Best Cheap Fountain Pens (Under $2 Us)

May 16, 2019

This thread has been dormant for a while. I just received a pen listed on eBay under this title

Luxury quality 399 Student school office stationery Medium Nib Fountain Pen New

I got the middle color in the photo below. Price is $1.99 US for one, $1.79 in larger quantities. The pen appears to be all metal except the section and feed. Weight is 30 grams -- reasonable for a metal pen. Neither the pen nor the listing say who made it, but the nib is marked "Genius Iridium" and looks a lot like the nib on the Hero 901 and a variety of no-name pens. Usually in the past those nibs have also said "Germany" on them. That always seemed pretty improbable, and this one is not so marked. Styling is similar to the Hero 7000 series. The seller lists the nib as medium but Sheaffer would label it F. The nib wrote just fine out of the box though it is a bit stiff for my tastes. My only other complaint would be that it does not post very reliably. The cap seems tight but if you bump it it tilts to one side and becomes very loose. Reviews of past Genius nibs have been all over the place. You can buy them separately very cheaply so if you like the pen otherwise order one pen and a package of nibs;-) Search eBay for

5pcs High quality Gold Medium Nib fountain pen New

I'm unsure about the 6mm measurement in the listing. I put one in a Jinhao 991.

May 20, 2019

Another vote from me for Baoer 388.

I bought 3 in the last year from Aliexpress from the most popular seller. They were $1.99 each, incl. shipping. Two of them were clear metal, one of them was lacquer black color, all 3 of them writes smoothly. I've uses various inks on them (Some Chinese ink on Aliexpress called zycc, Noodler's, a mix of Pelikan 4001 black and Diamine Prussian blue with dishwashing soap to lubricate), never had issues such as leaking etc. I had to adjust one of the tines just a little bit to write wetter, and that's a simple process which I did with my thumbnail, and that's all.

@Bob

I also got the same pen (at least the same looks and combo) called Baoer 399 at Aliexpress. But I'm sure it was not a Baoer product. It was $1.4 back then. Got that only because I wanted a silvery gray one. I switched the feed and nib with the ones I salvaged from a cracked Jinhao 991, and it now writes even better.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Ardakilic

June 28, 2019

Jinhao 399 Fountain Pen Business Student Medium Fine Nib Fashion Writing Tools

It looks pretty much like other purple plastic Safari clones except that it has some tiny sparkles mixed into the plastic like a cheap toy. Compared to the Jinhao 599, it is pretty much the same. The most obvious change is that it reverts to the original Lamy paperclip clip. The traditional Jinhao nib is retained (rather than reverting to the Lamy style) and performs as expected for this nib. Inside, the section is clear, which I count as an improvement because it is a much better guide to how much ink you have left than the window in the barrel which is poorly placed and a bit like reading tea leaves to use. The black "belt" around the midriff of the 599 is replaced by a chrome ring. $1.96US postpaid on eBay.

June 30, 2019

A link would have been appreciated.

July 7, 2019

I don't post links to stuff for sale on eBay as they grow obsolete so quickly. This site has way too many broken links already. I post the title for the listing (in bold above) as this is much more lasting and one can go to eBay and search for it. Of course if it is no longer for sale the whole post is obsolete;-)

July 9, 2019

The "399" pen is also available in a variety of nib widths.

Write the thickness：0.7 1.1 1.5 1.9 2.5 2.9

for $1.90. The eBay listing heading is

High classic 388 blue Quality Golden Duck mouth Parallel tip nib Fountain Pen

It appears that some enterprising Chinese eBay sellers are putting these nibs into a variety of alien bodies. I bought the 0.7 one in the 399 ($1.90) body but also have it in a Wing Sung 3001 body ($1.65) and I think I have seen it offered in fat metal Jinhao bodies. The 0.7 width is nominally the Chinese equivalent of a US M nib, but these are closer to B. But there is not much of a bead at the tip of the nib, so it writes more like a calligraphy pen. Still, downstrokes are only about 50% wider than horizontals. My reference pens here would be two Sheaffers: an XF calligraphy pen and a Signature Stub.

The current 0.7 needed alignment and a fair amount of Micro-Mesh to get it to write as smoothly as the 3001 did out of the box. It now writes almost as smoothly as the Signature Stub, and much more smoothly than the calligraphy pen. But variation in line width is much less than either Sheaffer. Another difference is that both the Chinese nibs deliver less ink to the page which means less shading in addition to less width variation. OTOH the Sheaffer nibs are long out of production and very rare, while these can be had readily for under $2. This body seems to me to be the classiest one in which these nibs are offered.

July 16, 2019

I found yet another Chinese Safari clone on eBay under the title

High quality 555 Multicolor Student School office F and EF Nib fountain pen New

This has the Safari-style clip and nib plus two flats on the barrel but no name on the flats.The main attraction for me was the variety of colors and the option of an F nib. And it's only $1.29. Mine came with a big sticker on it that says "you ping" which appears to be the brand or maker. The down sides are what feels to me like very cheap plastic, an OK but somewhat rough nib, and a black O-ring style trim at the waist that likes to get lost. And the nib, though marked "F", would have been called XF by Sheaffer USA. I am still happy with the pale green color as I have many light green inks, but I may try to put in a wider and smoother nib. Those inks do not show up well with the dry, narrow lines this puts down.

Edited July 16, 2019 by bob_hayden