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Hey Y'all! What are your favourite fountain pens?! I love my Parker Sonnet with the Black Parker Quink Ink! -Charles

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while because I was very satisfied with my current ink and pen setup and was a bit afraid of spending too much money on things I don't really need if I kept coming back here (as we all though). However, last weekend, I met this amazing, amazing girl who was visiting here and we basically spent the whole weekend together. Now she went back to the city where she lives and we decided to keep in touch even though she said she isn't very good at long distance relationship. Anyway, long story short, we have been talking over Messenger but I wanted to do something a bit more romantic and write her a letter. I am currently trying to pick the proper ink to do the trick. 99% of the time when I write, I use Noodler's Black but I didn't know if black was a bit too cold and informal for a love letter? On my shelf, in terms of non-blacks, I only have J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage, Sheaffer Skrip Blue and Pelikan Royal Blue. Would any of those do the trick? Should I buy something else? Or should I just stick with my proven friend, Noodler's Black? Thank you all very much in advance!

Greetings from India, I just wanted to introduce myself to FPN. I have been scouring pages and pages of this website since many months. But i finally took the plunge and signed up. Hope i have a nice experience here. Namaste

When I first stumbled upon this enabling site I quickly noted that there was a set of fountain pens considered to be 'great' in terms of value, ease of purchase and use. Some of them I had and others I didn't. Seeing that a lot of them tend not to be in the expensive category (although a few do creep that direction) I indulged. Naturally, my expectations for these pens was quite high, so the disappointment factor was unnaturally exaggerated. After about four of these great, crashing disappointments I began to wonder what on earth anyone saw in these 'wonder pens' and what was it about me that didn't seem to 'get it'. I thought it might be an idea to redress the balance - hence this thread. I will start the ball rolling with three pens that everyone and anyone seemed to give high praise to, but I ended up loathing. First up for consideration is the Pilot 78G. It's tiny. Yes, that is a personal preference for some, but I like big pens. It doesn't hold a great deal of ink and it loves to leak. I read a few more reviews - nothing but elegant praise - and bought another one. It leaked in the same way. I gave it one more try. It also leaked and the nib was horrible. I ended up really annoyed at wasting my time and money on what looked and felt and acted like a cheap nasty pen. Second offering is the Pilot Metropolitan. Now before you go all crazy, I have nothing against Pilot. In fact, I have a Pilot Falcon and an 823 Custom, both of which rate very highly in my pen collection. This one, on the other hand, was just damned ugly. The balance is a tad curious and that sharp step makes it the most irritating pen I have ever used. The nib is amazing, I will give it that - if only I could stick it on a different pen. Last, but by no means least, the greatest disappointment of all, the Parson's Italix. It regularly gets very high praise here. I bought the nice amber coloured one and it is a lovely colour. I like it's little celtic patterns on the furniture. Then I picked it up. Boy is it a heavy pen. Normally I don't mind heavy pens at all; in fact I tend not to like pens that are too light, but this was just clumsy. This, however, was not my main issue. This pen is often described as having a truly great nib and certainly the website does have a bewildering set of options. I went for a fairly big stub, but it writes like a felt tip pen. It has absolutely zero line variation. It's nice and smooth, but it aint no stub. All in all, it has still been a useful exercise. I don't necessarily regret buying these pens, but I do regret parting with the cash. It has taught me that one person's pleasure is another person's poison and when it comes to buying pens reviews can be very useful but they can't always be the main factor in a purchase.

A Note To All Pen-Head Romantics: We don't know about you all, but at Pen Boutique we think nothing is more romantic than a matching pen and ink (think Edison Beaumont in Bedrock Flake + Iroshizuku Ina-ho). If you're really feeling wild we can even engrave "For My Honey Bunny" on your pen in-store or via online order. Heck, throw in a refined Rhodia Webbie and make it a downright sexy Valentines Day. Pen Boutique is kicking off this February with a lovely sale to celebrate your eternal loves... or hot flings. At least 16% off all pens online and in-store(barring the Montblanc's) plus free gift wrapping. If ya'll are around in the DMV area, please visit us in Columbia or Bethesda, MD. We're showing off some new arrivals. Also check us out on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDiXc2uFtc4&feature=youtu.be XOXO,

This is a little bit of a spin on the thread involving the opposite idea. There are plenty of pens out there that have bad reviews and that have less than favorable images, and yet there are still people out there who love them. Some lucky pens which have poor reputations among most fountain pen users also have small, but dedicated contingents of fans. This thread is for those fans of the much maligned, often dismissed, or frequently snubbed fountain pens out there. Let's show those hated pens some love! For me, there are a couple of pens that always seem to get slammed on that I love. The first is Cross. I love Cross pens! Fountain pens, ballpoints, rollerballs, whatever. If it comes from Cross, I probably have a soft spot for it. Their pens have huge price ranges for no readily apparent reason (is a sterling silver Century II REALLY worth $250 more than its simple chrome brother?), their QC is a little spotty, and they do not offer a factory italic/stub option, but Cross is still the brand that comes to mind when I think of a luxurious pen. The other pen that springs to mind is the Lamy Safari. Yes, I know that the Lamy Safari has a lot of fans, but I don't just love the pen in general, I love every part of the pen. I think the triangular section is perfect (and fits the way that I hold the pen as if it were made specifically for me), I love their 1.1 italic nib, I think the large ink window is an excellent idea, and I think that the clip is cool. The only thing that I don't love about the Safari is the price, but even that can be overcome if your eBay-fu is strong (thanks in part to a slight mistake in the posting I managed to buy my current white safari WITH a converter and free shipping for less than $20, and got a 1.1 nib for $10). So, let's here from the silent minority! What pens do you love that everyone else seems to hate? What fountain pen is your guilty pleasure? Let the love flow!

I'm looking for suggestions(online, UK) as to which pen to get, with £55. To explain....my dear husband, who beamed up to heaven some months ago, had a very old car, which has been sitting in it's space behind our building.....it's been unusable for years, an ancient Clio, but last week so done smashed a window, broke in, tried to steal it, with no luck. Anyway, I knew I needed it to go....and it was incredibly difficult to arrange, as the entrance to the parking spaces behind the building is a limited height access. The nearest I had managed to get was so done who would charge me £100 to do it.... Long story short, I found a place with a truck which could fit, and rather than me paying them, they paid me, so I have a cheque for £55 fir the scrap/salvage( plus all the proper paperwork.....husband was an ex policeman in Glasgow, and I learned a few things from him) So, Picard has gone(I always named our cars....this one was called Picard, as it's first letter was a P. I know. Daft. There it is).... I want to buy a pen with the money.....I've a few ideas already, but would love to hear any suggestions.... Alex

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