Fountain Pens - Eye Drop Fillers

[Bold2013]

I mostly use ED fillers. They provide better flow and consistency than CC fillers in my experience. A nice inbetween for me has been high capacity cartridges (long standard and noodlers 308 in my stylosuite neponset).

 

ED fillers rarely if ever burp, they usually tell you when they are running low (usually get wetter but I have a couple that paradoxically just run dryer till they are empty).

[sansenri]

The real reason for wanting an ED pen is flow.

The larger volume of ink available is a bonus, but depends on the pen.

What makes the big difference is that flow is usually more generous. I say usually because of course you may find cartridge, converter, piston filler pens, etc. with good flow, but usually ED pens have in comparison a more generous flow.

I have a couple of ebonite ED pens fitted with Pelikan nibs (they are threaded to take the whole Pelikan nib group) and they never burp, even when almost empty. Then again Pelikans usually have good flow, so the reason to have these two ED pens was more to fit a few spare Pelikan nibs rather than have more flow.

With other ebonite ED pens (Ranga, Asa, Gama) the desired characteristic is unrestricted flow.

I have some Ranga pens fitted with Jowo or Bock nib groups, which work with a converter. When removing the converter they can be eyedroppered. I have a few of the same model Ranga pens in ED with friction fit nib and ebonite feed.

In comparison flow goes from less to more generous in this order:

-CC fitted pen

-eyedroppered pen by removing the converter and filling the barrel

-original ED system with ebonite feed and friction fit nib

to me that extra flow is a value (others may not care or even find it excessive).

 

I have had extremely rare cases of burping with well designed ED pens.

I have only one case of more frequent burping on a Ranga pen, and that is the sugarcane model. It may be due to its shape and the way I hold this pen (quite far up on the barrel).