Most Often Used Underrated Pen

[warblerick]

For me, its my Kaweco Dia 2, with gold trim and fine nib. Very underrated, but built like a tank and never ever any issues with skipping, hard starts, dry nib. I only wish it came in something more colorful than black.

[TSherbs]

Pilot Varsity

[miwishi63]

Platinum Preppy & Thornton's Novice - not indestructible but rarely fail to write on the first try.

[by_a_Lady]

Lamy Safari/AL-Star/Vista

 

Built to withstand abuse inflicted by schoolchildren, and it definitely does fulfil that purpose. Comes in a host of fun colours and several materials to choose from. Last but not least, it's a reliable writer which can be equipped with many different nib widths if one so desires.

I have fine-tuned mine to let more ink through the feed and took care of the nibs separately. I can now put one ink in it and enjoy the many different effects it has in different nib sizes, which is very handy because I'm quite particular about this. I never think twice about taking this with me to university or just carry it around in my pocket for unexpected writing emergencies, whereas I would probably take extra precautions with some other pens (even though none of them are really that expensive or irreplaceable).

 

 

Dominique

[Intensity]

Kaweco Perkeo (mine is pink/gray) with #5 Bock nib — cheap, excellent springy nib with just perfect amount of pleasant feedback, lightweight,and well-made. The cap closes well and no drying out issues. One of my favorite pens, despite being my cheapest after a few failed and problematic Jinhaos.

[WLSpec]

1. Sheaffer Balance! Though the Balance gets enough attention, the iconic Triumph nibs and Snorkel fillers from the same era (mid 20th century) get much more attention for Sheaffer pens. My Balance is good looking, built and restored seamlessly, and writes very well. These are great pens that quite a few people use, yet I don't hear about them much.

 

2. Jinhao Shark pen. These are very inexpensive Chinese made fountain pens, and many people use them to give away for the purpose of getting others into fountain pens. A LOT of people use these, yet not many mention how great they really are. They are under $4, and the hooded nibs write better than some of my more expensive pens.

[gyasko]

Lamy Al-Star. I never liked the Safari, but after losing a few pens, i won't take any of my preciouses out of the house. Instead, i use one of my Al-Stars. I'm pretty happy with the 1.5 and 1.9mm nibs.

[A Smug Dill]

I'm very happy with three my Delike New Moon 3 pens (which only come in those three different colours). At A$7 each, they're great. I don't use them (out of 150+ pens here) very often, though, when so many more expensive pens demand attention.

[Honeybadgers]

Delike alpha. a true tank (I drove over one with an ambulance out of boredom once and it got a single scratch from the asphalt) It also accepts a lot of vintage #2 nibs. I have a 14k eversharp manifold in mine. It is inked 100% of the time.

 

I also always have a wing sung 698 inked. I have no idea on earth how the plastic of that pen will not stain for any reason whatsoever. It's had inks in it that ruin other demonstrators and is still crystal clear.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[JakobS]

The Pelikano Junior and Pelikano are really good pens beginner or not, the nibs are smooth, and rather indestructible. They seem have fallen off the map a little and not be sold be some of the more known online shops, but still widely available....

Edited March 28, 2019 by JakobS

[flipper_gv]

Cross Townsend is criminally underrated on the hobbyist side of things.

[Parker51]

Parker Super 21. A fraction of the cost of the 51 with equally good writing capabilities.

[Studio97]

I have $20 cross fps which work quite well and use them often. Least used: Montblanc.

[inkstainedruth]

For me, it's the Parker Vector. They get sneered at for being "school pens" but mine are little workhorses. Inexpensive, colorful and fun, yet my first one started right up after a month of non-use and then sitting in the bottom of my husband's car in 20° F weather for a week after that.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Another one would be the 1980s era Pelikano. I paid $5 US for one at the Baltimore-Washington Pen Show last year, and it's got an amazingly smooth nib.

Edited March 28, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

Parker Sonnet after sealing the cap.

 

Sheaffer cartridge pen with translucent barrel from the 1960s. I added a converter with the PVC sac, and it is unbeatable.

[ENewton]

Seldom discussed pens that I have enjoyed using for many years are a Waterman Gentleman and a Waterman Elegance.

[A Smug Dill]

Parker Sonnet after sealing the cap.

I'd love to know what you mean by that. Not as a pointed challenge to your opinion, but I've basically written off my two (not cheap!) Parker Sonnet Gold Cascade pens because the cap seals, although undamaged in factory condition, are no good in preventing ink from drying out in a matter of two-to-four weeks when the pens are unused. If my fiancée hadn't kindly elected to take custody of those pens, they'd have gone out with the trash by now.

[pajaro]

I'd love to know what you mean by that. Not as a pointed challenge to your opinion, but I've basically written off my two (not cheap!) Parker Sonnet Gold Cascade pens because the cap seals, although undamaged in factory condition, are no good in preventing ink from drying out in a matter of two-to-four weeks when the pens are unused. If my fiancée hadn't kindly elected to take custody of those pens, they'd have gone out with the trash by now.

 

I popped off the black cap jewel with a small jeweler's screwdriver. I then filled just the recess the cap jewel came out of with some five minute set time epoxy and pushed the cap jewel back in. I used just a bead of epoxy so that there would be no excess epoxy running over. I left the pen uncapped for a day. Now it stays writeable where it had always dried out in hours.

Edited March 28, 2019 by pajaro

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for the information!

[alexander_k]

Montblanc 22x: good size, good construction quality and excellent nibs.