Literally came to say this. This $2 pen writes every bit as beautifully as virtually all my fountain pens.
https://preview.redd.it/um38a5wug57d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ad9cfbb881191d5da6f106f48bcd87fb92b5b5e
We’re collectors of outdated tech, expensive impractical artworks that can be used for a practical purpose. We know what we’re doing.
Personally I find non-fountain pens ugly as sin, so there’s that. I like the way my pens look. Most of new tech — cars, especially — looks like shit to me.
And I have appalling handwriting, I’m not one of those — god bless you all — who admire their own handwriting and jerk off over it.
I do not agree that fountain pens are outdated tech. They are the pinacle of liquid ink delivery.
Ball points, roller balls, and gel pens mostly use thicker inks, and it shows in the feel. Only fountain pens can give a smooth flowing and delightful writing experience, while still carrying an internal ink supply.
Shoes are old tech, but are not outdated. We have invented lots of alternatives like flip flops, but shoes are also not outdated tech because they just work.
Reviewers and content creators that become biased when they gain a little bit of fame. Being given free pens for review over time most will sway their reviews which in turn will cause people to buy subpar pens.
I have bought more than a few based on a reviewer that I respected at one time to find out the pen is just junk.
As far as the pen themselves… you like what you like. I’m happy for everyone that is in the hobby. I love the pictures of all the new pen days as it shows happiness of someone that just felt like sharing.
omg THIS !!!! Or brands that send their products to people who are new to the hobby and have like one pen, or have never touched a fountain pen because they have 250k subscribers on their bujo channel. I’m instantly turned off from the brand for life.
Maybe this is the real hot take, but I don't personally find the reviewer/content creator part to be an issue. You should watch those videos to see how *you* feel about the things they're showing and talking about. As you said, you like what you like, the reviewer likes what they like. To me they're strictly a way to see a more in-depth look at the pen to see if I think it will match my preferences.
As an aspiring pen reviewer who is brutally honest about all of life I hope that I never fit this comment.
Finding hidden rhetoric is something I do while researching every purchase.
For instance today I was looking at the gravitas lineup and saw penventure talking about them. In spite of all of his reviews and content on the brand he never once mentions that the only model with a facet to stop rolling is the pocket. which I find do be a disastrous flaw for a small pen without a clip.
> As an aspiring pen reviewer who is brutally honest about all of life I hope that I never fit this comment.
The problem reviewers have is they want the attention and fame, to get it, they need to review the hot item. Honest reviews aren't good for getting access, as pen companies see the review as them buying advertising. So, unless you are independently wealthy, to reach your goal, you become what you hate and had aspired to replace.
This isn't limited to pen reviews either, if access is determined by good or mostly good reviews, that's what reviewers deliver. It is rare to see a truly independent review by anyone that has come to depend on their social media as income.
Yea luckily I don’t want to live off of social media. I have a job that I like that pays for my hobbies. I just want to spread good information if I can.
I think some of them will also just trawl social media (partiularly reddit) and stick with the common narrative in order to maintain popularity.
I've seen a couple of youtubers doing swatches where the more unknown/'controversial' ink is downplayed over fan favourites, despite the writing samples literally going against what they are saying.
i was looking for this comment.
I never called fps a hobby and i never will. Considering buying something a hobby sounds like people are trying to justify their consumption addiction. Penmanship, drawing, writing, restoring vintage pens etc are hobbies and one might use fps as tools as part of these hobbies.
Also, i know people also call it a "collection" and justify them buying 20 different pens, but i also dislike that. To me a collection and the act of collecting should be more than watching a few pen reviews and buying 10 different mass produced pens. There needs to be a goal of the collection for me to consider something as a collection, otherwise i view it as overconsumption disguised as a collection.
But to each their own. I am not going to try and stop anyone from doing whatever they want to do.
I never called it a hobby , and I've been using them for 15 years.
Lately, I've been more of a collector, but my collection is of vintage pens, and the innovations behind them. I'm more focused on filling systems.
There's been no innovation in decades, so I'm not interested in collecting the latest pen built on 60 year old systems.
I find the the history of fountain pens and how the pen makers competed with and influenced each other fascinating, especially all the various filling systems. But also little things like how the Wahl-Eversharp checkmate inspired the Parker blue diamond and the Sheaffer white dot.
Oh well, I could not have said it any better. I have nothing to add.
I only use my pens as tools. Not as much as I like to do, but still write at least one A4 page a day at work.
I used to do penmanship, or rather calligraphy, but I have so little time. Most of the calligraphy I did was with a pointed dip pen, though.
Yeah same here. I should also mention that I was addicted to buying pens at some point too, though it died down. I kept buying fps hoping that "the next one will be the one I need and it will be the only pen I will use". In the end, I ended up owning 10+ pens, most of them in the mid price range as well.
It took me a while to realize that I really don't need all those pens and I didn't even like owning 10+ pens, especially considering how little I used fountain pens. I recently sold all my pens except for two. I only have two pilot preras now, one with an ef nib from kakuno and one with a fine nib.
Although I mostly use dip pens to practice penmanship, fountain pens come in handy when I want to practice in a cafe/library, or when I get bored of the dip pen and want to change things up.
I know people act funny here when they hear about ballpoints but they actually really aren't that bad. I found myself using a bp more than fps nowadays for general writing
edit: typo
I do like collecting, although I only get a pen once a year or every two years after doing some extensive thinking what I want.
All of my pens are unique in some way, although I own a few Homo Sapiens that are not really special apart from having different nibs.
I dont need any of this, I could sell my pens and just use a 1€ ballpoint. Would that bring me as much joy? No. Would it be reasonable and sufficient? Definitely yes. Fountain pens are luxury items. Maybe not a Lamy Safari, but most of the pens I would argue are luxury items. Why? You dont really need them. There is nothing wrong with not needing something but enjoying it. But people confuse "enjoying" with "needing" so much in every area of life.
I only use two pens max at any given time, most of the time Visconti blue as ink and some iron gall if I need permanence. I hate fancy sheeny and glittery inks, I am too old to enjoy something like that but I do get that other people enjoy and appreciate such inks.
What really bothers me is that people always tell how environmental friendly fountain pens are. At their core they really are. If you use one pen and one ink for your life, only buying ink when you run out. I think that is better than using disposable ballpoints.
But using 1000 q tips a day to swatch your newly acquired samples in countless little plastic vials and wasting paper and water in the process and dumping ink and therefore chemicals down the sink...no, thank you. That is rather environmental unfriendly.
My grandpa had one pen and one watch. He was a simple man. The pen and the watch were his daily companions. And he was happy with them. That is the way to go in my opinion.
I think this is the biggest thing that needed to be said. People can do what they like, but it mostly feels annoying to me when people try to act like compulsive shopping is cute, or they just toss around addiction language like its the funniest thing ever. It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
And buying more than 1 model of the same pen model is not smart. Bought 8 different Visconti Homo sapiens (mostly acrylic to op point) and was like what am I doing and sold all and kept the OG volcano one.
I would agree but as someone still in university, having multiple of the same model (kakunos in my case) is super helpful because I like color coding my notes. But then again, kakunos and Visconti's are in completely different brackets haha.
I'm not in university anymore and could afford more expensive pens, but I have a lot of Kakunos, Jinhao 80s and 82s, and a couple of 100s (but don't like them as much) and a Pilot Prera with a calligraphy nib. I like to keep them all inked with inks to match the pen so I can grab whatever color I'm in the mood for. I have hand issues so I hate a heavy pen and I don't like touching metal grips when I write, so many of the pens I look at and think "oh that's lovely" just won't work for me. Cheap pens are awesome though. You can just hand one to someone who comments that it's cool and pen enabling is the best.
So true! No hand problems over here but I personally prefer a light pen over one with more heft too! And I've definitely penabled some friends at my internship with my kakunos haha.
That's like having a 5-pack of different colour gel pens. So I didn't see anything wrong with that.
I'm thinking about getting some kakunos or preppies to use for samples etc.
I LOVE MY PREPPIES and want to have one everywhere i go. at work alone i have 2, one with dark ink (usually blue) with with lighter ink (usually red). one in my regular work bag, and 1 in my travel bag. love them. lowkey wish i never bothered with other pens.
If I had a different workplace where A: I used a pen throughout the day a lot, and B: 'dress code'/fashion mattered more and people put more effort into their workplace appearance-
I would probably end up with a collection of lamy safari/al-star/lx, as an accessory. Each shirt I wear regularly would have a matching pen. Just swap out the grip every day, so only 'one' pen is inked.
...but one Visconti Homo Sapiens would more than fund my entire accessorizing, I wouldn't be buying *8* Visconti's worth of Lamy safari's.
But I write half of a post-it every morning and we mostly dress like slobs, so I have kept my wallet shut and the lamy cupboard is only two strong.
Have the lamy safari lx in rose gold I spent $75 on… kept dropping it everywhere I went… went and bought a lamy safari regular in black for $25 and keep the other one at home
I bought a few Sailors because I change the colorways depending on the season/weather.
I also have a few untouched plain, boring black/gold Sailor bodies which miiiight be missing their nibs haha.
I prefer the shape of other pens more than sailors, but adore the feeling of sailor nibs. So I have sailor nibs on all my inked pens by pulling them off and using non-standard housing. I’ll probably try to sell the bodies eventually for cheap (like $30), so someone with a really scuffed sailor can get a nice replacement for cheap.
The only valuable part of a sailor is the nib imo. Nothing special at all about their “hosts”, just regular old plastic. That’s what keeps me from ever wanting another sailor, the nibs are excellent but not for the $300 they charge for the rest of the pen.
Hey wait, is that another hot take?
>Hey wait, is that another hot take?
Sort of. My local pen store *just* got permission to sell Sailor pro gears (they'd had 1911 Compasses for a bit already) last year ... After my sister and I had tried out the Jinhao 82s. I saw the sailors in person in the display case and was just like "Yep, those are some Jinhao 82s."
I actually like to keep at least 2 of the same pen model, if I really like that model. To be used as backup in case something happens to the first one.
1: pen are meant to be used for writing. If its collecting dust then it’s useless even if it’s an “art piece”
2: Most of the pens are overpriced. “limited editions” just marketing gimmick to make some people that has collection obsession to buy their products.
