Best Fountain Pens Under $1 Us

[SteveID]

Was that an auction? I am not seeing any prices below $13.99 postpaid for 10 on eBay USA today.

IF you were addressing me: Admittedly it was last year, and it was a starting price but they had several. I recall seeing comparable on Amazon at the same time, and they may still be there too.

[k3eax]

Yes SteveD, the 717 is an excellent pen in many ways, not only a good value for money. But, telling us that they could be had for 87 U.S.cents is rather misleading. An initial starting price in an auction should never be confused with the final bid!

[TSherbs]

Yes SteveD, the 717 is an excellent pen in many ways, not only a good value for money. But, telling us that they could be had for 87 U.S.cents is rather misleading. An initial starting price in an auction should never be confused with the final bid!

It was another example of "too good to be true"

[bob_hayden]

When I started this thread I meant it to include pens that readers could buy for a fixed (non-auction) price under a dollar in quantities of one, including shipping, but I did not spell that out in the initial post. That's a tall order so I am not surprised there are not many posts that really satisfy those conditions.

[thx1138]

I picked up 9 fake hero 616 for less than 1 aud each. Nibs look pretty awful under a hand lens though. Will try to tune the nibs of a couple and see how they write.

For a full 2 aud each I got what look to be genuine heroes. Nibs are aligned and look nicely finished compared to the fakes

[SteveID]

It was another example of "too good to be true"

Like much of life, in suppose. But they were sold in sets of 10, and I simply went by what the price of each pen turned out to be. I don't know what other sales of this pen went for but the Dollar pens came out to 87 cents apiece for the set of 10, I would imagine it would be a challenge for any seller to cover postage at a price like that, but I've distributed them among my children and my friends and various people to the satisfaction of all. Frankly $8.70 for a single pen isn't a bad price but for 10 of these little plastic bastids, it meets the criteria, so I thought it worth sharing.

[oneill]

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

Hi Bob, as the person who edited for that company for years FOR FREE I am delighted that you give them praise because if any company deserves it they do, it was always a delight to edit such quality merchandise their pens are made from solid Brass tubing and the nibs are in my experience Just a Dream. and overall How Affordable are they lets hope you buy more.Oneill if you can get one but this one which fir some strange reason Jinhao got me to

give it 2 names, either The Abalone or The Mother of Pearl it will enhance your collection so long as you can get it for around the $15.mark Trust Me Oneill

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

[oneill]

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

Hi Bob, as the person who edited for that company for years FOR FREE I am delighted that you give them praise because if any company deserves it they do, it was always a delight to edit such quality merchandise their pens are made from solid Brass tubing and the nibs are in my experience Just a Dream. and overall How Affordable are they lets hope you buy more.Oneill if you can get one but this one which fir some strange reason Jinhao got me to

give it 2 names, either The Abalone or The Mother of Pearl it will enhance your collection so long as you can get it for around the $15.mark Trust Me Oneill

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

[th3]

Looking through Ebay I came across a listing for a Jinhao 994 fountain pen, available in transparent and opaque colors, for 99 cents shipped. I couldnt find anything about this pen, either on FPN or through a google search anyplace else.

 

But really from the pictures I cant see a difference between the 991 and 994.

 

Here is the Ebay listing. Or just do a search for Jinhao 994 and it will turn up.

 

Luxury quality New Jinhao 994 Student school office Fine Nib Fountain Pen

Edited September 5, 2018 by th3

[bob_hayden]

The 994 does indeed look like a 991. It does seem to come in mostly new colors and the cap appears to have a smoke colored finial rather than the entire cap being one color. In any event, I have ordered a couple to check them out. The prices seems to be rising; mine cost 84 cents.

 

Meanwhile the good news is that the 992 has now fallen under a dollar. Google

 

Jinhao 992 Black Office Fountain Pen Fine Nib 0.5mm Great Gift

 

to find the one I bought. It arrived today and looks like the real thing but the writing experience is different from the two 992s I had inked. It lays down a fairly fat medium line and has an odd feel to it. So it could be a fake, or another lapse in Jinhao QC, or the ink I used. It was an "Allwrite" cartridge -- nominally "black" but it goes on blue-black and dries grey. I think I acquired this 14 years ago in Canada where I paid $0.66US for a fountain pen with six ink cartridges. Needless to say, they were not top quality;-) I'll have to get back to you on that after it runs dry and I try another ink. But it's not JUST the ink. The nib needed alignment and smoothing as well. Even so, the 992 has been very popular at FPN -- more so than the 991 -- so it's significant to have it in the "Under $1" category.

Edited September 17, 2018 by bob_hayden

[th3]

I bought one of those Jinhao 992 black office pen fine nib a few weeks ago, same listing. Seller was kakapenstoreo, The seller had two available and I bought the last one. Perhaps you bought the other one? I hadnt tried it before now and just put some Noodlers black ink into mine. It wrote as expected, same as the other 992's I had used. Perhaps you got a bad one.

