Looking For New Pen - Recommendations

[Nerdyhistorian]

 

  On 2/4/2019 at 9:09 AM, A Smug Dill said:

I have three Sailor Lecoule pens, including the Garnet model. I wouldn't call it an upgrade over the Pilot MR. The plastic pen body is slightly nicer than that of the Pilot 78G, but it is lightweight, and significantly shorter than the Pilot MR. The steel MF nib is OK, and comparable to in both smoothness and line width to the F nib on a Pilot MR. For the price, though, I don't see any reason to recommend it. I'd take the Delike New Moon 3 over the Sailor Lecoule any day for a pen of that form factor, and you can probably buy at least five New Moon 3 pens for the price of a Lecoule.

 

This why I love this community: honest advice. Thank you !

[A Smug Dill]

No worries.

 

I do love my Delike New Moon 3 pens – they look great, are solidly built without being too heavy, its EF nib writes equally as well as the Pilot MR and the Sailor Lecoule, cost me less than A$7.50 apiece and came with an additional (Medium) nib unit each. Yes, the nib unit just unscrews from the section, and is therefore easily swappable to a different width. Bonus!

 

The line width from its EF nib is roughly the same as that of the Pilot MR's F nib and the Sailor Lecoule's MF nib. (I haven't tried the M nib yet, and I don't particularly want to do so.)

 

If you like the look of the Lecoule, you may as well try a New Moon 3, if it isn't too heavy for you. A Pilot MR with a CON-40 converter fully filled weighs 27g, a Sailor Lecoule with a 14-0506 converter fully filled weighs 17g, and a Delike New Moon 3 with the supplied converter fully filled weighs 38g (or quite possibly 39g, because I pre-emptively replaced the metal finial screw in the cap of each of my NM3 pens with a acrylic screw). I don't know about the tax and duty regime in Belgium, but the pens are so cheap, it wouldn't incur VAT liability if imported into the UK. I see a listing on eBay for US$4.99 each right now, but I'm not sure if it comes with the extra nib unit.

Edited February 4, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[A Smug Dill]

By the way, if you don't like short pens, then you probably won't like writing with the Sailor Lecoule:

 

• Lamy Safari
• Lamy CP1
• Pilot Capless Vanishing Point
• Pilot Custom Heritage 91
• Pilot Custom 74
• Pilot Cocoon (aka Pilot MR Metropolitan)
• Pilot Elite 95s
• Sailor Lecoule
• Delike New Moon 3
• Pilot 78G
• Leonardo Momento Zero

Ignoring shipping charges and tax and duty for imports for a moment (since I don't know Belgium's regulations, how and how strictly they are enforced, and whether you can find online sellers who will include 'free' shipping in their offers, etc.), ...

 

Since you seem to prefer a flat end on the pen cap (and probably the tail end of the barrel too?) over a cigar- or torpedo-shaped pen, I could recommend the Pilot Elite 95s. It's on offer for ¥7,800 on Amazon.co.jp (inclusive of Japan's domestic consumption tax of 8%) which is about 62.50 at the current exchange rate and US$83.98 (73.73) on Amazon.com; mine cost me ~A$108 (68) after eBay promotional discounts but including GST (in a sense, our border tax) shipped to Australia, so that model is in the price class of "below 75". Lightweight, well-constructed, actually fairly long when the cap is posted, and has a Pilot quality 14K gold nib. I don't generally like pens that are both slender and lightweight, but I make an exception for the Pilot Elite 95s as a convenient, tiny pen to carry yet writes very well.

Edited February 6, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Nerdyhistorian]

Hm, I don't dislike rounded caps or barrels. I mean, I have three Metro's

 

What about the Pilot Prera? Is that a good pen?

[A Smug Dill]

  On 2/6/2019 at 7:31 PM, InkedSophie said:

Hm, I don't dislike rounded caps or barrels. I mean, I have three Metro's

I was just going by:

 

  On 1/25/2019 at 10:51 AM, InkedSophie said:

In regards to style: I like the looks of for example the magnenta Parker Urban, the blue Lamy Studio, the Pelikan Souverains and Classics, Parker Sonnet and IM.

All of those have flat ends, or at least a flat cap, no?

 

  Quote

What about the Pilot Prera? Is that a good pen?

I suppose. I (bought, and now) have three brand new ones sitting in a drawer, but have never inked or used a Prera myself. However,

 

  On 1/25/2019 at 7:10 PM, InkedSophie said:

... an upgrade would essentially be a better nib and smoother writer in my mind,

The Prera uses the same nibs, feeds and inking mechanism as the Pilot MR, so it wouldn't be an upgrade in that regard.

[sirgilbert357]

Also, most any nib can be made to write "smoother". 12000 grit Micromesh and some Myler sheets can be used to tune nibs into buttery smooth writers. Smoothness out of the box is definitely preferred, but it's possible to enhance most nibs if you aren't fully happy with how they write stock.

