Looking For a Quality Fountain Pen

[LouieGrandie]

Probably not more than 250-300$.But will consider less if quality is good.

That's a good price range. My suggestions are:

1. Sailor 1911 Large Gold 21K with a Naginata-Togi Medium-Fine nib
2. Pilot Vanishing Point
3. Pelikan M400

As for ink I really like Iroshizuku

 

[red zeppelin]

Great advice.

I have some pricey pens and some inexpensive ones too. There's always a need for an inexpensive pen / times you don't want too many dollars riding inside your pocket. My TWISBI 580 is a pleasure to use. I've heard good things about the TWISBI ECO too. (ECO stands for economy. The Goulets just did a FAQ on this pen. You have several good nib choices with these pens too.

Have fun...

I am using the TWSBI Eco as my daily pen right now, and so far I really like it. Haven't had a lot of pens, but have been through Pelikan, Levenger and Lamy so far. The Lamy vista was my daily pen until the TWSBI came along.

 

[marksman1122]

+1 the Safari, great pens at a good price that shouldn't be to finicky. I personally love my Waterman Philius' (I have three) as I recall they can be had in the neighborhood of $30-50 and write really well. I've personally had pretty good luck with Japanese pens, specifically Hero brand. There are a number of quality pens in your price range, especially once you break $100, but I would also agree to start less expensive in case you end up not liking FPs. As for inks, if you want bottled you can't go wrong with the quality and color selection of Noodlers. Other very good inks are parker, skrip, and waterman. I've been told that Waterman ink is the ink that most pen repair people use to test a pen because it works well in everything. I have a bottle of Waterman Purple and love it. I'm not a big fan of Waterman blue as it looks too washed out to me personally. My favorite black ink is Aurora black as it's the purest black I've found and it works really well. I personally hate Private Reserve ink despite having 4 or so different bottles as it tends to leak in some of my pens and other pens don't like it at all.

As much as I hate to steer anyone away from B&B, the guys and gals over at fountainpennetwork.com are a wealth of knowledge and may have some other suggestions, as this is a pretty common question on that forum.

 

[Mabuse!]

Easy, Pilot 823. It has a huge ink reservoir with a shut off valve good for never ever drying out and controlling flow, it has a classic design, and has a great nib.

 

[whitecrane7]

+1 for the Vanishing Point. Every single serious pen user I know has at least one (and uses it frequently).

 

[Suntzu]

Did you make a selection yet? The Pilot Custom 74 is a very smooth writer, gold nib, with a button-fill mechanism that I will recommend.

 

[SpaceCadet1]

I went to Staples to buy my first pen, a Freemont by Franklin Covey. It's a bit of a disappointment, mainly due to the weird cartridge size (small, tapered). Instant regret!

I would have bought a Pilot, but I didn't see any.

Oh well. I'll probably just buy an ink syringe, keep this freemont at work, and buy another pen for home use. Something with a converter.

 

[Eeyore]

I prefer refilling cartridges over using a converter. Larger ink capacity (in general) and the nib/section assembly stays cleaner.

 

[sysop]

I'm going to call on Sailor as my favorite less-expensive pen maker for every day use. Pilot Metro is a wonderful every day that won't hurt to lose or destroy if you do. Both have very fine nibs if that's your cup of tea... and it's generally mine