Any Recommendations For Under $100?

[Rosendust]

Hey all, do you happen to know of any pen that's under $100 with a cartridge\converter system any brand except Pilot because I have plenty of that brand.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Rosendust

[NumberSix]

I love my Lamy LX. My brother adores his Lamy Studio.

 

Both of those are next level cartridge-converter pens well within your price range. (the Studio will run you about $80, and the LX is often on sale for $56 -- and then you add a $6 Lamy converter)

[Lam1]

Platinum 3776 is a great pen and I believe it is still under $100.

[NinthSphere]

Sailor, numerous vintage including Parker & Sheaffer.

[txomsy]

What kind of pens do you like?

 

That should be the first before we can make any educated recommendation.

[WLSpec]

Lamy Safari, Platinum 3776, Jinhaos, Kaweco, there are lots

[corgicoupe]

Retro 51

[WLSpec]

Retro 51

+1

[A Smug Dill]

Hey all, do you happen to know of any pen that's under $100 with a cartridge\converter system any brand except Pilot because I have plenty of that brand.

 

 

What a strange question. Sailor, Platinum, Moonman, Delike, PenBBS, Lingmo, Wing Sung, Jinhao, Faber-Castell, Diplomat, Pelikan and Parker (note: not an exhaustive list) all make c/c-filled fountain pens that can be had for under US$100 new.

[tamiya]

Or buy 50 JinHaos, they're mostly good

JinHao Shark has been especially good for its $2 price, haven't found a dodgy one yet.

[jchch1950]

Lamy Ion or Lamy Studio.Nice pens under 100 USD.

[Jerome Tarshis]

 

 

What a strange question. Sailor, Platinum, Moonman, Delike, PenBBS, Lingmo, Wing Sung, Jinhao, Faber-Castell, Diplomat, Pelikan and Parker (note: not an exhaustive list) all make c/c-filled fountain pens that can be had for under US$100 new.

 

Indeed. If you cross S. T. Dupont and Graf von Faber-Castell off the list, almost any brand your heart desires can be had for less than $100 US. My HEMA three-euro fountain pens write pretty smoothly. Peter Ford's Italix pens write with stunning smoothness and are not at all expensive. Opinion differs about Muji. Just pick a brand. Cross has done well for me. (Not the cheapest models.)

 

If you include brands that are no longer in business, the list grows longer. Geha before it was bought and killed by Pelikan. Ronson, at least the earler production. PaperMate, which did make or at least affix its name to remarkably good fountain pens.

 

The pen world lies at your feet. OTOH if you have some ideas about what you prefer, do tell us.

[Honeybadgers]

If you want a more "different" option, I got the karas kustoms starliner XL apollo 11 edition (anodized blue aluminum with a brass section) and a titanium nib for $100.

 

There's the ensso italia in various metals. I was patient and found a tactile turn gist in copper for $100.

 

Ranga pens, the Osprey Milano, the sailor pro gear slim/1911 standard, steel nib pilot vanishing point.

 

There's the indigraph if you want to use india ink, it's also just a great pen.

 

The pelikan 200/205/215 (gold trim, silver trim, metal barrel/silver trim respectively) are all within budget. But they're piston fill.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Bo Bo Olson]

How many pens do you have?

 

The Pelikan 200 has a great springy regular flex nib, for just under $100.

I'd suggest that.

It is a standard sized pen.

 

If you have 4-5 pens....I do not recommend semi-flex to those with less than 4-5 pens....in one needs a lighter hand.

Modern Stub and CI is 100% line variation, semi-flex is line variation On Demand..........but one has to develop a lighter hand to Demand, the line variation.

Semi-flex is strong enough to help you to that lighter hand. Just because I had long before and eventually came back to fountain pens mean I had a light hand....nope, I was Ham Fisted. A semi-flex pen has a 3X tine spread; when not vastly over stressed. I swapped for a Pelikan 140 OB semi-flex pen at a flea market. It took me some three months to go from always maxing the nib out to 3X to using much less pressure, that when I wanted a bit of line variation I could Demand it.

Semi-flex is a wet nib.....and 1/2 narrower than modern....Euro sizes.

I have 29 of them and 16 maxi-semi-flex.....so do like them.

However I think a nice springy regular flex pen like a Pelikan 200 is a better start. It is a good nib for a shading ink....if one don't get EF.....F&M are good nib widths for two toned shading inks. The 200's M is a nib better than the reputation an M has....in most come in on a M, read the BS here and go narrow or wide....looking down their noses at an M......I've come over to liking a M nib quite a lot now.

In semi-flex is often wet, one needs a good ink and paper match to get two toned shading..............one has time to find that out.

Only in vintage stubbed semi-flex is an oblique worth having, unless left handed all other era's obliques are a waste of money!!!!

I started with an OB....a writing nib not a signature nib and am glad I did, in there is more slop in it to find the right angle of cant (what some call 'nib rotation'. OM&OF requires more precise angle of cant to get all that it can offer. If held wrong, will feel scratchy..........Do Not grab micro mesh, but angle/cant the nib a bit more.

 

 

On German Ebay, you can still find a standard sized Geha 790 that is semi-flex.....and if you find one with a steel nib...great, it's as good as a gold one......E60.The simiflex nib is a tad more springy than the vintage '50-65 Pelikan nib.

