily one of my favourites for its high value compared to price.

 

-Moonman M2. This is an eyedropper pen, the successor to the very popular Lecai eyedropper. Its currently sold out on Ebay and Taobao, but according to a reliable source, the stocks will be replenished (not sure when though).

 

By the way, if you read about the Kaco Sky fountain pen and feel intrigued, it has a triangular grip which isn't very apparent in the photos. Just to let you know in case you think of getting one! Another good place to read up about Chinese pens is www.frankunderwater.com.

 

Enjoy finding out about these pens and let us know your decision if you can!

[ParkersAndPaper]

I've given away several Pilot Metropolitan to students and friends. I personally enjoy the Metro nearly as I much do with many of my gold nibbed Parker's. There is just something 'fun' about them

[SpecTP]

I bought a batch of Preppies and used them for a long time every day. Just stick with them.

[chromantic]

If you like the Preppie, you might try the Plaisir, basically a Preppie with an aluminum barrel and cap; comes in lots of colors, around $15 on ebay. While not gargantuan, it's definitely large compared to, say, an M150.

[IndigoBOB]

The Pilot Metro is great if you have small hands, possily Medium hands, but that's where you'll run into trouble with comfort and if you're using that for school it's a potential challenge to your writing. Also, students I know who wrote a lot ran out of ink quickly with the converters that come with the Metro. Also, the small Con50 has been phased out (you're lucky if you can get that) for an awful even smaller Con40 that is just garbage IME. You'd have more luck syringe filling a Cartridge for the Metro which does hold a lot. Still a great option.

 

The Kaweco Sport is a great pen, can hold a lot of ink if eyedroppered, but I only recommend it if you have small to medium sized hands. My abover average male hands find the smaller size tedious for longer writings sessions and I honestly prefer a Pentel Energel RTX Deluxe (I highly recommend), which is the only Ballpoint/ Gel I'll use other than a fountain pen and a Parker Schmidt Easyflow refill in something like a Rotring Tikky 3. The Kaweco Sport is honestly a Pain in the @$$ to have to cap to use every time if you are doing anything other than single longer writing sessions. If you're jotting or pulling your pen in and out often it's a terrible option as are all pocket pens and the Kaweco sport is a pocket pen. Still, it writes great, dry which is good for cheap school paper.

 

Nemosine Singularity - Feels cheap, is very light, but is a good solid pen that does write dry, but that's good for cheap paper. It's a good size, holds a good amount of ink, and I do recommend this pen.

 

TWSBI Eco - I use this pen daily along with the Eco-T. They border on being a workhorse pens for me. If your hands get oily easily, you might have trouble with this pen working for you for long writing sessions. If you have dry hands, it's a great pen, holds a lot of ink, has great Fine and Extra Fine nibs (I prefer Mediums and my Clear Eco-EF writes to my standards using Noodler's Heart of Darkness). I recommend this pen.

 

Lamy Safari/Vista/Al star- Probably the most comfortable of the pens in your price range for long writing sessions, and with the snap cap, is the most convenient. These pens can be a little dry, but that's good for cheaper school paper. I recommend this the most if you can accommodate the tripod grip, which is very secure and works great for long writing sessions. I prefer the Al-Star because the added weight helps the pen write itself a little better, but I love the Vista and Safari as well.

 

I've had success with the Wing Sung 3008, but the cap is a little too stiff when twisting so I recently ordered the Wing Sung B698, which is basically a piston Filled Lamy Safari you can swap a Lamy nib onto. This is a new pen and is being researched by myself (hasn't arrived yet), truthpil, and others and shows positive results in Chrisrap52's youtube review. I've been very impressed by Wing Sung, and this design is quite good IMO especially since you can swap a Lamy nib onto it.

 

Platinum Preppies- You found a very solid pen that holds a lot of ink, has a good sized section, and is very dependable with a nice snap cap for easy access.

 

I hear great things about PenBBS as well and their full size pens have received a lot of praise.

Edited March 17, 2018 by IndigoBOB

[max dog]

My recommendation would be the TWSBI ECO too.

 

I haven't had good experience with the Kaweco steel nibs (skipping and hard starts) in my Dia 2's so hesitant to recommend Kaweco anymore.

