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Hi! I'm new to this forum. The only pens that I've owned till now are a couple of Fellowship(an old Indian brand) and a Shaeffer Agio, which gave a lot of anxious days and doubts about my purchase (cosidering it was at least 10x the costliest pen I've ever owned). AFter wrangling with it for a bit (including a novice attempt at grinding!), it now writes excellent. Now, I'd like to make another purchase. I'm confused between the Lamy2k, in extra fine, which is quite costly, and then the Indian Handmades such as a Ranga 9B giant with a JoWo fine nib. I'm very particular about the feel and comfort, so thats a top priority. Also, the Nahvalur's are great looking pens, and I've only heard good about them. Now, what I'm trying to understand is what exactly is the difference between the Ranga/Nahvalur and the Lamy 2k, that people recommend it so much. Would it be justifiable for me to go with L2k or there's not much difference between the Ranga & Lamy. My heart's set on Ranga/Narwhal for they look just gorgeous, but then I don't want to eventually end up with the L2k. I'll be very thankful of any advice/suggestions to a newbie like me.

I have been an exclusive fountain pen user for more than a decade. My first introduction to fountain pens were in my school days with 'N' number of pens being lost or broken or replaced with new launches at the local pen shops. During my college days, it has been an array of ball point pens. It was only during my internship days as a doctor, I shifted back to this exquisite experience of using fountain pens. Since then I have been trying out various brands from across the globe from Parker to Montblanc. Though I was aware of a few Indian fountain pen makers, I have always had this preconceived notion about the quality of Indian pens and have never opted to own one during those times. Finally finishing my post graduation and masters successfully with a steel nib Waterman Hemisphere I took a nose dive into the global fountain pen market accumulating a few more fountain pens to my collection and later dealing with the post purchase guilt. Still my prejudice towards Indian pens was strong and couldn't reason out with myself into buying one. It was in one of those early COVID lockdown days, druing a long phone call with a good two decade old friend Dr. Gautham Srinath, my prejudice was shattered. Though being friend for over two decades we never knew about our mutual interests in fountain pens. It was him who suggested to me about Ranga pens By Mr. M.S. Pandurangan along with his son Mr. M.P. Kandan, A company with over 50 years of experience in making hand rolled fountain pens catering to the needs of fountain pen enthusiasts across the globe. Me being myself, was still reluctant in giving it a shot, came up with various reasons to push aside the group buy offers from Ranga pens put forth by my friend and him being himself got fed up with me and gifted me one. The pen arrived. First Impressions As per the epic Mahabharata Abhimanyu was a young legendary warrior, who with his valiant skills in combat proved to be a worthy opponent to his enemies, the mighty Kauravas. In my view the Ranga Pens Abhimanyu is in its own way a legendary warrior. The pen was made in premium acrylic with a clean flawless polished finish and with no clip. A screw type cap on the barrel enclosing the Schmidt K5 converter. Uncapping the pen, the section along with the barrel reveals an hourglass shaped pen. The nib section came with a Jowo threaded nib unit with a size #35 dual tone Ranga steel nib fine tip with a plastic feeder. A well balanced, aptly weighed pen for my medium sized hands (Glove size 7.5). A closer inspection revealed mild lathe marks on the barrel but over all this pen was an eye candy! and the legendary young warrior from Ranga pens had proven himself worthy. Score:- Abhimanyu vs Me 1-0. First Write After watching the pen over and over again and laughing at my ignorant preconceived notion about the quality of Indian pens, it was zero hour. A dip in the ink bottle and after a few twists and turns of the Schmidt convertor, the chamber was full. The first stroke of the nib on the paper was exquisite. Another couple of my self conceived myth busted, plastic feeds can be tuned to provide wet and flawless writing and Indian steel nibs are in par with their global counterparts. Abhimanyu was winning again. The fine tip was a tad thicker than than the Japanese counterparts but nothing to complain. After draining the ink in the convertor and I decided to take a walk down the memory lane, Eye-dropper. I remember the initial days of my fourth grade when I was first introduced to fountain pens, ink stained fingers were a proud way of showing people that I've started using fountain pens and have grown up. The last time I used an ED was in 9th grade shifting to CC fillers later. So going through some preliminary videos about ED filling on YouTube, I moved forward. Applied the silicon grease and took up a syringe and filled the barrel with ink till the threads, Primed the nib and put the pen to use. Not requiring to ink your pen for a considerable amount of time was definitely a nostalgic experience and NO LEAKS NOR BURPS!! my wish of showing people that I am a fountain pen user was flushed down the drain. Score Abhimanyu vs Me 4-0. Advantage Abhimanyu. Final Word Time to concede defeat. I surrender! Hailing from the state that houses Ranga Pens and being a fountain pen user/enthusiast and not owning one for a long time was a reminder to myself of the saying "Never judge a book by its cover". It was my irrational preconceived notion on Indian pens that had forestalled me in owning this gem of a creation. It is one of the few rare instances in my life where I was glad to be proven wrong. This young legendary warrior Abhimanyu won me over the battle of my preconceived notions on Indian pens. PS: Roll stopper clip from Magna Carta Pens.

