Fountain Pen Advice

**Dale** · 08-12-2007, 01:17 PM

I would like to get a new fountain pen and am considering the following:

Namiki Falcon Medium
Namiki Bamboo Medium
Sailor Sapporo Medium
Sailor Professional Gear Medium

The Namiki Vanishing Point also looks nice but the placement of the clip makes me hesitate. I now have two pens. One is a Waterman Phileas and the other is a German-made Levenger with a stainless steel nib. Any advice/counsel you folks can give me would be appreciated. Thanks so much. :)

**Scotto** · 08-12-2007, 01:38 PM

Those are nice pens. The Vanishing Points are love them or hate them - I am in the latter camp. Given the pens you have already, I would strongly recommend looking at a Pelikan. They are my favorite pens for finish and writing.

**Dale** · 08-12-2007, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by Scotto

Those are nice pens. The Vanishing Points are love them or hate them - I am in the latter camp. Given the pens you have already, I would strongly recommend looking at a Pelikan. They are my favorite pens for finish and writing.

I am not a big fan of either of my pens so I am open to something different in the $100 - $200 range. I will check out the Pelikans. :) Thanks, Scotto.

**TimmyBoston** · 08-12-2007, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Scotto

Given the pens you have already, I would strongly recommend looking at a Pelikan. They are my favorite pens for finish and writing.

My thoughts exactly, I adore Pelikans. Check out www.richardspens.com a store operated by Richard Binder, he gives outstanding service and personally tests and makes sure every nib is in full working order before shipping it out to you. He can also do customized nibs if you wish. Both the Pelikan M200 and M400 can be found in that $100-$200 range. The M600 runs around $225 and is outstanding as well.

**Suzuki** · 08-12-2007, 03:07 PM

I don't own, but have tried several Namiki and Sailor pens - but they didn't do it for me.

I'll third the Pelikan recomendation - I have an 800 and its fantastic.

The 600 and 400 are smaller pens, so they might not work for you. You can't go wrong with a Pelikan - many consider them the standard against which other pens are judged in terms of how well they write. These Pelikans have integral pistion fiiller mechanisms, so you can only used bottled ink - the upside is that the ink resevoir is very big, so you can go a while between fillings.

Another pen I recommend very highly is the Lamy 2000 -its a German-made piston fill that's stood the test of time and writes amazingly well.

Here's a good review:

http://www.rickconner.net/penoply/misc.12.html

The great thing about the Lamy is that you get a nice-sized/balanced pen with a very good 14k gold nib for $100 - $115 shipped from a variety of e-bay and online dealers.

**Roman414** · 08-13-2007, 03:28 AM

My "every day" pen is the Pelikan M200. Utterly reliable, and light as a feather. You can write with it for hours with no cramping or fatigue. For the most pen for the money, consider the vintage Sheaffers and Parkers.

**Stauff** · 08-13-2007, 05:04 AM

Another vote for Pelikans. The one I had was one of the best writers ever. Good pump mechanisms and solid construction as well.
These days I enoy a few Lamy's: a Lamy 2000 (14K nib, excellent value for $$, cool 1966 futuristic design, unbreakable material) and a truely fantastic Lamy Persona (designed by Mario Bellini) with a large and solid 14K nib (even a bit better than the Pelikan IMO).

Another option are Caran d'Ache pens, which make a good alternative for Pelikans if you're into the traditional style (in which case Lamy's aren't an option)

**boz27606** · 08-13-2007, 05:42 AM

I love my vanishing point. It's my go-to pen at work. I use it in an office and production line environment. Great workhorse.

My index finger rests on the pocket clip so I don't have to rototate the pen to align to nib to write.

The next on my list is the Falcon then the Pelikan 200.

I try to avoid the AD and be uncluttered Zen. I only own a progress razor and one brush.

boz