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Which Of The Three Pens Would Be Better For First Timers?


anonymus

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Guys,

 

I am contemplating to but a Fountain pen for first time. The choices available to me are Parker vector GT, Lamy vista Safari, Schneider ID M.

 

Which one of the three would be most suitable?

 

I am right handed and i have to write 5000 words in 3 hours in my exams.My exams lasts for 5 days during which 4 days have double shift of 3 hrs each with and 1 day of single shift of 3 hours. In total i have to write close to 45000 words in a span of 5 days with 5000 words minimum per 3 hours.This is the reason that even though i was interested in fountain pens for over a year, i have never bought any.

 

Could a fountain pen even stand up to that sort of abuse? Even gel pens fail and have to be thrown away with half of refill unused.

Edited by anonymus
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A decent fountain pen can last you years and years and years. You just keep refilling it. I like the Lamy Safari, in fact I just did an 3 hr exam today with it. Depending on how you hold your pen, I vote the Lamy Vista (it has triangle grip sections that some people don't like because they don't hold their pens like that) with an Extra-Fine nib. The Parker Vector can be pretty good for you too, it's rounded so it's more forgiving on how you hold your pen. Again Extra-Fine Nib will probably suit you better, as that is more economical with the ink. Even so I recommend you bring some extra ink into your exam. (You can buy bottles or cartridge refills. Cartridge refills will probably suit you best in an exam where you don't have time to mess with filling your pen from a bottle. You just shove another cartridge in and keep going) Beware Parker pens take parker refill, and lamy pens take lamy refills. I've no experience with the Schneider.

 

In summary Lamy Vista if you don't mind holding the pen how they want you to. Parker Vector if you can't deal with Lamy's grip section. Fine or Extra-fine nib.

 

Good luck with your exams :)

 

PS. Next time a general question like this will probably get looked at more and hence more opinions given in the First Stop subforum. Just a tip :)

PPS. I cannot recommend enough that you bring in extra ink with you into the exam. Fountain pens goes through ink fast as it uses liquid ink. But on the plus side you don't have to use any pressure at all to write.

Edited by superglueshoe
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Maybe the Lamy Vista however it does not suit all so I'd definitely try before you buy. Have you considered a Parker Frontier as it is far superior pen over the vector and vista?

 

If you do go for a Frontier try and get one from a European seller as the UK made ones are of higher quality then the Indian Luxor ones.

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Probably safari. If you are going into an exam with only one pen, you want one that takes carts. A good safari nib is smooth and if you have a tripod grip, the section is very comfortable.

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Maybe the Lamy Vista however it does not suit all so I'd definitely try before you buy. Have you considered a Parker Frontier as it is far superior pen over the vector and vista?

 

If you do go for a Frontier try and get one from a European seller as the UK made ones are of higher quality then the Indian Luxor ones.

Those are becoming harder to find these days. I agree, I got landed with an Indian Parker Frontier. Urgh, horrible nib.

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Schneiders are great writers. I have six of them Three tipped nibs and three folded nibs. They all write smoothly. The cap on one (The Scribant) has become lose over time. I have not used or seen the ID.

 

Lamys don't agree too well with the way I write. I have a Safari and a Studio. I always seem to get the nibs to skip when writing certain strokes that other nibs handle just fine. I would go with the Vector first, then the Schneider.

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I like the Pilot v pen also known as varsity a good pen for beginners or you can buy the pilot metropolitan. How about indian pens like wality69t camlin etc they are cheaper and eye droppers n hold more ink

Edited by maverink

Pilot custom heritage 74 all nibs, 742 Fa and PO nibs, 823 F 92 F,M, 3776 FM,EF,1911F

And all indian pens

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Those are becoming harder to find these days. I agree, I got landed with an Indian Parker Frontier. Urgh, horrible nib.

 

Yes,

 

Frontier is not available with e-sellers and no shop in my neighbourhood stocks frontier.

 

 

I like the Pilot v pen also known as varsity a good pen for beginners or you can buy the pilot metropolitan. How about indian pens like wality69t camlin etc they are cheaper and eye droppers n hold more ink

 

 

I have used Pilot V5 pens ( though i don't consider them proper ink pens ) and found that their nib degrades significantly if you write with very high speed for significant amount of time. I would try camilin pens also if i could find them. They are not listed on flipkart and local stores don't stock any fountain pen except Parker.

