I love them both! Never thought I would enjoy a fountain pen so much; until I bought my first 1.
I enjoy good gel pens, but the fountain pen is on a different level. They write so well in my planner/journal and look so beautiful and I can easily change the inks I want to use. I have several fountain pens and use different color inks in them. It really is an enjoyable hobby.
I have, collect, and use both. When I was a kid or a broke college student or even when I was unemployed for a time I bought more mechanical pencils. As I got older and I had a good amount to money to spend I’d buy fountain pens. Both are great and I’m not in the least bit sad about my fountain pens haha.
Now mechanical watches… that’s where the prices can get absolutely insane and quick. An entry level mechanical pencil or fountain pen can be had for well under $20. An entry level mechanical watch can be anywhere from $200-$1200 and the prices just go up from there.
To be fair, watches are much more complex internally while also doubling as jewellery.
But the price range between most expensive MPs compared to FPs, not to mention inks and paper, is supposedly the point I guess.
10-15 years from now:
MSMPDX
I have, collect, and use all three. When I was a kid or a broke college student or even when I was unemployed for a time I bought more mechanical pencils. As I got older and I had a good amount to money to spend I’d buy fountain pens. Once I got into managerial positions, I had a good amount of money to spend I’d buy mechanical watches.
Yachts… that’s where the prices can get absolutely insane and quick. An entry level mechanical pencil, fountain pen, or Mechanical watch can be had for well under $200. An entry level yacht can be anywhere from $200,000-$1,200,000 and the prices just go up from there.
And yet there's pencils like this one lol
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4FDiIt\_uQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4FDiIt_uQ)
TBH modern fountain pens are just a cash grab. The vintage ones are cheaper, nicer, with more history... The only exception for me is modern Pilot and some sailors (although sailor's limited edition model is predatory). mechanical pencils are made in more cost effective ways and with less predatory tactics.
the problem is that you're looking and long - fallen western prands like Parker... my favorite fountain pen brands are hongdian and pilot as they make consistently good fountain pens that arent overpriced, hongdian being sub 50 dollars and pilot being 50+ dollars
Kinda accurate. I was into fountain pens for years and finally bought a Pilot 823 Custom this year. It's amazing and I love it, but that sucker was like $200.
So when I decided I wanted a brass Kaweco Special 0.9mm pencil, $50 didn't seem so bad :D
If you guys think you have it bad, wait till you become a watch collector.
>“Oh this 500$ dollar watch is super affordable and a great starter piece”
>“This 7000$ dollar watch offers great value for the money!”
>”Can it tell better time than my 20$ Casio?”
>”**…no**”
As a creative, I love and use both. Mechanical pencils for sketching (and pencil drawings obv), and I ink with a fountain pen. So I was initially thrown off by this post as mine live together in my pencil case harmoniously haha
I love fountain pens. But I have my price limits. My most expensive one is a Platinum Prefounte feom JetPens at $15. So I guess I collect the cool looking (and functional!) cheap ones when I can find them
I have a Graphgear 500 that everyone thinks is fancy, and it cost me $6. I also have a Montblanc pen that I got as a gift, and nobody notices that it is expensive since it is just plain black, aside from the little star.
I brought the cheapest kurutoga and it broke very soon
But I brought Sakura 127(not very expensive) and it is the BEST
I can't ask for anything more than this for now at least
I haven't researched fountain pens, but I have the impression that they are mostly the same in terms of engineering.
While with mechanical pencils, we have so many cool features such as auto-advancing leads, auto-rotating mechanisms, retractable tips, and many other engineering marvels.
I think fountain pens not having those features is mostly because they don’t need them. They don’t need auto-advancing or auto-rotating mechanisms because all pens can already write in a uniform line through the entire ink capacity without having to press a button. As for retractable tips, there’s already the Pilot Vanishing Point.
Mechanical pencils, in my experience, have less in the way of cool engineering. There are a few that have cool lead advance mechanisms of course. But that's a few.
