The Best Of The Worst

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

Back in the late ‘80s there was a short-lived television series entitled, “The Best of the Worst,” which focused on all things bad, but primarily on strange game shows from overseas. To make a play on the words from the title of this long forgotten program; what is/was the best and the worst fountain pen you ever owned?

 

My best is a Parker 51 Aerometric which I use daily.

 

My worst was a Reform 1745 which had a very scratchy nib and skipped all the time- no matter what ink I put in it or how hard I tried to adjust the nib.

 

Pray tell, what are yours?

 

All the best,

 

Sean http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/ribbons/black2.gif

Aka, the friendly curmudgeon

Edited March 3, 2011 by S. P. Colfer

[ThirdeYe]

Sean,

 

That is a very tough question! I have a number of pens I could easily consider my favorite. If I absolutely HAD to choose, I'd probably say my Parker Vacumatic Major. Some close runner-ups that are worthy of mention: Pilot 78G Fine, Sheaffer 330 Fine, Parker 51, Parker 45, Lamy Safari (although I haven't used it much yet, I like it so far).

 

My least favorite thus far is a Parker Vector. It's uncomfortable to hold, and it skips pretty badly. I'll give it one more chance with a better-flowing ink, and if it doesn't cooperate, I won't be using it again! I'm also not very fond of my Parker Jotter. It's a dry-writer and also uncomfortable to hold.

 

Derek

Edited March 3, 2011 by ThirdeYe

[FLJeepGuy]

Best - Parker 75 Cisele. It belonged to my Grandfater, and is now in my permanently-inked category, in use daily.

Worst - Calibri MB knock-off that I received as a gift. It never wrote well, the flow was terrible, the cap didn't fit properly and would constantly fall off. All in all just a horrible pen.

[tonysingh]

My best is my 149 my worst would probably be my pelikan m150 i dont know whats up with the nib i have two nibs of the same width both identical even under a 10x loupe but for some reason its so scratchy and dry.

[FrankB]

I simply cannot identify a favorite pen. I have so many that are all around great pens.

 

On the other hand, I had a nondescript Chinese pen that was all around bad. It was ungainly to hold, unbalanced and wrote poorly. I would have been better off scratching runes into tree bark with a rusty nail.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Greetings all,

 

Back in the late ‘80s there was a short-lived television series entitled, “The Best of the Worst,” which focused on all things bad, but primarily on strange game shows from overseas. To make a play on the words from the title of this long forgotten program; what is/was the best and the worst fountain pen you ever owned?

 

My best is a Parker 51 Aerometric which I use daily.

 

My worst was a Reform 1745 which had a very scratchy nib and skipped all the time- no matter what ink I put in it or how hard I tried to adjust the nib.

 

Pray tell, what are yours?

 

All the best,

 

Sean http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/ribbons/black2.gif

Aka, the friendly curmudgeon

 

 

My best I'd have to think about. A LOT. It might be my Sailor Profit special script, which makes my handwriting look halfway decent.

 

But I reserve the right to come back in if I get all like

 

My worst? That's EASY. A no-name, dark shiny turquoise fountain pen that I got at an art store for two dollars and which leaked EVERYWHERE.

[greencobra]

My best, a Stipula Eturia Volterra Richard Binder worked on for me at the first pen show I attended. Man, does this pen write...wow!

 

My worst, I'll keep that to myself, I'm sure it was a fluke anyway.

[WanderingAuthor]

My best? A blue demo Pelikan M600 John Mottishaw tested before it went out the door to make sure I'd be happy with the nib. Am I ever!!! Close runners up: a Pelikan Toledo I bought about 1990 or so, and a handful of Pelikan M250 demos. I expect once I get my 1930s Parker Duofold Deluxe Sr fixed up, it will be in that list; I love it even in its poor, broken state.