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Pilot metropolitan is available at www.luxor.in u can also try ebay, www.asapens.in etc for ink pens

Pilot custom heritage 74 all nibs, 742 Fa and PO nibs, 823 F 92 F,M, 3776 FM,EF,1911F

And all indian pens

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I am talking about the pilot vpen the disposable varsity ink pen not to be confused with v5 pen

Pilot custom heritage 74 all nibs, 742 Fa and PO nibs, 823 F 92 F,M, 3776 FM,EF,1911F

And all indian pens

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I have used cheap hero pens from china for writing long exams

Pilot custom heritage 74 all nibs, 742 Fa and PO nibs, 823 F 92 F,M, 3776 FM,EF,1911F

And all indian pens

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I agree with maverink. The Pilot Varsity disposable FP is a great one for note taking, tests, etc. They hold A LOT of ink, and are cheap enough to take two with you.

Very smooth, nice black ink that's ready when you are.

From what I've read, they can be refilled, but I haven't tried it yet.

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I like my Vectors a whole lot -- but then, mine happen to all be older ones that are all UK made. But some people might find them too small to be comfortable for long bouts of writing. OTOH, I would see if you can try holding a Safari before you buy one -- they're highly rated by a lot of FP users, but that triangular grip would make me nuts.

I don't know anything about the third make -- not sure I've even heard of them before.

As for some of the other suggestions people have made, they're mostly pens I haven't tried. I did not, however, have terribly good luck with the Pilot Varsities I've tried. The first one worked great -- for three days of only being used to write in a journal (3 pages of roughly 6" x 8" paper). Then it died. The second one fared a little better. I've seen the video on taking them apart and refilling them, but haven't tried it myself.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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That is a lot of writing ! Personal comfort is paramount. Which do you prefer ?

The Vector is straight and a bit slender. The Metropolitan is fat and round. The Safari has the angular grip, and big cartridges.

Have you tried the Sheaffer Nononsense ? Cartridges are refillable, and can be carried easily in a Vela-mint tin. Two fountain

pens and several cartridges fit neatly into a hard eyeglass case.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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My first fountain pen was a Lamy Safari with a converter. It's well built and I still use it regularly. Never found the triangulated section to be uncomfortable.

 

Mine has a pretty wet medium nib but still managed to survive long meetings on a single fill. Not sure what the cartridge capacity is.

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They are all three suitable. Every Tom, Dick and Harry will suggest something different, which might also be suitable. Just jump in and try one.

"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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I agree with Pajaro to a point? But if you just cannot make up your mind and need to rely on everyone's input? I go with a Lamy, they are Good Solid pens and inexpensive to boot! So you won't get hurt right outta the gate when trying this pen.

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Fountain pens will easily handle that amount of writing.

The question is how will you handle that exam? If you stress out under pressure and start pressing the pen hard into the paper, that can damage the pen. Fountain pens are meant to have little to no pressure put on the nib.

If you press hard, I recommend a gel pen rather than a fountain pen.

 

I think you have to hold the pens.

I like how my Lamy Joy feels in my hand. It has the same section/grip as the Safari. But others just cannot use that grip.

 

I think you need 2 or 3 pens.

For something like this you need #1 a primary pen, and #2 a backup, and in this particular case #3 a backup to the backup.

Pens 2 and 3 could could be another fountain pen or gel pens.

When you run out of ink, it is MUCH faster to switch to pen #2, than to fiddle with and loose time changing ink cartridges and getting the new ink to flow.

So saying this, one option is to get the Lamy Vista and the Parker Vector, another is to get 2 Lamys or 2 Parkers (I carried 2 Parker 45s in college) that way you are not dealing with 2 different cartridges. I say Lamy and Parker because I know nothing of the Schneider pen.

 

As for the nib size. I used the old US Parker F nibs in college. That is equivalent to a Lamy XF nib. However the Lamy XF nibs that I tried, are not as smooth as the old Parker F nibs that I used in college. You will either have to smoothen the Lamy XF nibs or go up to a Lamy F nib, to get a smoother writing nib. But this will also use more ink. I think todays Parker nibs are like Lamy nibs, one step wider than the older US Parker nibs.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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I can't comment on the Parker but I have owned two Safaris and recently bought a Schneider iD. In my opinion, the iD is a far better pen in the sense that it was exceptionally smooth out of the box. Both Safaris were really quite rough in comparison. Even after a bit of smoothing I didn't like them and gave them away to a family member.

 

Both pens have a shaped grip that may or may not suit you. I hold pens in a very standard tripod grip so they both suit me but you should try them both. If you go the iD route, just make sure you get the right version because there is a left handed one too.

 

Both pens also have distinctive styling that tend to polarise opinion. They are on your shortlist so I suppose you like both. One feature of the iD is that it has an eyelet for a lanyard if you fancy carrying it around your neck.

 

The pens will easily stand up to the "abuse" as you put it. However, I would get yourself a bulb ear syringe and flush them regularly even if you don't change ink colours. That will prevent them from getting clogged up. There are plenty of threads on here about cleaning pens.

Anyway, good luck with your exams. Do post back to let us know what you chose and how you find it.

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