Your top 3 fountain pen brands and why

[sandy101]

47 minutes ago, Chimera01 said:

Cross! Yes. I have five Peerless 125's. The threads on two of the caps have cracked and now fall off. No idea how to get them fixed. I do have a Zoom nib unit on one of them. Absolutely love these pens, gutted about the design fault with the cap, though. Nibs for the Peerless 125 all made by Sailor, though... so would that count as a vote for Sailor?

 

According to Cross's website (for the UK) you should reach out to our customer support team at customerservice@cross.com.

 

Hopefully, they'll be able to tell you what to do next. 

[Doc Dan]

For me, the most important thins, in this order, are: It writes every time (it doesn't dry out and it doesn't skip or have hard starts); a smooth writing nib (glass smooth. I'm not into scratch); price (I don't see the point in paying as much for a pen as a motorcycle costs); looks. 

 

1] TWSBI. I'm really in love with my Diamond 580 RG II. It has a 1.1 stub nib and writes beautifully. I have two Goes (?), one with a medium nib and one with a 1.1 stub. I am in love with their stub nibs as they are better than any I have used. The 580 is beautiful, too, and it writes like my Waterman hoped it could write. The TWSBi pens write first time, everytime. 

 

2] Pilot. I have several Pilot pens, and have had them in the past. Most write like skating over ice, with the exception of this latest 74, which skips.

 

3] Parker. I started with Parker fountain pens ("cartridge" pens is what we called them in school). There were a 51 (wish I still had it) and something else along the way. All were great writers, but not up to the TWSBI or Pilot. 

 

 

There were Shaeffers in the mix, a Waterman, too. They were never my favorites and I complained about the skipping, the scratch, the effort it took to write with them, the drying out, or the leaking (Shaeffer). 

 

My wife is scared of fountain pens because those cheap school pens leaked all over everyone and everything. 

[Chimera01]

17 hours ago, sandy101 said:

According to Cross's website (for the UK) you should reach out to our customer support team at customerservice@cross.com.

 

Hopefully, they'll be able to tell you what to do next. 

Thank you! I've tried. If you can ever reach them, they're hopeless. Took over three months to answer my last email.

[Baka1969]

Lamy

Lamy has a wide variety of pens and I have more from Lamy that I use than any other brand. I have the Safari line, AL-Star, and Vista. I also have multiple Studio (steel and gold nibs) and 2000 pens. I have one from the Accent line. IMHO, Lamy has the most consistent lineup of high quality fountain pens. The Studio and 2000 pens write terrifically. The 2000's, to me, write almost as well as my below mentioned brand. If I had to live with only one single brand, it would certainly be Lamy. 

 

Montblanc

I know it might be cliche to have Montblanc on anyone's favorite list. Cliches become cliche for a reason. Sometimes for good reason. Montlanc is the Rolex of luxury writing instruments. I have the second most amount of pens from Montblanc behind the above mentioned Lamy brand. Montblanc basically invented the black cigar shaped look with gold trim. All of the six Montblanc fountain pens I currently have write amazingly. I love how well it feels as I'm writing. It just sings. One of the main reasons that MB is second to Lamy is price. One can argue the value of Montblanc pens. One I've had myself. Once I write with one that debate fades away. 

 

Visconti

This was the difficult brand to pin down. Although I have multiples of other brands and only currently have one pen from Visconti, I probably want more different pens from Visconti than I want from other brands. I just love the Italian flair from the essence of Visconti. My Visconti Rembrandt writes pretty nicely. Admittedly it's not one the best in my collection. I do, however, love how it looks. And I want many others from the brand. Especially from the Van Gogh and Homo Sapien lines. 

 

 

I have over 5 dozen pens. It's always tough to nail down a favorite pen or brand. Tomorrow I could come up with a different list. The best pen is always the last pen. Or is it the next pen? Who knows? 

[Lam1]

41 minutes ago, Baka1969 said:

"... Montblanc basically invented the black cigar shaped look with gold trim. ..."

