Good pen for German high schoolers / who supplies the cartridges and what sort?

[StudyAnimal]

This is a bit of a combi question.

 

I am a bottled ink guy, and have bought pens for the kids in the past. They don't use the converter, I think the school supplies cartridges from a big jar but I am not sure which brand. I would hope they are international standard ones, but I know Lamys are popular and don't use standard cartridges. I thought I remember seeing a big jar of them maybe in a shop from Pelikan or something but searching the internet doesn't bring me any such huge cookie-jars full of cartridges so maybe I imagined it.

 

I did get my son a cool Jinhao (which I thought used standard cartridges but doesn't) a couple of years back but he said the cartridges didn't fit right, so I am thinking of getting him an Online (which I believe uses standard cartridges.)

 

They are too old now for "school pens" like the Pelikano or ABC or Geha or whatever and prefer a full size pen, the Jinhao was great apart from cartridge fit. I am looking at the 10-20 Euro range. Preferably not a Lamy Safari, due to cartridge issue and they are too "schooly".

 

I guess my questions are:

 

Do schools provide cartridges from a big jar? Or do the kids have to get their own? If the School provides them, are they international standard or what?

 

I try to search but every brand claim their cartridges are standard but user reports indicate this refers to their own standard.

 

Would Online pens work with school-supplied cartridges?

 

Any other good suggestions?

[sandy101]

The Pelikan Jazz Noble (onsale for £15 for 2 pens at Cult Pens) should be worthwhile. 

 

Alternatively Faber Castell have their Grip range and there's Kaweco's Perkeo.

 

Online should be perfectly serviceable. 

 

Maybe ask your son to bring a cartridge home with him, then we could see what it is?

[Mercian]

9 hours ago, StudyAnimal said:

I think the school supplies cartridges from a big jar but I am not sure which brand. I would hope they are international standard ones, but I know Lamys are popular and don't use standard cartridges

 

Your kids should be able to tell you whether or not their school supplies cartridges, and what type of cartridges those are.
If the kids don't know, the school should be happy to let you know.

 

If I were you, I would telephone the school, and explain to them that you are asking them about cartridges because you would like to know what type/make of pen would (as far as the school is concerned) be the most-convenient one for you to buy for your kids.

 

 

9 hours ago, StudyAnimal said:

Would Online pens work with school-supplied cartridges?

 

Online makes/sells double ended cartridges - one end will fit pens (e.g. Pelikan, or Online) that take 'standard international' cartridges, but the other end will fit Lamy pens.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/double-sided-cartridges-universal-compatible-fountain/dp/B00EJCBA1I/

 

Given the popularity of those brands in Germany, if I were buying cartridges to give out to kids in a school, I would be buying those, double-ended cartridges.

 

As for what pen you should buy for your kids, I was going to suggest a Safari - but if your kids don't like the appearance of those, then perhaps either a Lamy Vista or an Al-Star.

Both look (IMO) less 'school-y' than does the Safari but, like the Safari, your kids can swap the nibs off-&-on really easily.
Meaning that one pen can have many nibs - e.g. as they get older your kids may wish to experiment with personalising their pens with an 'F' nib, or perhaps even a 1.1i.
Extra Z50 nibs are certainly less expensive to buy than entire new pens.

Obviously though, before you buy any of the pens that get suggested to you in this thread, you should check with your kids to see which ones they would prefer to have.

 

I wish you good luck in your quest

 

Slàinte,
M.

[Penguincollector]

  I’m also thinking that you should get in contact with whoever orders supplies at the school or the classroom teacher, whoever is easier to reach. If it’s an “international standard” cartridge, be aware that they really aren’t very standard. I had to try several different brands before I found one that would fit certain pens that said they took international standard cartridges.  Better to know what brand the cartridge is to better recommend pens that take it. 
 

  If it is a Pelikan adjacent cartridge, Pelikan makes a few pens that aren’t “schooly” looking. The Jazz Elegance mentioned upthread, the Ineo is pretty neat looking, the newer Pelikanos look less juvenile, and the Twist is just different. I’ve never tried an Online pen, but they look pretty fun and individualistic, if your kid likes one, they would be able to tell their pen apart from the other kids’ pens easily.
 

 

[Lithium466]

Something like a Waterman Allure? They are not too expensive, maybe 5€ over your budget, not sure in Germany.

Otherwise...why do they have to use the supplied cartridges? Any pen with refilled cartridges or converter would allow the use of bottled inks, refilled at home, with a few cartridges as spare.

[inkstainedruth]

I've had the same problem with International "Standard" converters as Penguincollector has had with cartridges.  They aren't as "standard" as they're made out to be.  A few years ago I picked up a pen at an antiques & collectibles store in the next county, and the woman said her "pen person" said that the pen was a Cross sub-brand and took International Standard.  Well, as it turned out?  Yes and no....  The long cartridges of Edelstein Amethyst that I had as swag from the first year of Pelikan Hubs fit over the back of the feed just fine -- but were too long to fit inside the barrel.  So (since I prefer converters anyway) I trailed around every vendor at the Ohio Pen Show that fall and found that "International Standard" converters did NOT fit -- but that a *Cross* converter fit just fine... (go figure...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Dillo]

For international cartridges, the ones I've had the best luck with are the standard international short cartridges. Kaweco, Schneider, Pelikan, and Montblanc all make this type of cartridge. You can buy the Schneider cartridges in large jars in either black or blue. I have all of those brands of cartridges in my stash, and they all work reliably in any of my Kaweco, Pelikan, Schneider, Stabilo, Online, and Faber Castell pens reliably. They work in any of my regular pens that take the international short cartridges. Long cartridges are hit or miss. Some pens can take them if they can take two cartridges back to back, but it's not a guarantee.

 

Don't get the cartridges made for Chinese pens even if they say they fit international cartridge pens. The connectors are a slightly different size. They're technically made only for the Chinese pens that use the "2.6mm" connector. Only buy those if you actually have Chinese pens you want to fit them to because regular standard international short cartridges tend to crack at the mouth when you use them in Chinese pens that take the Chinese "international" cartridges.

 

As far as Lamy, Lamy cartridges fit them as well as the double ended cartridges from Online. I have had no problems with these. They work the way they say they should, generally speaking.

 

As a side note, for @inkstainedruth, Cross cartridges have a pretty large opening to them. They have a very pointy nose, but the opening looks to be similar in size to a Lamy cartridge. There's no way an international cartridge will work or fit properly in a Cross pen, and if you put a Cross converter in a pen that takes an international cartridge it will not seal or stay in because the opening is much larger than that of an international cartridge. So if you were able to get a Cross converter in that pen, that's a good indication that the pen person was mistaken and it was never actually designed to use international cartridges in the first place. I'm glad you were able to find a converter for it

[nampad]

Pilot MR can be bought for around 18€ on Amazon.de. The Muji fountain pen costs 22€ there.

 

Both take standard cartridges. Have both of them and I prefer the Muji because of the nib.