 

My worst? This answer has to have two parts. Not the absolute worst, but the pen I paid the most for with the least satisfaction was a Montblanc 144 CC I got in the late 1980s - early 1990s. I paid $180.00 for that thing new, on the theory it must be a great pen, inked it up once, and disliked it so much I've never touched it since. (I've got to get around to trading that for something I like.) Absolute worst? A tie between a few unbranded pens: several with the generic plastic section and nasty plated steel nib that is sold to some unbranded pen makers, and a chromed steel fp I got a few years ago in Target for about five bucks that was made in China. It had Celtic designs on it and looked cool, but when I got it home, I discovered the factory must have been a slightly retooled manufacturing plant for garden tools. Specifically, spades.... :roflmho: The nib is about half a pound of chunky steel, so dry if you can manage to leave one faint, barely visible eighth inch long mark on the paper you feel a real sense of achievement... (Yes, I did know it was stupid to get a five dollar fountain pen at Target. But it looked so cool, and it was a fountain pen... :embarrassed_smile: )

[Black Rose]

All of the pens I currently have cost less than $20.

 

Best: I'd have to say it's a tossup between the Pilot 78G M and a Sheaffer NoNonsense F.

 

Worst: Without a doubt the Zebra V-301. <insert stinking pile of poo emoticon> but these ones will do :bonk:

[jsonewald]

Too hard to identify a single best, but by brand, it would be Pelikan.

 

The worst, meaning the one I really dislike, is a recently purchased Conklin Mark Twain. I would say it feels like a substandard Chinese knock-off, except that would be unfair to substandard Chinese knock-offs.

[redisburning]

My worst was a Reform 1745 which had a very scratchy nib and skipped all the time- no matter what ink I put in it or how hard I tried to adjust the nib.

 

Hey, I bought two reform 1745s. One is pretty good (for being 5 dollars). The other was utterly terrible. So, like the crazy mad (social) scientist I am I decided to try my hand at nib grinding:

 

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8181/reform.jpg

 

I mean, theyre so cheap you might as well. I used a spyderco sharpmaker's coarse stones to grind it down (what a terrible noise though lol) and then my bark river strop to smooth it out. if I was back home I would have used a belt sander and really gone to town on it, right now it's not quite as sharp an italic as Id like.

[Malcy]

Best is difficult as there are a number of candidates.

 

Worst is tied between a Dollar piston filler and a Pilot 78G B nib, doth of which were absolutely awful.

 

The Dollar is long gone. The Pilot has a medium stub ground from a TWSBI Diamond 530 nib and is actually quite nice now.

Edited March 3, 2011 by Malcy

[Sailor Kenshin]

My best? A blue demo Pelikan M600 John Mottishaw tested before it went out the door to make sure I'd be happy with the nib. Am I ever!!! Close runners up: a Pelikan Toledo I bought about 1990 or so, and a handful of Pelikan M250 demos. I expect once I get my 1930s Parker Duofold Deluxe Sr fixed up, it will be in that list; I love it even in its poor, broken state.

 

My worst? This answer has to have two parts. Not the absolute worst, but the pen I paid the most for with the least satisfaction was a Montblanc 144 CC I got in the late 1980s - early 1990s. I paid $180.00 for that thing new, on the theory it must be a great pen, inked it up once, and disliked it so much I've never touched it since. (I've got to get around to trading that for something I like.) Absolute worst? A tie between a few unbranded pens: several with the generic plastic section and nasty plated steel nib that is sold to some unbranded pen makers, and a chromed steel fp I got a few years ago in Target for about five bucks that was made in China. It had Celtic designs on it and looked cool, but when I got it home, I discovered the factory must have been a slightly retooled manufacturing plant for garden tools. Specifically, spades.... :roflmho: The nib is about half a pound of chunky steel, so dry if you can manage to leave one faint, barely visible eighth inch long mark on the paper you feel a real sense of achievement... (Yes, I did know it was stupid to get a five dollar fountain pen at Target. But it looked so cool, and it was a fountain pen... :embarrassed_smile: )

 

I HAVE that pen. Except it's got red rhinestones instead of Celtic designs.

 

Never wrote with it. Just bought it as a curiosity. :roflmho:

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

Ironic how in some cases, one man's feast is another man's poison. Interesting replies- please keep 'em coming.