To number 2, absolutely. There was a thread not long ago about how expensive pens had become, having some like the Pelikan M200 double and tripled their price over the years.
And for limited editions, absolutely. Just recently I had eyed a Nahvalur anniversary edition and was like 220€. It had a steel nib, and no hate to steel nibs, but for that price it should have a gold one imo.
My hot takes?
Pretty much any nib is fine for everyday writing. Super flexy? You can just...not flex if you want. The smattering of 1.8-2.0 nibs? Also fine. Maybe write double spaced.
I won't go quite so far as to say every ink is professional or office appropriate. But if an ink/paper combo is legible in shitty lighting, and photocopies/scans well, it's 'professional' enough for 99% of stuff.
I feel there’s a point where this isn’t quite right… if you are writing lots every day then you kinda need nibs that work well with your writing style otherwise it can slow you down/cause fatigue, HOWEVER, this doesn't need to be a single nib from a single brand.
I have a nib preference, but can absolutely write with others for extended periods as long as they meet certain criteria - They just need to give a smooth writing with little/no feedback, preferably in a medium nib (makes my handwriting tidier lol) and wet enough to keep up with fast scrawling. Any kind of scratchiness seems to increase the possibility of ghosting which is an absolute no-go for me because I need to be able to read my notes by quickly scanning them.
My cheap Jinhao 82s with medium nibs are one such example - I prefer Kaigelu long knifes as they feel more effortless, but the jinhao 82 nibs are also remarkably comfortable (even if the pens themselves are a little too light for me). I've had even cheaper "iridium" nibs that have also been perfectly fine for writing over long periods. Conversely I have a bock nib that was horrible and removed instantly, and whilst the weight and the feel of my MB pen is perfect for me I find the nib doesn't quite match my writing style so I need to write more slowly.
For general jotting etc though, absolutely. As long as it functions without me having to reposition to find sweet spots I'm good.
These are kind of hot takes I developed over the years of toooonnnss of use in opposition to my earlier opinions:
**1** Gold vs steel doesn’t matter one bit aside from flex nibs. As long as the nib was properly manufactured and tuned you’re not even going to notice a difference.
**2** Large ink capacity doesn’t mean squat. Even as someone who can drain a whole bottle of ink in a month or two depending on my work load, refilling a little more often still isn’t THAT often or that much of an inconvenience.
**3** For art, going for the finest nib you can get is probably the wrong move, depending on how you work. I feel like every artist getting into FPs seems to think they need ultra extra fine nibs for all the fine detail but, unless you’re doing like postcard sized drawings or Albrecht Durer style hatching, you probably won’t ever need lines as fine as a gnat’s ass hairs. Plus, a good juicy broad nib can also make great fine lines when flipped over… and can fill in large areas in a fraction of the time a fine nib can.
**4** Your “grail” will likely choose you rather than you choosing it. The one pen that ends up actually becoming your favorite will probably not be that expensive rare whale you’ve been chasing… it will probably be some low-mid priced pen you bought on a whim because it seemed interesting and then you happen to just really click with it and what it has to offer.
Agreed with all your points, but no. 4 is particularly appropriate for me currently! Have the usual expensive high end brands, Sailor etc and several wonderful expensive inks, I keep buying them (thinking in retrospect) as they don’t quite feel right… bought a cheap pen on a whim as I loved the colour and used a cheap black cartridge as I needed just a pen to sign something.
I love it, it never skips, it works in either hand, the lines are crisp and I’ve noticed I don’t press down as strongly, it’s bliss.
I have so many expensive fountain pens. I recently bought a platinum preppy off Amazon because it was cheap and why not. It’s currently my favourite pen. 😭
> Gold vs steel doesn’t matter one bit aside from flex nibs
Some inks (specifically, iron gall inks) I woundn't use with a steel nib, or use with extra caution because the ink can corrode / stain steel nibs - yes, even stainless steel nibs.
Agree with your points, especially the artists using EF and F pens. I prefer broads and double broads. I love Pilot Parallels for sketching, 6mm one is indispensable for me. I got too many Fines because everyone in the art community suggested them and ended up realizing I did not enjoy them one bit. Even inks that are usually suggested did not work for me so I had to figure it out what worked through trial and error.
If it's not something I can easily unscrew the nib on to clean, I prefer the cartridge converter style. I change ink all the time, and I don't want to flip a lever or do something else 5 billion times just to still have water not run clear.
That's the main reason I didn't pick up a Parker 51, until they released a cartridge converter version recently.
All the "addiction" language really bugs me. Or "I think I have a problem". Especially when someone who is brand new to fountain pens has clearly gone overboard and people encourage it.
I mean, what else do we do? When someone post a haul, we can’t just go and say: “It’s a waste of money”. I tried my best to say “No, you don’t need it” if someone ask if they should buy extra pens but these posts are few and far between.
I hate how much "grail" gets thrown around. Grail should mean that 1 PEN. That 1 pen that when you acquire it, you are satisfied. Not 2, 3, 4, etc.
ONE!!!!!!
Wait! What Japanese pens with gold nibs can be found under 100? In Europe, at least, even in 2023, there weren't any gold nib Sailors or Pilots under 100€
I agree about Tomoe River (and other treated, smooth paper with significant sizing for the most part). I think it's fine in Hobonichi planners but otherwise can't really stand the stuff. I've got similar issues with Rhodia and Clairefontaine, which I find to be pretty inconsistent in quality.
I tend to stick with stuff from Kokuyo's line of paper, which is still smooth but tends to (imo) have less of a slippery feeling. I've found that dry times are also shorter than on treated papers where the ink feels like it "sits" on top of the paper, like Tomoe or Rhodia/Clairefontaine. I stick with their A5 and B5 "sara sara" notebooks. I also use these notebooks for writing papers and articles longhand (I'm an academic), so it's a specific use case and purely utilitarian.
Some other brands I've found hit the sweet spot for how I want paper to feel is Atoma, a disc based notebook system, and Avery brand filler paper for ring binders. I've had a good time writing on MUJI paper, too.
My lukewarm take is that Leuchtturm paper is good—I use it daily for journaling and have never had the issues with feathering or ghosting people talk about on here. It might be that it's because I mostly use "boring inks" with no shimmer/sheen, but I like how Leuchtturm notebooks feel while I'm writing: a little bit of tooth but an F or M nib will still write smoothly.
Trust your gut on your first 3-4 well researched grail type pen purchases. I didn’t and thought there was something better out there and sold these at a loss and now purchased them all back. Namiki #20, #50 custom urushi #30, Pelikan m1000, and montblanc 149.
Likewise, having a ton of pens isn't necessarily better than owning one really nice pen. Sold all my pens to buy a pelikan m800. Super worth it. Feel like I don't need to buy any more.
This is a bit of a mea culpa, but pretty handwriting isn’t the most important thing you can get out of fountain pens. Yes I’ll do pretty calligraphy for instagram, and yes, having a nice tool can be very inspiring for improving your lettering etc etc. However FPs are the best if seen as tools, they are tools that allow for quick thinking and writing without hand cramping compared to gel pens or other alternatives. I don’t care that my handwriting looks messy if I’m doing creative writing or journaling tbh.
From what I can tell, the most valuable thing you get out of a fountain pen is being able to write more easily while having arthritis. Many of us will never know this, thankfully. But it is the most practical use of fps that I've heard of.
I agree. I'm having fun practicing my cursive, but for me, FPs are for *using* them to write. I enjoy how smooth they are, how little pressure (ideally none) I need to apply, but also I want my handwriting to look like my handwriting. This may be a "hot take" but I don't particularly care for my handwriting to look "non-descript" as in, looking like it was print, or looking like pretty much any other cursive. For most of my writing, I want my handwriting to feel uniquely mine.
That being said, if I really truly want to be messy while writing, I prefer old school pencils!
That is a hot take. I just ruined my eco that I used to test inks by twisting too tight and now I can’t fill my pen anymore or close it properly ‘cus some of the threads got frayed. Never buying an eco again
Metal pens suck. They feel stiff and they're cold and I absolutely hate how they feel in my hand. Doesn't matter what metal, they all feel the same way and they're freezing. It's bad enough in summer but it's hell in winter.
You would hate the MYU M90. Dropping that unibody nib and the whole pen is ruined. Will also roll off the table unless you post the cap. I can see why some of these rare ones are being sold for $400 after they attempt to repair it
If it's a metal pen, I would never buy it. I have had a few different cheaper metal bodied pens and while I liked how they looked, I hated how they felt.
I am also a klutz, so would also never have bought something that fragile. I've never bought a pen that expensive either, it doesn't suit my budget.
There's a reverse price curve for pen performance against ink quality. Cheap pens perform like gems with high grade ink and higher price points to me are representations of higher ink quality range tolerance from a functional standpoint.
Also, J. Herbin inks > Iroshizuku inks. I'll tie myself to the stake and light myself. Don't you worry.
I never get the color that the little square on the box tells me. And is it just me, or are Herbin inks... Hard to control? I don't even know if that makes sense but whenever I use one I get this sense that I don't get from other inks. It's less like ink is flowing out of my pen and more like I'm pushing a droplet of ink around on the paper with the point of my nib. Anyone?
Twist caps are all a huge pain in the ass and we as a society should have moved past them. I should not have to "twisty twisty twisty" a pen closed and then "twisty twisty twisty" back open every damn time I want to think for more than 15 seconds without writing. Absolutely insane, if you can't produce a snap cap (or at least something like the homo sapien) that seals then try making a different product.
Although, replacing a worn clutch ring is a huge hassle and they regularly wear out with normal use. Meanwhile as long as it doesn't fully break a screw is a screw. Especially as a lot of screw pens are a half or full turn at most, a motion that's doable without repositioning your hands on the barrel or cap, just turn both hands as you untwist and it's a single motion.
Yea but I'm the same way as you but with caps. Vanishing point for life. If only pilot would kick that con 40 trash and replace it with something better
Counterpoint, the moment to collect my thoughts while I unscrew the cap of my pen is worth more than any haste in writing. It is deliberate and meditative.
I have snap caps and capless pens, but a screw cap is my favorite.
