Most Reliable Fountain Pens

[adrian44]

I made a list of 25 current makers of fountain pens. Which of these makers do you personally believe makes the most reliable fountain pens overall?

 

By "reliable" I mean fountain pens that are least likely to have a problem either from the factory or a problem that appears with use. It could be a problem with filling, nib, ink flow, fit and finish, cap, clip, or anything else that would be considered a problem that needs addressing. Some of those makers have been around for many decades, so while making a choice I want you to have their current production on mind.

 

Let's see what the biggest community of fountain pens fans in the world thinks.

[jar]

I have not had any problems with multiple examples from Aurora, Conway Stewart, Montblanc, Montegrappa, Omas, Parker, Pelikan, Sheaffer, ST Dupont, Waterman or Yard-o-Led from your list.

[OakIris]

I made a list of 25 current makers of fountain pens. Which of these makers do you personally believe makes the most reliable fountain pens overall?

 

By "reliable" I mean fountain pens that are least likely to have a problem either from the factory or a problem that appears with use. It could be a problem with filling, nib, ink flow, fit and finish, cap, clip, or anything else that would be considered a problem that needs addressing. Some of those makers have been around for many decades, so while making a choice I want you to have their current production on mind.

Let's see what the biggest community of fountain pens fans in the world thinks.

I find Parker and Sheaffer pens very reliable, but I only have vintage and semi-vintage pens from those makers so did not vote in your poll, since you are only looking for current production models. From what I have read, neither of these companies in their modern manifestations come close to making the quality products they prided themselves upon in the past, but as I have no experience with their current production pens I can not personally confirm or dispute that judgement.

 

The only "modern" pen I have on your list of manufacturers is a Lamy 2000. I love the pen but have only got it this month so haven't had time to judge its reliability - writes first time, every time and is a wonderfully smooth writer. Of course, you can't judge a manufacturer by just one pen, anyway, but I think the 2000 is a winner!

 

Holly

[professionaldilettante]

You can't say. Any data is anecdotal, and as a result, the data is useless for anyone that that is looking for help. I have had expensive pens that write terrible, and others that cost less than $20 that write fantastic out of the box. If you really want to collect some information, buy 100 pens and test that. This doesn't take into account all of the people who are not on FPN, and buy the pens, without a problem. Any result will be taken for fact by the feeble minded, as the results are skewed by selection bias.

[SheilaM]

We have contemporary (by this I mean made within the last 20 years, which is contemporary for me!) examples of pens made by Bexley, Cross, Delta, Montblanc, Nakaya, Pelikan, Parker, Sailor and Waterman, all of which have been reliable.

 

I have a Sheaffer Balance Aspen that every time I ink it up I am tempted to sell. The nib is scratchy and annoying. We have other contemporary Sheaffers that are just fine, so I think it's just the one pen that's a problem. Or maybe I should just send it off and let someone have at it.

 

Mixed results on Hero as well. I have a stainless Sonnet knockoff that's solid, but Joe had a Hero literally disintegrate in his hands a couple months ago.

[Joshua J.]

They're pretty much all the same to me. (I've never had a pen body fall apart and they all put out a dud nib every once in a while. YMMV.)

Edited May 1, 2012 by Joshua J.

[79spitfire]

I have bunches that are reliable! Cross, Sheaffer, Parker, Pelikan, Noodler's Rotring, BIC, Pilot, Taccia, Wality, Esterbrook, Jinhao... Name one! Yea, there are some lemons out there, but pen companies that consistently make bad pens go out of business!

 

You need to make the poll multiple choice!

[LedZepGirl]

If I had to choose a 'current pen maker' I would pick either Bexley or Pelikan. I only own a handful of new pen and my Bexley Simplicity and Pelikan M205 have been the best of those. The only issue I've have with the Pelikan is that the piston works hard sometimes, like it's swollen and the pen will write very dry at times for no reason. It's strange because I will fill it with an ink it likes and it will write great for days and then just stop.

[georges zaslavsky]

From my list here are the firms that I judge as the most reliable: Mont Blanc, Pelikan,Omas,Stipula,Sheaffer,Parker,Dunhill,

Montegrappa,Bexley,St Dupont,Cartier,Caran D'Ache,Waterman and Cleo

Edited May 1, 2012 by georges zaslavsky

[imadeadend]

My sailors and my (lonely) platinum 3776 are no-nonsense, start-every-time pens. This is a consistent experience. I recently ran my Sailor Sapporo dry and it wrote the exact same line, same saturation, flow, etc. until it just stopped writing when no ink was left. Sailors are my favourite pens for this reason.

 

I also judge reliability on writing under any pressure. Sailors write under their own weight any way I move them (and they are fairly light pens), as does the platinum.

 

My Pilot Custom 74s have both needed opening up to get the flow going before they wrote well, but they still don't write excellently under zero pressure. Under my light hand, though, they are dreamy My vanishing points, however, have not had such issues.

[petergly]

I've got an Elysee I've had for 13 years that has just kept working, and well, despite the neglect I've heaped on it. I also have a Rotring 600 that just keeps on keeping on...

 

Regards,

 

Pete Mac in Melbourne

[CAG_1787]

Lamys are my most reliable pen. They're not flashy or the most heralded pens out there, but I find myself instinctively picking them up, and they never disappoint me.