Newbie Looking For Affordable Fountain Pen

[Karmachanic]

Jinhao x750 (comes with an eminently usable M nib) from aliexpress and a nib of your choice from Beaufort Ink in the UK. You'll have money left over for a latte or two.

 

You'll have a sturdy pen and arguably one of the best nibs available.

Edited March 18, 2018 by kd3

[MCAntunes]

Hi guys! Thank you all for your answers and you help.

I'd like to begin saying that buying from an non EU country I can only spend 22€ (inc. shipping)

 

Let's go through all your recommendations:

• Pilot MR (Metropolitan): I didn't know the Metropolitan has a 1.0mm stub nib (CM) and I liked that idea. Unfortunatly, the MR sold in Europe seems to only have a medium nib. I searched through eBay and the American versions of this pen all had very expensive shipping and that makes the purchase impracticable. The only ones I saw on eBay were from Malaysia and came with a F or M nib (european version, which was odd). Also, the European MR does not come with the classic designs.
• Kaweco Sport: I'm afraid it's a bit too short and I don't adapt to it. I'm also worried about the poor quality nibs as some said.
• Nemosine Singularity: As some said, the shipping from the US makes it out of my budget.
• TWSBI Eco: I like this pen, but the price and shipping in Europe makes it out of my budget.
• Platinum Plasier: I'd like my new to pen to be a bit more smoother and with less feedback than the Preppy. The Plasier uses the same nibs.
• Lamy Safari/Vista/Al-Star: As I said, I don't care for triangular shape grips. I like the Studio and the CP1 but both are out of my budget.
• Chinese Pens (Penbbs, etc): I looked at Penbbs and I liked the 308 and 309. What is the best place to buy them? I never bought anything on taobao. Do they have any store on AliExpress or eBay?

[Torrilin]

Fpnibs.com is based in Spain, and it looks like the eco is €26 through them, so yeah. Bit out of budget.

 

It looks like Faber-Castell pens are much cheaper for you than for us Americans, and the Loom and WritINK should both be under budget. The Basic too maybe. I haven’t tried one of theirs because they run about 2x the euro price over here. But they get a lot of nib love.

 

With Kaweco, if you’re able to try in person, I wouldn’t worry about the nibs. If the Sport is too small, take a look at the Perkeo. That’s basically it for their cheap school pens tho. So if neither one feels good, ignore me .

 

Fpnibs is offering a brand called Divine Design with wood pens under €10. Never tried them, but it might be worth asking them about it since the shop gets rave reviews for their customer service.

 

The Lamy Nexx has a round grip and is a cheapie, so if you can try it in person do!

 

Bummer on the MR, I thought that it had the same range of choices as the Pilot cartridge version. Bother. It uses the same nibs, but I guess it must run a lot more expensive for you guys.

 

Pelikan makes the Pelikano and Twist for school pens. They should be a reasonable price but I know Pelikan’s idea of fine and xf nibs tends to be really broad compared to even Lamy. If you’re loving a Preppy this may not work. And Pelikan is anti nib swapping.

 

Fpnibs is selling expensive Manuscript fountain pens. I know the brand sells cheap ones too, but I don’t know much more than that. I believe the cheapies are mostly rebranded Chinese pens, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I don’t have firsthand experience with Chinese pens, but there’s plenty of people here who do.

[Bluey]

I would suggest either the Wing Sung 698 or the Hero 616 as the best value.

Don't buy any in multipacks though.

[Karmachanic]

Shipping from aliexpress is usually included in the price of a pen. x750 for 2.5 Euro or so to the UK

 

I too have purchased a WingSung 698 for around the same price. Takes a month or so for the pen to arrive in the mail. If you want it quicker you can get it in 10 days or so, at a premium, from this well regarded ebay seller: https://www.ebay.com/usr/jewelrymathematics

 

So may choices!

Edited March 18, 2018 by kd3

[IndigoBOB]

 

Hi guys! Thank you all for your answers and you help.

I'd like to begin saying that buying from an non EU country I can only spend 22€ (inc. shipping)

 

Let's go through all your recommendations:

• Pilot MR (Metropolitan): I didn't know the Metropolitan has a 1.0mm stub nib (CM) and I liked that idea. Unfortunatly, the MR sold in Europe seems to only have a medium nib. I searched through eBay and the American versions of this pen all had very expensive shipping and that makes the purchase impracticable. The only ones I saw on eBay were from Malaysia and came with a F or M nib (european version, which was odd). Also, the European MR does not come with the classic designs.
• Kaweco Sport: I'm afraid it's a bit too short and I don't adapt to it. I'm also worried about the poor quality nibs as some said.
• Nemosine Singularity: As some said, the shipping from the US makes it out of my budget.
• TWSBI Eco: I like this pen, but the price and shipping in Europe makes it out of my budget.
• Platinum Plasier: I'd like my new to pen to be a bit more smoother and with less feedback than the Preppy. The Plasier uses the same nibs.
• Lamy Safari/Vista/Al-Star: As I said, I don't care for triangular shape grips. I like the Studio and the CP1 but both are out of my budget.
• Chinese Pens (Penbbs, etc): I looked at Penbbs and I liked the 308 and 309. What is the best place to buy them? I never bought anything on taobao. Do they have any store on AliExpress or eBay?

 

 

 

Prices seem to be better on Ebay vs AliExpress. I've never shopped Taobao myself.

 

Noted reliable sellers on Ebay I know that carry penbbs are: Chase_expo2010, and Office_Supplies_Pen (I think where chrisrap52 gets many of his pens if you've seen his reviews on these on youtube).

 

If you're looking at other sellers make sure they have a high rating, have many sold, and check the feedback.

 

I've purchased from those two before said sellers and they package their shipments the best and get it out and shipped the quickest.