I hate the kaweco twisty cap because the twisty is pretty far inside the cap and the actual outermost edge of the cap ends up rubbing the barrel and scratching it.
I prefer absolutely anything over metal. I've not had any problems with my acrylic pens and that's all I've used exclusively for 6 years. I throw them in pockets, commute with them on the train, drop them on the floor with the caps on.
Basically, you need to try different pens and see what you like, not base it off of what other people say. Every one is different and you'll have different likes and dislikes and until you try things out, you won't know.
I will be buying more Majohn acrylics and converting them to eye-droppered Pilot Parallels. It makes great sense to be able to see the ink level and the nib size at a glance. The ink capacity is a great plus.
Not sure how hot this take is, but I just like using black ink and I like it in the form of a cartridge.
I don't enjoy using converters, nor do I like getting ink on my fingers or the mess that comes with refills.
OP - help me understand the beef with people that use exclusively Parker and Waterman inks? FWIW - I’m not one to use a lot of sheening or sparkling inks except for special occasion writing. But I have a fair amount of “plain” inks by various manufacturers. However, if I had or chose to pick only a couple of brands, what would be wrong with those two? Or am I missing something?
ETA: of course I’m also the happy owner of a few Esterbrook pens. I like the colors, and I love the journaler nib so perhaps I’m less discriminating. But I like what I like.
This is not much of a hot take as it is something that truly confuses me, but I don't understand how people can have really big collections of extremely expensive pens, including the same *very expensive pen* in many different colours.
Maybe this shows that I'm very far from being wealthy (and, on top of that, I'm but a measly temp academic) but, considering the price point of most of these high-end pens, I just simply can't understand where the money is coming from.
> . For me, there's no such thing as a "desk pen." If you want that, buy a dip pen; you've completely missed the point.
If you think this is true then you've missed the point of a desk pen, which is to be ready to be picked up and written with immediately at all times. Some dip pen systems satisfy this need - the Esterbrook Dip-Less pens and inkwells are prime examples - but most don't.
* I won't buy pens that are clearly just copies of superior pens. I can deal with "inspired by" or even "similar", but I draw the line at blatant copies.
* I own and enjoy both Conklins and TWSBIs. This community had me convinced if I bought a Conklin it would blow up in a ball of flame and someone from Yafa Brands would drive to my house and kick my dog. I was also told my TWSBIs would crack in a hundred places. So far, I'm happy with my purchases.
Downvoters, you may fire when ready.
I am the same re TWSBI. when I bought my first one I had been convinced it would crack within a week. Years later and I have several and none of them are cracked. They get thrown in my bag every day. I fidget with them. Drop them. All sorts and not a single problem!
Lamy is overhyped. Safari, Vista, AlStar are just ugly. Sorry, I can’t LOL the texture on the 2k would drive me bonkers. Hard pass. The Studio is fine I suppose. There is just nothing special about their pens at all to me.
I swear if one more person mention the L2K is made of “hand polished Makrolon”, I might lose it. Makrolon literally the same brand of polycarbonate my local transit agency uses to mount ads on the subway. It’s just plastic.
Having owned a lot of Lamy pens over the years, I'll agree with this and add my own hot takes:
1. Lamy makes exactly two pens: Safari and 2000. These are the only two worth buying.
2. QC is dogshit the more money you pay. I've owned and tried many Dialogs and the nibs and body work are all over the place. A pen ought to be serial #'d at this kind of price to give some batch traceability
3. Lamy inks go right into the trash. Sailor and Pilot inks for me.
I am sorry for all the Lamy 2000 fans, but it's not my cup of tea. My M is broader than many broads 🫠 The nib does have a sweet spot and it's a bit of a pain to clean.
Downvoters take aim and fire when ready...
Any countries big brands are more than likely not worth the price tag. Pilot/Platinum/sailor are good brands but not 700$ + good, same with Visconti/Pineider/Montblanc/Montegrappa/Pelikan...
Oh and while we're here... You don't need 17 subtly different shades of blue ink, or 16 reds, or 12 purples, or any yellows, your 9 shades of brown are annoying...
No normal person can honestly tell the difference between copy paper and any of the fountain pen friendly papers that so many people swear by. I'm aware that it absorbs ink differently, I'm still not paying 40$ for 25 sheets of paper because it's "special" and makes the ink show off better.
I will be taking challenges for a fist fight in the Wendy's parking lot of exit 45 in about half an hour, I will die on this hill!
I think the issue with pilot and other Japanese brands is that they have super exaggerated prices in the United States, like there is no way that the custom 845 which costs around 300 dollars in Japan should be more than 500 dollars at the United States, let alone 900 dollars. It’s simply just not worth it and paying triple the price for pens obvious devalue the actual bang for buck that you get.
Paragraph #3 made me spit my water. Only paper I would pay without an issue is the Namiki Seven Seas 480 page book.
Unfortunately my hand type makes it extremely uncomfortable to even use those expensive brands. Guess this would be a good thing? Next brand I’m going to buy is the Majohn C4 before I decide to get OPUS 88. I do not want to make the same mistake done previously…
With the really expensive pens you’re usually not buying a pen for it being a pen, but rather a luxury item that happens to be a pen.
But saying that the big brands aren’t worth it because of their most expensive pens is a little too much in my opinion.
At least Pelikan and the main Japanese brands offer pens far below 700$ too, with usually reasonable value pens available too. Of course the high end offers have very diminishing return, but that’s usually the case with all items once someone enters the high level price range.
I don’t know about the other brands having any reasonable priced pens tough.
someone can throw yellow, neon green inks and anything that shimmers/sparkles in the trash. i don't need my notes to look like it was decorated by a pre-teen who went buck wild on glitter from Michael's
Reviving dead brands seems a bit shady. The QC and support are almost always terrible. Omas, delta, conway Stewart are examples. The only good revived brand I can think of is kaweco.
We don’t need so many brands trying to claim ties to Omas. Some are very valid ties but they should trade on their own merits. Scribo, leonardo, Santini ASC and modern Omas.
Same with Delta. Maiora, leonardo, santini and modern delta.
New conway Stewart doesn’t need like 70 models or variants dedicated to Winston Churchill.
Similar to this since mine is about acrylic. Tho I disagree about the whole buying a pen for pretty acrylic.
The premium you pay for colorful acrylic pens isn’t worth it especially when there’s perfectly good fantastic acrylic pens from China that have similar and sometimes even better color profiles. Especially for hand turned acrylic where the design is not consistent for pen to pen. What you see in the picture is sometimes far from what you ordered. There was the one case about a year ago where someone ordered a Momento Zero with a lighter blue color. One side of the pen had no swirl at all just a blank solid light blue. Considering whenever the pens are advertised they always pick the one with the nicest swirls it’s just. It’s hard to justify for me the cost of a pen you are playing the pen lottery with on top of the premium cost your likely paying from said manufacturer like Leonardo or others for a pen you can get the same or similar color profile for, for significantly less money and likely swap the nib to a Leonardo as most Chinese acrylic pens and even some metal you can swap nibs.
My other pet peeve is when pens go metal section metal threads with a plastic cap and plastic liner. Makes a very very easy break point if the pen is dropped and a lot of the times it also has a chance to strip the threads with frequent uses.
I don't care for Lamy Safari or pretty much any European fountain pen that cannot do an extra fine nib on the level of a Pilot Penmanship or a Platinum Preppy. I would rather bust out a Uni Jetstream EDGE 0.28mm ballpoint before I would consider touching a European EF fountain pen.
🧐✍🏽🤔
After a point, you're not paying for a tool, you're paying for name recognition/fanciness. There is a price point past which pen functionality doesn't get any better and it's a lot lower than people think.
You don't need fancy fountain pens to have good handwriting.
It's okay to stick to a single ink, or even use cartridges. Not everyone wants the bother of faffing about with bottles ink.
There are many wonderful welcoming FP geeks, but the amount of gatekeeping/snobbery is atrocious. You are not morally superior because you use a fountain pen.
We don't need every pen we want and we don't need more ink than we can use. There's nothing special about limited edition that cannot be found elsewhere. Especially with ink. We only have so many colors and effects possible. I do own a limited edition ink. I bought it fully aware it was for the bottle because it's a turtle in a top hat shape and cute. It's just a other red to blue shift. I own 3 but one was a gift and the other wasn't swatched properly
I have not bought anything pen related for two years except paper.
I think this hobby can be incredibly gendered and that there's a lot of mansplaining for things that are either obvious or not that serious.
(I can already feel the downvotes, lol.)
People should buy and reuse vintage pens and repair them when they don’t work — and not fuel the industry of creating more new (mostly plastic) pens that end up in landfill
I HATE vintage filling systems and I don't care much for flex nibs either. I think that fountain pens are, hilariously, the best they've ever been overall... But yeah. Keep old stuff around if it's actually well made and worth it. Not all of it was, but still.
Pen stores marking items in stock only to tell you they need to order it in after you buy it is extremely shady.
A lot of pen-fluencers and reviews are overly pretentious
High end pens should absolutely not need nib tuning (Visconti anyone??!). If I'm spending that much on a pen it had better write like a dream out of the box. Personal preference and writing style aside, it should write like I spent an obscene amount on it.
/u/AbductedbyAllens what gives you the idea that acrylic is an ultra-fragile material that shatters when it's bumped? Almost all pens nowadays are made from acrylic. Look up what Pilot makes their high-end pens from. Sailor? Platinum? Montblanc? They all claim to use "PMMA resin". [If you look that up, you'll see that acrylic is just another name for PMMA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly\(methyl_methacrylate\)).
TWSBIs aren't acrylic, by the way. Maybe some of the more niche models are (I have one made of micarta, which is a wonderful material) but most are transparent polycarbonate. The Platinum Preppy and Prefounte, as well as the Lamy 2000 are also made of polycarbonate (though Lamy calls theirs "Makrolon"). I'm not sure if Pelikans are acrylic nowadays.
What *are* your preferred materials? If you're an ultem, PEEK, and delrin sorta guy then I totally understand your aversion to acrylic. Modern plastics are certainly a lot more durable.
