Pens Everyone Seems To Love That You Hate

[Effin1]

Lamy 2k I agree with blackcat section far too slippy, YOL Viceroy Grand Victorian. Beautiful pen but far too heavy for me much prefer the standard.

[BillPorter]

I had no intention of using it, as any pleasure in the purchase had been replaced with a general loathing for the pen

I got a chuckle out of that phrase because I've exactly the same reaction several times in my life, though not in regard to a pen. Once in regard to a car and another time a microscope. I know the feeling and I think it is ineradicable.

[Robert B]

There is not many pens that have not been mentioned. I only have 3 . All value pens.

Parker Vector. Its o.k. It writes every time I use it. Just a little to small for me..

 

But I couldn't imagine a smoother writer out of the box than my Pilot Metro. I store that pen nib up.

It never fails me. Always starts writing soon as it touches the paper. Tougher than nails.....

[StrawberryJam]

Pilot Vanishing Point - it's ugly. Sorry.

Pelikans M200, 400, 800, 1000 - I don't like the design. They're good writers, agree, but they just do nothing for me.

Parker 51 - call it bad luck, but two P51 that I've tried weren't good writers. After this experience I'm not that tempted to try another one.

 

On the pelikans, I like to think of them as equivalent to the "Coach" brand of handbags. The brand has a loyal following, and appeals to the masses, but I just can't get into it because it's just too ubiquitous.

[TSherbs]

Lamy 2000, I have one, used it once and it has been in my pen 'cabinet' ever since... just can't get on with the section, very slippery

 

Mont Blanc tried one once, and it felt really plastiky and cheap.. horrible pens

the Makralon version of the 2000? I have never heard anyone call the section "slippery".

[Chef Boyardee]

I upgraded to a Safari recently but sadly hate it compared to my Hero 616. I don't like the triangle grip of the Safari. Since it's a product design of the 1980s, I find it ugly, not futuristic at all. Obviously from the 80s. This thing needs a re-design. I'll probably only use it for 1980's "dress up" in the future.

[NewFPU]

I guess this is sort of along the same vein of thought for this subject.

 

I love fountain pens but for me the WHOLE pen has to go together. This includes the nib. I an partial to the more classic style nib, therefore I have never owned nor do I intend to own a Lamy anything. The nib is ugly to me & spoils the whole appearance of the pen.

 

Does anyone else feel this way about nibs or is it just me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Myste

[cambookpro]

I don't really hate any pens, but I don't think the Lamy Safari isn't as great as people make out. It's an OK beginner pen, but it's quite ugly, feels cheap and the grip is something which you really have to like.

 

I've also had two Parker Vectors which cracked, so not a great fan of those.

 

On the other hand, I find the Sonnet - a pen derided by many - very nice to write with. Each to their own I suppose.

[inkstainedruth]

Hard to believe anyone could be disappointed in the "51"

It's almost like saying you don't like The Star Spangled Banner

Some people just don't care for the look of hooded nibs. (Yeah, I know -- but I figure that means that many more out there for ME to acquire.... )

Okay, for me, it's pretty much all Montblancs. If I had that much cash to spend on a pen, I can think of plenty other brands out there to suit my potential desire for showing off. Tried a friend's 146, and the nib was "meh". Tried his 149 and while the nib was nicer than on the 146 the pen itself was way too big and heavy for me. The *only* one I ever saw that I would want to own was a vintage one that looked as if it were the same material as a Pelikan Blue Lapis. Just gorgeous. Other MBs just don't excite me somehow. It's like they're trying too hard to impress me (I tend to be kinda impervious to advertising in general -- and the implication is that to have one somehow confers a special sort of "status" just is annoying, and makes me go all mule-ish and contrary).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[tinta]

Rather than saying I hate a particular pen style, I'll instead consider the comfort of a pen's grip while I write.

A smaller diameter (under 0.4") concave grip-section is my preferred choice.

