The Best Parker Fountain Pen?

[farmdogfan]

In my opinoin it would be the Parker 51 aerometric, nice sized and well-built.

[AL01]

Extremely subjective question, but if you're looking over the responses as a survey of sorts, my top three votes would be:

 

1) Parker 51

2) Parker Vacumatic

2) Parker 75

 

I like dat!

 

Add a Duofold...

 

How much do ya wanna spend?

[AL01]

Apart from the 51, Parkers are enough to make me a Pelikan enthusiast.

 

Oh boy.

[mitto]

I like dat!

 

Add a Duofold...

 

How much do ya wanna spend?

...And add P45 early flighter.

[thx1138]

Parker 180 or the 50 is very nice also.

[inkstainedruth]

Oh, wow. Where do I begin....

Clearly my favorite is my Plum Demi 51 Aerometric. But my sentimental favorite is my first Vector, which was really my gateway pen. And the pen that has seen the most use over the past couple of years? A Red Shadow Wave Vacumatic, which has been in current rotation without any sort of flushing for nearly 2 years. Most fun nib of any of my Parkers (and I have a LOT of Parkers) would probably be the semi-flex OF nib on the blue Laidtone Duofold. Smoothest nib? Probably on my first 45, a black CT model with a 14K medium nib -- it's got a small sweet spot, but when I hit that sweet spot? Oh MY.... [We need a melting into a puddle smiley .gif on here.... Just sayin']

Modern Parkers, OTOH (other than Vectors, especially the English made ones)? Not so much....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ink-syringe]

Vacumatic

51 (vac or aerometric)

Old School Duofold

45

UK Aerometric Duofold

Button FIller Duofolds AF or NS

75

 

Best modern Parker is the Sheaffer Prelude </wink>

[ajcoleman]

"Best" is pretty nebulous, but anyone who considers themselves a Parker fan should, I think, have a 51, a 45, and a Jotter ballpoint. All three are iconic classic pens that were not only groundbreaking technologically for their time, but extremely popular, enjoying decades long production runs. All three are excellent pens and still relatively easy to acquire. My Parker Sonnet is one of my favorite pens hands down, but if I were forced to chose the "best" Parker, I would have to go with the 51 aero.

[Wandering Man]

No one to speak up for the Premier?

 

I've got a 1920 something duofold, a 1980's Centennial duofold, a 1941 duo-vac, a 75, a 45, and the modern Premier.

 

The 75 is the only one I don't care for, and that's because someone did a bad job of turning it into a stub nib.

[coinlvr]

Parker 51 is my favorite. I love Parker UK Duofold Maxima also.

[parban]

I have used Parker 51, 61, 75 and Duofolds --International and Centennial --both 90's and modern. 51s are difficult to clean and I also dont like rubber sac fillers. 61s are inferior in material and the arrow could fall off any time.75s make ink flow problems and its very difficult to take out the feed from nib to clean the ink channel.

 

Modern duofolds are toylike and their goldplatings I found worse than the UK Duofolds. IMHO the UK C/C Duofolds are winners. The coice between International and Centlennial would depend on the individual choice of the girth. I personally prefer the Internationals.

[AL01]

...And add P45 early flighter.

 

are they as balanced as regular 45s??

[AL01]

I have used Parker 51, 61, 75 and Duofolds --International and Centennial --both 90's and modern. 51s are difficult to clean and I also dont like rubber sac fillers. 61s are inferior in material and the arrow could fall off any time.75s make ink flow problems and its very difficult to take out the feed from nib to clean the ink channel.

 

Modern duofolds are toylike and their goldplatings I found worse than the UK Duofolds. IMHO the UK C/C Duofolds are winners. The coice between International and Centlennial would depend on the individual choice of the girth. I personally prefer the Internationals.

 

The ones from '16?

 

Or the ones before the major redesign?

[parban]

I mean Duofolds with Arrow nibs and C/C fillers.I havent used anyone with banner nibs. But the current heart-top ones I found inferior than these with Arrow nibs.

[AL01]

I see....

 

Thanks, Al.

Edited July 28, 2017 by AL01

[northlodge]

My favourite is the Parker 51, I always have one with me at work

 

You are flying the Union flag, which might suggest to can source the very affordable UK Duofolds of the 1950's, and the early Victory models. If you are content with black models these can be picked up at very reasonable prices off ebay.

[Alcuin]

I'd say the Parker 51. It was the first pen I ever used that actually felt like a "better" pen, relative to all others I've used. I think what I like most about it is the fact that it just simply works. It's something I can pull out of my pocket and write with without having to actually think about the fact that I'm using a fountain pen.

[Lexus77]

There don't seem to be a lot of fans of the frontier here.
Of course, they're probably not the best "overall."
But I love them so much. I can honestly say that, although the 51 fascinates me more in the way of design, durability, and some other aspects, I do prefer the feel of my frontiers. I prefer them so much, that I now have 5 frontiers, as opposed to my 2 51s.
That smooth, springy nib, that lays down a thick, wet line, every time without any failure, no skipping, no hard starts, not drying out fast when I leave it uncapped on my desk. I don;t have much experience with other parker (except from the awful IM, a superscratchy 21 and a mediocre 75) but the 51 and frontier are among my absolute favourites. And I like writing with the frontier way more than with the 51's nail nib. I just like the 51 for other reasons.

[inkstainedruth]

61s are inferior in material and the arrow could fall off any time.

 

True. I have one that is missing the arrow.

OTOH, I actually do really like mine. Are they the "best" Parkers? No, that would still clearly be 51 Aerometrics, IMO. But 61s (the capillary filler models, at least) are fun pens, amazingly easy to fill, and hold a HUGE amount of ink (possibly as much as a Vacumatic, and possibly even more). My first one? I wrote with the reconstituted ink that was still in the system for several months -- just re-flushing it with enough distilled water till I had ink flow -- for something like four *months*....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

There don't seem to be a lot of fans of the frontier here.

Of course, they're probably not the best "overall."

But I love them so much. I can honestly say that, although the 51 fascinates me more in the way of design, durability, and some other aspects, I do prefer the feel of my frontiers. I prefer them so much, that I now have 5 frontiers, as opposed to my 2 51s.

That smooth, springy nib, that lays down a thick, wet line, every time without any failure, no skipping, no hard starts, not drying out fast when I leave it uncapped on my desk. I don;t have much experience with other parker (except from the awful IM, a superscratchy 21 and a mediocre 75) but the 51 and frontier are among my absolute favourites. And I like writing with the frontier way more than with the 51's nail nib. I just like the 51 for other reasons.

I like the Frontier also. I have a few with different nibs, including an italic. They seem to work better with cartridges, even refilled cartridges.