 

As for where to get those things in your country, I don't know. Others can chime in maybe...

[Arkanabar]

I have a Prera CM, and I like it. It's got just a little bit more girth in the section than an MR, which I find to be too narrow (and I don't like the step where it screws into the barrel). Prera nibs are, as far as I know, no different from MR nibs.

 

For me, finding out what I do and don't like in a pen involved a process of getting an of inexpensive Chinese pen, using it for a few months, noting whether I liked or disliked it for its length, girth, weight, materials, section profile, and so on. By now, my preferences in form factor are pretty well hammered out -- no more than 140mm capped, section diameter of 9.5-10,5mm, weight no more than 25-30g, with a preference for around 20g, with a section that preferably doesn't taper, or at least has a stop at the end. Pens that fit this profile include Pelikan M2xx, Pilot Prera, Platinum Plaisir, FPR Himalaya and Triveni Jr., Nemosine Singularity, and Noodler's Konrad.

 

So of course my most used pen is a Hero 616, an "homage" to the Parker "51", which has a tapered section that gets pretty darned slim near the point. But I hold that down by the clutch ring.

 

edit: +1 on learning to smooth nibs, another reason to pick up some inexpensive Chinese pens. The finest abrasive on a nail buffer stick can also be used for this purpose.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Arkanabar

[MKeith]

In addition to others mentioned I would suggest:

 

Cartridge Pens

Parker 45 (replacement nib easy to get)

Pilot 78G (nibs are interchangeable with Pilot Plumix)

Lamy Safari

Kaweko Sport

 

If you can somehow do without a cartridge pen, which I strongly suggest you try at some point, I would highly recommend a restored Parker 51 Aerometic such as Farmboy here on FPN sells somewhat on a regular basis. They are rugged pens, hold a very good amount of ink and are easy to maintain. A very reasonably priced pen is the TWSBI Eco. So far mine have faired well, they have a great guarantee and hold enough ink to write for days and days.

Edited February 7, 2019 by MKeith

[Nerdyhistorian]

 

  On 2/6/2019 at 10:17 PM, sirgilbert357 said:

Also, most any nib can be made to write "smoother". 12000 grit Micromesh and some Myler sheets can be used to tune nibs into buttery smooth writers. Smoothness out of the box is definitely preferred, but it's possible to enhance most nibs if you aren't fully happy with how they write stock.

As for where to get those things in your country, I don't know. Others can chime in maybe...

 

Oh, I don´t have troubles with my nibs at the moment, they are all great and smooth. But I can imagine there are better nibs and I am also looking for an upgrade style wise.

 

  On 2/7/2019 at 12:25 AM, MKeith said:

If you can somehow do without a cartridge pen, which I strongly suggest you try at some point, I would highly recommend a restored Parker 51 Aerometic such as Farmboy here on FPN sells somewhat on a regular basis. They are rugged pens, hold a very good amount of ink and are easy to maintain. A very reasonably priced pen is the TWSBI Eco. So far mine have faired well, they have a great guarantee and hold enough ink to write for days and days.

 

I don´t write that much to work with converters or piston fillers and bottles of ink. The bottles would dry out on me I am afraid. Now if I used a few cartridges a month, it would be a different story. But since november I am still waiting for my first empty cartridge ;-)

[sirgilbert357]

  On 2/7/2019 at 9:06 AM, InkedSophie said:

 

 

 

Oh, I don´t have troubles with my nibs at the moment, they are all great and smooth. But I can imagine there are better nibs and I am also looking for an upgrade style wise.

 

 

I don´t write that much to work with converters or piston fillers and bottles of ink. The bottles would dry out on me I am afraid. Now if I used a few cartridges a month, it would be a different story. But since november I am still waiting for my first empty cartridge ;-)

 

 

 

I have a bottle of ink that's probably at least as old as I am, likely older...vintage Parker Quink with Solv-x. It hasn't dried up. It's mostly full and writes just fine. Bottles don't just evaporate off if not used up within 6 months...

 

And if it takes you over three months to use up just one cartridge, I would probably really focus on pens that are known for not drying out. Platinum's "slip and seal" cap has a great reputation for preventing nib dry out; check those out if you haven't already.

[Arkanabar]

If you choose to go Platinum, I'd suggest the Plaisir. My wife neglects hers for months at a time, and it never fails to write on the first stroke. I suggest the medium (0.5m) point, as it usually has less feedback than the fine (0.3m). Either can be smoothed with careful, gentle application of the very finest grit on a nail buffer stick (as in, two strokes, test, two strokes, test -- search for videos).

[Nerdyhistorian]

So, since starting this thread I got a few Lamy Studio´s, the Lamy Scala and a few more Pilot Metropolitans.

 

Today I bought the Lamy 2000, can´t wait for it to arrive!