[Arkanabar]

Miguel,
if you like the Preppy, consider the aluminum-bodied version of the same pen -- the Platinum Plaisir. Platinum's rather large cartridges can be refilled with disposable polyethelyne bulb pipettes, sold by the likes of Goulet Pens. I don't know a European vendor for them, but others can make recommendations. IMX, the 0.5mm nib is much smoother than the 0.3mm, which was toothy.

The Nemosine Singularity has one significant design flaw: the cap screws onto the section, not the barrel. I have unscrewed the section from the barrel when trying to unscrew the cap. This is only really serious if you decide to use the pen as an eyedropper. I like their 0.8mm and 0.6mm stubs, even if they are untipped.

If you like the nib that Pilot puts in the Metro, it's also available in the Kakuno (airweight, at least as big around as the Preppy, and hexagonal section, but no clip) and the Prera (a much shorter and slightly girthier pen). Pilot's proprietary cartridges are really easy to refill. You pull out the little sealing disc and any eyedropper will do the job. But I'm given to understand that the Metros sent to Europe take short international cartridges.

 

I had an X750 with Bulow branding. It lasted me a couple of years until I'd dropped it enough times that an inner sleeve came out of the section. It was a pretty good pen, and I'd sort of like to get another.

[holgalee]

Hi MCAntunes, I'm glad you like my suggestions for the Chinese pens. I'm very sensitive to the price and ergonomics of pens, and the Caliarts Ego II, Moonman M2 and especially the Penbbs are really great pens. So much so that I'm wondering if I should sell my more expensive Japanese pens. Chrisrap52 ordered his Penbbs from chace_expo2010, and some of his other Chinese pens are from office_supplies_pen. Another seller, art-pen-book-dy, should be quite reputable as well and sells the Penbbs nibs in EF size, which produces a line width close to that of a Japanese EF or F nib.

I find it fairly safe to purchase from ebay; more so if you pay using Paypal so that if there are any issues with the yours order, you can seek compensation. That happened to me for another pen (I bought two of them) as shipping took almost 2 months though it was listed to take a month for my region. The pens eventually arrived and I reimbursed the seller as he/she had refunded me. I had used the Ebay dispute resolution centre, but I later read that Paypal is even more efficient with such issues, and that I should have contacted Paypal first.

By the way, since the Penbbs models come in many colours, most of the ebay sellers require you to choose the colour you want from a drop down menu. If you scroll through all the photos in the listing, you will see the colours indicated. Just in case you're not sure as I've seen some people asking about that on other threads or forums. Have fun with your new pen!

Edited to add: the Caliarts Ego II is also a great pen and it doesn't have the triangular grip to the Twsbi Eco, but a normal rounded grip.

Edited March 19, 2018 by holgalee

[manuelpt]

 

Hi guys! Thank you all for your answers and you help.

I'd like to begin saying that buying from an non EU country I can only spend 22€ (inc. shipping)

 

There's allways chance to get caught by costums and get taxed. But from my experience you wont get much problem gueting a pen through it. I would take the chance.

[MCAntunes]

Thank you very much!

I became very interested in the Chinese pens, especially in the Penbbs ones.

I have to search a bit more!

[holgalee]

I trust that you have seen https://frankunderwater.com? He mebtions Penbbs here and there but doesn't have any long articles about the brand yet, but he features some nice Chinese pens. I now have five Penbbs pens, and it was a post on Reddit that first piqued my interest.

[MCAntunes]

Yes, I've seen that website.

 

Does anyone know anything about the new Penbbs 349 and the Wing Sung 626?

 

Also, does any know if I can use the Moonman M2 with a converter? I don't trust an eyedropper pen as my main pen. I'm very afraid of leakage.

[Karmachanic]

I have a Moonman M2 on order. Eyedropper only. My plan is to use it as a desk pen to see how it goes. I'm less concerned about leakage that I am about burping.

[PatientType]

I've seen this same question asked quite a few times over the years. The universal answer might be that what is "affordable" evolves along with one's knowledge of pens and one's attraction to the hobby.

My first expensive pen, which I fretted over and extensively shopped, cost about $100. At the time, I thought that spending that much was a huge self-indulgence and a one-time splurge. By then, I had several $15 to $35 fountain pens that I used day-to-day. But I wanted one really GOOD fountain pen. One that was well-made. One that I could always keep and use.

That was about ten years back. As my understanding of fountain pens and appreciation of pens as more than just writing instruments grew, I came to want fountain pens that I'd never have considered earlier on. I have some very beautiful and expensive fountain pens now and I cherish them. Each one has a story associated with its qualities, how it is made, and how it was acquired. I'd guess that most of the other long-term FPN members have similar stories.

The take away is that you should buy the nicest pen that you can afford. You're unlikely to regret that purchase.

[BradGad]

Of the ones mentioned in the OP, I have the Metropolitan (several actually) and the Kaweco... much prefer the Metropolitan.

 

Havent used a TWSBI yet, tho I have a Mini on order. The Eco seems like a sound suggestion.

 

But someone mentioned the Pilot Prera... I strongly recommend checking out price and availability of the Prera. Great little pen. I have three and use at least one of them just about every day, alongside my much more expensive pens. JetPens.com has terrific prices on them (about $27), but its a US site.

Edited March 22, 2018 by BradGad

[two2tone]

My Wing Sung 3008 in silver just arrived today. Inked it with Waterman black ink and it writes much better than I expected for its well under $5.00 price (shipping from China included). Nib is close to a European fine with no hard starts, skipping etc. Not as smooth as my Waterman or Sailor, but pretty good considering. Piston filler holds a ton of ink. Highly recommended for an affordable work horse every day pen. I just may get a few more in various colors to give away. Check out some of the youtube reviews.