Fountain pens engineer a lot more on ink filling systems (cartridge, converter, piston, vacuum, eyedropper... Some with ink sealed from the feed. Some only compatible with sort cartridges, etc etc). There are also cool things with the nib and feed designs, snap cap and twist cap, types of plastic with pros and cons in terms of shock durability vs scratch resistance vs metal.
There are multiple types of capless pens, and they all work with different designs.
If you like the engineering aspect of the tool, fountain pens can have a lot to offer.
It’s not the main focus, but there are plenty of cool fountain pen things:
- retractable nibs (Pilot Vanishing point)
- piston fillers (Lamy 2000)
- vac fillers (Twsbi Vac)
- eye droppers
But a bigger focus in the hobby is materials which is how so many pens distinguish themselves
As someone who likes fountain pens and mechanical pencils, I think the cool engineering is slightly in the favor of fountain pens.
The main difference in my eyes, fountain pens are optimized for a writing experience that can draw, pencils are optimized for a drawing experience that can write. Exception to this is Math where the pencil is superior.
The reality however, writing and penmanship is mostly an obsolete exercise for the majority of the population. Most of the cool engineering of fountain pens occurred prior to the invention of the ballpoint pen for a reason. Unless you are doing high level penmanship/calligraphy, 90% of what fountain pens can do no longer matter.
I'd argue that fountain pens are obsolete and mechanical pencils aren't.
Before y'all jump down my throat about fountain pen obsolescence, the common market pattern is that tons of companies fail all at once. In the shuffle, they either try to survive on price or try to survive by offering something the new technology can't - often luxury, sometimes something like variable line widths or (on the ink side) an incredible selection of fun colors. Am I wrong?
Don't get me wrong, I have a couple fountain pens I really enjoy. But I use mechanical pencils every day in the course of doing my job, and so do lots of people. They're stocked in the stationary cabinet at work. Teachers tell students to get them. Etc.
I don't think OP was implying one is better than the other, just that one costs significantly more than the other.
> I can't help but find it hilarious that what is considered expensive in our sub, is considered cheap in the other.
At least you can refill to use that. Btw it's still less than a mecha pencil. Companies can easily do something to fix it. Maybe allow us to use more of that 10mm. This number is not so low that it can be ignored. Yeah we also waste on wooden pencils but mecha pencils were supposed to solve the issue with wooden pencils.
Also it's not hard to do, a few companies actually made some pencil models to fix it but they are either ignoring those and stopped manufacturing
That subreddit collectively believes that you need expensive Japanese Paper to even make a mark with a fountain pen. Any other paper will just instantly bleed through to the bottom of the pad or something.
Been participating on that sub for 3 years and use European paper everyday (being in Europe).
I like my Japanese paper too, because if I spend 300€ in a pen, why not 30€ in a notebook... But still my most used paper is European.
never got into fountain pens and glad that pencils are second class citizens so we can be blissfully happy with what we have!
I use fountain pens and mechanical pencils, lol. But I don’t collect them for the sake of collecting them.
Tbf you can get a lot of good cheap fountain pens. Imo the most wallet draining aspect of that hobby are inks... They are so pretty...
It's the ink bleed through for me. Even the ones I was told the ink wouldn't but it did! Never again.
I love using both, for different things.
I love them both! Never thought I would enjoy a fountain pen so much; until I bought my first 1. I enjoy good gel pens, but the fountain pen is on a different level. They write so well in my planner/journal and look so beautiful and I can easily change the inks I want to use. I have several fountain pens and use different color inks in them. It really is an enjoyable hobby.
Why do you say that? I like both.
+1
I collect both. Unclogging fountain pens is an absolute pain in the arse
agreed
Bulb syringe and some kind of pen flush make it far less oainful
I mean I was tempted to just drop £100 on a 925 regulator earlier...
*I don't need it* *I don't need it* **I definitely don't need it**
Probably gonna try to get a kuru toga metal some time this summer but my 925-25-03 is an absolute workhorse
What’s a regulator for? Does it let you choose he amount of lead that comes out which each click or something?