Hmm... although I am a Montblanc fan (my no. 2 brand), that distinction belongs to Sheaffer. One may argue that MB took it to new highs in the modern era, but it was Sheaffer that introduced the format, quite successfully, in 1929, with the Sheaffer Balance.

[Baka1969]

31 minutes ago, Lam1 said:

Hmm... although I am a Montblanc fan (my no. 2 brand), that distinction belongs to Sheaffer. One may argue that MB took it to new highs in the modern era, but it was Sheaffer that introduced the format, quite successfully, in 1929, with the Sheaffer Balance.

 

My bad. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the correction. 

 

 

[freaca menta]

For me:

 

• Kaweco: I love my Brass and Steel sports. The pens are super simple to maintain. The pens are built like tanks so I am not worried about tossing them into a bag.
• Waterman: I like modern Waterman designs. I only have 2, a Carene and a Le Man 100 but both are well made and write wonderfully. When I have the cash I am going to get an Edson
• Sailor: Again, this is more about the look of the current catalogue as I only have 1 Sailor. But, I love my Sailor Mini21 Pocket Pen. It write perfectly out of the (metaphorical) box. It is nice an wet but still does well on multiple papers. Next to the Sports, it is my favorite pen.

[Chris1]

Interesting question and I'm happy to chip in:

 

1. Cross - because I have at least a dozen Townsend models and all write perfectly, have been completely reliable and simply work as a pen should - no grief, even on aeroplanes. Oh, and I've yet to find an ink they don't like (though I don't ever use Quink). 

 

I felt the big, solid silver, Townsend rather put other pens in the shade, especially used as a daily writer. Grand, but not as showy as gold. 

 

I have several other Cross models too, though they don't get out much.

 

Also, Cross customer service used to be amazing. I had trouble with one of the Century II pens I'd bought, I think it was the section rotating but it was some time ago and I've forgotten the details, contacted Cross who said it wasn't repairable but perhaps I'd like to have a Townsend black lacquer and platinum with solid gold nib in exchange. Took me milliseconds to say yes please and thank you very much! I thought they would just replace the section. Lovely understated pen and worth much more than my original.

 

2. Mont Blanc - because they are so well made, in my limited experience. OK, I don't love my Starwalker but I can't fault its build quality; also, it's much more usable now I've got a converter for it. The lovely little Chopin model is now my wife's even though I liked it much more. 

 

3. Sheaffer - specifically the vintage snorkel Statesman types. The nibs are a bit thin, even the medium, but I love the complexity of their construction. 

 

 

[gone]

If we are talking current (as in still/now manufacturing) brands, not necessarily in order: 

 

- Sailor. Their 21k nib is my favourite out of all the pens I have. Their standard pen designs are not very imaginative, but perfectly functional and I forgive them any shortcomings because of that nib. 
 

- Graf von Faber-Castell. Beautifully designed and executed pens that perform exceeding well and are robust enough to outlast me easily. 
 

- Platinum. From Preppy to Nakaya they are solid, unfussy pens that do the job brilliantly. 
 

Throwing vintage pens into the mix would require Parker to be in there somewhere, but the current selection of pens sold under the brand disqualifies them. 

[Chris1]

Apologies - that should have been Montblanc in my post, not Mont Blanc! It's pens not mountains...

[ele]

I wouldn’t have expected to be the only person mentioning OMAS. For me, their vintage output in celluloid is the perfect balance of expressive capability in their nibs and excellent design. Pelikan would be #2….the 400 is a masterpiece of functionality and reliability and the fact that they still make pens with a similar construction means their pens are always a standby option for me. Parker would be third, really because of the “51”. 

[ParramattaPaul]

I have about 12 different brands of pens, but my two (only two) favourite brands are Onoto and Conway Stewart in that order.

[GlenV]

I like vintage American pens, if I had to narrow it to 3 it would be Waterman, Sheaffer and Wirt.  The early flex nibs and arguably Wirt was the first successful (working) fountain pen