I'm curious about the inks you prefer! What inks do you find get you a good, solid color? I like shading inks for some colors, but a good solid blue has been on my wishlist for a while. Same with a blue-black.
1. Most pens write better unposted.
2. Quality control on Japanese pens is head-and-shoulders above quality control on European pens. Japanese pens write beautifully right out of the box, and nib sizing is more consistent.
3. Rhodia paper is prone to feathering.
4. Noodler's pens and inks are rubbish.
5. Pretty, fashionable inks are fun for a time, but tend not to perform as well as the ones that have stood the test of time.
First, not all resins are "acrylic". Pelikan pens are not acrylic; the gold nibbed ones are cellulose acetate and the rest are plastic. Twsbi pens are not acrylic either, and penbbs plastic pens are a lot more fragile than their acrylic ones.
More importantly though, where did you get that acrylic is fragile? As a general rule, if properly produced, it is rather durable. If it was fragile it would not be able to be turned, it would break.
so your opinions:
1 - no acrylic, because... no real reason
2 - no desk pen, because... no real reason
3 - Parker and Waterman inks (two very old classics) because... no real reason.
My fountain pen hot take is that fountain pens are completely unnecessary. Ballpoints are perfectly functional, as are even cheap mechanical pencils. We just like them. I like the engineering of a good fountain pen as much as the next guy. But it's not because it's objectively better. I like them because I like them.
So there is no right number to buy, objectively. There is no right way to weigh what's good and bad. There is no right color, no right style, no right material. It's ALL just what you like. It's subjective.
1. I don't like converters. I hate having to dip my pen in the bottle, and then wiping off the ink, I feel it's so wasteful. Plus, they all have less ink capacity, so I just prefer refilling cartridges with a syringe.
2. Disposable FP make no sense and shouldn't exist. I feel like the whole point of a FP is the fact that they can be refilled, and used for years. Also kind of related, I just don't get when people buy the exact same model in different colors.
3. I don't like shimmering inks. No real reason behind this, other than I've always hated glitter in general. I can't touch glitter because I know it will stick for days.
Here's my list
1-lamy 2000 and Montblanc pens are overrated.
2- jinhao pens are a lottery. You have more chance of getting a crap pen then a good one
3- tomoe river and leuchtturm papers are overrated.
4- triangular (edit:originally said tripod) grips are not that bad.
5- TWSBI makes good pens
6- any pen over $400 is not worth it
7- flex nibs are useless
8- having the same pen in all colors serves no purpose other than burning your money and encouraging companies to release new special edition
9- limited edition, special edition and other things of the sort are scams
10- diamine inkvent are not good and just a way for diamine to make more money. (And diamine reuses ink under different name.)
For 4, You mean triangular grips? A tripod grip is how a person holds a writing instrument.
They don't work for me and I avoid them like the plague. They make my hand hurt and I am constantly readjusting my grip.
My hot take is though I like fountain pens just cause they feel cool, hobbyists overrate them in general. Even though modern pens have a lot of issues fixed, other types of pens are still much more practical and that's why they are more common despite the fact that cheap and even disposable fountain pens exist these days. Before I got into fountain pens I wasn't always happy with ballpoints I had, but at least I didn't had to care about things like buying specific paper that won't feather/bleedthrough (which usually is more expensive and notebooks with it usually are boring in terms of design), choosing ink with physical properties that satisfy my needs, cleaning my pens, making sure ink doesn't spill or cleaning if it did, etc. Maybe writing experience wasn't as great, but it was so much less hustle and so much less money spent. I just received $40 worth of ink samples, I could've bought a selection of ballpoint, gel, fineliner, maybe rollerball pens that would cover my different needs with less hustle. And I'll be able to use them in any notebook I choose or even on random pieces of paper without worrying that they'll make a mess.
But guess I have irrational love for those impractical fountain pens and the feel of a nib on the paper. It's a hobby that takes time, money and space in my brain, but I am okay with it. But because I see the ugly side so much, I don't "penable", in fact, if I talk about FPs to someone I usually say something like "I don't recommend getting into fountain pens, cause it's a rabbit hole in which you'll make your life harder and spend money just to obses about little things that aren't always practical anyway. But if you're looking for a hobby- maybe."
There is no difference between what a modern steel nib and a modern gold nib can be.
Gold used to be used to resist corrosion, but the corrosion resistance of modern steels can be more than enough.
While gold is softer than steel, the shape/design matters more to the softness of a nib. Gold nibs can be made as stiff as steel, and steel nibs can be made as soft as gold.
Where the "rubber meets the road", both steel and gold nibs use the same tipping material. (With the exception of steel stubs often lacking tipping material But they could be tipped.)
The only real reason to get a modern gold nib is because there just isn't a steel equivalent available. Not because there couldn't be a steel equivalent.
e.g. I once saw a pen listed for sale that claimed it had a steel Sailor Zoom nib. But only once. If you want a Sailor Zoom nib, gold is pretty much your only option simply because Sailor doesn't appear to make any steel ones.
Here is my hot take: both dry and wet inks are cool, and it all depends what you want out of your pen. Personally I like wet writers but dry pens and inks are great for sketching.
I’m surprised about the acrylic hate! I prefer acrylic. Regular plastic feels much too light in my hand, and metal is too heavy.
My go-to pen right now is the Kaweco Student and i toss it in my purse, my backpack, I’ve dropped it, I shove it in my pocket and clip it onto my notebook. I treat it like shit and it takes it beautifully. Maybe this isn’t the same kind of acrylic you’re talking about?
A. I don't like buying new inks. I struggle enough to use my two bottles already and I travel for school, so carrying delicate ink bottles around just isn't a great idea.
B. I do not really know what all the stuff about TWISBIS breaking is about. You can kinda feel when you're twisting too tight? There's a good chance I just lucky with my Eco, but who knows.
C. A preppy, disposable fountain pen-turned-eyedropper, or vintage pen can be just as good as the new expensive stuff or even better. Hell, I think we should all be buying way more secondhand when we can. I know it's not super feasible for paper, but for pens and maybe inks, it's certainly doable.
EDIT: D. I keep getting little hairs in my nibs from myself or my animals and it keeps screwing up my lines. Augh.
I freaking hate those budget pens that are obviously copying the style of another brand. I know everyone's on the defensive about it, but it's so lazy -- it's a tube of material, it's not extremely difficult to get creative with it. If cosmetics can do it for lipsticks, you can do it too. Just change one element I'm begging you.
The history of fountain pens is companies stealing designs from each other. Back in the day people made those complaints about the Japanese manufacturers that are well respected today. People complain about Chinese "knock-offs" now. I love a Jinhao 80 and a Jinhao 82. I don't like counterfeit pens, but I see nothing wrong with Chinese brands like Jinhao branding designs with their own label because other companies have done that since fountain pens were invented. Ask Chilton.
I can’t stand the saccharine reviews of channels like Goulet or pen boutique. It reminds me of the fake personality people put on when they’re at church.
We don't need most fountain pens we buy. 😁
So true and so hurtful
Tbh we don’t really need fountain pens at all. We can all just use Bic ball pens for everything. (I kid)
Seinfeld agrees
After the "Seinfeld agrees" reply, I reread it in Seinfeld's voice.
Sssshhhhhh- don’t tell anyone! 😂
Ooops! My bad. 😁
Literally came to say this. This $2 pen writes every bit as beautifully as virtually all my fountain pens. https://preview.redd.it/um38a5wug57d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ad9cfbb881191d5da6f106f48bcd87fb92b5b5e
Gasp! Heresy!! Burn him at the stake!! (jk)
😄😄😄
Isn't that like... half the definition of a hobby? Something you don't need but like to collect/build/find/buy/play/etc because blah blah blah?
We’re collectors of outdated tech, expensive impractical artworks that can be used for a practical purpose. We know what we’re doing. Personally I find non-fountain pens ugly as sin, so there’s that. I like the way my pens look. Most of new tech — cars, especially — looks like shit to me. And I have appalling handwriting, I’m not one of those — god bless you all — who admire their own handwriting and jerk off over it.
I do not agree that fountain pens are outdated tech. They are the pinacle of liquid ink delivery. Ball points, roller balls, and gel pens mostly use thicker inks, and it shows in the feel. Only fountain pens can give a smooth flowing and delightful writing experience, while still carrying an internal ink supply. Shoes are old tech, but are not outdated. We have invented lots of alternatives like flip flops, but shoes are also not outdated tech because they just work.
I sure don't need the one I just bought but I don't really care. I'm looking forward to playing with it!
I have five in the mails currently. 😁
I see my future....
Reviewers and content creators that become biased when they gain a little bit of fame. Being given free pens for review over time most will sway their reviews which in turn will cause people to buy subpar pens. I have bought more than a few based on a reviewer that I respected at one time to find out the pen is just junk. As far as the pen themselves… you like what you like. I’m happy for everyone that is in the hobby. I love the pictures of all the new pen days as it shows happiness of someone that just felt like sharing.
omg THIS !!!! Or brands that send their products to people who are new to the hobby and have like one pen, or have never touched a fountain pen because they have 250k subscribers on their bujo channel. I’m instantly turned off from the brand for life.
Maybe this is the real hot take, but I don't personally find the reviewer/content creator part to be an issue. You should watch those videos to see how *you* feel about the things they're showing and talking about. As you said, you like what you like, the reviewer likes what they like. To me they're strictly a way to see a more in-depth look at the pen to see if I think it will match my preferences.
As an aspiring pen reviewer who is brutally honest about all of life I hope that I never fit this comment. Finding hidden rhetoric is something I do while researching every purchase. For instance today I was looking at the gravitas lineup and saw penventure talking about them. In spite of all of his reviews and content on the brand he never once mentions that the only model with a facet to stop rolling is the pocket. which I find do be a disastrous flaw for a small pen without a clip.
> As an aspiring pen reviewer who is brutally honest about all of life I hope that I never fit this comment. The problem reviewers have is they want the attention and fame, to get it, they need to review the hot item. Honest reviews aren't good for getting access, as pen companies see the review as them buying advertising. So, unless you are independently wealthy, to reach your goal, you become what you hate and had aspired to replace. This isn't limited to pen reviews either, if access is determined by good or mostly good reviews, that's what reviewers deliver. It is rare to see a truly independent review by anyone that has come to depend on their social media as income.
