Best pen nib out-of-the-box not needing a nibmeister

[elcincogrande]

As I venture into the world of fountain pens I've read many threads where folks rave about their customized nibs or advise others that a nibmeister can fix a problematic nib.

 

Let me say upfront that in my limited experience I've not had a nib customized. I'm in no way knocking this, either, as someday I'd like to treat myself to this experience. I can imagine that after obtaining the first customized nib, there might be a desire to have this performed on every nib thereafter. I also understand that if somebody spends a good sum of money on a pen that skips or has other problems, a nibmeister may be the way to go. But I also believe that generally fountain pens should be good-to-go without the need for professional customization.

 

What fountain pen nibs/pens do you believe are great writers out-of-the-box? Again, I know every nib could be better if professionally customized. For this question pretend there is no such thing as a nibmeister. Which pen(s) would you choose? From reading the threads, it sounds like Viscontis and Sailors fit this bill. Any others, whether they be expensive or moderately priced, gold or steel?

 

Thanks,

 

Will

[psortland]

I picked up a Cross ATX 6 months ago and I haven't made any alterations to it at all. I have several other pens, but I keep going back to the cross. It's smooth as silk, and I have had no problems with low ink flow, or high ink flow.

 

[asexton]

In my currently small collection, the best writer I have is a Visconti Opera Club. Not only does the pen write wonderfully, it is one of the most beautiful pens in my collection. The only problem is that it wants to act up with Visconti ink (ironic, huh?). It has Noodler's Squeteague in it now, and it is perfect. I also have a Krone Boulder with a B nib. It writes wonderfully, but B nibs are generally smoother anyway. Krone, overall, though, does get wonderful reviews of their nibs. Be sure to get one on sale. Finally, while I have no direct experience, I hear that Omas nibs are some of the best writers on the market out of the box. I hope everything helps.

 

Edit: My Pelikan is also a very smooth and a very wet writer.

 

-Cody

Edited April 24, 2008 by asexton

[rogerb]

Stipula or Waterman stubs would be my choice.

[Haskell]

In my experience there are two ways to go if you want the best chance of a good nib right out of the box. The first is to buy a Japanese pen (I really like Sailor nibs but Pilot and Platinum are also very good.) The other route, paradoxically, is to buy a pen in the price range of $15 - $35 such as a Pelikan Pelikano, Future or Lamy Safari. These mass-produced pens seem more homogeneous than more expensive pens so if a particular model is good then most all specific instances of that pen will tend to be good.

[Romeo Dog]

Hate to say it, but Waterman Phileas medium.

 

[NeoTiger]

I think this is a highly subjective topic, as any brand can have a pen that writes great out of the box, but also ones that don't. It can be a very random game of luck.

 

What I will say, however, is that I find Pilot very consistent with its nib quality, it's almost always good.

 

 

[el3ssar]

Recently, my Sapporo out-of-the-bow nib was far and away better (since it was perfect) than my Safari nib (which is now ok).

[OldGriz]

Any pen that you purchase from Richard Binder..... because he will make sure it is writing right when you get it...

[Ondina]

Waterman's, Pelikan's and Lamy's are pretty good choices. If you like the fine side of the spectrum, Sailor has great nibs.

[daveg]

I've had very good out-of-the-box experience with Pelikans and poor with Viscontis. (However, even the Viscontis could be fixed with micromesh or by sending them to Visconti's US service center.) In general, low-end pens with machine-made steel nibs tend to be much more consistent.

[izlat]

I have to agree there are cheap cheap pens, which write very well (=better than expensive pens) right out of the box. Problem is, I want something more (don't we all LOL)

 

Cheers

Ivo

[Songwind]

My collection is very small, but I have to say that my Libelle had an EXCELLENT nib out of the box, and my Jinhao, while stiff as a nail, still writes smoothly and consistently without adjustment.

[Serpentum]

Pelikan Originals of Their Time is absolutely best i have ever tried. I don't know if the original Pelikan 100 was equaly good, but if they was i can understand why they are so sought after.

 

I never experienced any customized nibs thou.

[simonrob]

What fountain pen nibs/pens do you believe are great writers out-of-the-box? Again, I know every nib could be better if professionally customized. For this question pretend there is no such thing as a nibmeister. Which pen(s) would you choose? From reading the threads, it sounds like Viscontis and Sailors fit this bill. Any others, whether they be expensive or moderately priced, gold or steel?