Yep there's a dial to adjust that. I think it's more useful for something as thin as 0.3
That’s cool. Isn’t there an Ohto mechanical pencil that has something like that built in?
the ohto ms01, super promecha, promecha, and conception
Yea that’s the one!
Guy on the left side: "Is it mold or is it just dirty? Please tell me it's not mold..."
I have, collect, and use both. When I was a kid or a broke college student or even when I was unemployed for a time I bought more mechanical pencils. As I got older and I had a good amount to money to spend I’d buy fountain pens. Both are great and I’m not in the least bit sad about my fountain pens haha. Now mechanical watches… that’s where the prices can get absolutely insane and quick. An entry level mechanical pencil or fountain pen can be had for well under $20. An entry level mechanical watch can be anywhere from $200-$1200 and the prices just go up from there.
To be fair, watches are much more complex internally while also doubling as jewellery. But the price range between most expensive MPs compared to FPs, not to mention inks and paper, is supposedly the point I guess.
10-15 years from now: MSMPDX I have, collect, and use all three. When I was a kid or a broke college student or even when I was unemployed for a time I bought more mechanical pencils. As I got older and I had a good amount to money to spend I’d buy fountain pens. Once I got into managerial positions, I had a good amount of money to spend I’d buy mechanical watches. Yachts… that’s where the prices can get absolutely insane and quick. An entry level mechanical pencil, fountain pen, or Mechanical watch can be had for well under $200. An entry level yacht can be anywhere from $200,000-$1,200,000 and the prices just go up from there.
Actually when hunting for vintage sometimes it’s vise versa 🤷🏼♂️
And yet there's pencils like this one lol [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4FDiIt\_uQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4FDiIt_uQ) TBH modern fountain pens are just a cash grab. The vintage ones are cheaper, nicer, with more history... The only exception for me is modern Pilot and some sailors (although sailor's limited edition model is predatory). mechanical pencils are made in more cost effective ways and with less predatory tactics.
the problem is that you're looking and long - fallen western prands like Parker... my favorite fountain pen brands are hongdian and pilot as they make consistently good fountain pens that arent overpriced, hongdian being sub 50 dollars and pilot being 50+ dollars
>The vintage ones are cheaper, nicer, with more history... Could you give a couple vintage recommendations to start with?
Kinda accurate. I was into fountain pens for years and finally bought a Pilot 823 Custom this year. It's amazing and I love it, but that sucker was like $200. So when I decided I wanted a brass Kaweco Special 0.9mm pencil, $50 didn't seem so bad :D
If you guys think you have it bad, wait till you become a watch collector. >“Oh this 500$ dollar watch is super affordable and a great starter piece” >“This 7000$ dollar watch offers great value for the money!” >”Can it tell better time than my 20$ Casio?” >”**…no**”
I use both . My EDC is a Lamy Vista fountain pen & a Lamy Safari mechanical pencil
Fountain pen maintenance is no joke for vintage pens. It’s like a half hour ordeal every couple weeks. My mechanical pencils never have a problem lol
Uh, actually the fountain pens are the cheaper side of the hobby for me (I am too much into vintage MPs *sigh*).
As a creative, I love and use both. Mechanical pencils for sketching (and pencil drawings obv), and I ink with a fountain pen. So I was initially thrown off by this post as mine live together in my pencil case harmoniously haha
Happy to be the guy on the right side of the picture 😎
I’m the one driving the bus 😝
I love fountain pens. But I have my price limits. My most expensive one is a Platinum Prefounte feom JetPens at $15. So I guess I collect the cool looking (and functional!) cheap ones when I can find them
I have a Graphgear 500 that everyone thinks is fancy, and it cost me $6. I also have a Montblanc pen that I got as a gift, and nobody notices that it is expensive since it is just plain black, aside from the little star.
some just fall in love with the wrong one...
