Best Fountain Pens Under $1 Us

[bob_hayden]

Earlier

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/330996-best-cheap-fountain-pens-under-2-us/

 

I started a link on fountain pens under $2 US. That seemed to be about as low as one could get and still find much. (I found dozens.) This thread is more challenging. I only have one nominee: the Jinhao 991 that snakewang sells for 99 cents under the eBay heading

 

1pc Transparent Fountain Pen Fine Nib Students Stationery Supplies Writing Tool

 

I ordered one out of curiosity, half expecting a no-name clone, but it looks genuine and works just fine.

[woleizihan]

This is really challenging if you want $1 including the shipping. There are some Hero 616 on sale on Ebay:

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182946423291

 

$.99 shipped and the only problem is if they are genuine. Even for genuine 616s, the QC issue cannot be ignored.

 

Walmart also has some 7 pack Pilot Varsity for $8.7 and I feel more confident about those. But they are above $1.

Edited January 22, 2018 by woleizihan

[Mech-for-i]

This is challenging alright, well right now off the desk I would nominate M&G AFPM0601 , a pen that am ale to get for a pack of 4 at just under $2.00 ( shipping included ) , not sure if its on all the major regular retail site state vise though; but here's my little write up about the pen itself

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/295491-chinese-pens-show-and-tell/page-54?do=findComment&comment=3985577

 

Now let' see , .. I am sure I've got some more in my cache that would match this criteria

[bob_hayden]

Thanks for mentioning M&G. Looking on eBay USA I can find a variety of pens from them, but none fit into my "less than $2 US" thread, let alone less than $1. But I did find some similar Korean pens at 80 cents each that were not there the last time I looked.

[matteob]

Never paid under a dollar but got a little Jinhao 886 for about £1.99 to my door and it is a gorgeous little pen. Bought another one for my 7 year old nephew who has just got his pen "licence" at school.

Edited January 23, 2018 by matteob

[bob_hayden]

I checked out one of those "Korean" pens. They are 99 cents Canadian which today is 78 cents US. I am not sure what the connection with Korea is. The eBay listing says

Plastic Calligraphy Fountain Pen Ink For Writing Gift Korean Stationery BH

 

The seller appears to be in China and the package shipped from Malaysia. If I am reading the stylized lettering correctly it says "AIHAO". I normally do not buy pens with plastic clips or hooded nibs but could not pass up the price. The good news is that it writes quite well -- a fairly stiff, wet, tubular XF to F nib (advertised as 0.5mm) that is not scratchy but has more tooth than average. The rest of the pen is made of thin, brittle plastic so I am not sure how long it will last. The cap pops on due to three bumps inside the open end that grab a raised ring on the section. This means the plastic cap is serving as a spring -- an engineering no-no. I will not be surprised if it splits out. When placed on the other end of the pen the cap posts very securely.

 

The pen comes with a chintzy slide converter with a large opening. Out of curiosity I tried a Lamy cartridge. There was plenty of room for it in the body but it was a force fit on the section. Rather than apply more force I used an awl to open the cartridge up a bit first. So far so good. Presumably it prefers the Hero 359 cartridges which my spies tell me are more common in China than short internationals.

 

Styling is not bad for a 78 cent plastic pen. The one tacky touch is that there is a trim piece on the top of the cap that is about the same color as the barrel but with a dull finish unlike the metallic finish on the body.

 

For you ED folks the body appears to have a hole in the closed end.

 

This is certainly good enough to introduce someone to fountain pens, especially if you do not like the Jinhao 991 for some reason, or the low price on that disappears.

Edited February 12, 2018 by bob_hayden

[jobodine]

I got these pens for 1.$ each at a dollar store last week . The problem is the resupplying of merchandise at Dollar stores is notoriously bad !

 

 

[bob_hayden]

I got some of those Selectum pens in Canada many years ago -- about 62 cents, including six cartridges! The nibs were pretty bad and the plastic parts broke. In recent times I have read of more positive experiences with the nibs. Not sure how the plastic holds up now. In any case, it is nice to have something in stores rather than having to order from China and wait weeks. What dollar store were these in and where in the US are you? I think I have heard of these showing up at Daiso stores but I am not aware of any of those in New England.

[jobodine]

 

It was in a dollar store called Dollar Tree in the Orlando (Florida) area . The nib is very good . The funny thing is it can write very smoothly even if you turn the pen over ! The opening of the grip section is quite thin and I do not know how long it can last under pressure ? Anyhow, what do you expect for a 1 dollar fountain pen ?

 

Another amazing thing is I can fit a Zebra flex nib into this lowly plastic pen !!

 

You can see the proof here : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/97342-review-daiso-150-pen/

 

BTW, this pen is a knock-off of the pen Faber Castell 258 Student Pen (Ref: http://www.pentorium.com/2014/04/25/justwrite-multi-review-3-sub-5-fountain-pens/ )

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by jobodine

[bob_hayden]

I found another -- a rather nice Safari/AL-Star clone called the Yiren 359C. $0.99 US. It's plastic with a metallic finish, and metal clip like a Safari. Listed on eBay under

 

Luxury Ink pens 568 Grass green Student school office supplies EF Fountain pen

also also available in blue, lavender, or champagne. Nib is XF to F.