 

Pens with hooded or inlaid nibs (Parker 51, Lamy 2000, Sheaffer Imperials, Targas, etc) all have conical, tapered sections.

Believe me, I've tried, but I just can't get used to this style of grip. My fingers keep slipping.

Edited May 25, 2015 by tinta

[TSherbs]

Some people just don't care for the look of hooded nibs. (Yeah, I know -- but I figure that means that many more out there for ME to acquire.... )

Okay, for me, it's pretty much all Montblancs. If I had that much cash to spend on a pen, I can think of plenty other brands out there to suit my potential desire for showing off. Tried a friend's 146, and the nib was "meh". Tried his 149 and while the nib was nicer than on the 146 the pen itself was way too big and heavy for me. The *only* one I ever saw that I would want to own was a vintage one that looked as if it were the same material as a Pelikan Blue Lapis. Just gorgeous. Other MBs just don't excite me somehow. It's like they're trying too hard to impress me (I tend to be kinda impervious to advertising in general -- and the implication is that to have one somehow confers a special sort of "status" just is annoying, and makes me go all mule-ish and contrary).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I've never even handled a MB, but the look to me is boring (like a Mercedes). But, it might write pretty well. I am the same about advertising, anything suggestive of "prestige."

[new2writing]

For me Pilot 823, skipping issue can't be solved.

[sakayume]

I don't hate any particular pens, but there are some that simply don't appeal to me aesthetically at all so I've never bothered with them, like the various Lamys, and the regular line of non-tortoise Pelikans. The overly in-your-face luxury image that Montblanc presents nowadays doesn't appeal to me either.

 

I'm surprised to read so many people taking exception to the Safari grip. When I learnt to write yonks ago, it was with shaped rubbery grips on pencils and the Lamy school pens like the Safari serve the same purpose.

[Bklyn]

Pelikan M800.

Pelikan M800?

 

I am surprised.

 

Love to know why? I thought everyone LOVED them.

[FOUR X FOUR]

I don't hate it, but I have no desire at all for a Vanishing Point.

I keep trying to convince myself that I like this pen, but the love just isn't there

[Nomad]

My father, bless his heart, loved hooded Parkers and passed on several to me that I treasured but whose idiosyncrasies I could never master.

 

The same goes for a medium-nibbed Lamy 2000 that I purchased for myself. I tried to overlook its propensity for skipping for years before I made a crude attempt to tune the nib and destroyed it in the process.

 

A broader regret is all the middling pens I bought over the years in lieu of saving for and buying the few expensive ones I really wanted.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I don't hate it, but I have no desire at all for a Vanishing Point.

 

I tried one at a pen store. Wonderful nib, but for whatever reason the design just creeped me out.

[bernardo]

Parker 51, or any other Parker. I just don't get why people love such bad pens...

[inkstainedruth]

I'm surprised to read so many people taking exception to the Safari grip. When I learnt to write yonks ago, it was with shaped rubbery grips on pencils and the Lamy school pens like the Safari serve the same purpose.

Some people never really learned to write with fountain pens in school -- I didn't (late 1960s in the US). We went straight from pencil to ball point. So the first time I saw anything like what you describe wasn't until about a decade or so ago, when places started selling the foam slide-on grips to make writing more "ergonomic". And they certainly didn't have anything like the triangular grip on Safari FPs. I had tried one a couple of years ago and thought the grip was horrible, and that I couldn't possibly get used to that. I'm re-thinking that a bit, in light of someone having me a Jinhao 599 (which is a Safari knock-off). It's okay. But only sort of okay. And I'm still trying to make up my mind whether I should actually spring for one or not.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[spaceink]

The modern Montblanc 149. I've written with one and found it a bit cumbersome and heavy for me to write at length. So much money for a pen I'd enjoyed less than with a Pilot Prera.

 

I also tend to think the Pelikan pens are overpriced. I have an M200, and I think I would have enjoyed a TWSBI just as much.