What Are Your Fountain Pen Deal Breakers?

[ItsMeDave]

Outside of a pen being two small, there are two deal breakers for me:

1. Snap caps
2. Metal grip sections

I have one pen with a snap cap, a Waterman Carene, I never use it.

I have one pen with a metal grip section, a TWSBI Vac 700R with a custom ground cursive italic nib. I use it a fair amount because I like demonstrators, and the nib is very nice. If this pen had an off-the-shelf nib it would be gathering dust with the Carene.

 

What are your fountain pen deal breakers?

[eerestis]

I'd say heavy pens. I just sold a Parker 51 Insignia whose gold parts made it too heavy for my taste. The perfect weight for me is a Pelikan 400 posted. Other thing I won't have anymore are nonround sections like in Lamy Safari. I also wouldn't buy a pen with metal section, but I've never owned one.

[GoldenNibs]

I only buy used/vintage so the big deal breaker used to be personalized pens but I dont mind it that much anymore unless it was done poorly. The current deal breaker is when flea market or antique shop dealers think their pen is worth hundreds "as is" because it has the coveted GOLD NIB that they think is worth big money in scrap.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Metal sections for me, too.

 

Anything too heavy.

 

Anything too slim.

 

Other than that I'm a pen-nivore.

[Karmachanic]

Metal Sections

Step Downs

BORING NIBS

[ItsMeDave]

Metal Sections

Step Downs

BORING NIBS

I also don't like a big step-down, an example being the Esterbrook Estie Oversized, I love the look of the pen, that is, until the cap comes off.

[kestrel]

Metal sections are a complete deal breaker. Shiny, polished, glossy metal barrels too.

 

I barely tolerate cartridge/converter fillers. The rest of the pen has to be something really, really special to make me put up with a C/C filling system. This one is irrational on my part but I put up with it.

[ItsMeDave]

Metal sections are a complete deal breaker. Shiny, polished, glossy metal barrels too.

 

I barely tolerate cartridge/converter fillers. The rest of the pen has to be something really, really special to make me put up with a C/C filling system. This one is irrational on my part but I put up with it.

I don't mind cartridge/converter pens, but I do have issues with pens where standard international converters don't fit snugly.

 

A while back I purchased a very pretty pen from a small manufacturer that uses standard international converters. The pen was a nice writer, but the converter was barely held in place by the friction of the mounting point and flopped around in the barrel of the pen. That killed the pen for me, I later sold it.

I find it annoying that so many manufacturers have proprietary converters, but many of these proprietary designs are, I think, superior to the standard international converter.

 

I have yet to purchase a pen that has a screw in converter, I like the concept.

[langere]

Personalized pens.

 

Pens that look and feel cheap. Might as well get a Bic and those are less hassle.

 

Erick

[zaddick]

As I get older I am less rigid in my requirements. Short of non-functional pens with boring M nibs, I can enjoy and appreciate pens of almost all shapes, sizes, materials, filling systems, and vintages. I more have developed strong preferences than deal breakers.

 

I prefer:

- larger pens

- wider nib points

- piston fillers

- swappable nibs

- girthier pens

- newer pens

- celluloid

- custom pens

- unique nibs

[bemon]

I'll second step downs. Any pen with an aggressive step down is ruined aesthetically for me. Metal grip sections are annoying too, but one of my EDC pens has one and I just put a piece of scotch tape around it. Doesn't look great, but I'm hunting for a more permanent piece of clear plastic to fit on the section.

[DrDebG]

1. The nib must work correctly. No baby's bottom, railroading, scratchiness, etc.

 

2. A heavy pen. This is due to arthritis. While I prefer to post, if I really like the pen and it is too heavy posted, I will forego posting.

 

3. Any substance on the pen that contains rubber or latex, including some ebonite. I have a severe latex and rubber allergy. Believe me, I can tell within seconds.

[bemon]

Metal sections are a complete deal breaker. Shiny, polished, glossy metal barrels too.

 

I barely tolerate cartridge/converter fillers. The rest of the pen has to be something really, really special to make me put up with a C/C filling system. This one is irrational on my part but I put up with it.

I actually ALMOST wrote "piston fillers" as a deal breaker, but that's far from the truth. I just find them a massive hassle to clean for storage where as my C/C pens can be tidied up with a bulb syringe.

 

Beyond that, I have more pens than I can use so part of me wonders if my pistons and vac fillers are slowly drying up to the point of uselessness. But once a converter starts to go bad on me I just spend a couple dollars on Amazon and I know the pen has a new lease on life. I wish more high end pens had this system to keep potential maintenance and repairs down.

 

What's the reason you don't like them? Just a boring filling system?

Edited January 13, 2020 by bemon

[como]

Deal breakers:

- Too ugly

- Horrible nib

 

Score negative points:

- Too big

- Too small

- Too heavy

- Shiny metal section

- Boring nib

- Prone to break design or filling system

- Very bad customer service

[ItsMeDave]

As I read the responses I'm reminded of another deal breaker, pens that can't be used without posting.

I never post my pens. Why? I have no clue, just because. It's completely irrational, and I'm ok with that.

[bemon]

Deal breakers:

- Too ugly

- Horrible nib

 

Score negative points:

- Too big

- Too small

- Too heavy

- Shiny metal section

- Boring nib

- Prone to break design or filling system

- Very bad customer service

Customer service is a good point. Before Christmas I was shopping for an upgrade to one of my two daily carry pens. I either wanted to bump my Makrolon L2K up to the steel model or else look at a limited edition Pilot Vanishing Point. Whichever pen didn't get upgraded was going to be demoted out of my ECD, and into part time use. I was carrying 3-4 fountain pens with me to work and not getting enough use out of them so I'm down to 2.

 

It was actually all the stellar customer service experiences I've had with Lamy over the years that made me realize there was no contest. Not that Pilot's customer service is terrible, but Lamy has always bent over backwards to be of help. Quick, helpful and friendly correspondence every time. They even replaced my sister's boyfriend's Safari when it arrived with a crack without even asking for pictures or other proof.

 

So I'm now the proud owner of a steel L2K. For the same reason I decided to make my daughter's first pen a Lamy and ordered her the ABC which should arrive this week.

[WLSpec]

So long as it writes, I'm in

[Driften]

Metal sections and pens that dry out easy are my biggest deal breakers.

[Maccabeus]

In no particular order of intolerableness...

 

-snap caps

-metal sections and/or barrels

-C/C filling systems

-section diameter smaller than 10mm or larger than 12mm

(I've one pen that hits all four of these, & it never gets used. I'll occasionally stick it in a blazer pocket to appease my wife, who bought it for me and had it engraved when I finished my doctorate)

-hooded nibs

-step downs

-price over $80, until I can find empirical evidence that the increase in cost is in direct correlation to quality of performance

Edited January 13, 2020 by Maccabeus

[silverlifter]

• Gaudy pens (Visconti, Montegrappa et al).
• Metal sections, especially polished ones.
• Boring modern pens (acrylic/cartridge converter/bock|jowo nibs) that lack any personality.
• Status symbol pens (modern MBs, especially their LEs and the Italian "sculpture" pens)
• Contoured/bulbous barrels that look like kit pens (see LE MBs above)
• Gimmick pens (eg., the Cross Star Wars thing)
• Noodlers inks

There is probably more. I would be better off describing the few qualities that I seek out...

Edited January 13, 2020 by silverlifter