 

A couple more 99 cent pens recently found on Ebay

 

Wing Sung 3008 and Jinhao 992. Both are clear (transparent) only.

 

Ebay listing:

 

Wing Sung 237 Celluloid Old Stock Smooth China Fountain Pen Fine F/0.5mm Nib New

 

Then look through the pull-down menu. Vendor is chacewang. Other vendors under that listing do not carry these 99 cent pens.

Edited September 20, 2018 by th3

[bob_hayden]

992

 

You're right, the black 992 for 99 cents is gone. (But see below.) I just worked on the nib for mine some more and it is smoother but moves erratically on the page. It FEELS OK but my handwriting is really lousy using that pen. It remains an M, but again it has crappy ink in it so the jury is still out. It's moot anyway as the item is no longer available.

 

992 and 3008

 

Thanks for pointing this out. What a weird listing. I don't expect to buy either of those but I added it to my watch list just so I could find it again. In my watch list it's still a "Wing Sung 237" but the "color" is the correct name for the pen and the prices show as 99 cents. That is an amazing price for a 3008.

 

994

 

I received a clear "994" which looks identical to my clear 991 except that it has an EF nib. I also received an opaque green 994 which looks almost identical to the 991. A difference I like is the opaque color. With the chrome nib, black feed, and black and chrome converter, the translucent 991s look pretty untidy. Other minor differences are plastic that seems stiffer, a smoke colored finial on the cap, and beveled edges on the clip.

 

Both of the pens sold as 994s wrote poorly out of the box. That's three 99 cent Jinhaos in a row. Is it Jijnhao, bad luck, or are these cheap because they are factory rejects or fakes? Be that as it may, I will order one of each opaque color of the 994s as I much prefer opaque. (I do prefer the 991/4 to the 992, the "shark" and the Safari clone, all wityh the same nibs.) I will probably also order some Jinhao nibs and feeds and/or make some Frankenpens with the 991s I have already so that I end up with a bunch of opaque 99x pens that write well.

[bob_hayden]

It seems to be a great time for under $1 pens. When i started this thread they were hard to find. today I received two Hero 1515 pens which I ordered on eBay. The listing title is

Fashion Hero 1515 All colour student School Stationery office Fountain Pens New

Seven colors are available. They cost 99 cents in quantity of one, 10% off if you buy two or more. Though the pen is covered with Hero identification it appears to be the metal Jinhao 599 Lamy Al-Star clone. I don't see a real review for either but the most informative thread I found starts off with the plastic 599 and then gets into the other pens.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/264404-the-jinhao-599-a-stylish-chinese-pen-with-strangely-familiar-germanic-leanings/

 

I got a "purple" (more like maroon or dark red) and a black one. Both pens seemed just dandy to me, but the converters were the too familiar self-disassembling ones I have not seen in a while. One came apart in my hands when I tried to pull it out of the pen. Fortunately, I have piles of converters,and often use cartridges anyway. Note that in contrast to most of the Lamy clones, these take standard international cartridges -- a big plus in my book.

[bob_hayden]

Yesterday I received two more Safari clones. One was white with a F nib purchased from goodnews-98 with eBay listing title

 

0.5mm 0.38mm colourful abs shell school office supplies ink pen writing tool

 

while the other was a dull light green with a nib marked EF from saih.tan with listing title

 

0.5mm 0.38mm colourful abs shell school office supplies ink pen writing tool Lx

 

Yeah, the titles look almost the same and the listings look the same. Available colors also include blue, black, red and another shade of green. The pens arrived the same day in separate but identical packages. The pens look identical except for color. The sellers are listed as being in China but the pens have a return address in Thailand. They have no markings exept the F and EF on the nibs. They cost 87 US cents each and appear to take large bore cartridges.

 

My first step was to clean out the pens and in the process the "O-ring" trim belt in the white pen fell off and went down the drain. The ring on the green pen seems attached. Next I filled the green one with Levenger Always Greener. This ink tends to feather and bleed so I like to keep one pen inked with it for testing paper. I thought those problems might be minimized by the EF nib. I filled the white pen with Perle Noire, a much tamer ink in my experience. The first surprise was that the EF nib put down a wider line than the F nib. I tried the EF nib on four different papers, included ones through which it did not bleed, and I could never get anything but F. The white pen put down a wispy grey EF line so I tried spreading the tines, which I do by just bearing down on it in normal writing position. BEWARE! This is one wimpy nib! I did not damage it but I soon had a very wet MB. Backing off I could only get to MF, but it writes very nicely. I just would not recommend it to someone still in recovery from ball point addiction. The green pen was rather scratchy. I improved it somewhat with Micro Mesh but it still feels as though the tines are slightly out of alignment thbough I cannot detect that by feel or by eye. Inside the converters look like the Lamy ones, or better yet, the ones Yiren puts in Lamy clones, but do not seem as well made as either of those.

