Budget Fountain Pens, Paper And Ink

[lko_sa]

My experience of fountain pen is : "the fountain pen depends on your writing style". it differs even from piece to piece of the same model of fountain pen. You may try following Pens which are good writer for me and cost less than Rs. 150/- (Please buy only after trying the pen)

1. Montex Handy fountain pen

2. ITC Classmate fountain pen

3. camlin's 47 and other models.

4. Pieere Cardin Veer fountain pen

[raghu_sp]

Try Kanwrite Desire. The nib is very smooth. Writing lines are very consistent and no skipping. Pen can be used as ED, Cateridge or in converter mode. There are plenty of options for nibs also.

[vineetkgiri]

My experience of fountain pen is : "the fountain pen depends on your writing style". it differs even from piece to piece of the same model of fountain pen. You may try following Pens which are good writer for me and cost less than Rs. 150/- (Please buy only after trying the pen)

1. Montex Handy fountain pen

2. ITC Classmate fountain pen

3. camlin's 47 and other models.

4. Pieere Cardin Veer fountain pen

Yes I learned this lesson after Camlin Trinity. But I should not be too harsh in the critique, it's very cheap comparatively.

[vineetkgiri]

Try Kanwrite Desire. The nib is very smooth. Writing lines are very consistent and no skipping. Pen can be used as ED, Cateridge or in converter mode. There are plenty of options for nibs also.

Thanks for your recommendation, I really want to have Kanwrite products (a flex nib pen and the Kanwrite desire). Are there any Indian Ebonites which can be classified in the category of heavy-duty pens? Durable, good for daily use and with a decent nib that would never let you down? which will allow you to have the luxury of not carrying a roller pen as a backup? I am willing to increase my budget if such a product exists!

[pen-y-wise]

Thanks for your recommendation, I really want to have Kanwrite products (a flex nib pen and the Kanwrite desire). Are there any Indian Ebonites which can be classified in the category of heavy-duty pens? Durable, good for daily use and with a decent nib that would never let you down? which will allow you to have the luxury of not carrying a roller pen as a backup? I am willing to increase my budget if such a product exists!

 

Try Krishna pens. Ask for a MB nib grind.

[tusharksingla]

u should look for ASA pens, u cn even get the nib tuned by directly contacting mr. subramaniam.

he has 3 4 models around 1000rs range.

[dinuraj]

 

Try Krishna pens. Ask for a MB nib grind.

 

Do you have a pen like that ? How does that write ? I was curious about Krishna pen's custom grinds.

[vineetkgiri]

Since I raised this query, I have been able to learn a lot from your feedbacks on fountain pens and I thank you guys for that. I have realised there are no such fountain pens which can be labelled as "nothing to go wrong". Among the pens, you guys suggested were the Airmail Wality 69, Kanwrite desire, ASA pens and Krishna pens which caught my eye. I read about the issue of "scratchy nibs" in Airmail 69 series and it made me drop my plan to purchase one at least for now. I am still waiting for a response from Kanwrite about an inquiry I made about the catalogue via email. ASA pens and Krishna pens are wonderful pens. Unfortunately, the reviews that I found about these pens highlighted their beauty more than their performance. As you can see there have been repeated queries on the issue for fountain pens for beginners in this forum. As we know there are "standard fountains pens" like Platinum preppy, Jinhao X750, Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy Safari, Twisbi Eco which nobody hesitates to recommend to beginners. I would request our more experienced users of Indian fountain pens to compile such a list for us. Newbies like us, we don't have the luxury of trying out the pens before we purchase one as most of our purchase of Indian pens would be through online method. So the pens we buy are influenced by discussions and recommendations that we go through in these forums. I understand everybody has his or her own preferences. Some may like beautifully crafted pens, some may want a more durable pen and some would prefer like me an excellent nib and feed performance over everything else.Newbies, we are anxious about purchases. Most of the times we have budgetary constraints and we always tend to expect a lot more utility from our purchase, which is not always directly proportional to our budget. We want to be pen collectors someday but as beginners, we want to be safe in our purchases.

 

Recently I added Parker vector Standard calligraphy set in my collection with Metropolitan, Jinhao x750 and Trinity. I have ordered a Platinum preppy too online. I can now buy only a single pen this year and won't be able to save much for another year I guess. I am confused between ASA patriot with Jowo Nib or Lamy Safari or Krishna Lybird from Krishna pens (if I could still get one ) or Guider Pens or should I save more and buy a Twsbi Eco. Twsbi Eco will be my upper Limit of the budget. I will be ordering in November or December so I would have plenty of time to consider your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

P.S. I didn't imply Indian pens are not good pens and I certainly didn't mean that the reviews that I read were not informative enough, it is just that they are less discussed than their western counterparts.

Edited October 16, 2017 by vineetkgiri

[dinuraj]

Hi Vineet,

 

I would highly recommend an ASA pen. You can ask for nib tuning while checking out. I have 8 ASA pens and none of them disappointed me in performance. (one nauka, which has a wonderfully smooth nib, dries out a bit fast. That is the only complaint I have). You can check out Gama sneaky as well from Gem and Co. pens. His nibs are awesome. I fell in love with fine nibs after using a Gama fine nib. Very much value for money as well.

