Search the Community

Well, first off let me thank everybody on this site for all the information they have provided me in my research. Probably 5 months ago, I purchased a Lamy Safari (F) with a converter and a bottle of Noodler's Black ink as a starter fountain pen based on the reviews I had seen on here and other places. I was very happy with my purchase as a first pen and it wrote beautifully for the time I had it...it was "misplaced" at work one day and has not been seen since. The Safari was a great intro into fountain pens but was a bit rich to risk losing another one at work. Well, on to my new purchases. I did some more digging for other budget minded pens and came to the decision to purchase two Platinum Preppys and one Pilot Metropolitan. I will start with the Preppys: I got one in 05 and one in 03 to test out how I liked the different nibs. I loaded the supplied cartridges into them and tried them on a variety of paper from my sketchpads, to nice notebook paper, to standard printer paper. On all paper, the 03 preppy was smooth as butter with a nice fine line, the ink was very "watery" for me and became dull once dried. This was not really a big deal and there was very little feathering on any of the paper, just some bloating if you will. The nib on the 03 created a finer line than the F Safari I had and was quite a bit smoother. As I said, this nib is incredibly smooth with ZERO scratch to it at all. The 05 Preppy was a much broader line and the nib did exhibit a bit of scratchy feel but nothing that bothered me, I would say about on par with my Safari nib (not to go into a tangent here, but the Safari went back and got replaced once due to a bad nib, the replacement was much better but still not what I would call ideal). The ink flow out of the 05 was much broader, probably in line with the Varsity pens I have tried, but the ink again was very watery and tended to look quite dull on all papers once dried and did bloat. The pen was a very wet writer, but did not blob or give any adverse writing. I am just not a broad/medium nib person and much preferred the 03 nib. Both pens function very well, start up every time, and are an amazing deal at $3 a piece. I intend to buy at least 1-2 more preppy's and convert one to an eyedropper to replace the ink which I don't enjoy as much with some Noodler's Black I have on hand. Next up, the Metropolitan: I would say this pen is the best of any I have tried to date. The nib creates a nice fine line on par with that of the 03 Preppy but the pen was filled with Noodler's black ink and the difference from the preppy ink is night and day. No bloating, no dulling, it is just a nice fine, dark line. The nib is very smooth, maybe not quite as good as the 03 preppy as it is a tad bit dry, but it never skips and there is no scratch to it. The look of the pen is very nice and I would say it is a better pen than the Safari was and has a finer nib which writes just as well as the Safari did with less scratch to it. If I was going to recommend a pen to somebody new to fountain pens it would definitely be the metropolitan. I am extremely impressed with this pen for the price; however, the squeeze converter is not the best method in my opinion. The first thing I will do with this pen is buy a piston converter which will hopefully hold more ink as well. I have not tested to see how long I can get the pen to write for, but it really doesn't seem to hold much ink with this method. Overall I am extremely pleased with my purchase and would recommend either of these pens. The metropolitan is a bit fancier and an overall better pen, but that might also be from the ink I used which I think made a big difference. The preppy pens are an absolute bargain at their price and are going to make great work pens that I don't really care if I lose. Hopefully the next couple I get for testing eye droppers and converters in them will have nibs as good as the one on the 03 I have now. A little plug for JetPens here, I ordered on Thursday last week and they arrived today with the free shipping, can't beat that. Thanks again for all the great information on this site for leading me to these pens. I almost gave up on fountain pens after I lost the Safari, but I am glad I did not. These pens have made me turn a corner and don't think I will be leaving the fountain pen side for a long time to come.

My hands are trembling and my mind is numb with disbelief. The tactile sensation of writing with the Pilot Metropolitan (F) is amazing. Actually, there is no tactile sensation at all. The nib glides so smoothly across the paper that my thoughts have trouble keeping up with it. This is one fine nib, perfect for taking notes or going on bursts of free-writing. It's a little puzzling that it took me by such surprise, because I've had prior experience with Pilot Prera (F), which to my knowledge uses the same nib and is previously the smoothest pen I had. Yet this nib feels much smoother, with ink and paper as constants (Pilot Blue and Muji notebook). However, I don't dare suggest that there is variation in quality since Pilot is sort of synonymous with consistency... I suppose one can only expect the best? I know some fp aficionados like feeling feedback from the nib during writing, but for others, I highly recommend this fp, even if it means backtracking a little into "lower-end" fp's. That's what I did... and I have never been more surprised.

So, i am soon going to start a project creating a pen box out of a Cigar box. I plan to make it hold 4 pens (more like 3 pens and an ink syringe) and 4 vials of ink. I have a few questions before i start (and one random question). 1. (random question) i plan on buying this Pilot Metropolitan off Ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pilot-Metropolitan-Fountain-Pen-Silver-Zig-Zag-/400499897700) and they say it has a "Pilot aerometric converter (squeeze type)". Do you keep the nib attached to the converter when you squeeze it? 2. What is the maximum length of a pen? I dont want to someday buy some really long pen and have it not fit in the box. What's the longest you know of? Would 6 inches be enough room for all pens? 3. To the other people who have undergone the box making process, where do you buy the wooden compartment things for the inside of the box? I dont know how to word it so i havent been able to search it and i have absolutely no skills what-so-ever with saws, sandpaper, or any other power tools. 4. Can you get the ink in the converter from a vial similar to this style? http://www.ebay.com/itm/251327332990?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 I mean both the Pilot Aerometric converter and the normal converters. I've never tried either let alone owned a vial similar to this. Thanks in advance for the help.

Hey guys! Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a 19 year old Pharamacology student (pre-med) and I actually just recently took an interest in fountain pens (about a week ago). I then went out and purchased a pack of Pilot Varsities from my local OfficeMax to see whether FP's are for me. I loved the way the FP's wrote, and now I can't even fathom how nice it would be to use a better FP for my daily writing. My professor even complimented my pen while we were taking a quiz last week. I'm currently awaiting my shipment of FP's and Ink to arrive. I ordered a Lamy Safari (F), a Pilot Metropolitan (M), The Lamy Z24 Converter, and some Waterman's Havana Brown ink. I've basically been getting my fix of FP's from Youtube video's this past week. LOL. I also went out and purchased a dip pen a few days back and a bottle of Higgin's black Ink. It's been a fun few days. I'd appreciate it if you guys could give me some advice on how I can make my FP experience as enjoyable as possible. I'd love to here from all of you FPN veterans. Also, I'm looking for suggestions as to what my next pen in my collection should be. I'm thinking of upgrading to a gold plated nib that write nicely. I'm also a college student so please keep suggested pens relatively cheap. Thank everyone! -Fahad