What Reliable Pens Do British Students Use?

[penxade]

I'm quite curious as to popular pens used commonly in Britain by students. Pens that are quite reliable and durable, being good writers.

 

Cheers.

[northlodge]

No Idea what they use today - an IPAD probably.

 

In the past Osmiroid and Platignum were the bottom end of the market ( along with Nova, Unique, etc)

 

The Parker 15 / 25 would have been good student choices.

 

Moving up, most manufacturers would have offered a good range of decent student-proof items:

 

Summit S.100 and Cadet models

Conway 12 or 15

Mentmore Supreme

Wyvern 202 / 303

[mayushi29]

Personally I use a Lamy Vista, M nib. Triangular grip is very comfortable for exams.

Lamy Safari is popular, and I've seen an old Parker 45 Coronet too.

[Orange25]

If I was a student now, I'd go for a Lamy Safari. Comfortable (for me), tough, no frills, cheap, and performs really well.

 

I've got one in charcoal which has a matte finish which I really like. I've grown really attached to it as it was the pen that brought my back to fountain pens after several years in the wilderness.

[View from the Loft]

My children use/d Safaris, Parker 25, Parker 45, Pilot Pluminix as their everyday pens. Daughter currently has a Slimfold as her second pen during the exam season.

 

My pen all through school was a P25, with Mum's P45 as my second pen for the exam season.

Edited May 16, 2015 by View from the Loft

[stephanos]

To the extent that students use a fountain pen, the top brand that I have noticed is a Lamy Safari. The overwhelming majority use either a ballpoint pen or do not have a pen at all (cue hilarious moments when the battery of the computing device runs out)

Note that "students" in this case refers to students in tertiary, post-high-school education, not to pupils in primary or secondary school.

[the_gasman]

My 11 year old daughter enjoys using a Lamy Nexx (I fitted it with a cc); the 17 year old daughter is a lefty and prefers ball pens; and my 21 year old son only writes with two thumbs!

David.

[View from the Loft]

To the extent that students use a fountain pen, the top brand that I have noticed is a Lamy Safari. The overwhelming majority use either a ballpoint pen or do not have a pen at all (cue hilarious moments when the battery of the computing device runs out)

Note that "students" in this case refers to students in tertiary, post-high-school education, not to pupils in primary or secondary school.

Our elder son has just finished his first year at university reading Maths. He did not take his computer (but did take his iPad), and prefers taking notes by hand. The only plea for help that I have had from him over the year was an SOS for ink. He has gone through two 80ml bottles of Diamine Onyx, so I think it's reasonable to conclude that he has done a reasonable amount of writing.

 

His pens are Pelikans (M800 and M200).

[bardharlock]

Your son has exquisite taste in pens.

[View from the Loft]

Your son has exquisite taste in pens.

Thank you.

 

While we all have our own pens in this family, all of our children are welcome to borrow pens on the proviso that I know where the pen will be going and what ink will be in it (while there is only FP ink in this house, I don't want inks that are difficult to flush out going in e.g. lever fill pens).

 

The children have also converted several classmates and teachers to FPs, with some teachers commenting that the greater contrast provided by the black or blue ink against the paper makes their lives easier as well. We probably make up half a dozen starter sets per year (a cheap c/c pen that writes well, with a convertor, samples of black and blue inks, a handful of assorted cartridges in other colours thought likely to appeal to that person, flushing instructions and a reminder to ask the donor if problems occur) and have recently had quite a few make use of the pre-exam pen clinic. A couple of our daughter's friends have borrowed P45, P25 and a Slimfold from me as back up pens for their exams.

[stephanos]

Now that's what I call a public service!

(Do you have a 'go-to' pen for such kits?)

 

Re: your maths-student son. I can imagine that students in the natural sciences may be more prone to using a pen, what with all the specific notation; in the social sciences, most material can be noted on the fly using a standard keyboard, lowering the barrier to using an electronic device. So perhaps the answer to the OP's "students in Britain" is more differentiated than one might initially think.

 

 

...
We probably make up half a dozen starter sets per year (a cheap c/c pen that writes well, with a convertor, samples of black and blue inks, a handful of assorted cartridges in other colours thought likely to appeal to that person, flushing instructions and a reminder to ask the donor if problems occur) and have recently had quite a few make use of the pre-exam pen clinic. A couple of our daughter's friends have borrowed P45, P25 and a Slimfold from me as back up pens for their exams.