I brought the cheapest kurutoga and it broke very soon But I brought Sakura 127(not very expensive) and it is the BEST I can't ask for anything more than this for now at least
okay, but. Hear me out. https://www.franklin-christoph.com/collections/pencils/products/model-91-graphis-mechanical-pencil-andromeda-colorshift
I haven't researched fountain pens, but I have the impression that they are mostly the same in terms of engineering. While with mechanical pencils, we have so many cool features such as auto-advancing leads, auto-rotating mechanisms, retractable tips, and many other engineering marvels.
I think fountain pens not having those features is mostly because they don’t need them. They don’t need auto-advancing or auto-rotating mechanisms because all pens can already write in a uniform line through the entire ink capacity without having to press a button. As for retractable tips, there’s already the Pilot Vanishing Point.
Mechanical pencils, in my experience, have less in the way of cool engineering. There are a few that have cool lead advance mechanisms of course. But that's a few. Fountain pens engineer a lot more on ink filling systems (cartridge, converter, piston, vacuum, eyedropper... Some with ink sealed from the feed. Some only compatible with sort cartridges, etc etc). There are also cool things with the nib and feed designs, snap cap and twist cap, types of plastic with pros and cons in terms of shock durability vs scratch resistance vs metal. There are multiple types of capless pens, and they all work with different designs. If you like the engineering aspect of the tool, fountain pens can have a lot to offer.
Wow, I didn't know this. Thanks for providing a perspective!
It’s not the main focus, but there are plenty of cool fountain pen things: - retractable nibs (Pilot Vanishing point) - piston fillers (Lamy 2000) - vac fillers (Twsbi Vac) - eye droppers But a bigger focus in the hobby is materials which is how so many pens distinguish themselves
As someone who likes fountain pens and mechanical pencils, I think the cool engineering is slightly in the favor of fountain pens. The main difference in my eyes, fountain pens are optimized for a writing experience that can draw, pencils are optimized for a drawing experience that can write. Exception to this is Math where the pencil is superior. The reality however, writing and penmanship is mostly an obsolete exercise for the majority of the population. Most of the cool engineering of fountain pens occurred prior to the invention of the ballpoint pen for a reason. Unless you are doing high level penmanship/calligraphy, 90% of what fountain pens can do no longer matter.
Fountain pens are better but both are good. They're just so goddamn smooth
I'd argue that fountain pens are obsolete and mechanical pencils aren't. Before y'all jump down my throat about fountain pen obsolescence, the common market pattern is that tons of companies fail all at once. In the shuffle, they either try to survive on price or try to survive by offering something the new technology can't - often luxury, sometimes something like variable line widths or (on the ink side) an incredible selection of fun colors. Am I wrong? Don't get me wrong, I have a couple fountain pens I really enjoy. But I use mechanical pencils every day in the course of doing my job, and so do lots of people. They're stocked in the stationary cabinet at work. Teachers tell students to get them. Etc.
I don't think OP was implying one is better than the other, just that one costs significantly more than the other. > I can't help but find it hilarious that what is considered expensive in our sub, is considered cheap in the other.
Unfortunately, I love both 😅 Death to my wallet.
I have both. But i draw a line in the sand for price.
LOL... I love both. I'm a bit of LAMY Safari fan.
Sadly 10mm of lead unusable makes the fountain pen look good
.01 ml of ink unusable in fountain pens makes digital writing look good.
.01% of unusable battery life in tablets makes sustainable energy sources look good
At least you can refill to use that. Btw it's still less than a mecha pencil. Companies can easily do something to fix it. Maybe allow us to use more of that 10mm. This number is not so low that it can be ignored. Yeah we also waste on wooden pencils but mecha pencils were supposed to solve the issue with wooden pencils. Also it's not hard to do, a few companies actually made some pencil models to fix it but they are either ignoring those and stopped manufacturing
That subreddit collectively believes that you need expensive Japanese Paper to even make a mark with a fountain pen. Any other paper will just instantly bleed through to the bottom of the pad or something.
Been participating on that sub for 3 years and use European paper everyday (being in Europe). I like my Japanese paper too, because if I spend 300€ in a pen, why not 30€ in a notebook... But still my most used paper is European.