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

[tusharksingla]

i ll give u my experience with various starter pens

 

1. platinum preppy (fine) has definite feedback and writes very light

2. pilot metropolitan (fine) little more feedback but colour of ink paper is what the original ink has.. 2nd best out of the bunch

3. lamy safari (fine) best out of the bunch in terms of performance.. smoothest out of all.. line is little thicker than pilot metropolitan but good enough for our everyday paper.. love using it everytime

4. jinhao x450 (medium) very smooth nib.. good ink flow too.. might be inapt for everyday paper bcoz it is only avail in medium and definitely not for u if u have a small handwriting

 

out of these 4 i recommend u to buy lamy safari fine, avail for 2000 bucks.. costly but worth it in my opinion..

[vineetkgiri]

Hi Vineet,

 

I would highly recommend an ASA pen. You can ask for nib tuning while checking out. I have 8 ASA pens and none of them disappointed me in performance. (one nauka, which has a wonderfully smooth nib, dries out a bit fast. That is the only complaint I have). You can check out Gama sneaky as well from Gem and Co. pens. His nibs are awesome. I fell in love with fine nibs after using a Gama fine nib. Very much value for money as well.

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback. I have been reading about ASA pens in various discussions here and I have noticed the positive reviews especially about their Jowo Nib. Gama Sneaky is it an eyedropper? Where can one look at the model? Is it available on ASA'S website?

Edited October 21, 2017 by vineetkgiri

[vineetkgiri]

i ll give u my experience with various starter pens

 

1. platinum preppy (fine) has definite feedback and writes very light

2. pilot metropolitan (fine) little more feedback but colour of ink paper is what the original ink has.. 2nd best out of the bunch

3. lamy safari (fine) best out of the bunch in terms of performance.. smoothest out of all.. line is little thicker than pilot metropolitan but good enough for our everyday paper.. love using it everytime

4. jinhao x450 (medium) very smooth nib.. good ink flow too.. might be inapt for everyday paper bcoz it is only avail in medium and definitely not for u if u have a small handwriting

 

out of these 4 i recommend u to buy lamy safari fine, avail for 2000 bucks.. costly but worth it in my opinion..

Thank you for giving me a brief description about starter pens for beginners. I already have platinum preppy, Pilot Metropolitan and Jinhao x750 ( I don't have x450). I can only buy one more pen this year and I was confused about making a purchase. Should I go for Lamy Safari or invest more money in Twsbi Eco. I wanted to know, whether are there any Indian ebonites which are better in performance than these pens I mean for daily use? As a beginner, I should avoid pens that are eyedropper or may require nib tuning.

[tusharksingla]

If u get a custom pen made from an indian brand.. usually they are eyedroppers but might come with an option for converter.. u cn directly contact the manufacturer and tell them how u wanna use ur pen and they will definitely help u out.. usually indian ebonites have thick sections too which makes it difficult for writing for an hour or so.. its a practical problem i found.. if u like to write with thin sections please check the section diameter in measurements portion. But regarding performance u wont be disappointed.. and if u dnt like how the pen writes u cn again contact the manufacturer to tweak the nib or u cn do it urself too.. there are many good nib tuning videos on YouTube.. esp ones by matt armstrong of pen habit channel.. as soon as u try it urself u wont be a beginner

 

I havent used twsbi eco... For 3000₹ i dnt think it is beginner's pen.. so never thought of buying it.. but from various reviews i have heard its also a very good pen.. it all depends on ur requirement... If u want a demonstrator with large ink capacity go for twsbi.. if u dnt care abt these then buy lamy..

[vineetkgiri]

If u get a custom pen made from an indian brand.. usually they are eyedroppers but might come with an option for converter.. u cn directly contact the manufacturer and tell them how u wanna use ur pen and they will definitely help u out.. usually indian ebonites have thick sections too which makes it difficult for writing for an hour or so.. its a practical problem i found.. if u like to write with thin sections please check the section diameter in measurements portion. But regarding performance u wont be disappointed.. and if u dnt like how the pen writes u cn again contact the manufacturer to tweak the nib or u cn do it urself too.. there are many good nib tuning videos on YouTube.. esp ones by matt armstrong of pen habit channel.. as soon as u try it urself u wont be a beginner

 

I havent used twsbi eco... For 3000₹ i dnt think it is beginner's pen.. so never thought of buying it.. but from various reviews i have heard its also a very good pen.. it all depends on ur requirement... If u want a demonstrator with large ink capacity go for twsbi.. if u dnt care abt these then buy lamy..

Thanks a lot although I am a bit more confused now because a few months ago I cancelled the deal of purchasing a Lamy safari at the very last moment in a shop. I was lucky the owner didn't lose his temper. I am ashamed of it now. At that time I thought Lamy Safari is not durable enough and it's too costly. But now I think I made a big mistake.

