Getting Into Fountain Pens Cheaply (As Much As One Can) In India.

[hari317]

First thing to note is that fountain pen availability varies tremendously depending on where you live in India. Mumbai Delhi Chennai have tremendously better availability and range as compared to other cities like even Pune. So the situation is very much dependent on where you are located.

Pens within 500/- are best bought from shops rather than online where the Best prices may not be realised.

You might be able to buy a Pilot tank pen within 500/- in Chennai. Chinese pens like the hero 329 are still very good options within 100/- esp if you buy from a brick and mortar pen shop where you can select the one with the smoothest nib. WALITY availability is very poor. But with a replacement nib, they are very good pens.

There may be some steel nib ebonites from RatnamSon or guider within 500/- just whatsapp them.

Good luck in your search.

[Dimy]

The cheapest fountain pens are BRIL pens Rs 15 each available in some indian online shops and nowadays from their own website brillindia dot com. Bril pens are very bad but cheapest. Cheapest is 15 costliest is rs 30.

 

 

WHAT ELSE YOU WANT IS YOU LOVE THE WORD "CHEAP"

Hahaha yes they are really cheap in every sense and that shows like you pointed out when cheap is game they are top, but I am pretty sure that anyone who starts with them in fountain pens will start to hate the pen and will have cemented the doubts and false rumors as truth thus killing the point of the post. I mean starting cheap does not really mean starting with worst of bunch...its funny to think though. Thanks for telling source though I personally am tired of these under 60Rs pens, they are too bad for what they are and have more issues than need to be. Could be my personal experience was bad and will vary with people but I really will not recommend them to anyone who is starting fountains.

[Dip n Scratch]

The sub 60 Rs pens are an amusement to us, to see if their faults can be massaged out with care & attention.

How many rupees does a Wality 69EB sell for?

That was my first Indian-made fountain pen and I was unaware of the variability of the Wality nib & condemned the pen unfairly.

So it is easy for a total newcomer to fountain pens to condemn ALL of them after encountering a really bad example.

A total newcomer should ask friends for advice and maybe take a friend who can ask the right questions of the vendor.

[hari317]

From a very old box.

[Dip n Scratch]

The original poster admitted that the really cheap stuff ought to be avoided. A Jinhao X450 ought to be a nice starter pen. The section is contoured for the fingers, but I find that the standard nib is on the broad side of medium to suit my taste. I have a Kanwrite nib in a Jinhao Duofold Centennial. I just fitted a Kanwrite 35x6mm nib into a Jinhao X450, so it's possible if you tired of the OE Jinhao nib.

[Dimy]

The sub 60 Rs pens are an amusement to us, to see if their faults can be massaged out with care & attention.

How many rupees does a Wality 69EB sell for?

That was my first Indian-made fountain pen and I was unaware of the variability of the Wality nib & condemned the pen unfairly.

So it is easy for a total newcomer to fountain pens to condemn ALL of them after encountering a really bad example.

A total newcomer should ask friends for advice and maybe take a friend who can ask the right questions of the vendor.

These guys have gotten at 650Rs now. Then is problem of Wality nibs being massive hit or miss (Hit in my case miss in many).

[Dimy]

I was looking at places one can get pens cheaply and their sources....well there is a pinned post about where to get what from so never bothered posting other individual links.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/281609-known-brands-contact-info-india-subcontinent-asia/

 

The link just in case.

 

So I was browsing some sites and came across a few sites having some interesting pens. One was thepenworld.com second being the pen seeker. Some things were interesting as there were brands which I dont usually see much then the fact that all things were either dot on MRP/MSRP. I mean some do cost same on the manufacturers site so dot MRP/MSRP others I felt were expensive like click aristocrat was Rs350 (which is higher then what I pay for them abid I buy in bundles of 3). This got me thinking about them and how was peoples experience with them if someone has one with them.

 

I did add the names cos I found them, will I recommend them to others is mixed feeling, I mean I can gladly get around the price for pens like constellations 88 and endless notebooks but for others....I dont know fellas.

 

And about the writing sample of trinity.....well there is damage in nib when looked under magnifying glass(tings seem a bit bend so corrected it) but with no micromesh around.......well sorry for a while will see what I can do.

