Is This The Cheapest Pen In Australia?

[oldmatekev]

Maybe it's not, but it must be bloody close. It goes for AUD$9.95 including delivery, two cartridges and a converter. How good is that?

It's light, it's plastic, it's black and gold and it's wet wet wet; all things that make me happy.
It has a Safari inspired cut-out ink window, a slip-on cap that makes a delightful 'plop' sound when it comes off and a very useable, fairly stylish pocket clip (old mate Pierre knows what he's doing).

The nib feel is eerily similar to the Safari, but the grip is uncompromised by finger guides. It has discreet little ridges that gently caress your fingertips as your grip shifts while writing, it actually feels nice, not just neutral.

Of course I didn't flush it out before use, just dived straight in. I know a lot of people consider that to be quite rash, but in my humble opinion, if a consumer grade pen like this can't come straight out of it's packaging and write with the included cartridge within a few seconds then it's really missed the mark.
(I didn't use the included cartridge, but you know what I mean)

....Dare I say it.....
...I'm sweating and looking over my shoulder....

OK! My first impression is that it's better than my Safari.

Whew. I'm ducking for cover, bring it on!

 

 

 

 

 

[Patos]

looks good and its $4.95 cheaper then the pilot 78g i bought online and i thought that was the cheapest

[oldmatekev]

looks good and its $4.95 cheaper then the pilot 78g i bought online and i thought that was the cheapest

 

Right at this moment my pocket is bulging with the triumvirate of poverty:

Pilot 78G, Lamy Safari, Pierre Cardin Ikon. All in black and all splendid.

 

Meanwhile my most expensive pen is in the mail, after having its section replaced just three months from new (threads broken right off).

[c4bb0ose]

Cheapest would be a Smiggle Fountain pen, if you have a smiggle located near buy I would suggest looking into it, they are about $2.50 AUS? going off what I paid for them here in New Zealand and have miles better quality compared to some of the chinese made nibs from hero and the likes.

[oldmatekev]

Cheapest would be a Smiggle Fountain pen

 

My daughter loves Smiggle.

I had a look on their website but I couldn't find a fountain pen, they probably would be cheaper though.

[Patos]

I walk past smiggle shops all the time I will check one out next time thanks

Cheapest would be a Smiggle Fountain pen, if you have a smiggle located near buy I would suggest looking into it, they are about $2.50 AUS? going off what I paid for them here in New Zealand and have miles better quality compared to some of the chinese made nibs from hero and the likes.

[c4bb0ose]

 

My daughter loves Smiggle.

I had a look on their website but I couldn't find a fountain pen, they probably would be cheaper though.

They do not seem to have it on their website, but the brick and mortar stores, well in New Zealand stock them, so I assume that it will be the same as in Australia.

[Newjelan]

They do not seem to have it on their website, but the brick and mortar stores, well in New Zealand stock them, so I assume that it will be the same as in Australia.

Smiggle do have them in their Australian stores. They are $2:50 and come in Green, Pink, Purple, Black and light Blue all with a single short international cartridge in black I think. They write really well and a bonus is the white Smiggle lettering on the barrel wears off pretty quickly. (LOL)

 

I keep waiting for them to bring it out in Orange.

[Patos]

I just bought one in green and just put the supplied black cartridge in it . Its quite good actually and better then the $6.95 pentel disposable FP I keep in my work bag,so if I lose it no big deal.

[oldmatekev]

$2.50 with a cartridge is really, really cheap, that's cheaper than most disposable newsagent ballpoints, and cheaper than all rollerballs. No excuse not to use one is there.

 

Quick update on the Ikon, there was a tiny bit (really tiny) of scratch in the nib. Literally 30 seconds of work with my three stage nib polisher (actually a Woolies brand nail buffer) took care of that.

 

It's now very smooth. My CdA came back from repairs yesterday, that's super smooth, but the Ikon isn't far off it.

Maybe I got lucky with this one, at that price I guess the quality might be inconsistant.

 

Speaking of price, there was $1.20 worth of postage stamps and the padded post bag probably cost another $1. That makes the pen value just $7.75. The converter isn't great but it works, they're probably only a few cents in bulk from a Chinese supplier. Clearly not the cheapest in Australia, but still way cheap.

 

Next time I'm near a Smiggle I'll definitely get one of theirs too.

I like this game, can anyone do better than $2.50 (new that is, op-shop flukes don't count)?

[aawhite]

In Daiso (Melbourne), you can get a fountain pen for $2.80. This includes a cartridge.

