First Pen Suggestions - Details Inside

[bokchoy]

Hello!

 

Thanks to Kiavonne's generosity, I have $35 to spend at the Goulet Pen Company. This will be my first fountain pen so I'd like to ask for help.

 

 

I would like something:

 

- suitable for everyday use
- resistant to light abuse (if family members want to try the pen, I can't refuse)

- within the specified budget if possible. Think poor student.

 

I love gel pens and rollerballs with liquid ink, but they don't last long in my experience. Bottled ink sounds interesting.

 

 

Some options in no particular order (colour is random):

 

1. Pilot Metropolitan (M) + converter + bottle of ink

 

2. Noodlers Konrad (flex) or Ahab (flex) + bottle of ink

 

3. Noodlers Creaper (flex) + bottle of ink + ?, maybe a Platinum Preppy, ink samples or good paper

 

4. Lamy Safari (EF) + converter. Extra cartridges or ink will have to wait. I heard that this pen sells for ~40CAD locally...

 

5. Platinum Plaisir (F) + ink, could try refilling the cartridge with a syringe

 

6. Platinum Plaisir (F) + converter, no ink

 

7. Jinhao 159 (M) + ink + ?

 

8. Jinhao X450 (M) + ink + ?

 

9. Jinhao X759 (M) + ink + ?

 

10. I'm open to suggestions

[Nick13]

Hello Bokchoy,

 

Congratulations on starting a pen collection! Personally, I love the Pilot Metropolitan, I have found it to be one of my best everyday pens, I writes extremely well, a great starter.

 

Noodler's is never a bad way to go, I have started a little collection, but one one that I have wanted for a while is the Noodler's, I am a fan of the Noodlers Konrad because of the shape, I found it to be really comfortable when I borrowed it from a friend, and allows you to learn flex writing (never a bad idea ).

 

Lamy Safari is a good option (don't have one), from what I have heard it is a really solid first pen.

 

Never tried the others, but this is what I can speak of!

 

 

Good luck and have fun!

Nick

Edited February 21, 2014 by Nick13

[Brian C]

If you think you can get along with the section of the Lamy, I say go for that. If you are unsure, go for the Pilot. I would suggest staying away from the other pens. They may need nib tweeking that a beginner may not be able or willing to do. The Lamy or Pilot should write well out of the box.

[overwriter]

You will never, ever regret buying a Pelikan M200. Piston filler, German made, and you can get them for around a hundred bucks. When you want to play around with nibs you can get nice stubs and italics from Richard Binder to up grade.

 

And it will last forever.

[ac12]

I do not know what you mean my "resistant to light abuse."

If someone presses HARD like they would a stiff ball pen, they could damage the nib of almost any pen. Then the pen heads for the garbage can or salvage for parts.

You can and have to learn to say NO.

 

If you cannot say NO, then my suggestion is a multipack of Chinese pens. Example, you can get 7 Baoer 388 pens for $25. At that price you can have 1 pen set aside for people to "try." And if they damage it, that was only $4. BUT, you may have to tinker with the nib of the 388 to get it to flow ink well, I had to tweak the nib of 4 of 5 pens.

 

Within your budget, I would go with the Pilot Metro.

It is a great pen at an unbelievable price.

And it includes the converter, so no additional expense for the converter.

So pen ($15) + ink ($10) = $25. And you have $10 left over to cover shipping or buy more ink.

 

Now the Lamy Safari has interchangeable nibs, so if someone damages a nib, you can easily replace it.

But the cost of a replacement Lamy nib is $15 + shipping. This is the same price as a Pilot Metro. So think of each time you have to replace a Lamy nib, you can buy a new Pilot Metro.

The advantage of the Safari is you can get it in different nib sizes, whereas the Pilot Metro is ONLY one size, a M nib.

And the Safari will exceed your $35 budget. Pen ($30) + converter ($5) + ink ($10) = $45

You have to get the ink, or what use is the pen, except to look at.

 

gud luk on the decision.

Edited February 21, 2014 by ac12

[overwriter]

and yes it is more than $35 but you won't regret it.