 

PS I will be looking something related to luxor in next topic, not in this post else this one will fly who knows where......there is something that bugs me with them and recent things made me,,,,,na forced me to look again.

[antarmukhee]

I mean some do cost same on the manufacturers site so dot MRP/MSRP others I felt were expensive like click aristocrat was Rs350 (which is higher then what I pay for them abid I buy in bundles of 3). This got me thinking about them and how was peoples experience with them if someone has one with them.

I use click aristocrat daily. It has an elegant look. Holds well in hand. Nib is good. Never gave a problem. It has ink converter and takes cartridge.

It also comes with nice colors.

[hari317]

I use click aristocrat daily. It has an elegant look. Holds well in hand. Nib is good. Never gave a problem. It has ink converter and takes cartridge.

It also comes with nice colors.

I was curious about this. It seems to come in 2 versions. Chrome trim with a variety of nib choices mrp 350/- and the golden trims one with only a F nib but cheaper at 300/- which one do you have? And wheres the best place to get them?

[antarmukhee]

I was curious about this. It seems to come in 2 versions. Chrome trim with a variety of nib choices mrp 350/- and the golden trims one with only a F nib but cheaper at 300/- which one do you have? And wheres the best place to get them?

 

I bought mine from ASApens (3 pen set for Rs. 885). It has golden trims and F nib. It writes quite well.

[hari317]

 

I bought mine from ASApens (3 pen set for Rs. 885). It has golden trims and F nib. It writes quite well.

Thanks. 3 might be overkill for me.

[Dimy]

I use click aristocrat daily. It has an elegant look. Holds well in hand. Nib is good. Never gave a problem. It has ink converter and takes cartridge.

It also comes with nice colors.

It is a nice pen indeed I bought mine from ASA too in set of 3, they were liked so much by my younger cousins that they took 2 with then........you just cant refuse the kids it seems

[amk]

Very nice work to recommend pens at different price levels and inks too for those starting out with fountain pens.

 

Some cheapies surprised me with their excellence, like Camay, others like Montex were... unusable. It's always worth asking around on a market street, as I found cheap and good FPs on sale in little towns like Chanderi, Vidisha, and also in Varanasi just by asking around the stationery shops.

 

Kolkata has a pretty good stationery area and there's Fountain Pen Hospital, Old Delhi's Nai Sarak also had a few FPs but it was getting increasingly difficult to find them.

[antarmukhee]

I recently got a pen called V'sign Stride from Beena pens. It is inexpensive and good. I do not know much about different pens to compare it with others, but seems good to me.

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B083V33YMV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=v%27sign+stride&qid=1596206823&sr=8-1

It is interesting that Beena fountain pen never comes up searching on amazon. I got the link from their facebook page.

[Dimy]

I recently got a pen called V'sign Stride from Beena pens. It is inexpensive and good. I do not know much about different pens to compare it with others, but seems good to me.

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B083V33YMV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=v%27sign+stride&qid=1596206823&sr=8-1

It is interesting that Beena fountain pen never comes up searching on amazon. I got the link from their facebook page.

thanks for bringing them in light, it looks very promising pen indeed, nib like camlin trinity while body like mini version of camlin trinity eligante.

Beena tend to slip under the radar quite quickly which is rather odd considering they are good pens in general.

 

The list of pens not coming on amazon search are long I mean I saw kanwrite once on amazon when googled it but never when actually did searched in app itself. This in my experience extends to many brands and specific pens, I mean try searching for platinum curidas its there when googled (abid unavailable right now) but it will show Churidas (dress type). I think the main culprit is the algorithm that looks at what is being searched most and what people search to create trends and then is the practice of trying to sell what gets better results....and profits (no offense to anyone its just normal and nothing much).

The Fountain pen world is already a niche market and then its overcrowded with fakes and Chinese pens at this price. there is also fact that most Indian sellers don't use them as platform for obvious reasons (too much payment that they need to do making the pens more expensive and the fact that many cater to brother/sisters outside India so shipping is also issue making it even less lucrative proposition, there might also be many other factors but these are very much visible).