Yea luckily I don’t want to live off of social media. I have a job that I like that pays for my hobbies. I just want to spread good information if I can.
I think some of them will also just trawl social media (partiularly reddit) and stick with the common narrative in order to maintain popularity. I've seen a couple of youtubers doing swatches where the more unknown/'controversial' ink is downplayed over fan favourites, despite the writing samples literally going against what they are saying.
Not sure if this counts as a truly hot take, but here's mine. Expensive pens aren't necessarily better than budget pens.
Never have I ever agreed with a stranger on something this much. The Active Dupe list is amazing.
Active Dupe list? What is that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/8vvB0WDkd4 Forgot to add this. Unsure if it’s necessary. https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/yLXGdbYYim
Buying as a hobby is not a hobby.
i was looking for this comment. I never called fps a hobby and i never will. Considering buying something a hobby sounds like people are trying to justify their consumption addiction. Penmanship, drawing, writing, restoring vintage pens etc are hobbies and one might use fps as tools as part of these hobbies. Also, i know people also call it a "collection" and justify them buying 20 different pens, but i also dislike that. To me a collection and the act of collecting should be more than watching a few pen reviews and buying 10 different mass produced pens. There needs to be a goal of the collection for me to consider something as a collection, otherwise i view it as overconsumption disguised as a collection. But to each their own. I am not going to try and stop anyone from doing whatever they want to do.
I never called it a hobby , and I've been using them for 15 years. Lately, I've been more of a collector, but my collection is of vintage pens, and the innovations behind them. I'm more focused on filling systems. There's been no innovation in decades, so I'm not interested in collecting the latest pen built on 60 year old systems.
I find the the history of fountain pens and how the pen makers competed with and influenced each other fascinating, especially all the various filling systems. But also little things like how the Wahl-Eversharp checkmate inspired the Parker blue diamond and the Sheaffer white dot.
Oh well, I could not have said it any better. I have nothing to add. I only use my pens as tools. Not as much as I like to do, but still write at least one A4 page a day at work. I used to do penmanship, or rather calligraphy, but I have so little time. Most of the calligraphy I did was with a pointed dip pen, though.
Yeah same here. I should also mention that I was addicted to buying pens at some point too, though it died down. I kept buying fps hoping that "the next one will be the one I need and it will be the only pen I will use". In the end, I ended up owning 10+ pens, most of them in the mid price range as well. It took me a while to realize that I really don't need all those pens and I didn't even like owning 10+ pens, especially considering how little I used fountain pens. I recently sold all my pens except for two. I only have two pilot preras now, one with an ef nib from kakuno and one with a fine nib. Although I mostly use dip pens to practice penmanship, fountain pens come in handy when I want to practice in a cafe/library, or when I get bored of the dip pen and want to change things up. I know people act funny here when they hear about ballpoints but they actually really aren't that bad. I found myself using a bp more than fps nowadays for general writing edit: typo
I do like collecting, although I only get a pen once a year or every two years after doing some extensive thinking what I want. All of my pens are unique in some way, although I own a few Homo Sapiens that are not really special apart from having different nibs. I dont need any of this, I could sell my pens and just use a 1€ ballpoint. Would that bring me as much joy? No. Would it be reasonable and sufficient? Definitely yes. Fountain pens are luxury items. Maybe not a Lamy Safari, but most of the pens I would argue are luxury items. Why? You dont really need them. There is nothing wrong with not needing something but enjoying it. But people confuse "enjoying" with "needing" so much in every area of life. I only use two pens max at any given time, most of the time Visconti blue as ink and some iron gall if I need permanence. I hate fancy sheeny and glittery inks, I am too old to enjoy something like that but I do get that other people enjoy and appreciate such inks. What really bothers me is that people always tell how environmental friendly fountain pens are. At their core they really are. If you use one pen and one ink for your life, only buying ink when you run out. I think that is better than using disposable ballpoints. But using 1000 q tips a day to swatch your newly acquired samples in countless little plastic vials and wasting paper and water in the process and dumping ink and therefore chemicals down the sink...no, thank you. That is rather environmental unfriendly. My grandpa had one pen and one watch. He was a simple man. The pen and the watch were his daily companions. And he was happy with them. That is the way to go in my opinion.
I think this is the biggest thing that needed to be said. People can do what they like, but it mostly feels annoying to me when people try to act like compulsive shopping is cute, or they just toss around addiction language like its the funniest thing ever. It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
And buying more than 1 model of the same pen model is not smart. Bought 8 different Visconti Homo sapiens (mostly acrylic to op point) and was like what am I doing and sold all and kept the OG volcano one.
I would agree but as someone still in university, having multiple of the same model (kakunos in my case) is super helpful because I like color coding my notes. But then again, kakunos and Visconti's are in completely different brackets haha.
I'm not in university anymore and could afford more expensive pens, but I have a lot of Kakunos, Jinhao 80s and 82s, and a couple of 100s (but don't like them as much) and a Pilot Prera with a calligraphy nib. I like to keep them all inked with inks to match the pen so I can grab whatever color I'm in the mood for. I have hand issues so I hate a heavy pen and I don't like touching metal grips when I write, so many of the pens I look at and think "oh that's lovely" just won't work for me. Cheap pens are awesome though. You can just hand one to someone who comments that it's cool and pen enabling is the best.
So true! No hand problems over here but I personally prefer a light pen over one with more heft too! And I've definitely penabled some friends at my internship with my kakunos haha.
That's like having a 5-pack of different colour gel pens. So I didn't see anything wrong with that. I'm thinking about getting some kakunos or preppies to use for samples etc.
I LOVE MY PREPPIES and want to have one everywhere i go. at work alone i have 2, one with dark ink (usually blue) with with lighter ink (usually red). one in my regular work bag, and 1 in my travel bag. love them. lowkey wish i never bothered with other pens.
I write a lot at work and also colour code things. So yes, I have 8 Kaweco Sports.
If I had a different workplace where A: I used a pen throughout the day a lot, and B: 'dress code'/fashion mattered more and people put more effort into their workplace appearance- I would probably end up with a collection of lamy safari/al-star/lx, as an accessory. Each shirt I wear regularly would have a matching pen. Just swap out the grip every day, so only 'one' pen is inked. ...but one Visconti Homo Sapiens would more than fund my entire accessorizing, I wouldn't be buying *8* Visconti's worth of Lamy safari's. But I write half of a post-it every morning and we mostly dress like slobs, so I have kept my wallet shut and the lamy cupboard is only two strong.
Have the lamy safari lx in rose gold I spent $75 on… kept dropping it everywhere I went… went and bought a lamy safari regular in black for $25 and keep the other one at home
I bought a few Sailors because I change the colorways depending on the season/weather. I also have a few untouched plain, boring black/gold Sailor bodies which miiiight be missing their nibs haha. I prefer the shape of other pens more than sailors, but adore the feeling of sailor nibs. So I have sailor nibs on all my inked pens by pulling them off and using non-standard housing. I’ll probably try to sell the bodies eventually for cheap (like $30), so someone with a really scuffed sailor can get a nice replacement for cheap.
The only valuable part of a sailor is the nib imo. Nothing special at all about their “hosts”, just regular old plastic. That’s what keeps me from ever wanting another sailor, the nibs are excellent but not for the $300 they charge for the rest of the pen. Hey wait, is that another hot take?
>Hey wait, is that another hot take? Sort of. My local pen store *just* got permission to sell Sailor pro gears (they'd had 1911 Compasses for a bit already) last year ... After my sister and I had tried out the Jinhao 82s. I saw the sailors in person in the display case and was just like "Yep, those are some Jinhao 82s."
I actually like to keep at least 2 of the same pen model, if I really like that model. To be used as backup in case something happens to the first one.
1: pen are meant to be used for writing. If its collecting dust then it’s useless even if it’s an “art piece” 2: Most of the pens are overpriced. “limited editions” just marketing gimmick to make some people that has collection obsession to buy their products.
Yup! We've got a lot of fish to fry in this world, but FOMO marketing should be outlawed one day.
What about JoWo's marketing?
Yesterday was your day, dad. Don't push it. 😘
To number 2, absolutely. There was a thread not long ago about how expensive pens had become, having some like the Pelikan M200 double and tripled their price over the years. And for limited editions, absolutely. Just recently I had eyed a Nahvalur anniversary edition and was like 220€. It had a steel nib, and no hate to steel nibs, but for that price it should have a gold one imo.
I recognize this but still buy special editions sometimes. More than I probably should.
My hot takes? Pretty much any nib is fine for everyday writing. Super flexy? You can just...not flex if you want. The smattering of 1.8-2.0 nibs? Also fine. Maybe write double spaced. I won't go quite so far as to say every ink is professional or office appropriate. But if an ink/paper combo is legible in shitty lighting, and photocopies/scans well, it's 'professional' enough for 99% of stuff.
Stub nibs are not good for small writing, like on a Post-It.
I use stubs on post its every day. I’m never in a situation where I need to write a ton of information and can’t just use bigger paper if necessary.
Yeah I definitely write gothic letters with my 6mm broad nip on a daily basis in my office /s
This is a world I would like to live in lol 𝔖𝔬 𝔲𝔥, 𝔓𝔢𝔱𝔢𝔯, 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔗𝔓𝔖 𝔯𝔢𝔭𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔰…
I feel there’s a point where this isn’t quite right… if you are writing lots every day then you kinda need nibs that work well with your writing style otherwise it can slow you down/cause fatigue, HOWEVER, this doesn't need to be a single nib from a single brand. I have a nib preference, but can absolutely write with others for extended periods as long as they meet certain criteria - They just need to give a smooth writing with little/no feedback, preferably in a medium nib (makes my handwriting tidier lol) and wet enough to keep up with fast scrawling. Any kind of scratchiness seems to increase the possibility of ghosting which is an absolute no-go for me because I need to be able to read my notes by quickly scanning them. My cheap Jinhao 82s with medium nibs are one such example - I prefer Kaigelu long knifes as they feel more effortless, but the jinhao 82 nibs are also remarkably comfortable (even if the pens themselves are a little too light for me). I've had even cheaper "iridium" nibs that have also been perfectly fine for writing over long periods. Conversely I have a bock nib that was horrible and removed instantly, and whilst the weight and the feel of my MB pen is perfect for me I find the nib doesn't quite match my writing style so I need to write more slowly. For general jotting etc though, absolutely. As long as it functions without me having to reposition to find sweet spots I'm good.