[KaB]

I agree with all the above But I would definitely give the Nemosine a try. In my opinion the nib options just make it the winner. I currently have 2 inked up on my desk. Both are clear demonstrators, one with a .6mm stub nib inked with R&K Alt.-Goldgrun, and the other has an .8 mm stub inked with Diamine Ancient Copper. As far as I know they are the only pens offered with these nib sizes.

 

 

This option triggered me. Two questions though:

- I'd really appreciate a writing sample of both the ,6 and the ,8 compared to some widespread alternative (like a lamy 1.1)

- I've noticed the pen costs like $ 20... plus $ 44 to get it sent to Europe. Since the OP (and I) live in Europe: any option that is more realistic to buy these pens?

[ENewton]

I have a Metro in medium and a Kaweco Sport in fine; both have nice nibs, the Metro's seems of higher quality: I gently pressed on the Metro's and it became a bit wetter, I did the same with the kaweco and it bent, one feels made of steel, the other of tin.

 

 

I am glad someone else has made the observation that the Kaweco nib feels as if it were made of tin. I have a light touch and at first could write with my Sport for just a few minutes at a time, because it demanded constant pressure to produce a line. After adjustment and finally after conversion to use as an eyedropper it writes better, but it still feels as if the nib were made of tin!

[senzen]

 

I am glad someone else has made the observation that the Kaweco nib feels as if it were made of tin. I have a light touch and at first could write with my Sport for just a few minutes at a time, because it demanded constant pressure to produce a line. After adjustment and finally after conversion to use as an eyedropper it writes better, but it still feels as if the nib were made of tin!

 

After I bent it, I managed to straighten it; but it has always been a smooth nib nonetheless - in spite of my clumsiness!

[Torrilin]

If you’re in Europe, you want an MR not a metro. Same pen, but it takes standard cartridges. I don’t think any of Pilot’s other cheap school pens have similar options tho. Woe. But you should be able to get an MR with a stock 1.0mm italic nib, which will be good for shading and sheen. (I personally don’t like my Metro, but that’s because I like light pens) You can write about the same with a 1mm italic and an xf nib, just one will have more line variation. I don’t find it’s doable to do the same trick with a B nib and an xf because the round nib doesn’t vary at all.

 

In the US, Kaweco charges more for the xf nib than the f, and the line widths are very similar. If you can try before you buy, be prepared to test several before you find one that writes well. Kaweco uses Bock nibs, and they (Bock) unfortunately don’t have a very good reputation around here. They don’t always write well out of the box, and they can take some fuss to get writing well. They’re very very light pens tho, so if you like that about your Preppy you’ll probably be happy. And the pen bodies are very sturdy and are favorite knock around pens all over the world.

 

You can get an adapter so a Platinum pen can use standard cartridges. That can be helpful for ink variety. But keep in mind that Platinum has really quite nice feel to their stock inks, and if the pen is feeling scratchy with other inks it might do better with something else. There’s a big trial and error aspect to pairing pen and ink. Platinum ink isn’t cheap but it’s generally worth it in bottles. And they intend for their regular inks to be mixed, so that is a plus.

 

Kaweco ink cartridges tend to be VERY cheap, and they have several very nice inks. Bottles are often the opposite of cheap but their cartridges can be cheaper than a lot of premium bottled inks. Check your local prices.

 

I love my TWSBI pens, and they have very nice nibs. But they only make piston fillers, so if you don’t have any bottled ink, that won’t work well. One of mine is a dedicated ink testing pen, and it’s great at the job, but it’s a 50 USD pen so not really fitting your needs. My eco is great, and lives on a steady diet of Platinum’s Carbon Black ink. And it should be close to your budget. If you’re going crazy because your ink cartridges run out at the worst possible time, a TWSBI won’t do that.

[akrohn2010]

I did not notice the OP is in europe - sadly that does make Nemosine an expensive option.

 

Id echo the recommendation again for a Pilot MR or TWSBI then.

[IndigoBOB]

Yes, if they have small hands, the PIlot MR would make a great option.

 

Also, the Kakuno works great for any sized hands and can fit a con70 converter. It does look and feel a little like a child's pen with that cap, though, but the grip is more comfortable for me than even the Pilot Prera's. They have that all clear version, too.

 

I will say I do recall in my early days trying out a Kaweco al sport EF and it was abysmal. Got a broader nib that worked great, but that wouldn't be best for school so +1 on the cautiousness with Kaweco's I guess.