 

The pen is a Riviere. It is made in China. It has a nib with the Platinum logo, and the cartridge is a Platinum compatible. They also sell spare cartridges for $2.80 for a pack of 3.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

In Daiso (Melbourne), you can get a fountain pen for $2.80. This includes a cartridge.

 

The pen is a Riviere. It is made in China. It has a nib with the Platinum logo, and the cartridge is a Platinum compatible. They also sell spare cartridges for $2.80 for a pack of 3.

 

Nice prices for those fountain pens!

 

As for the 93¢ cartridges, I suppose it's like buying a printer: the item may not cost much but they get you on the proprietary supplies that you'll need.

 

Great motivation to refill those cartridges .

[bobbyz0r]

Got some cheap calligraphy/italic fountain pens from a variety store for $4.50.

Its the same one as sbrebrown is reviewing in this video:

 

 

 

It's a lot smoother than most other calligraphy pens, and even some round nibs.

Also, Officeworks sells the Sheaffer Caligraphy sets for ~$15 which includes 3 pens with different italic nibs and a bunch of cartridges of Skrip ink in different colours.

Edited December 8, 2013 by bobbyz0r

[oldmatekev]

Got some cheap calligraphy/italic fountain pens from a variety store for $4.50.

 

I completely forgot about the calligraphy set I got from K-mart for $5 (maybe I'd unconsciously blocked the memory).

That has three complete pens with fine, medium and broad italic nibs and about a dozen cartridges, and a single page tutorial sheet.

 

The quality is nothing short of atrocious. The pen barrels are actually hollow plastic tubes (slightly bent) with a thread on one end. Two of the three clear plastic caps cracked the first time I put them back on and all are covered in leaked ink.

 

But, they do work, and I suppose they cost $1.66 each (they're not sold separately though). They're proper sharp italics and no good for everyday writing, so I don't think I'll claim them as the cheapest pens in Australia. That Sheaffer set sounds like good value though.

 

Still Smiggle then at this stage.

[oldmatekev]

Cheapest would be a Smiggle Fountain pen, if you have a smiggle located near buy I would suggest looking into it, they are about $2.50 AUS? going off what I paid for them here in New Zealand and have miles better quality compared to some of the chinese made nibs from hero and the likes.

I finally got my hands on a smiggle fountain pen! They didn't have any in the store I went to in Adelaide, but I got one in Mount Gambier. I'm on holiday at the moment but I'll fill it and give it a whirl when I get home.

 

I was tempted to just click in the cartridge, but that huge transparent feed looks hard to clean so I'll wait to put a nice colour in with a converter.

 

More soon, and some pics no doubt.

[dcwaites]

I finally got my hands on a smiggle fountain pen! They didn't have any in the store I went to in Adelaide, but I got one in Mount Gambier. I'm on holiday at the moment but I'll fill it and give it a whirl when I get home.

 

I was tempted to just click in the cartridge, but that huge transparent feed looks hard to clean so I'll wait to put a nice colour in with a converter.

 

More soon, and some pics no doubt.

 

The Jinhao converters from Justwrite fit quite nicely, as do the Diamine cartridges.

[oldmatekev]

I've got a couple of those converters kicking around, that's what I was going to try first.

[oldmatekev]

As promised, here's some more on the Smiggle fountain pen.

The Jinhao international converter fit straight in, no problems at all.
I drew some ink straight into it (no flushing of course) and that great big feed soaked up all the ink from the first converter draw. I extended and retracted the piston four or five times and eventually the converter was filled nearly to the top. The feed holds more than a full converter, so really when it's filled right up, the ink capacity is very good indeed.

I was expecting a bog standard iridium point medium nib, so I was a bit surprised to find that it wrote quite a fine line, and smooth and wet too. I'm not very fond of fine nibs usually, they make my handwriting look messy and scratchy, but this one is really nice to use. My writing flows quite well and the colour shows through as well.

At $2.95, I think we've established that this is indeed the cheapest fountain pen in Australia (unless there's any other late contenders), and I can't find anything really wrong with it. I see no reason why it won't stay inked up and in my bag, for the time being at least.

Now some pics:

[Newjelan]

Yep, they're great value. Left one in a drawer with 1/2 filled cartridge of PR Orange Crush in it and after 8 months it wrote perfectly, first time. I travel a great deal and always have 1 of these in my bag.

 

And I can verify that the branding wears off very quickly. Bonus!

[c4bb0ose]

I found a cheaper one, all bet it in NZ, it was a FIRST fountain pen with the same attributes as the smiggle pen, just it came with 4 cartridges and has slightly different molds on the cap etc. Cost me $2.00 and came from a $2 - $5 store in papamoa.