[hari317]

Came across this video

 

[Dimy]

Came across this video

 

its a interesting video finally managed to watch it so can give my opinion, luckily 3 have been used by me and 4th is one which I think I have some idea of the only one of this lot I have not used is cello pen. Video sadly skips finer lines.

Lets just skip trinity first

octane was not good, it was my roommates first attempt at FP and he was inspired by me mostly and wow it was bad, scratchy to core in my experience like tooth on paper, flow was good so I think nib will need some working or outright changing which I am not sure is possible here I personally feel more people will be put off by it than try anything more (honestly 3 Rs dot pen was better when it came out of box) it could also be breaking in need long time to get it improved but I dont think anyone will bother after initial feel.

 

Next is perri cardin, the pen is smooth and did not skip but the construction quality was....how can I put in kind words like seriously. Mine 1 broke when uncapping while other shell could be pressed with fingers ( I genuinely felt it wont survive a fall from jeans pocket) one went to bin other returned to seller. They do write well for what they ask for with nice flow though so its construction that was off and by long shot. I must mention that I used other one not micra but the one I used has same nib as micra and with costing same I think same plastic too, at least appears to have one, mine was some 100Rs one, Penomantic if I am not mistaken, cap is metal rest is.....well who knows what plastic. I dont have any expectation from pen that costs half by same company capable of doing any better if double priced are breaking during uncapping process.

 

My experience with them was too bad to ever look at another perrie cardin sadly.

 

It was interesting video though. thanks for sharing Hari sir

[Sudhir]

Problem in India with starting with fountain.

 

I won't tell why one should try and use fountain pens, there are enough content on this point. I am assuming one knows why you want to start and are on very tight budget and can't really afford the starter pens (as was in my case) cos lets be honest in India a student is dependent on family and he can't really say that I want 2000 Rs for pen and Ink. No family I know will allow this. I mean one can get 3 Rs dot pen and 5 Rs gel pen, who in sane mind will allow their kid to get something expensive which might be lost, broken or worst stolen on day 1 of school. Just see the number gap one can get literally 1000 dot pens for 1 Metropolitan and 1 bottle of Lamy Ink. Then is the famous reputation of leaky piles. ( false one but still exists).

 

My past experience.

 

My starting with fountains began with goal of improving my non-legible writing to at least legible one. Fountain pens do help in improving writing and if you have any goal of trying to improve it do try them. Back in the day fountains were readily available for cheap 30 to 40 Rs which were worst at best they leaked all over, concept of convertor and cartridge was non existing and nib width and feed was kinder joy surprise.

And this is what makes the reputation of fountain pens as leaky mess which should not be used and I too started to think the same. Until a shopkeeper gave me Camlin trinity and said that if this leaks he will change it for free. The pen then was 70 Rs and this was the turning point. Trinity never leaked and I used Trinity and for next 5 years eventually switching to dot for various reasons for next 5 or so years. Ink pens never really got out of my life though and was always used from time to time until in my university where I shifted to full time fountain and ditched dots. mainly cos I felt my writing degrading to bad and more flexibility with work which allowed me to use the pens to full. This was also time when I was exposed to "starter pens" namely Metropolitan and Lamy safari. they were big investments for me but I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and it was totally worth plunge.

 

Main point of cheap fountains and which to choose and which to avoid and why.

 

First a disclaimer I have no Intention of hurting any brand or maker I am just writing my personal experience with the pens I used.

 

Now lets divide Budgets-

Cheapest I can suggest-

Pen- Camlin Trinity ( Price around 100 Rs)/ Camlin Trinity Elegante (Rs 200 around).This is the cheapest I can suggest to anyone with a fact that it won't have the issues of leaks and will have solid body and OK to good flow. My first trinity is still with me abid with broken nib. Then pen is plastic and metal at cap. The pen is small in hand and very narrow and will be perfect for kids and people with small fingers.

Trinity Elegante is larger pen with better look and finish and comes in larger nib size then tiny nib of Trinity. This also writes a bit better. Both have convertor with them.

 

Ink- Parker quink (around 60-80 Rs) / camlin ink there is issue with both of them. Last time I used parker it was too light and got lighter still with time. My 5 year old writings are now quite faded. Not disappeared but fading is there. Camlin on other hand has issue of not being available everywhere and I can't say much about fading as I did not have much experience with it.