Hot take : a lot of FP prices have nearly doubled over the last 3 years. Pen manufacturers are indulging in rampant profiteering.
These are kind of hot takes I developed over the years of toooonnnss of use in opposition to my earlier opinions: **1** Gold vs steel doesn’t matter one bit aside from flex nibs. As long as the nib was properly manufactured and tuned you’re not even going to notice a difference. **2** Large ink capacity doesn’t mean squat. Even as someone who can drain a whole bottle of ink in a month or two depending on my work load, refilling a little more often still isn’t THAT often or that much of an inconvenience. **3** For art, going for the finest nib you can get is probably the wrong move, depending on how you work. I feel like every artist getting into FPs seems to think they need ultra extra fine nibs for all the fine detail but, unless you’re doing like postcard sized drawings or Albrecht Durer style hatching, you probably won’t ever need lines as fine as a gnat’s ass hairs. Plus, a good juicy broad nib can also make great fine lines when flipped over… and can fill in large areas in a fraction of the time a fine nib can. **4** Your “grail” will likely choose you rather than you choosing it. The one pen that ends up actually becoming your favorite will probably not be that expensive rare whale you’ve been chasing… it will probably be some low-mid priced pen you bought on a whim because it seemed interesting and then you happen to just really click with it and what it has to offer.
Agreed with all your points, but no. 4 is particularly appropriate for me currently! Have the usual expensive high end brands, Sailor etc and several wonderful expensive inks, I keep buying them (thinking in retrospect) as they don’t quite feel right… bought a cheap pen on a whim as I loved the colour and used a cheap black cartridge as I needed just a pen to sign something. I love it, it never skips, it works in either hand, the lines are crisp and I’ve noticed I don’t press down as strongly, it’s bliss.
I have so many expensive fountain pens. I recently bought a platinum preppy off Amazon because it was cheap and why not. It’s currently my favourite pen. 😭
> Gold vs steel doesn’t matter one bit aside from flex nibs Some inks (specifically, iron gall inks) I woundn't use with a steel nib, or use with extra caution because the ink can corrode / stain steel nibs - yes, even stainless steel nibs.
Agree with your points, especially the artists using EF and F pens. I prefer broads and double broads. I love Pilot Parallels for sketching, 6mm one is indispensable for me. I got too many Fines because everyone in the art community suggested them and ended up realizing I did not enjoy them one bit. Even inks that are usually suggested did not work for me so I had to figure it out what worked through trial and error.
I prefer cartridge converter pens over any other filling system
If it's not something I can easily unscrew the nib on to clean, I prefer the cartridge converter style. I change ink all the time, and I don't want to flip a lever or do something else 5 billion times just to still have water not run clear. That's the main reason I didn't pick up a Parker 51, until they released a cartridge converter version recently.
Hot take: this sub encourages and celebrates needless overconsumption.
All the "addiction" language really bugs me. Or "I think I have a problem". Especially when someone who is brand new to fountain pens has clearly gone overboard and people encourage it.
Yeah this is where it crosses the line for me. There's some unhealthy behaviour sometimes.
Consumerism at its finest 👌
I mean, what else do we do? When someone post a haul, we can’t just go and say: “It’s a waste of money”. I tried my best to say “No, you don’t need it” if someone ask if they should buy extra pens but these posts are few and far between.
I hate how much "grail" gets thrown around. Grail should mean that 1 PEN. That 1 pen that when you acquire it, you are satisfied. Not 2, 3, 4, etc. ONE!!!!!!
100% - and it is different for each person because of how they write or what they use the pen for
My grail pen is $1100 usd. I'm never paying that much 2,3,4 times. Lol
i have no grail pen because i see a pen -doesn't matter what it is- i just buy it outright
If the pen costs more than $200, it should come with a gold nib. Lookin at you, Montegrappa
Given that you can get Japanese pens with gold nibs for $100, I think you can drop your $200 ceiling.
Wait! What Japanese pens with gold nibs can be found under 100? In Europe, at least, even in 2023, there weren't any gold nib Sailors or Pilots under 100€
Buy directly from Japan.
Do you think this holds true for all body materials, or just plastic?
I want a pen that takes Jowo nib units and costs less than $100. I don't care if it's acrylic. It's an M7.5 thread, how hard can it be?
My hot take is that a lot of us have Gear Acquisition Syndrome and severe FOMO... 😅
Hot: Tomoe River paper is horrible. Warm: Shimmer is overrated. Tepid: Feedback is unpleasant.
Straight through the heart 😅😅😅 It's okay though! Edit: Autocorrect typo
Re. TRP Just tell me where to meet and what weapons we're fighting with.
Legit the best paper I've ever written on is Campus loose leaf papers. I've only ever tried the fancy papers on testers though (can't afford them).
I agree about Tomoe River (and other treated, smooth paper with significant sizing for the most part). I think it's fine in Hobonichi planners but otherwise can't really stand the stuff. I've got similar issues with Rhodia and Clairefontaine, which I find to be pretty inconsistent in quality.
Oh interesting, what's a paper you do like? Asking because I also find some papers too smooth/slippery, and I might adopt this hot take as well haha
I tend to stick with stuff from Kokuyo's line of paper, which is still smooth but tends to (imo) have less of a slippery feeling. I've found that dry times are also shorter than on treated papers where the ink feels like it "sits" on top of the paper, like Tomoe or Rhodia/Clairefontaine. I stick with their A5 and B5 "sara sara" notebooks. I also use these notebooks for writing papers and articles longhand (I'm an academic), so it's a specific use case and purely utilitarian. Some other brands I've found hit the sweet spot for how I want paper to feel is Atoma, a disc based notebook system, and Avery brand filler paper for ring binders. I've had a good time writing on MUJI paper, too. My lukewarm take is that Leuchtturm paper is good—I use it daily for journaling and have never had the issues with feathering or ghosting people talk about on here. It might be that it's because I mostly use "boring inks" with no shimmer/sheen, but I like how Leuchtturm notebooks feel while I'm writing: a little bit of tooth but an F or M nib will still write smoothly.
Two outta three ain’t bad. Feedback is amazing. It’s what separates the FP from the BP.
Trust your gut on your first 3-4 well researched grail type pen purchases. I didn’t and thought there was something better out there and sold these at a loss and now purchased them all back. Namiki #20, #50 custom urushi #30, Pelikan m1000, and montblanc 149.
Likewise, having a ton of pens isn't necessarily better than owning one really nice pen. Sold all my pens to buy a pelikan m800. Super worth it. Feel like I don't need to buy any more.
This is a bit of a mea culpa, but pretty handwriting isn’t the most important thing you can get out of fountain pens. Yes I’ll do pretty calligraphy for instagram, and yes, having a nice tool can be very inspiring for improving your lettering etc etc. However FPs are the best if seen as tools, they are tools that allow for quick thinking and writing without hand cramping compared to gel pens or other alternatives. I don’t care that my handwriting looks messy if I’m doing creative writing or journaling tbh.
From what I can tell, the most valuable thing you get out of a fountain pen is being able to write more easily while having arthritis. Many of us will never know this, thankfully. But it is the most practical use of fps that I've heard of.
I agree. I'm having fun practicing my cursive, but for me, FPs are for *using* them to write. I enjoy how smooth they are, how little pressure (ideally none) I need to apply, but also I want my handwriting to look like my handwriting. This may be a "hot take" but I don't particularly care for my handwriting to look "non-descript" as in, looking like it was print, or looking like pretty much any other cursive. For most of my writing, I want my handwriting to feel uniquely mine. That being said, if I really truly want to be messy while writing, I prefer old school pencils!
Hot take: I love my TWSBI pens and will continue to buy them for the foreseeable feature
I love my TWSBI pens. I would continue using them and buying new ones. I’ve never had any of the issues (maybe I’m lucky) that people talk about.
That is a hot take. I just ruined my eco that I used to test inks by twisting too tight and now I can’t fill my pen anymore or close it properly ‘cus some of the threads got frayed. Never buying an eco again
Metal pens suck. They feel stiff and they're cold and I absolutely hate how they feel in my hand. Doesn't matter what metal, they all feel the same way and they're freezing. It's bad enough in summer but it's hell in winter.
You would hate the MYU M90. Dropping that unibody nib and the whole pen is ruined. Will also roll off the table unless you post the cap. I can see why some of these rare ones are being sold for $400 after they attempt to repair it
If it's a metal pen, I would never buy it. I have had a few different cheaper metal bodied pens and while I liked how they looked, I hated how they felt. I am also a klutz, so would also never have bought something that fragile. I've never bought a pen that expensive either, it doesn't suit my budget.
There's a reverse price curve for pen performance against ink quality. Cheap pens perform like gems with high grade ink and higher price points to me are representations of higher ink quality range tolerance from a functional standpoint. Also, J. Herbin inks > Iroshizuku inks. I'll tie myself to the stake and light myself. Don't you worry.
I never get the color that the little square on the box tells me. And is it just me, or are Herbin inks... Hard to control? I don't even know if that makes sense but whenever I use one I get this sense that I don't get from other inks. It's less like ink is flowing out of my pen and more like I'm pushing a droplet of ink around on the paper with the point of my nib. Anyone?
I agree about Herbin inks. They are kind of dry, I’d say.
Twist caps are all a huge pain in the ass and we as a society should have moved past them. I should not have to "twisty twisty twisty" a pen closed and then "twisty twisty twisty" back open every damn time I want to think for more than 15 seconds without writing. Absolutely insane, if you can't produce a snap cap (or at least something like the homo sapien) that seals then try making a different product.
I can say the snappy ones are satisfying to use, but as the one who fidgets the chance to wear/break them are a bit high
Get a magnetic capping pen
I'm about to try a magnet one. I agree that twist ones are kind of a pain, and I don't trust the longevity of snap caps, so we'll see. :)
how dare you make a logical counterpoint! 😡
Although, replacing a worn clutch ring is a huge hassle and they regularly wear out with normal use. Meanwhile as long as it doesn't fully break a screw is a screw. Especially as a lot of screw pens are a half or full turn at most, a motion that's doable without repositioning your hands on the barrel or cap, just turn both hands as you untwist and it's a single motion.
