Nib Newbie's First Pen

Hi Guys,

My first post to the Nib. I've been on the shaving forum for a year now and been poking around the Nib the last few days. I'm looking to purchase my first fountain pen. I'm thinking about the Parker IM.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Parker-IM-P...238?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item566c314af6

I am very much open to suggestion on my first fountain pen. Looking to keep it around $40 and something along the lines of the Parker IM in aesthetics. I'd like the pen to have clean lines black, sliver, or dark grey or a combination. some grip lines like the IM to give a little character would be a plus.

Also I am aware that this is a cartidge pen, I'm open to trying a piston pen and in that case would like a recommendation for a nice black ink that wont break the bank. Thanks guys! I really appreciate any guidance you can give me.

I'm thinking about purchasing this Rhodia notebook as well if anyone has any experience with it:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DCDSWG...TF8&colid=294ROSX4H26GZ&coliid=I32TD9KJVDJKS2

You can get many pens for less than $40.00 and they take or come with converters. Lamy Safari, Nemosine Singularity, Pilot Metropolitan all cost about $15.00 and are great starter pens. Noodlers Bullet Proof is reliable and trouble free in my experience, some other Noodlers offerings have variable commentaries on their performance.
Rhodia is generally well respected.

Would probably recommend the Pilot Metropolitan first. You can get a CON-50 converter that acts like a piston filler. Modern Parker pens are somewhat questionable in terms of quality these days.

Lamy Safari/Al-Stars are also good starter pens with a piston-fill converter, but you have to like the aesthetics and be okay with the grip. Lamy Studio is nice but is probably out of the price range, and I am not sure if they have other pens that fit your budget.

Piston pens in the $40 range that don't require a ton of tinkering are scarce. Stay away from Noodler's pens, as they require tinkering to get going right. If you can go to $50 I would take a look at TWSBI; just make sure you get a 580 or a Mini or a newer Classic. Otherwise, start saving your pennies for a vintage pen, Lamy 2000, or a Pelikan M200/M400.

Noodlers Bulletproof Black and Rhodia are both excellent choices. I might recommend Aurora Black over Noodlers depending on what you are going to use the setup for.

I've got two piston pens. A Lamy 2000 ($150 +-) and a Twisbi 580 AL ($60). Both are very well made. Both are fun to write with. The standard Twisbi 580 usually goes for $50. If you can go the extra $10, from your $40) the Twisbi 580 is a great first piston pen. My 580 is inked and I've been preparing my taxes with it all morning.

That said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Pilot Metropolitans. You are getting lots of pen for money. Many of us use these pens at work as our daily carry. The big "working" difference between a converter pen, the Metropolitan, and a piston pen, the 580s or the 2000, is ink capacity. Piston pens use the barrel to hold the ink. There is lots of room in there for ink. A converter pen houses the converter inside the barrel with a bit of wiggle room left over. This means converter pens have less ink capacity. I am seldom able to use an entire converter's stash of ink in a single day. That includes days when I am in meetings all day long and writing continually.

Diamine inks work great in all of these pens. There are lots of colors, including blacks, and their products are at the lower end of the price spectrum.

Have fun...

Thank you very much for your suggestions gentleman. Is there a reason you are steering me away from the Parker IM? Just curious if it is not known for the highest quality? I really love the look of the Parker IM. The aesthetics of these other pens, save the Nemosine Singularity, aren't really resonating with me.

I have been reading about noodler and parker quink inks as a potential starting ink. Any thoughts on those?

mikeschu said:

Would probably recommend the Pilot Metropolitan first. You can get a CON-50 converter that acts like a piston filler. Modern Parker pens are somewhat questionable in terms of quality these days.

Lamy Safari/Al-Stars are also good starter pens with a piston-fill converter, but you have to like the aesthetics and be okay with the grip. Lamy Studio is nice but is probably out of the price range, and I am not sure if they have other pens that fit your budget.

Piston pens in the $40 range that don't require a ton of tinkering are scarce. Stay away from Noodler's pens, as they require tinkering to get going right. If you can go to $50 I would take a look at TWSBI; just make sure you get a 580 or a Mini or a newer Classic. Otherwise, start saving your pennies for a vintage pen, Lamy 2000, or a Pelikan M200/M400.

Noodlers Bulletproof Black and Rhodia are both excellent choices. I might recommend Aurora Black over Noodlers depending on what you are going to use the setup for.

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+1

shubes said:

Thank you very much for your suggestions gentleman. Is there a reason you are steering me away from the Parker IM? Just curious if it is not known for the highest quality? I really love the look of the Parker IM. The aesthetics of these other pens, save the Nemosine Singularity, aren't really resonating with me.

I have been reading about noodler and parker quink inks as a potential starting ink. Any thoughts on those?

Click to expand...

The reviews on the Parker IM from the Goulet site aren't all that inspiring. I think after the Parker 25 in the 1980s, the quality has generally gone downhill. I have a Jotter ballpoint from the 1990s (UK build) that I love, but I'm not sure that I'd go more modern than that unless you can afford something like a Sonnet.

Sheaffer seems to be okay though for modern pens as an alternative to Parker. Avoid Cross; they're cheap but have build problems. You may want to look at Levenger as well; their pens seem to be of a decent quality.

Parker Quink will work for just about anything and is a staple ink. Noodlers black is great, but read carefully about some of their inks. They tend to be very saturated and/or have properties that can make a mess of pens, especially if you leave ink in a pen for a long time.

The Parker IM is a cartridge fill pen. You're stuck with their cartridges

you can actually buy a cartridge converter which fits in the IM like any other fountain pen

If you like the Parker IM then go ahead and get it. Everyone has their favorites that they always suggest. There is no right or wrong first pen. If you like it, then get it.

shubes said:

Is there a reason you are steering me away from the Parker IM? Just curious if it is not known for the highest quality?

I have been reading about noodler and parker quink inks as a potential starting ink. Any thoughts on those?

Click to expand...

Parker hasn't had the best track record when it comes to quality, at least in recent history. My worst pen is a 1998 Parker Frontier...I don't even bother inking it anymore because it just doesn't write well no matter which ink I use.

Parker Quink, Sheaffer Skrip, and Noodler's black and navy blue are great inks and should work well in just about any pen. I'd recommend one of those for your first ink...but it depends on your wants (color?) and needs (water-resistant or water-proof?).

FWIW, my first was a stainless-steel Waterman Hemisphere in fine-point nib that I bought about 8 years ago. Cost me about 50€ for the pen, a converter, and a bottle of blue ink. So far it's been bulletproof; it's my go-to for writing correspondence and taking notes. I liked it so much I bought another in medium-point nib for writing in my journal.

As far as ink goes, I use Waterman blue (quite a good blue, though I've heard Aurora's is better) and S.T. Dupont black (there is no better black ink out there, and rest assured I've looked).

Purchases finally arrived

Please excuse the terrible handwriting

Hey, that writing is very legible. You are doing great!