 

Thanks,

 

Will

 

Anything you buy from Richard Binder (he tests them before sending them, even if he hasn't reground the tip); any Japanese pen. Interesting to read recommendations for Visconti and Stipula - my experiences of the former have been uneven, from excellent to bad (a nib that can't be cured of its desire to skip on some downstrokes), of the latter uneven, but worse, from OK to simply-won't-write-at-all.

 

Simon

[FrankB]

An answer to your question is personal, based on experience. I have 50-years of experience, so I can try to generalize a bit. In recent production pens, I have had very good luck with Pelikans and Bexleys. They have all written excellently out of the box, and they have been dead on reliable over time.

 

I have a small stable of Stipulas, mostly Etrurias, and I have only good things to say about them. A couple of my Parker Duofold nibs were sort of hard to start, but once initalized they have been consistently great. If I let these pens sit for a couple of days unused, I usually have to run the nibs under a small drizzle of tap water to get them going, but they will go for days after that.

[QM2]

What fountain pen nibs/pens do you believe are great writers out-of-the-box? Again, I know every nib could be better if professionally customized. For this question pretend there is no such thing as a nibmeister. Which pen(s) would you choose? From reading the threads, it sounds like Viscontis and Sailors fit this bill.

 

Even though I love my Viscontis I cannot say they fit the bill, because 1 out of 2 (so 50%) had flow problems when I just got it, plus the line was too wide for me anyway. After I sent the pen for regrinding, the pen returned with a narrower nib and no flow problems, but no, it was not ready to use out of the box.

 

I have several pens that were good out of the box, but other members here have had patterns of bad experiences with the very same brands, so I won't list them.

 

The two brands I would say have the most consistency in being great out of the box (both in my experience and for the majority of people here) are Namiki/Pilot and Sailor. The Prera is an exception with the Namiki/Pilot line. Japanese pens have been generally more reliable tha western pens in my experience. With Italian and American pens, it is really a toss-up: you may get lucky, but maybe not. German pens are a bit more reliable, but less so than Japanese.

 

If there were no nibmeisters, I would probably buy mostly Japanese, for the simple reason that no one else makes truly XF nibs. But that is only relevant for those who use XF nibs of course.

 

Hope this helps,

QM2

 

 

 

[JFT]

I have limited experience so take this with a pinch of salt

 

Out of 9 or 10 Pelikan "out of the box" I'd say a single was very good (to my taste anyway). I had to try 3 or 4 Visconti nib before I got one I really liked. All the Waterman I tried: 3 Carene, 2 Exceptions and Le Man 100 have been outstanding out of the box.

 

As someone said buy from a nib meister and even if you dont get the nib modified you'll have a smooth writer whatever brand you buy

Edited April 25, 2008 by JFT

[goodguy]

As I venture into the world of fountain pens I've read many threads where folks rave about their customized nibs or advise others that a nibmeister can fix a problematic nib.

 

Let me say upfront that in my limited experience I've not had a nib customized. I'm in no way knocking this, either, as someday I'd like to treat myself to this experience. I can imagine that after obtaining the first customized nib, there might be a desire to have this performed on every nib thereafter. I also understand that if somebody spends a good sum of money on a pen that skips or has other problems, a nibmeister may be the way to go. But I also believe that generally fountain pens should be good-to-go without the need for professional customization.

 

What fountain pen nibs/pens do you believe are great writers out-of-the-box? Again, I know every nib could be better if professionally customized. For this question pretend there is no such thing as a nibmeister. Which pen(s) would you choose? From reading the threads, it sounds like Viscontis and Sailors fit this bill. Any others, whether they be expensive or moderately priced, gold or steel?

 

Thanks,

 

Will

Out of my experience the best out of the box pens I had were Mont Blanc pens.All of them started from the first fill and never skip or stuter.They wrote the moment they touched the paper even after weeks later,extremly reliable and fun to use.

[elcincogrande]

I'm enjoying hearing everybody's experiences. I know it's a subjective matter. My experience so far has been with Waterman, Cross, Pelikan and Visconti. All worked great out of the box except the Pelikan 600. It had an oblique nib, so maybe that was part of the problem. It would sometimes have a hard start or would skip on certain strokes. This was before I knew of this forum and of nibmeisters. The pen was stolen at a conference, though, so that took care of the problem. :bonk: I'm looking for another pen to my small collection, and I'm interested in getting something that's good from the get-go.

 

Thanks, again, for eveybody's input!

 

Will