Favorite Sub-$30 Pens

[Erik Dalton]

Manalto, Ive never seen the conical nbs in taupe. I have a hadful in black and one in burgundy which i wont use because i dont think i can replace it.

I bought mine at isellpens, but they dont have them anymore. Where did you get yours?

[Manalto]

A seller called, inexplicably, jewelrymathematics. I've bought from them before and they've been reliable.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wing-Sung-233-Fine-Nib-Taupe-Fountain-Pen-/231722617309?hash=item35f3be89dd:g:pvoAAMXQlbVSD46X

[ScienceChick]

A seller called, inexplicably, jewelrymathematics. I've bought from them before and they've been reliable.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wing-Sung-233-Fine-Nib-Taupe-Fountain-Pen-/231722617309?hash=item35f3be89dd:g:pvoAAMXQlbVSD46X

+1 I've bought four boxes of 599s (Safari copy) from them to give to my students. The pens have arrived within three weeks and all have written well after a quick clean.

[LuckyKate]

I love gaudy Chinese pens and they make my students laugh.. My two favorites are the Jinhao Porcelain horse and the Boar Eight Horses. They write really well too!

[Manalto]

My only gaudy Chinese pen is the Hero 901, which can be considered understated compared to some of the over-the-top, dragon-encrusted creations. It writes well too.

 

The most amusing listing for a Chinese pen (for me, anyway) is "Duke Uranus" - which sounds more like a threat than a writing instrument.

[gweimer1]

I have an old Duke Copper Temple pen that really writes well. When I first started using a fountain pen, over a decade ago, I started with a Duke pen that was a slender black with white stripes. I really liked that pen, too.

[Erik Dalton]

A seller called, inexplicably, jewelrymathematics. I've bought from them before and they've been reliable.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wing-Sung-233-Fine-Nib-Taupe-Fountain-Pen-/231722617309?hash=item35f3be89dd:g:pvoAAMXQlbVSD46X

Thanks so much for the link. I just ordered a couple.

I know they are not the best, but I love to write with them. They always draw attention when I pull one out to pay a bill. Glad I found this tread.

[Piper 987]

My favourite pen for under $30.00 is the Platinum Preppy that came free with a 4.5 oz. bottle of Noodler's Heart of Darkness ink. The thing writes very well and often makes me wonder why I paid real money for pens such as my Waterman Carene.

[Arkanabar]

Mr. Tardif is no longer including ED-converted Platinum Preppies. He now prefers various transparent-barreled Indian eyedropper pens, most often now the "Charlie (review 1 review 2)." If you want more ED preppies, you're going to have to buy and convert them yourself.

 

Or you could get some aluminum-barreled Platinum Plaisirs. They use the same nib/feed/section unit as the Preppy, are much more durable, and the cartridges can easily be refilled with an ordinary disposable 3ml transfer/bulb pipette.

[KyleKatarn]

By order of preference:

 

EDIT: I recently got a Rotring Freway Silver and Rotring Esprit Green, both M (26$ for the two of them on eBay) really great writers!

 

Waterman Kultur and Hemisphere

Platinum Cool and Plaisir

TWSBI ECO 1.1

Lamy Safari

Pilot 78G 1.1

Dollar calligraphy pen

 

And then several Jinhao, Hero and Baoer that I tweak, and abuse, and custom grind, sometimes with good results, sometimes not quite. Considering how inexpensive they are, I find that these chinese brands are great for FP's educational purposes.

Edited January 18, 2016 by KyleKatarn

[stevekolt]

I must say, I received two Baoer 388's in the maill last week, and at $4 per pen, with a converter, they're pretty hard to beat for their price...both wrote smoothly out of the box.

[Vgimlet]

Most of mine are under 30$ All of them are under 100$ With the exception of my 3 "prized" pens.

 

My favorites are the Pilot Metropolitans, Preras, Noodler's Ahabs (no matter what Nathan says, only one of my Ahabs required any adjusting at all) Platinum Preppies and Plaisirs, and my Nemosine Fission. The Nemosine Singularity isn't horrible, but I like the Fission better. My Lamy Safari's - I have two - they write well, but compared to the others I find them kind of boring writers.

[stevedacahil]

Extremely inky but Pilot Varsity is very smooth.

[riverdale]

This topic brushes on the idea of "best".

I spent years acquiring the ne plus ultra pieces, as good as it gets: a combination of flawless functioning, above all; exquisite aesthetics; and, perhaps some other virtues personal to me.

And then I found a sort of vox populum factor, things that work beautifully; have an unpretentiously pleasant look and feel; and are not prohibitively rare, expensive or strange.

Like for example the remarkable Pilot 78G: The medium nib on mine can hold it's head up in any company; it's minimalist looks are fine to my eye, and can be greatly improved by taking a piece of kitchen towel and rubbing off the "gold" bands around the cap, leaving an austere elegance with a hint of Bauhaus about it.

Can anything else manage that combination for 10 bucks?

[Towznek]

Jinhao 159 with Goulet nib is my favorite sub $30 set up.