Best writing experience

[Wordler]

 

Hello everyone!

How would you rate the writing experience of these pens in terms of nib performance only, not handling? Please comment and rate from 1 to 10 where 10 is best and 1 is worst.

Pilot Metropolitan/Kakuno nib

Platinum Preppy/Prefounte nib

Lamy Safari/Al-star nib

TWSBI Eco/Eco-T nib

Thanks

[Mark from Yorkshire]

 1stly welcome to our rabbit warren, you have definitely fallen into it good and proper. Beware you have entered the den of evil enablers. To answer you question from the stash, growing selection of pens i have

 

pilot MR ( metropolitan) and also kakuno 8/9
Lamy nibs 7 / 8 

[JasonR]

I haven’t used all but I do love the Lamy Al-star and would rate it a solid 7 with the Preppy coming in behind it at a 5 or 6.  

[Merrick]

Out of those choices the Preppy is undoubtedly my favorite. Smooth and reliable!

[Penguincollector]

 Hi! I really like TWSBI Eco stubs, I have not tried all of their nib widths, but the stubs are a good 8/10 for me. Lamy’s steel nibs are a hard pass for me, I have never had a good experience with them; the gold nibs are excellent- 10/10,and also fit the Safari and AL-Star. The Preppy nibs are pretty average, 5/10. Pilot Kakuno/Prera/Metropolitan/Penmanship etc. nibs are excellent, 9/10. 

[boilermaker1975]

I have 5 Lamy Safaris and 1 Al-Star. Today I ordered the pine Al-Star and the Steel Black Safari, so I like them. 7/8 

 

I only have one TWSBI and I probably won't be getting another. It might just be a problem with the pen I have, but I had to replace the nib, which TWSBI did supply at no cost, because of ink flow issues. It is much better, but still occasionally has a problem I won't give a number since I have experience with only 1 pen.

 

One you didn't mention, but I will throw in, is the Monteverde MP1. I have six of them, great pens that I would rank at the top of pens in this price range, 9/10s.

 

Of course I do have limited experience.

[Chris1]

I think the answer is 'it depends'. 

 

In general, there can be differences between individual nibs even though they are nominally identical. Add in the influence of ink and paper and the outcome is that your experience will almost certainly be somewhat different to anyone else's for any specific pen and nib. 

 

My suggestion is that you keep notes of what you try and what you think of each combination because only you can really decide what you like best.

 

 

 

[Shandy]

Pilot Metropolitan/Kakuno nib: 3 - Even finer nibs feel like crayons to me, and they are too smooth.

 

Platinum Preppy/Prefounte nib: 9 - I love my Platinum 0.2 nib. Just wish that it were a bit less smooth and a bit broader.

 

Lamy Safari/Al-star nib: 7 - Good nibs, too broad for me even in extra-fine. As someone here wrote years ago, if I recall, they tend to have an italic slant. I put a Lamy gold nib in an Al-Star. I liked it very much for a while, then grew weary of the slant and wanted a finer nib.

 

TWSBI Eco/Eco-T nib: 7 - I liked the nib on the 580 quite a bit. Crisp, precise. But I could never re-assemble the 580 after cleaning it, no matter how many times I watched the video. So that nib goes unused.