 

Meanwhile reports are emerging of cracks developing in the plastic of the Jinhao 991 ;-( So this might be the best choice under a dollar for those who don't mind the Lamy-style finger denters on the section.

[inkstainedruth]

I suppose it would not in the spirit of the thread, but *my* best pen for under a $1 US was the Parker 41 I found in a shoebox amongst a bunch of mostly ballpoints at an estate sale a few years ago.... I paid a whole whopping 50¢ for it (I could have paid five bucks for all the pens and pencils -- but what am I gonna do with a shoebox full of ballpoints...?) and I'm betting that if the people running that estate sale saw me on the local appraisal show on TV a few months later they were just kicking themselves....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[bob_hayden]

I got two more of the Yirens and they are only $0.89 each if you buy two. More info at the end of this thread.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/314320-yiren-566-a-re-badged-hero-359/page-3

[SoulSamurai]

I bought a couple of Hero's (I think) from local supermarkets for about a dollar each (0.4 OMR). One of them was a 360 nib; the pen dried out badly overnight. The second was a Parker 51 clone, I never actually got around to trying it out though.

[old4570]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_sop=15&_nkw=Fountain+pens&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

 

Easy ... Chose lowest price + shipping and then " buy it now " Plenty under $1

[mitto]

I got Dollar piston fillers (different models including 717i) for $1:60 for a pack of ten. $0:16 a pen.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I checked out one of those "Korean" pens. They are 99 cents Canadian which today is 78 cents US. I am not sure what the connection with Korea is. The eBay listing says

 

Plastic Calligraphy Fountain Pen Ink For Writing Gift Korean Stationery BH

The seller appears to be in China and the package shipped from Malaysia. If I am reading the stylized lettering correctly it says "AIHAO". I normally do not buy pens with plastic clips or hooded nibs but could not pass up the price. The good news is that it writes quite well -- a fairly stiff, wet, tubular XF to F nib (advertised as 0.5mm) that is not scratchy but has more tooth than average. The rest of the pen is made of thin, brittle plastic so I am not sure how long it will last. The cap pops on due to three bumps inside the open end that grab a raised ring on the section. This means the plastic cap is serving as a spring -- an engineering no-no. I will not be surprised if it splits out. When placed on the other end of the pen the cap posts very securely.

 

The pen comes with a chintzy slide converter with a large opening. Out of curiosity I tried a Lamy cartridge. There was plenty of room for it in the body but it was a force fit on the section. Rather than apply more force I used an awl to open the cartridge up a bit first. So far so good. Presumably it prefers the Hero 359 cartridges which my spies tell me are more common in China than short internationals.

 

Styling is not bad for a 78 cent plastic pen. The one tacky touch is that there is a trim piece on the top of the cap that is about the same color as the barrel but with a dull finish unlike the metallic finish on the body.

 

For you ED folks the body appears to have a hole in the closed end.

 

This is certainly good enough to introduce someone to fountain pens, especially if you do not like the Jinhao 991 for some reason, or the low price on that disappears.

Before I saw this thread, I ordered one. Still waiting....

[bob_hayden]

Sailor Kenshin, I hope your pen arrives soon and that you enjoy it! I just retried mine after it had sat for quite some time. it had dried out but was easy to get started again. I would consider buying more of those if I could choose the color.

 

mitto, I selected pens based on the quantity-of-one price. For most Chinese pens, quantity prices are not available, but for pens from India or Pakistan they are common and the discounts can be considerable.

 

old4570, that search is easy enough to do, and would be useful to anyone who wants to look at pens I left out. It's not so easy to use the results!-) The first page of your results are mostly different listings for the same two pens. Another glitch is illustrated by the last pen on the first page when I followed your link. Price was "$0.99 to $59.98". $59.98 gets you the Moonman fountain pen in the title and the picture; $0.99 gets you a Duke refill for a ballpoint!-) (I assume this is listed that way so it shows up high when you sort "lowest first"on price.) For reasons such as these the search turns up mostly useless stuff. Back when, after I had stumbled upon some decent pens under $2, I did this search, and that led to finding things under $1. I redo the search from time to time, but it takes forever to wade through all the "hits" and I am lucky if I find a single pen I don't already know about.

 

Thanks for the info, jobodine. I looked at the local Dollar Tree but evidently the fountain pens flew south for the winter;-)

[old4570]

Yeah , nothing can be done bout the listings ...

I hate the 99c - $50 listings , usually nothing but bait and switch ..

Best to try and ignore them .

 

The only other way is to do pen specific searches - Jinhao 599 - Wing Sung 3001 - and so forth to get the best price .

If you do a time search - ending soonest - you get a lot of stuff @ premium prices ..

 

Best just to troll and find pens you like and then do a specific pen search for the lowest price .

[bob_hayden]

As resident cheapskate I repeat that search every couple of weeks and then post whatever I find so others need not wade through the list.

[old4570]

Yeah , Im pretty cheap too ...

Give me budget stuff over premium stuff .. Especially when it's on my dime .

Lots of budget stuff out there thanks to China at the moment ..

 

No way I could have done everything I am doing now 20 or 30 years ago ..

The internet firstly has changed things immensely , and then Chinese manufacturing .

I now have access to things I could never have dreamed of 30 years ago ..