Dear fellow FP users After successful group buys of BAMBOO MODEL & RANGA MODEL 4C & Model 3 & Model 5 & Zeal & Model 8 & BAMBOO MODEL (ROUND 2) & DESIGNER. This is a group buy effort for - RANGA MODEL 3 and RANGA MODEL 3-C. This is the second time for Model 3 and the first time for Model 3-C. The Group Buy will be available until Dec 25, 2016, i.e. until Christmas only. Model 3 is with Flat top & Bottom (as per the image at top) whereas Model 3C is with Rounded Top and Bottom (as per the image below). Pen is approx 152 mm in length and Barrel Dia is 14 mm and Cap Dia is 16mm. Available Colours are as follows: A. SpecialRegular Ebonite Colours (SE Series) Solid Forest GreenForest Green - Black RippleForest Green - Honey RippleForest Green - Khaki RippleForest Green - Mustard Yellow RippleForest Green - Teal Blue RippleTeal Blue - Black RippleTeal Blue - Khaki RippleMustard Yellow - Black RippleKhaki - Black RippleSolid Cherry RedRose Red - Black RippleRose Red - Mauve RippleRose Red - Blue RippleRose Red - Forest Green RippleRose Red - Bottle Green RippleRose Red - Mustard Yellow RippleBrick Red - Khaki RippleBrick Red - Black RippleTeal Blue - Orange Ripple B. Regular Colours (RE Series) Ref 1 : Link Ref 2 : Link Solid Black MatteBrown RippleOlive RippleGreen RippleMottled BrownMottled GreenMottled Olive Brown C. Premium Ebonite Colours (PE Series) Solid BlueBlack Yellow SwirlBlue Pink SwirlSolid Pale GreenWhite Blue SwirlPale Pink Black SwirlGreen Yellow SwirlSolid PinkBlue Green Orange SwirlSolid Orange Prices are as follows: RANGA Model 3 & 3C (ED Version)REGULAR or SPECIAL EBONITE : US $28PREMIUM EBONITE : US $40RANGA Model 3 & 3C (CC Mechanism)REGULAR or SPECIAL EBONITE : US $55REGULAR or SPECIAL EBONITE without nib threaded to take JoWo/Schmidt : US $41PREMIUM EBONITE : US $70PREMIUM EBONITE without nib but threaded to take JoWo/Schmidt : US $56 Finish - Polished or Matte (Bakul) Clip Option - Clip-less or Gold Clip or Silver Clip Nib Option : For EyedropperWality F Gold Coloured (included in price)Bock (With Conklin imprinted) M or B is available (extra @ 8 USD)Ambitious Nib 35 mm - Fine Nib - Dual Tone ( extra @ 3 USD)Kanwrite Nib 35 mm Flex - Chrome Tone ( extra @ 5 USD) Nib Option : For C/C mechanism (with Schmidt K5 Converter)#6 Nib Options (included in price) Fine Nib - Gold ToneMedium Nib - Gold ToneBroad Nib - Gold ToneFine Nib - Chrome ToneMedium Nib - Chrome ToneBroad Nib - Chrome ToneNo Nib - Threaded for Schmidt #6 No Nib - Threaded for JoWo #6 Shipping : Via Registered Post which is included in Price and takes 2 -4 Weeks.Making Time: 4 Weeks after payment In order to participate in the group buy just fill the Google Form (Link Below) and Reply in the thread with "Form Submitted". Link : https://goo.gl/forms/MmEqeNToJhVMSf0q1 Edit: now giving option for pen without Nib but threaded for Bock #6 Nib unit