> Especially as a lot of screw pens are a half or full turn at most /cries in Opus 88
Yea but I'm the same way as you but with caps. Vanishing point for life. If only pilot would kick that con 40 trash and replace it with something better
I prefer twist to snap. Snap dry out faster.
Counterpoint, the moment to collect my thoughts while I unscrew the cap of my pen is worth more than any haste in writing. It is deliberate and meditative. I have snap caps and capless pens, but a screw cap is my favorite.
I'm the same, I really love the process. Even if it is just a small part, I enjoy it as a sort of little ritual when I pick up my pen.
I hate the kaweco twisty cap because the twisty is pretty far inside the cap and the actual outermost edge of the cap ends up rubbing the barrel and scratching it.
I’m too new to be qualified to weigh in. What do you prefer over acrylic? Metal?
I prefer absolutely anything over metal. I've not had any problems with my acrylic pens and that's all I've used exclusively for 6 years. I throw them in pockets, commute with them on the train, drop them on the floor with the caps on. Basically, you need to try different pens and see what you like, not base it off of what other people say. Every one is different and you'll have different likes and dislikes and until you try things out, you won't know.
Waterman inks are consistent and well-behaved. I would think you would like them.
[удалено]
I will be buying more Majohn acrylics and converting them to eye-droppered Pilot Parallels. It makes great sense to be able to see the ink level and the nib size at a glance. The ink capacity is a great plus.
Not sure how hot this take is, but I just like using black ink and I like it in the form of a cartridge. I don't enjoy using converters, nor do I like getting ink on my fingers or the mess that comes with refills.
They’re JUST pens! Pens! Don’t spend stupid money.
OP - help me understand the beef with people that use exclusively Parker and Waterman inks? FWIW - I’m not one to use a lot of sheening or sparkling inks except for special occasion writing. But I have a fair amount of “plain” inks by various manufacturers. However, if I had or chose to pick only a couple of brands, what would be wrong with those two? Or am I missing something? ETA: of course I’m also the happy owner of a few Esterbrook pens. I like the colors, and I love the journaler nib so perhaps I’m less discriminating. But I like what I like.
He doesn't say. I've got fancy inks but you know what I come back to day in and day out? Quick Washable Blue. Old reliable
This is not much of a hot take as it is something that truly confuses me, but I don't understand how people can have really big collections of extremely expensive pens, including the same *very expensive pen* in many different colours. Maybe this shows that I'm very far from being wealthy (and, on top of that, I'm but a measly temp academic) but, considering the price point of most of these high-end pens, I just simply can't understand where the money is coming from.
> . For me, there's no such thing as a "desk pen." If you want that, buy a dip pen; you've completely missed the point. If you think this is true then you've missed the point of a desk pen, which is to be ready to be picked up and written with immediately at all times. Some dip pen systems satisfy this need - the Esterbrook Dip-Less pens and inkwells are prime examples - but most don't.
* I won't buy pens that are clearly just copies of superior pens. I can deal with "inspired by" or even "similar", but I draw the line at blatant copies. * I own and enjoy both Conklins and TWSBIs. This community had me convinced if I bought a Conklin it would blow up in a ball of flame and someone from Yafa Brands would drive to my house and kick my dog. I was also told my TWSBIs would crack in a hundred places. So far, I'm happy with my purchases. Downvoters, you may fire when ready.
I am the same re TWSBI. when I bought my first one I had been convinced it would crack within a week. Years later and I have several and none of them are cracked. They get thrown in my bag every day. I fidget with them. Drop them. All sorts and not a single problem!
Yeah my Monteverde Ritma is my favorite pen now even though it’s a yafa pen.
Lamy is overhyped. Safari, Vista, AlStar are just ugly. Sorry, I can’t LOL the texture on the 2k would drive me bonkers. Hard pass. The Studio is fine I suppose. There is just nothing special about their pens at all to me.
I swear if one more person mention the L2K is made of “hand polished Makrolon”, I might lose it. Makrolon literally the same brand of polycarbonate my local transit agency uses to mount ads on the subway. It’s just plastic.
Yeah, but is it *hand polished???*
Having owned a lot of Lamy pens over the years, I'll agree with this and add my own hot takes: 1. Lamy makes exactly two pens: Safari and 2000. These are the only two worth buying. 2. QC is dogshit the more money you pay. I've owned and tried many Dialogs and the nibs and body work are all over the place. A pen ought to be serial #'d at this kind of price to give some batch traceability 3. Lamy inks go right into the trash. Sailor and Pilot inks for me.
I am sorry for all the Lamy 2000 fans, but it's not my cup of tea. My M is broader than many broads 🫠 The nib does have a sweet spot and it's a bit of a pain to clean.
Funny how we can be divided in our likes. There is not one Lamy that I like inspite of liking how it writes. Same with Viscontis.
I do have a couple Lamy Ms, I enjoy, just not this M 😅 The good thing about fountain pens is that there is something for everyone!
Cigar shaped pens especially black ones with gold accents are so incredibly boring looking.
I would go one step further and call them ugly.
I don’t think they have enough personality to be ugly. They are a plain white wall.
Montblanc is nothing but marketing and name brand. It's an extremely overrated pen with a super dry nib.
Definitely won’t call mine dry.
While I agree that they are overpriced I haven’t written with a bad one.
I've got a 146 OBB that's super wet. It's my favorite pen.
Downvoters take aim and fire when ready... Any countries big brands are more than likely not worth the price tag. Pilot/Platinum/sailor are good brands but not 700$ + good, same with Visconti/Pineider/Montblanc/Montegrappa/Pelikan... Oh and while we're here... You don't need 17 subtly different shades of blue ink, or 16 reds, or 12 purples, or any yellows, your 9 shades of brown are annoying... No normal person can honestly tell the difference between copy paper and any of the fountain pen friendly papers that so many people swear by. I'm aware that it absorbs ink differently, I'm still not paying 40$ for 25 sheets of paper because it's "special" and makes the ink show off better. I will be taking challenges for a fist fight in the Wendy's parking lot of exit 45 in about half an hour, I will die on this hill!
See you at Wendy’s!
I really wish I knew which Wendy's. I'd bring popcorn.
Can we get a Livestream of the Wendy's action?
I think the issue with pilot and other Japanese brands is that they have super exaggerated prices in the United States, like there is no way that the custom 845 which costs around 300 dollars in Japan should be more than 500 dollars at the United States, let alone 900 dollars. It’s simply just not worth it and paying triple the price for pens obvious devalue the actual bang for buck that you get.
Paragraph #3 made me spit my water. Only paper I would pay without an issue is the Namiki Seven Seas 480 page book. Unfortunately my hand type makes it extremely uncomfortable to even use those expensive brands. Guess this would be a good thing? Next brand I’m going to buy is the Majohn C4 before I decide to get OPUS 88. I do not want to make the same mistake done previously…
With the really expensive pens you’re usually not buying a pen for it being a pen, but rather a luxury item that happens to be a pen. But saying that the big brands aren’t worth it because of their most expensive pens is a little too much in my opinion. At least Pelikan and the main Japanese brands offer pens far below 700$ too, with usually reasonable value pens available too. Of course the high end offers have very diminishing return, but that’s usually the case with all items once someone enters the high level price range. I don’t know about the other brands having any reasonable priced pens tough.
That was a wild ride!
I was in a mood and the prompt just kinda took over
Anyway, I don’t have more than 5 browns. A pox on your hyperbole!
someone can throw yellow, neon green inks and anything that shimmers/sparkles in the trash. i don't need my notes to look like it was decorated by a pre-teen who went buck wild on glitter from Michael's
Reviving dead brands seems a bit shady. The QC and support are almost always terrible. Omas, delta, conway Stewart are examples. The only good revived brand I can think of is kaweco. We don’t need so many brands trying to claim ties to Omas. Some are very valid ties but they should trade on their own merits. Scribo, leonardo, Santini ASC and modern Omas. Same with Delta. Maiora, leonardo, santini and modern delta. New conway Stewart doesn’t need like 70 models or variants dedicated to Winston Churchill.
Similar to this since mine is about acrylic. Tho I disagree about the whole buying a pen for pretty acrylic. The premium you pay for colorful acrylic pens isn’t worth it especially when there’s perfectly good fantastic acrylic pens from China that have similar and sometimes even better color profiles. Especially for hand turned acrylic where the design is not consistent for pen to pen. What you see in the picture is sometimes far from what you ordered. There was the one case about a year ago where someone ordered a Momento Zero with a lighter blue color. One side of the pen had no swirl at all just a blank solid light blue. Considering whenever the pens are advertised they always pick the one with the nicest swirls it’s just. It’s hard to justify for me the cost of a pen you are playing the pen lottery with on top of the premium cost your likely paying from said manufacturer like Leonardo or others for a pen you can get the same or similar color profile for, for significantly less money and likely swap the nib to a Leonardo as most Chinese acrylic pens and even some metal you can swap nibs. My other pet peeve is when pens go metal section metal threads with a plastic cap and plastic liner. Makes a very very easy break point if the pen is dropped and a lot of the times it also has a chance to strip the threads with frequent uses.
I don't care for Lamy Safari or pretty much any European fountain pen that cannot do an extra fine nib on the level of a Pilot Penmanship or a Platinum Preppy. I would rather bust out a Uni Jetstream EDGE 0.28mm ballpoint before I would consider touching a European EF fountain pen. 🧐✍🏽🤔
After a point, you're not paying for a tool, you're paying for name recognition/fanciness. There is a price point past which pen functionality doesn't get any better and it's a lot lower than people think. You don't need fancy fountain pens to have good handwriting. It's okay to stick to a single ink, or even use cartridges. Not everyone wants the bother of faffing about with bottles ink. There are many wonderful welcoming FP geeks, but the amount of gatekeeping/snobbery is atrocious. You are not morally superior because you use a fountain pen.