Some Osmia semi-flex pens are at a decade low of E60 also.....if old you would have to have it recorked..............and only cork.....no plastic gasket or save a fortune and ruin a pen O rings.

That could cost $30 more. How ever there is a good chance at getting a maxi-semi-flex Supra nib. And as said, the steel is as good as the gold nib.Large Diamond and or plus Supra = maxi-semi-flex, small diamond mostly with the nib size in the small diamond is semi-flex.

Picture from someone, showing a Supra nib.

At the time most gold nibs were monotone, this one is two tone. My Supra gold nibs I think are mostly monotone....and remember the steel nibs are just as good.....and often E10 less to be had.

 

1932 Osmai was broke again and sold their nib factory to Degussa, who is the gold and silver supplier for Germany then and now............who continued making the great Osmia nib. Geha's nibs were made by Degussa.

The torpedo or cigar shape was very in in the '50-60's....Swan, MB 146/9, 400nn, Geha 790.

It has three rings (The medium small Geha 760 goes for 20% more than the standard sized 790.

The first picture is a rarer three true ring 790. (Using the picture I bought it with, the rings cleaned up to nice and shiny real easy.) I take horrible pictures.

The second picture shows the normal three 'rings'.

Is a factory stub nib like most of the German 50-60 pens outside of Lamy were semi-flex.

A Geha school pen is a great buy......E19 is what I'd call a max....but you can buy from Pirates who want only $89, if you wish. Can be had for E12 if one Hunts. It has no rings, and a serial number on it to prevent school theft. It has a great springy regular flex nib.

After you get the 790, you can look for the Geha 725.....it does have a small problem, the cap might/will develop a micro crack........I can barely see mine..

A fine passed poster, Piebe, mentioned that. Mine came with no cracks....and cracked with in a few days..............as I said a micro crack, you have to look for, that effects the pen in no way.

The curve cuts on the clip give it a great deal of class.

If it wasn't just a black and gold pen, I'd have more. That fancy nib is a stubbed semi-flex....mostly in vintage F........M is rarer.

 

..Again a E60-70 pen.

One of the most sleek, sharp, pens ever made. Great balance posted......and yes you do have to post for the great balance any of these pens will give you. Balance was of upmost importance back when one used a pen all day, and not a few minutes.

Picture with permission of Penboard de.

Rolled gold trim.

 

 

The seller has to take paypal....in Euro zone does bank transfer, bank wire will cost you $35 from out side mainland europe. Many are too cheap to use paypal in it costs them pennies.

And the idiot has to ship outside of Germany....many won't, not trusting foreign postal services.

 

 

The prices of German pens on German Ebay has jumped in a Cartel of sellers are offering the same pen for E10 less than their Buy Now Idiot prices (Stateside prices, in those are rip off's too) ....to make those rip off prices seem 'normal'.

Many selling gramp's pen will follow that price jacking practice.....geee Gramps pen is worth $297.50, when it's a E90-100 pen.

So You Have to Hunt!!!!

Edited December 28, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[A Smug Dill]

The pelikan 200/205/215 (gold trim, silver trim, metal barrel/silver trim respectively) are all within budget. But they're piston fill.

 

No, they aren't. The M200, M205 and M215 are, but the P200 and P205 -- which are every bit as authentic as the other models, in being Pelikan fountain pens, and still within budget when Cult Pens in the UK offer Pelikan products at 10% off from time to time -- use cartridges/converters as their filling system and are not piston-fillers.

 

In spite of not having used a Pelikan P200 myself, I have no reason to believe that its nib would behave noticeably differently from the nib of a Pelikan M200, if one would like to recommend a "Pelikan 200" for how the nib writes.

 

Edit: inserted inadvertently omitted word

Edited December 29, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Bo Bo Olson]

I much prefer piston fill to; too tiny oft vapor locked converters or all cartridges are super expensive and have been since they came in....way back in the '50's.

One can of course needle fill a cartridge........but if you are going to have ink bottles to do so; why not buy a Piston 200?

[melissa59]

Hey all, do you happen to know of any pen that's under $100 with a cartridge\converter system any brand except Pilot because I have plenty of that brand.

There are a lot of pen experts on this site (I am not one of them) who can point you in the right direction if they have a little more information about what you are looking for.

 

Tell us which Pilot pens you have. Next to each pen model, tell us what you like or don't like about it.

[Honeybadgers]

No, they aren't. The M200, M205 and M215, but the P200 and P205 -- which are every bit as authentic as the other models, in being Pelikan fountain pens, and still within budget when Cult Pens in the UK offer Pelikan products at 10% off from time to time -- use cartridges/converters as their filling system and are not piston-fillers.

 

In spite of not having used a Pelikan P200 myself, I have no reason to believe that its nib would behave noticeably differently from the nib of a Pelikan M200, if one would like to recommend a "Pelikan 200" for how the nib writes.

Forgot about the p series, good reminder!

 

The p20x fits the bill for the OP!

[Honeybadgers]

I much prefer piston fill to; too tiny oft vapor locked converters or all cartridges are super expensive and have been since they came in....way back in the '50's.

One can of course needle fill a cartridge........but if you are going to have ink bottles to do so; why not buy a Piston 200?

Some people just prefer it. C/c's are much easier to clean and change inks in. I prefer self fillers, but we all have different tastes.

[DrDebG]

One pen that many overlook is the Caran d'Ache 849. It's a great pen for about $50.