Edited October 21, 2017 by vineetkgiri

[tusharksingla]

Haha dnt wry my friend.. u shudnt be ashamed of such doubts.. everyone has them all the time.. fountain pens have so much variety.. that u cnt pinpoint ur choice.. happens with me all the time..

And to be honest searching for the pens and doing ur own research is part of the hobby..

Do let us know which pen u bought finally.. enjoy

[vineetkgiri]

Haha dnt wry my friend.. u shudnt be ashamed of such doubts.. everyone has them all the time.. fountain pens have so much variety.. that u cnt pinpoint ur choice.. happens with me all the time..

And to be honest searching for the pens and doing ur own research is part of the hobby..

Do let us know which pen u bought finally.. enjoy

I ordered an ASA DAILY with a Schmidt converter from ASA's Website. Unfortunately, couldn't contact ASA before purchase. Let's see, when it would reach me.

[oneill]

HELLO FPN MEMBERS

I am a Delhi based research student who has just entered in the world of fountain pens. I purchased two fountain pens Pilot Metropolitan and Jinhao X750 from Ravi’s Pens point very recently after my disappointment with Camlin Trinity (its ink flow turned out to be terrible). I have decided I won’t upgrade to Lamy or TWSBI now. I know you guys might get be getting this a lot to the extent it might sound little banal but I am looking for budget fountain pens under 1000 INR (15 dollars). I am thinking to buy a platinum preppy soon but I really want to try some Indian fountain pens and will be glad to get some recommendations especially that are decent writers for long writing sessions. I prefer my Jinhao over my Metropolitan so I think I have a preference for a medium nib.

 

Also I have realized, a paper has a considerable impact on the performance of a fountain pen. After the recommendation by Ravi, I tried locating JK cedar 100gsm in North Delhi only to end my search in dismay (couldn’t find it anywhere in stationaries but I have not tried Nayi Sadak). The price offered by Amazon for Cedar is more than 400 INR (including delivery charges). I am looking for budget decent performing notebooks or sheets for note-making and daily writing that are good alternatives to Cedar.

 

Other issue I am facing is drying of ink in my Metropolitan. I used Ravi’s (pen point South ex) Ink with my Metropolitan but I have realized I have to shake it repeatedly otherwise it stops writing and it also dries quickly. I can’t write and read simultaneously with metropolitan’s cap dismounted. Although I didn’t face the same problem when I used Pelikan 4001 with Jinhao and the uncapped Jinhao performs decently even after I don’t put back the pen cap quickly. I think it is the drying problem of the ink and not the pen. I have used Camlin royal blue ink and found it a decent performing ink. What are other decent budget inks that don’t get dry quickly?

 

Any insights on the above issues would be appreciated.

A quick tip is that engeika.com has a new invention on a pen which is supposed to stop the pen from drying out it is called the Plaisir pen which has a screw on cap which prevents the pen from drying out,when they started to sell them about a year ago they were only $7. now they have reached about $20. they are quite good.

Trust me. oneill

[deepak23]

A quick tip is that engeika.com has a new invention on a pen which is supposed to stop the pen from drying out it is called the Plaisir pen which has a screw on cap which prevents the pen from drying out,when they started to sell them about a year ago they were only $7. now they have reached about $20. they are quite good.

Trust me. oneill

Plasair is the metal version of the Preppy and is made by Platinum. Its a good option of you want to avoid the cap cracking problems of the preppy.

 

Kanwrite products are available through Amazon. The Heritage is the flagship model and is an excellent pen. The Desire is also very well made and in my opinion is currently the best starter pen available in India for the price.

 

Airmails are wonderful pens let down by a poor nib. But if you can pop in a better nib like say the Kanwrite nib or the Sheaffer NN nib, then these can be workhorses. An Airmail 71J with a Kanwrite nib has been in my rotation for a long time now

[vineetkgiri]

A quick tip is that engeika.com has a new invention on a pen which is supposed to stop the pen from drying out it is called the Plaisir pen which has a screw on cap which prevents the pen from drying out,when they started to sell them about a year ago they were only $7. now they have reached about $20. they are quite good.

Trust me. oneill

Thank you for responding, Yes platinum Plaisir is a good pen but it's not value for money. At that price, you can easily get a Pilot Metropolitan.

[vineetkgiri]

Plasair is the metal version of the Preppy and is made by Platinum. Its a good option of you want to avoid the cap cracking problems of the preppy.

 

Kanwrite products are available through Amazon. The Heritage is the flagship model and is an excellent pen. The Desire is also very well made and in my opinion is currently the best starter pen available in India for the price.

 

Airmails are wonderful pens let down by a poor nib. But if you can pop in a better nib like say the Kanwrite nib or the Sheaffer NN nib, then these can be workhorses. An Airmail 71J with a Kanwrite nib has been in my rotation for a long time now

Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions. Yes, Airmail Wality series is on my wishlist. And about Kanwrite, I couldn't find their products on Amazon. I mailed them a month back and have got no reply from them.