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Best Nib In A Cheap Body


jvcn

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I'm not one for elaborate pens encrusted in golden caviar with diamonds.

 

However, I do realize that better quality goes into many more expensive pens.

 

So, what in your opinion is the absolutely best possible nib that is also available in a modestly priced body? By this I mean a pen and nib such that pens that cost more will not write better nor will the nibs be superior in use.

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Any Indian ebonite pen, provided you swap out the nib yourself.

 

It includes the added benefit of being a great body, without the premium price!

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Pilot 92 or 91. Both feel like pretty meh plastic to me, but the nibs are fantastic. Coincidentally, that's one thing that I like about the 823... though it costs a little more, the plastic feels much more sturdy somehow.

"Why me?"
"That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?"
"Yes."

"Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why."

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

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Platinum Century 3776. nice pen, good price. big 14 C nib. Can be purchased on Amazon and Ebay for less than $100

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Any Indian ebonite pen, provided you swap out the nib yourself.

 

It includes the added benefit of being a great body, without the premium price!

 

Oh Yeah. Matte ebonite and a Bock titanium cursive italic.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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I got a free Indus pen (stub) as a promo for buying a $40 Triveni Jr.(flex) ebonite pen from Fountain Pen Revolution (both Indian pens). They are both amazing writers. I did have to remove and reinstall the nib in the Indus because there were initial flow problems. Now it works quite amazingly.

 

"free" piston pen with amazing nib.

41490186094_dc557cdecd_k.jpg

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Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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not an extremely cheap solution but it can be very rewarding, a Pelikan M200 with an M250, M400 or M600 gold nib, particularly if vintage.

I have a few M200s with vintage 14k nibs that are a joy to write with, comparable to much more expensive pens.

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Pilot 92 or 91. Both feel like pretty meh plastic to me, but the nibs are fantastic. Coincidentally, that's one thing that I like about the 823... though it costs a little more, the plastic feels much more sturdy somehow.

 

 

Platinum Century 3776. nice pen, good price. big 14 C nib. Can be purchased on Amazon and Ebay for less than $100

 

Cheap?

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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not an extremely cheap solution but it can be very rewarding, a Pelikan M200 with an M250, M400 or M600 gold nib, particularly if vintage.

I have a few M200s with vintage 14k nibs that are a joy to write with, comparable to much more expensive pens.

I have an M600 but I'm not impressed by its medium nib. I much prefer the feel of my better 1930s Parkers and Sheaffers. I also have a Montblanc 146 that feels really mediocre. So I've decided to focus on cheaper pens for the moment that do what I want at moderate cost.

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I'm going to go with the last part of your definition, which I like, essentially, what pen writes well enough that the expenditure of addition money will not improve the experience? It may feed the ego, but it won't write better. And my answer is Pilot CH91. Get the 92 if you like a piston filler. The Pilot #5 gold nib is simply a spectacular value. There are lots of pens in the world, so I'm sure some alternates will be offered, but that's my opinion.

 

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Veering away slightly from the brief, I have three Jinhao pens - X750 or 159 - that write better than any expensive pen I've owned, but that's with stock JoWo nibs that I swapped into the sections. These pens required only a little tine-gapping.

 

Other Jinhao/JoWo hybrids I have are just as good but took some work, and I ended up with one or two duds because I'm not very good at it.

 

This means that I have about five pens, each of which cost less than £15, that write better (to my way of thinking) than my M800, MB149, OMAS Paragon, and so on (most of which I've long since sold).

Edited by lurcho
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well, different nib write different, feel different, but not always one better than the other, just different and personally I find quite a number of them quite well suited to my writing despite their vastly different behavior, feel, and how it write, and among them are some really nice writer that cost only a little. Notably the Platinum Plaisir, I had mine equipped with all of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 mm nib and all of them write consistent and smooth for me and my writing and one really cannot be too critical about its price. Like lurcho I had my cache of Chinese fountain pen and plenty of them write very well despite age and cost and I certainly do not find my other much much more expensive pens necessarily writing better as far as actual nib used in writing goes. My Hero 330 match and in some case better my Parker counterpart. While more up to date the Caliarts Ego 2 Fine write and feel good to me, beating my Stipula in many ways ( other than eye candy factor I would say ). I've also found the Platinum Vicoh both 14K and 18K write very well, and beating a lot of the more expensive 14K, 18K or 21K Japanese counterparts. And finally I guess this is no secret but I am finding many of the Pelikan M200/M205/M2XX steel nib writing better than their more expensive ( and usually gold nib equipped ) sibling whether in the same M2XX series or upward in the 400/600/800/1000 series.

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I have an M600 but I'm not impressed by its medium nib. I much prefer the feel of my better 1930s Parkers and Sheaffers. I also have a Montblanc 146 that feels really mediocre. So I've decided to focus on cheaper pens for the moment that do what I want at moderate cost.

In fact what I am merely saying here is that the Pelikan system allows to fit an upper grade nib on a cheaper pen, which is the initial question.

Of course the satisfaction of which nib will give best result for you largely depends on you, but it is more likely that the best working solution is to find a vintage nib to fit an M200 - rather than a modern nib (in my suggested option of course, which I am not saying is the only one available).

So a relatively cheap pen (entry level in serious piston pens, which comes with a steel nib) to go with a gold nib, which could be a vintage fine flex or a vintage OBB, as an example of two opposites.

I have both of these options working and they are great.

I will not say I prefer them to my M600, they are just different and just as good and can give great satisfaction.

I my opinion what you are confirming is the potential of vintage. Just focusing on cheaper pens may not be a solution, unless cheaper means some interesting vintage deals that can still be found around (but are becoming more rare).

 

If the scope is stay cheaper than my proposal, I also recommend just a plain M200 + steel nib, as Mech-for-i mentions, the steel nibs are really good (not comparable to a vintage 14k, though).

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I’m going to go to the super economical end and nominate the Pilot Metropolitan. Superb nib for under $20 pen (sometimes $10 on Amazon).

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For me it has to be Platinum Preppy. It writes perfectly and at 2-3 currency units it is cheap as chips.

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Throw down US$30.00 for a TWSBI Eco with a fine nib and thank me later. It shares the same smooth JoWo nib that pens costing hundreds more have.

Edited by markofp
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I’m going to go to the super economical end and nominate the Pilot Metropolitan. Superb nib for under $20 pen (sometimes $10 on Amazon).

 

 

+1

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." -Pablo Picasso


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Cheap?

Yes, cheap. The OP asked for the best nib available in a modestly priced body. The #5 gold-nibbed variants available from Pilot are, imo, the best nib available in a modestly priced body.

"Why me?"
"That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?"
"Yes."

"Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why."

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

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