 

Quality control seeems a bit shaky here but both pens are quite useable and suitable as giveaways. Children may like the colors, but don't give these to kids who bear down hard. These are cheap enough to break or lose. If the trim ring had not fallen off the white pen I wold ahve considered it an above average Lamy clone.

Edited September 25, 2018 by bob_hayden

[th3]

Thanks to Bob for the great review and hands-on experience with the 87 cent plastic safari-style pen. I had been considering that pen but wasnt really motivated enough to buy one. I do like the Hero 1515 and ordered a black and a coffee.

Found this pen, which is outside the parameters of the thread but just barely at $1.10 shipped. Perhaps it will be allowable in here...

1.0mm New Metal Sliver Fountain Pen Medium Nib Student Stationery For 159.US

It appears to be a Jinhao x450 with a fude (bent) nib. Only available in yellow (gold? champagne?). I dont have any Jx450‘s and no experience with a fude so I ordered one. If I really dont like the fude nib I suppose I could get a standard straight nib for it.

Edited September 27, 2018 by th3

[Jamerelbe]

 

Thanks to Bob for the great review and hands-on experience with the 87 cent plastic safari-style pen. I had been considering that pen but wasnt really motivated enough to buy one. I do like the Hero 1515 and ordered a black and a coffee.

Found this pen, which is outside the parameters of the thread but just barely at $1.10 shipped. Perhaps it will be allowable in here...

1.0mm New Metal Sliver Fountain Pen Medium Nib Student Stationery For 159.US

It appears to be a Jinhao x450 with a fude (bent) nib. Only available in yellow (gold? champagne?). I dont have any Jx450‘s and no experience with a fude so I ordered one. If I really dont like the fude nib I suppose I could get a standard straight nib for it.

 

 

Looks pretty attractive - and yes, it should be easy to swap nibs if need be. Let us know when you get it!

[jslallar]

When I started this thread I meant it to include pens that readers could buy for a fixed (non-auction) price under a dollar in quantities of one, including shipping, but I did not spell that out in the initial post. That's a tall order so I am not surprised there are not many posts that really satisfy those conditions.

 

Well bob-hayden,

 

You are welcome to Pakistan where you can buy several school pens for less than a dollar. mitto has mentioned one above - Dollar 717 pen, it is a piston filler and sells for Rs 35 which is nearly US $0.31. Comes in blue, black and maroon colors and demonstrator, and with two standard nibs, a F/M and left oblique italic about 1.1 mm. Reasonably good quality too.

 

You can also have other models and some other makes too for less than a dollar.

 

The only caveat being the $100-1200 ticket cost

 

As I started the post with a welcome, so it will be my honor to be your host here, and offer a place to stay with me, nice and comfy, and a belly full of hot spicy food.

[bob_hayden]

Thank you! I have owned a Dollar 717. I was not very impressed at the price I paid (you have to buy in quantity to get the price down here in the US and I only bought one) but at 31 cents it would be a good deal.

 

How spicy is your food? I don't think I have ever had food from Pakistan. I enjoy Indian food here in restaurants. I have a friend from Iran whose mother once visited him here and they invited me to an Iranian dinner she cooked. VERY good! In Clinton, Massachusetts, there is an Iraqi restaurant I have gladly visited a couple of times.

 

How do you get to Pakistan for $100? I no longer fly and generally only go to places I can drive to. Motor routes from here to Pakistan are roundabout at best ;-)

[mitto]

Well bob-hayden,

 

You are welcome to Pakistan where you can buy several school pens for less than a dollar. mitto has mentioned one above - Dollar 717 pen, it is a piston filler and sells for Rs 35 which is nearly US $0.31. Comes in blue, black and maroon colors and demonstrator, and with two standard nibs, a F/M and left oblique italic about 1.1 mm. Reasonably good quality too.

 

You can also have other models and some other makes too for less than a dollar.

 

The only caveat being the $100-1200 ticket cost

 

As I started the post with a welcome, so it will be my honor to be your host here, and offer a place to stay with me, nice and comfy, and a belly full of hot spicy food.

I got the Dollar even cheaper. Rs.160 for a pack of ten direct from Dollar Industries Karachi as I bought more than 6 packs.

[th3]

For 99 cents each is the cute Swan pen with the cap made to resemble a swan. No brand name given but Jinhao makes a similiar pen.

Available in solid and transparent colors and with nib size of 0.5mm and 0.38mm

Two separate ebay listings

Colorful Plastic Barrel Fountain Pen 0.5mm Nib Business Office Gift

Colorful Plastic Barrel Fountain Pen 0.38mm Nib Business Office Gift

Edited October 5, 2018 by th3