 

total cost 180-300.

 

what to avoid here

My experience with Pierre Cardin's cheapest fountain of 100Rs has been worst of all. The nib was good and flow was nice with fine lines but body was so flimsy that it actually broke when I tried to remove the snap cap which it comes with....how can I write with a pen which breaks in process of removing the cap. 2nd one did survive the opening of cap (wow what a criteria) but broke eventually and I could bend the body with 2 fingers. So no this is no from me.

Other one is classmate octane fountain pen. As good is octane gel and dot the Rs 40 octane is very poor flow pen with paper scratching action. Don't go for this.

3rd Parker Beta, again too scratchy on paper to point one can hear it scratching on paper.

3rd are assortment of who knows what pens of 20 to 50 Rs. got too tired of them in my starting days to ever look at them.

 

for those with a bit budget (under 1000Rs)

 

Pens- Parker Vector GT ( around 400Rs) / Parker Frontier (around 500 Rs) and Kanwrite Desire (around Rs 700) Parker's have same same story as camlin here Vector GT is smaller pen best for small hands and comes with tiny nib while Frontier is larger pen with larger nib size. Both will come with convertor. This will be first proper smooth fountain pen experience and these both don't scratch or give much feedback. they will be good for anyone.

Kanwrite is different cup of tea and is proper fountain pen and is all a fountain should. The pen will come with convertor and separate nib sizes of #5 and #6 with options of width. These were absent until now you were stuck with whatever nib you have but here is where things will change. the pen is not without flaws abid need for silicon grease if one wants to convert eyedropper and even for feed when pre coated grease is over else it will leak from convertor. (at least in my case it did). Still this is best I can say to start with fountains under 1000Rs.

 

others one can look at ---

ASA Pens have great reputation for making good pens. Never got to try one personally but rarely have I seen bad writing experience (this matters most to me) from anyone who has used them. (will get myself a ebonite pen from them after this lockdown, my First ebonite).

Jinhao personally never got to try one so can't say but again they have good reputation for the price point.

 

Ink- Waterman serenity blue (around 450 Rs) this is non-waterproof ink but will work perfectly with any pen and will not bleed or feather on any paper ( never tested on that brown rough registers) and is easy to clean both on cloths and in pens ( you will understand this properties worth after ruining a couple of your shirts).

 

 

this is my first attempt here so I hope this helps to those who are struggling with starting and are wondering how to get 2000Rs for starting the hobby or as normal pens. pls put any questions You have I will answer them to best of my ability and will try my best to push you in this rabbit hole. PS do point things that I missed or your own experiences would love to hear them.

 

 

In addition to some of the excellent advice posted above, I would also recommend you check out the Click Aristocrat from Click Pens, Indore.

For around Rs. 300, this is an excellent starter pen.

 

There are also other models from the Click stable that you might want to consider.

 

Have fun with your search for the perfect starter pens.

[DeadPhysicist]

A comparison of Camlin Elegante and Parker Vector (not the metallic one)?

[Dimy]

Odd....my answer is not showing up, well hope it does not get deleted....

 

Anyway here is the main ones from my experience.

 

Body- vector has slimmer profile overall and maintain the shape, depending on hand size it might be too small or just right. Elegante on other hand has rounder contour to it, for me personally its elegante for holding.

Plastic body it not winning any prizes anyday but I like elegante with its metal cap and overall feel.

 

Nib- vector has smaller nib size compared to elegante. In terms of smoothness both are more or less equal, some units I found vector to be smoother, other units saw elegante to be better one. None of these 2 ever gave me flow issue.

 

Convertor- both come with plunger for convertor and both are bad or not the best at least, has typical plunger convertor advantage and disadvantage. Very small ink capacity is other drawback. One can use standard international ones, but they barely fit in trinity, not checked for vector, but I can't see it being fit in the small vector body.

 

Personal opinion, I go for elegante as I always have been or metal vector. I prefer elegante cos of its ease of maintenance and size, as vector is too small for me. But when it comes to pencil size and feel vector will not disappoint, its nice little pen.

My recommendation try them if you can.

 

Hope it helps, 

Regards.