 

Greetings redisburning,

 

I might have tried smoothing out the nib if I could have fixed the pen's terribly dry flow.

 

All the best,

 

Sean http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/ribbons/black2.gif

Aka, the friendly curmudgeon

Edited March 3, 2011 by S. P. Colfer

[WanderingAuthor]

I HAVE that pen. Except it's got red rhinestones instead of Celtic designs.

 

Never wrote with it. Just bought it as a curiosity. :roflmho:

 

You missed an, ummm, ...interesting... experience. I didn't expect it was going to be a great writer; I just wanted to see what it wrote like. The actuality was at least a thousand times more horrible than you can possibly imagine unless you've tried to use one. Now that I think of it, if that had been the first fountain pen I'd ever tried, I'd still be using ballpoints...

[Astra]

Greetings all,

 

Back in the late ‘80s there was a short-lived television series entitled, “The Best of the Worst,” which focused on all things bad, but primarily on strange game shows from overseas. To make a play on the words from the title of this long forgotten program; what is/was the best and the worst fountain pen you ever owned?

 

My best is a Parker 51 Aerometric which I use daily.

 

My worst was a Reform 1745 which had a very scratchy nib and skipped all the time- no matter what ink I put in it or how hard I tried to adjust the nib.

 

Pray tell, what are yours?

 

All the best,

 

Sean http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/ribbons/black2.gif

Aka, the friendly curmudgeon

 

My current best is my Aurora Ipsilon Deluxe fine, though I get my 1st Mottishaw pen next week, so we'll see. My worst is a Parker Sonnet. It's depressing: such a comfortable pen but it scratches and skips. Is it because I'm a lefty? Because the nib is damaged? I'm too novice to know.

[LedZepGirl]

My best fountain pen- it's a toss up. I several that I really like and use on a regular basis, my three Duofolds, my Parker '51', my Waterman Lady Patricia, or any of my Esterbrooks. I can't decide on just one, because they are all wonderful pens. My worst pen- it wasn't really a pen, it was an Esterbrook nib, which I replaced shortly after getting the pen. I can't remember the exact number but it was 199X, ultra fine, very dry and stiff.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Worst, was my first pen I ever bought once I started buying pens. The first thing I bought on Ebay. A chrome Graduate Waterman pen, a fingerprint trap with a nail nib. That may have been the worst. I sold it for almost the € 5.00 I paid for it.

I'd heard of Waterman....ok.

 

My Best, two pens...well there was a 4 pen lot, a 400NN with what I thought a semi-flex nib, and some 'ugly' MB that I did not want.

It was just going to drive up the cost of that Pelikan nib.

 

The '56 set BP &MP I was going to sell.

All I wanted that '56 400NN for was the nib that was to go on my '90 400 Sovereign.

€ 170 for it all.

 

I was to get €50-60 for each of the BP &MP and could get rid of that MB too...get the nib for free!!!!!!!!

 

 

right......the '56 400NN was a friction feed nib.

It was a slightly flexible/'flexi' OF...that is 2/3/4 top nib depending on how I'm feeling.

 

That 'ugly' MB 234 1/2 Deluxe (52-55 only) is number one pen, with a semi-flex KOB.

 

Never sold the BP or MP either...it was a three pen set with etui.

 

Some times Dumb does get over big time.

Edited March 3, 2011 by Bo Bo Olson

[adallak]

The best is Pilot 78G F. Its performance is outstanding. I do not like the cap though. IMHO, it would look better with rounded top. The worst was a Chinese very inexpensive pen, which leaked right out of box. I did not hesitate to throw it out.

Edited March 3, 2011 by adallak

[WanderingAuthor]

a Chinese very inexpensive pen, which leaked right out of box. I did not hesitate to throw it out.

 

!!! You are made of sterner stuff than I am. I couldn't bear to throw out any fountain pen, unless it was so badly ruined it was useless even for parts. :roflmho: I even still have the pen I bought in Target...