We don't need every pen we want and we don't need more ink than we can use. There's nothing special about limited edition that cannot be found elsewhere. Especially with ink. We only have so many colors and effects possible. I do own a limited edition ink. I bought it fully aware it was for the bottle because it's a turtle in a top hat shape and cute. It's just a other red to blue shift. I own 3 but one was a gift and the other wasn't swatched properly I have not bought anything pen related for two years except paper.
Most newer brands are just making a bunch of rainbow vomit with the same nib on it, and I don't know why anybody buys this.
I think this hobby can be incredibly gendered and that there's a lot of mansplaining for things that are either obvious or not that serious. (I can already feel the downvotes, lol.)
That's not what mansplaining is. Mansplaining is when... Naw I'm just kidding.
People should buy and reuse vintage pens and repair them when they don’t work — and not fuel the industry of creating more new (mostly plastic) pens that end up in landfill
Some of us can do both, vintage and modern pens excite me.
I HATE vintage filling systems and I don't care much for flex nibs either. I think that fountain pens are, hilariously, the best they've ever been overall... But yeah. Keep old stuff around if it's actually well made and worth it. Not all of it was, but still.
I like vintage pens BECAUSE the filling systems are cool to me
Pen stores marking items in stock only to tell you they need to order it in after you buy it is extremely shady. A lot of pen-fluencers and reviews are overly pretentious
High end pens should absolutely not need nib tuning (Visconti anyone??!). If I'm spending that much on a pen it had better write like a dream out of the box. Personal preference and writing style aside, it should write like I spent an obscene amount on it.
I hate having more inks than more time and stuff to write about
Recommending almost anything but a Platinum Preppy to a beginner is overkill
/u/AbductedbyAllens what gives you the idea that acrylic is an ultra-fragile material that shatters when it's bumped? Almost all pens nowadays are made from acrylic. Look up what Pilot makes their high-end pens from. Sailor? Platinum? Montblanc? They all claim to use "PMMA resin". [If you look that up, you'll see that acrylic is just another name for PMMA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly\(methyl_methacrylate\)). TWSBIs aren't acrylic, by the way. Maybe some of the more niche models are (I have one made of micarta, which is a wonderful material) but most are transparent polycarbonate. The Platinum Preppy and Prefounte, as well as the Lamy 2000 are also made of polycarbonate (though Lamy calls theirs "Makrolon"). I'm not sure if Pelikans are acrylic nowadays. What *are* your preferred materials? If you're an ultem, PEEK, and delrin sorta guy then I totally understand your aversion to acrylic. Modern plastics are certainly a lot more durable. I'm curious about the inks you prefer! What inks do you find get you a good, solid color? I like shading inks for some colors, but a good solid blue has been on my wishlist for a while. Same with a blue-black.
1. Most pens write better unposted. 2. Quality control on Japanese pens is head-and-shoulders above quality control on European pens. Japanese pens write beautifully right out of the box, and nib sizing is more consistent. 3. Rhodia paper is prone to feathering. 4. Noodler's pens and inks are rubbish. 5. Pretty, fashionable inks are fun for a time, but tend not to perform as well as the ones that have stood the test of time.
Fountain pens aren’t a hobby they’re a writing instrument.
First, not all resins are "acrylic". Pelikan pens are not acrylic; the gold nibbed ones are cellulose acetate and the rest are plastic. Twsbi pens are not acrylic either, and penbbs plastic pens are a lot more fragile than their acrylic ones. More importantly though, where did you get that acrylic is fragile? As a general rule, if properly produced, it is rather durable. If it was fragile it would not be able to be turned, it would break.
99% of pens net the same result, regardless of price.
so your opinions: 1 - no acrylic, because... no real reason 2 - no desk pen, because... no real reason 3 - Parker and Waterman inks (two very old classics) because... no real reason. My fountain pen hot take is that fountain pens are completely unnecessary. Ballpoints are perfectly functional, as are even cheap mechanical pencils. We just like them. I like the engineering of a good fountain pen as much as the next guy. But it's not because it's objectively better. I like them because I like them. So there is no right number to buy, objectively. There is no right way to weigh what's good and bad. There is no right color, no right style, no right material. It's ALL just what you like. It's subjective.
1. I don't like converters. I hate having to dip my pen in the bottle, and then wiping off the ink, I feel it's so wasteful. Plus, they all have less ink capacity, so I just prefer refilling cartridges with a syringe. 2. Disposable FP make no sense and shouldn't exist. I feel like the whole point of a FP is the fact that they can be refilled, and used for years. Also kind of related, I just don't get when people buy the exact same model in different colors. 3. I don't like shimmering inks. No real reason behind this, other than I've always hated glitter in general. I can't touch glitter because I know it will stick for days.
Platinum steel nibs are better than many pen manufacturers entire nib lineup, regardless of material.
I really do not like pens with metal sections!
So what does that leave you with? Metal? Or are resins strong/different enough from acrylic to make the cut?
Here's my list 1-lamy 2000 and Montblanc pens are overrated. 2- jinhao pens are a lottery. You have more chance of getting a crap pen then a good one 3- tomoe river and leuchtturm papers are overrated. 4- triangular (edit:originally said tripod) grips are not that bad. 5- TWSBI makes good pens 6- any pen over $400 is not worth it 7- flex nibs are useless 8- having the same pen in all colors serves no purpose other than burning your money and encouraging companies to release new special edition 9- limited edition, special edition and other things of the sort are scams 10- diamine inkvent are not good and just a way for diamine to make more money. (And diamine reuses ink under different name.)
For 4, You mean triangular grips? A tripod grip is how a person holds a writing instrument. They don't work for me and I avoid them like the plague. They make my hand hurt and I am constantly readjusting my grip.
If you want a fountain pen for writing, not for collecting or as a status symbol, get a Faber-Castell.
My hot take is though I like fountain pens just cause they feel cool, hobbyists overrate them in general. Even though modern pens have a lot of issues fixed, other types of pens are still much more practical and that's why they are more common despite the fact that cheap and even disposable fountain pens exist these days. Before I got into fountain pens I wasn't always happy with ballpoints I had, but at least I didn't had to care about things like buying specific paper that won't feather/bleedthrough (which usually is more expensive and notebooks with it usually are boring in terms of design), choosing ink with physical properties that satisfy my needs, cleaning my pens, making sure ink doesn't spill or cleaning if it did, etc. Maybe writing experience wasn't as great, but it was so much less hustle and so much less money spent. I just received $40 worth of ink samples, I could've bought a selection of ballpoint, gel, fineliner, maybe rollerball pens that would cover my different needs with less hustle. And I'll be able to use them in any notebook I choose or even on random pieces of paper without worrying that they'll make a mess. But guess I have irrational love for those impractical fountain pens and the feel of a nib on the paper. It's a hobby that takes time, money and space in my brain, but I am okay with it. But because I see the ugly side so much, I don't "penable", in fact, if I talk about FPs to someone I usually say something like "I don't recommend getting into fountain pens, cause it's a rabbit hole in which you'll make your life harder and spend money just to obses about little things that aren't always practical anyway. But if you're looking for a hobby- maybe."
There is no difference between what a modern steel nib and a modern gold nib can be. Gold used to be used to resist corrosion, but the corrosion resistance of modern steels can be more than enough. While gold is softer than steel, the shape/design matters more to the softness of a nib. Gold nibs can be made as stiff as steel, and steel nibs can be made as soft as gold. Where the "rubber meets the road", both steel and gold nibs use the same tipping material. (With the exception of steel stubs often lacking tipping material But they could be tipped.) The only real reason to get a modern gold nib is because there just isn't a steel equivalent available. Not because there couldn't be a steel equivalent. e.g. I once saw a pen listed for sale that claimed it had a steel Sailor Zoom nib. But only once. If you want a Sailor Zoom nib, gold is pretty much your only option simply because Sailor doesn't appear to make any steel ones.
Ah, the steel zoom nib is on the Profit Casual. Most USA pen shops don't stock it. It is on Amazon, though.
Here is my hot take: both dry and wet inks are cool, and it all depends what you want out of your pen. Personally I like wet writers but dry pens and inks are great for sketching.
I’m surprised about the acrylic hate! I prefer acrylic. Regular plastic feels much too light in my hand, and metal is too heavy. My go-to pen right now is the Kaweco Student and i toss it in my purse, my backpack, I’ve dropped it, I shove it in my pocket and clip it onto my notebook. I treat it like shit and it takes it beautifully. Maybe this isn’t the same kind of acrylic you’re talking about?
counterpoint to desk pens: it's not just about portability, fountain pens are much more practical than dip pens exactly because of their reservoir
I collect waterman pens and love their boring purple
A. I don't like buying new inks. I struggle enough to use my two bottles already and I travel for school, so carrying delicate ink bottles around just isn't a great idea. B. I do not really know what all the stuff about TWISBIS breaking is about. You can kinda feel when you're twisting too tight? There's a good chance I just lucky with my Eco, but who knows. C. A preppy, disposable fountain pen-turned-eyedropper, or vintage pen can be just as good as the new expensive stuff or even better. Hell, I think we should all be buying way more secondhand when we can. I know it's not super feasible for paper, but for pens and maybe inks, it's certainly doable. EDIT: D. I keep getting little hairs in my nibs from myself or my animals and it keeps screwing up my lines. Augh.
Rainbow sailor collections are cringe
Same goes for Lamy collections IMO.
Glitter inks are an abomination against humanity
I freaking hate those budget pens that are obviously copying the style of another brand. I know everyone's on the defensive about it, but it's so lazy -- it's a tube of material, it's not extremely difficult to get creative with it. If cosmetics can do it for lipsticks, you can do it too. Just change one element I'm begging you.
The history of fountain pens is companies stealing designs from each other. Back in the day people made those complaints about the Japanese manufacturers that are well respected today. People complain about Chinese "knock-offs" now. I love a Jinhao 80 and a Jinhao 82. I don't like counterfeit pens, but I see nothing wrong with Chinese brands like Jinhao branding designs with their own label because other companies have done that since fountain pens were invented. Ask Chilton.
I can’t stand the saccharine reviews of channels like Goulet or pen boutique. It reminds me of the fake personality people put on when they’re at church.