Top 5 fountain pens to start a collection - what I'd buy first if I started over. 4 are under $50!
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- A friend of mine recently asked me what I'd recommend buying to get started in fountain pens.
Quick comment: When talking about the Eco, I meant to say it's difficult to find a good full-size twist-off cap pen in this price range. The Kaweco Sport is a great example of another inexpensive option but it's a pocket pen.
Here are the 5 pens I would buy and the order in which I would buy them:
1. Pilot Varsity
2. Pilot Kakuno
3. TWSBI Eco
4. Kaweco Sport
5. Pilot Custom 74
This is a well thought-out and informative list, thanks. I'd like to present an alternative approach.
1. My list would also start with the Varsity - decide if you even want to write with a wet pen, without having to deal with filling it.
2. Get a really cheap & reliable cartridge pen, the Pilot Petit1. Then STOP and consider - do you need anything more than this little tool? Maybe not. You don't have to be a collector if perhaps you have something better to do with your money. Right your heart out with the Petit1 and skip steps 3-5.
3. Get a syringe (cheaper than a converter) and some ink samples (cheaper than bottles). Refill the Petit1 cartridge with a color you love. Find out if you want to fall down the rabbit hole of thousands of fountain pen inks to choose from. Remember, black and blue really are the best for writing. Most fountain pen afficionados will tell you that they already have more ink than they can use in the rest of their lives (like me). You don't NEED anything besides black or blue.
4. Buy a thin pen and a thick pen for not much money: Muji and Jinhao x159. Figure out which suits you best.
5. Splurge on a nicer, pen, with a broad nib or even a stub, as all so far are fine or medium. So you can pick your preferred nib size, and also start to think about price levels. I personally like the Faber-Castell Hexo, with the best steel nib (my) money can buy. Then compare it to the Petit1 - is it REALLY worth THIRTEEN Petit1's? If you find a way to answer yes, then congratulations and welcome to collecting! Go wild! If not, well you've already got three pens, which is two more than you need to write, so quit staring at pens in the stores, quit watching videos, and go get writing.
I think the Eco is also a great way to introduce someone to servicing/cleaning pens with the included wrench and grease. I'm still using my grease today. Had similar takeaways from the Eco aswell. But too many people love TWSBI to discount them to a new user.
Chinese pens (I'll call out Asvine, Moonman, Hongdian, PenBBS) are getting to a point (in quality and accessibility) where I would feel comfortable recommending them to a newbie as maybe an alternative to the Eco.
The 74 and the Lamy 2000 are getting up there in price...I hope we can see some more interesting offerings between $100-200 (probably not with gold nibs...😢).
Thanks for the cool videos this year!
You can get a 74 for $93 USD on Pensachi. The 200 is about $200.00 and worth it. As I use my pens a lot ink capacity matters. For around $100 the Pelikan M200, 205, 215 are great piston fillers for the money and swap-able nibs. I love my 823’s. I have other pilots but the 823 is just it for me. I do enjoy my Pelikan’s. Vintage I like Parker and Schaefer. The 51 is still one of the best pens ever made IMHO. I really like my 45’s too.
@@nsatoday All good options, and it's good to see that the grey market prices that I paid for my Custom 74 are still attainable. Pilot will be increasing prices Jan 1 and the Lamy 2000 MSRP is now ~$220 US.
Excellent video-I’m going to send this to friends interested in getting into fountain pens. Your list is perfect.
Great choices and an informative video. I respectfully disagree about the Pilot 78G; I purchased one and was so delighted, that I bought another in the event something happened to my first.
haha - yes - several of my friends disagree with me about the 78G as well. I just never bonded with that pen
Interesting take on starting out with pens
9:37 Great videos, glad I found your channel! Not everyone can start the hobby at the top of the food chain so your videos are helping me learn some things that will hopefully be useful as I seek out new pens. I got my Prera this evening and it’s great! Didn’t like the Sport options that were available to me on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendations!
The Prera is one of my favorite pens as well!
@@seattlepenclub Bought 2 after watching your videos. Love them so far
Good choices! Interesting perspective on starting with the Varsity. I didn't think about that but I agree it makes sense! I personally would take the Pilot Explorer vs. the Kakuno but agree on the great steel nib. Thanks for another great video
Also - didn't know about the Pilot Petit. Ordered one!
haha cool!
The idea of a disposable fountain pen like the Varsity is almost offensive.
My only fountain pen for over 30 years was a gifted Montblanc 146.
This Christmas, a $25 gifted Kaweco Sport ignited my love for fountain pens. Since it seemed too light to me I bought a more comfortable TWSBI Mini with a 1.1 mm stub nib. I loved that nib so much that I bought a 1.1 mm stub for my Kaweco.
Now even though my TWSBI Mini is a better quality pen, my Kaweco Sport with 1.1 mm nib is my favorite writer!
The Kaweco Sport with a stub sounds like a cool combo
This is a great list! My first fountain pen was the Muji metal fountain pen. I got a Kaweco Liliput next, then the Eco and I got a Prera in there too somewhere. It was all over when I got the greatness that is the Eco and Prera. 🤣
The Pilot Varsity was not my first pen. (My first was a Parker Vector.) But the Pilot Varsity opened my mind to the possibilities of different colors of ink. And I'm glad to see you recognize the Kakuno rather than the Metropolitan. I agree that the Kakuno is a much better pen.
I think it does a credit to the company that Pilot appears so much on your list. I'll admit I no longer use my Pilot Custom 74, but I use the Pilot with the same nib: the Pilot Custom Heritage 92. It's more expensive, though. But I actually love the Lamy 2000!
Cool list!
Nice list. I’d consider the penbbs 456 over the eco in its spot.
I like the "best steel nib in the industry" going to buy soon, Love from India😅
You seem to be starting over with the knowledge/experience you have now…so, I would skip the beginner pens and go right to the Pilot 823, Platinum 3776, Aurora Optima, and the like! As it was, even though I had fountain pen experience from childhood, I did start 10 years ago with TWSBI Mini, Lamy Safari, etc. Love Pilots. Also Opus 88’s pocket Fantasias-best travel pen because of a lot of ink for it’s size and flying-friendly filling style.
Agreed, though I would add a TWSBI to your list for college students, because of the huge ink reservoir and because it is tough.
@@kevinu.k.7042, Twisbi eco makes a great student pen. Got some for my kids and nieces and nephews. That said I’m in love with my custom 823’s. 2ml!
@@nsatoday What wonderful thing to gift!
823's - So am I 😁
I grabbed the Petit1 (200 yen! 200!) and oh man this thing is way too good for what it is.
Totally agree....
Where is Lamy Safari?
The only thing that could’ve made this video better is if you had written down the name of the pen using the pen that you were writing down. That way we can see how they all write differently💜
What’s wrong with the 78G?
nothing objectively. It's cheaply made but fair for the price point. I don't like it mainly because it's too thin for me to use comfortably
I don't like those baseline varsity types. dreadful. Kakuno all the way. I have to say Pilot fits my small hands better than most of the popular types. I love the long grip and the build quality. They are light but solid. I like the Kaweco sport for the fun factor.
Gold nibs are not worth the money. I say this as someone sufficiently advanced in accumulating fountain pens that I actually buy ONLY gold nibs nowadays. But then, I am an IDIOT. Do as I say, not as I do. A nice Faber-Castell with their fantastic steel nib is all the pen anybody needs. There, I said it. Somehow I got it in my head that I was worth gold nibs. Before you make the same mistake, get it into your head that gold nibs are not worth the money.