[theexpanciluser]

If you buy a bottle of Parker Quink it would turn out more convenient. Look at this one here: http://www.gouletpens.com/Parker_Quink_Permanent_Black_p/pkr3001100.htm they also have 2 other blue colors. Here you can see the Pilot Metropolitan which will leave you with ten dollars to use on something else, but they all seem to have a Medium nib and you need, to know which nib size you need: http://www.gouletpens.com/Pilot_Metropolitan_Fountain_Pens_s/1336.htm

You can also get the Lamy Safari, which is better then the Pilot Metropolitan, but you need to buy a separate converter and you can't buy the Parker Ink, but you van see for a Lamy cartridge. http://www.gouletpens.com/Lamy_Safari_Fountain_Pens_s/934.htm cartridges: http://www.gouletpens.com/Shop_All_Ink_Cartridges_s/876.htm?searching=Y&sort=7&cat=876&show=30&page=1&brand=Lamy

 

 

There is also the Noodler's pens, but I am not sure if you should use a firm fountain pen first, before using a flex pen, but you can check them out here: http://www.gouletpens.com/Noodlers_Pens_s/809.htm

 

 

You can also try the very cheap Platinum Preppy, but you need to bay 7.50 to have a converter, check it out here:http://www.gouletpens.com/Platinum_Preppy_Fountain_Pen_s/879.htm

 

 

 

I hope this helped, and let us know on what you decided.

[Glenn Atkins]

#1 or #4

 

Glenn

[Water Ouzel]

  On 2/21/2014 at 2:53 AM, bokchoy said:

Hello!

 

Thanks to Kiavonne's generosity, I have $35 to spend at the Goulet Pen Company. This will be my first fountain pen so I'd like to ask for help.

 

 

I would like something:

 

- suitable for everyday use

- resistant to light abuse (if family members want to try the pen, I can't refuse)

- within the specified budget if possible. Think poor student.

 

I love gel pens and rollerballs with liquid ink, but they don't last long in my experience. Bottled ink sounds interesting.

 

 

Some options in no particular order (colour is random):

 

1. Pilot Metropolitan (M) + converter + bottle of ink

 

2. Noodlers Konrad (flex) or Ahab (flex) + bottle of ink

 

3. Noodlers Creaper (flex) + bottle of ink + ?, maybe a Platinum Preppy, ink samples or good paper

 

4. Lamy Safari (EF) + converter. Extra cartridges or ink will have to wait. I heard that this pen sells for ~40CAD locally...

 

5. Platinum Plaisir (F) + ink, could try refilling the cartridge with a syringe

 

6. Platinum Plaisir (F) + converter, no ink

 

7. Jinhao 159 (M) + ink + ?

 

8. Jinhao X450 (M) + ink + ?

 

9. Jinhao X759 (M) + ink + ?

 

10. I'm open to suggestions

As noted earlier, you could pick up a Platinum Preppy, but you don't have to get a converter for it (nor even use cartridges), you could convert it to an eyedropper, and get ink instead of the converter. (You just need some silicone grease, and a small o-ring.) The Preppy's nib is as close as makes no nevermind to the Plaisir, come to that.

 

For another $2 you could add a rigid Noodler's nib to the Konrad; the two I've tried write quite nicely, and are roughly a fine-medium. You'd probably need to be up for a bit of tweaking to get the Konrad just right. When you do, it writes well, if you don't like fiddling with things, it might drive you to use it for a dart.

[kidde]

Not a knock against Noodlers, but this is a pen meant to be tinkered with and adjusted. For a first pen?

The Platinum is a metal bodied pen using a Preppy ($3 pen) nib. Again, not knocking it. Pilot and Lamy use proprietary cartridges and converters. I love Pilot, not yet had a Lamy. A Japanese nib is finer than European or US, so that Pilot M equals a Lamy F. My wife bought me a "pretty" X450 for Christmas. After a flush and "Thank you" I inked it up and prepared for the worst. It surprised me, a lot. While it's nib is marked M I'd rate it Broad and juicy. For $2 you can order a Noodlers nib and replace it if you wanted. Lots of stuff to sort through. Call the Goulets explain your predicament and I'd say listen to His advice. Brian is a good guy, but he knows that treating you right can make you a lifetime customer. Great company run by good people.

[WirlWind]

I really like the Lamy and the X450 because it kind of forces you to hold the pen correctly. When you can hold the pen correctly, it literally just sits in your hand and you can write all day.

 

Plus the Lamy has the added benefit of new nibs. Sure, you could buy a metro for the price of a nib, but if you DON'T break the nibs, you can instead add to your collection and buy italics or broader nibs for it.

 

As for the cart, you can needle fill those pretty easily and skip buying a converter until you can afford it imo.

[bokchoy]

Thanks to everyone who replied so far! It's interesting to hear all these comparisons. The Pilot Metropolitan and Lamy Safari seem to be the safe choices.

 

Seems like the Pilot Plumix has an italic nib... If I'm going to think like that, maybe the Lamy Safari (EF) + extra italic nib will make those international shipping rates easier to swallow, and I use a fairly conventional tripod grip, so no problems there...

 

My budget for this month is in very real danger, haha. We'll see. Any more suggestions?

[GabrielleDuVent]

What script are you writing?

 

I ask this because I thought you might be Asian with Chinese/Korean calligraphy in your repertoire (wild guess from your username). Then go with Asian pens. I write alphabet and Japanese, and Noodler's was no joy to write Japanese with, and flex just got in the way of writing. For some reason, it does angles awfully (I sent it back). If you do indeed write Chinese/Korean/Japanese, then go with a finer nib... cramping 20 strokes in a thin-ruled paper with a medium nib turns into "gimme a loupe" business.

 

I have Pilot, Plaisir, and Lamy Safari, although Pilot is not a Metropolitan (78G and a Menuet) from the list. I like stiff, thin nibs, and Pilot F is the thinnest out of the three... but it's very, very soft compared to the other two. Lamy Safari takes the most beating. I think it might survive nuclear war. Platinum takes the most "left alone" treatment, as its sales line is "you can write with it, no problem, even if you don't use it for a year!".

 

Plaisir can be converted into an eyedropper (I think), and should your nib fail, you can always buy a preppy and exchange the nibs. Lamy comes with "change nibs yourself" option, which is pretty nice. Another thing with Pilot is their converter isn't see-through, so I never know how much I've filled. Plaisir does well with angles, but Lamy has smoother downstrokes and curls.

[Guillermo]

The Metropolitan has lots of good reviews... I'm, as well, thinking of getting one some day. You can swap the nib of it with the one on the plumix. Plus, add just a few bucks and you can buy a bottle of ink from Diamine or Noodler's, keeping the 2 cartridges that comes with the Metropolitan for an "emergency". Very useful since the Metropolitan comes with that converter included. I think I saw our well esteem Dr. Stephen B.R.E. Brown saying that for knowing your correct nib size, you should write normally and see the gap in the "e" letter loop. If it's tiny, use finer nibs. If's wider, use broader nibs...

 

Edit: Plus, just for aesthetics, I prefer the classic-looking nib on the Pilot Metropolitan than Lamy's.

Edited February 21, 2014 by GD_Rodriguez

[nanahcub]

Consider a Kaweco Sport

[Pterodactylus]

I guess you are a quite a inexperienced FP user, so my recommendation is NOT to touch any Noodler's pen or the Chinese pens.

 

Get a Lamy or a Kaweco instead here you get value for your money, and consider to take a F nib instead of an EF for the beginning it might be easier to use for you.

[Fakie]

Pilot Metro / Lamy !

[bokchoy]

  On 2/21/2014 at 8:12 AM, GabrielleDuVent said:

What script are you writing?

I ask this because I thought you might be Asian... (wild guess from your username)... If you do indeed write Chinese/Korean/Japanese, then go with a finer nib... cramping 20 strokes in a thin-ruled paper with a medium nib turns into "gimme a loupe" business.

 

Non-Latin scripts never even crossed my mind . Good guess, and thank you!

 

I mainly write in English and my everyday handwriting resembles improvised italic. Sometimes I write looped cursive.

 

 

  On 2/21/2014 at 8:37 AM, GD_Rodriguez said:

... you should write normally and see the gap in the "e" letter loop. If it's tiny, use finer nibs. If's wider, use broader nibs...

 

What would you recommend for loops that are narrow to the point of disappearing?

Edited February 21, 2014 by bokchoy

[sandy101]

The platinum plasir works nicely but will only take Platinum's (or international short( cartridges with an adapter). The medium nib is nicer than the fine. The Platinum blue/black ink is quite nice, but it will be difficult to use bottled inks. I enjoy my Platinum, and it writes well - you know it is a good daily writer, but not if you want to use bottled ink. As a starter pen it could be a good one, especially if it is cheap. (In the UK the Plasir is the probably the cheapest metal FP you can get).

 

The X450 is a broad nib, and it is a thirsty pen. Certainly mine lays down a thick, wet line which means you have to be careful what paper you use it with, so as a general write anywhere pen it is limited. It also goes through ink very quickly. Probably not a good starter.

 

The Lamy & Pilot Metropolitan may be the best bet for ones that will take bottled ink. The Lamy comes with a triangular grip which I find uncomfortable - but others don't, so it may be worthwhile trying one in a shop (or a friend's) before you buy one.

[death89]

Just wanted to add my support for the Lamy, really impressed with mine though as noted by others the grip took some getting used to. Shame their Parkers are so pricey as I've had good experiences with a bog standard Urban I was given, not as good as some of my older jotters/vectors but not bad.