I love your price scale. That's a refreshing revelation, I believe, for anyone coming into the hobby. I don't find many vids speaking about how many low cost and mid-range pens are outstanding. I see a lot of beginners starting on the higher end of that spectrum and you'd think that having fountain pens would automatically be an extremely expensive hobby if that's all to be believed. Most of my collection is mid-range, peppered with some lower end and higher end pens, and I love them all. My ride or die is a toss up between two pens: the Lamy 2000 and my Pelikan M200. The Lamy Safari was also one of three first fountain pens for me and I still have a place in my heart for Lamy. I also still have my Lamy Safari in regular rotation. Pelikan is the first pen brand that made me gasp aloud the first time I tried one. It's easily my favorite pen company. I second your love for the Kaweco Student pens! I have two and I'm fighting the urge to get more. I have a white one and the same brown one you have, but that orange one and the berry one are SO CUTE TOO! They are a great price point and they are excellent writers, I fully recommend them!
Agree. The Kaweco Student is almost criminally underrated. Great everyday workhorse pen. I recommend it all the time to folks looking for next level up pens (from the kakunos, preppys, and the like). 🖋️❤️
I'm so glad my local shop clerk favored them and made the recommendation. So dependable but also feels substantial / expensive in your hand and the solid color version is one of my best looking pens.
Yay a fountain pen video! Abbey you have definitely penabled and inkabled me! 😂 I’ve been into the hobby for a couple years now and my tastes and preferences have definitely changed. One of my favorite pens I got this year is the Pilot Custom 823. It was a grail pen and is one of my favorites to write with. I wish I had your ability to keep a smaller collection. There are too many that tempt me!
Nib size also makes a difference when it comes to how much ink you're using. Broader, wetter nibs put down more ink than really thin nibs, so you h My safari takes a week max before it needs to be refilled but my preppy last easily 3-4 week before it needs refilling.
I have a few Lamy pens that I use for sketching with waterproof ink and they work great. I just started getting into writing fountain pens because I got a passport sized TN and I noticed yesterday my Pilot Cosmopolitan has a fine nib too but it writes smaller and nicer than my fine Lamy. It has a built in bladder that I squeeze in the ink and it fills up easily. I also find my Lamy’s scratchy sometimes. I’m glad you mentioned the Japanese nibs, that makes sense and I definitely want to find more Japanese pens for writing with. I love your new clear pen with the rose gold, it’s sooo pretty!
A possible fix for the scratchy Lamy nib: if it's due to misaligned tines, you can figure out in which direction they're misaligned (by writing with it and observing which direction is scratchy or looking at the nib under magnification), and gently press on the misaligned tine with a fingernail. You will probably get ink on your fingers doing it, and it might take several rounds of doing this and testing it out, but if that's the problem it should fix it, or at least make it a lot better.
@@ancalagonyt Thank you so much for the helpful tips! I know it does scratch if I write in one certain direction. I do have a linen tester from college for looking at things close up - I will try taking a closer look and doing what you suggested. Thanks again!
I've flown a number of times and worked on the plane using a couple different Kaweco Sports, and never experienced burping, or any other issues. Surprisingly great for flying. Add in their tiny form factor and they are truly my favorite travel pen!
I found my favourite pen right off the bat. Unfortunately it’s a kaweco sport so now I just froth over all the different colours and materials and have to really exercise self control whenever a special edition comes out😂 that being said, I would literally scream and cry and vomit if I ever got the chance to buy a pilot e95s locally. There just isn’t anywhere in South Africa where I can buy one!
I really factor in the grip & nib size. You should try Kakuno extra fine in a pen show. Kakuno extra fine is the most extra fine I have ever seen. It is really like writing with a pilot gel pen ( gtech c4). I am eyeing the Kakuno fine for myself & the vanishing point because I should really have it you know :33
I've always been curious about Kakuno EF but didn't want to try new pens at the moment since I'm pretty ok with what I have. For thin writing I mainly use a 0.3mm Pentel Energel refill I have on hand. Thanks for suggesting!
I've always been curious about Kakuno EF but didn't want to try new pens at the moment since I'm pretty ok with what I have. For thin writing I mainly use a 0.3mm Pentel Energel refill I have on hand. Thanks for suggesting!
Great video and selection of pens. I have a similar price scale as you and have not spent over $350 for a pen. If I had to pick only one pen it would be a TWSBI Diamond Mini (Extra Fine). The small size, high ink capacity, consistent / smooth nib, and ability to screw to post, make it a perfect pen for me.
I wish that when I first started I would of just gotten samples of all the inks and then purchase the full size bottles of ones that I love. Instead of being stuck with some inks that I no longer love. In regards to fountain pens, I LOVE the retro student kaweco pens, I got one in each color. It is truly underrated. Another one is the pilot kakuno that is an affordable one. I love the affordable pens because I can always travel with them and not worry about losing it or dropping it (i'm clumsy). I love the twsbi so much for daily writing because I write a ton in my weeks planner. Love the kaweco for the size and the lamy for those days where i need to clip it on my TN. I agree with you, anything over $500, I'm gonna have to say no to. LOL. I love my sailor pens and the pilot vanishing point pens. I want a Pelikan M series and that is on my wishlist . Thanks so much for sharing tips and advice on fountain pens and inks.
I don't think I found my "holy grail" pen yet (though I think it's my white TWSBI ECO) but I basically try and use all my pens for journaling every single day. But I find that I've been gravitating towards my LAMYs and my TWSBI and completely forgetting my Platninum Preppy until I just remember it and pick it up
Did you say PEN-demic? 😁 I had a fountain pen phase during the pandemic. But moved abroad in 2023 and stopped. This video is waking up the fountain pen fanatic in me again.
hahhaa yes I did!! I also got into it during the pandemic :) When I moved abroad I also downsized a lot and helped me pick which ones I really like and want to use.
I love the pilot custom 823. I bought it in medium. I use blood orange with it but agree most brown or orange inks are a good pairing. I love your prospective on Asian characters versus Western or German.
I'm preparing for my planner supplies for next year and I've been thinking of switching to fountain pens but have no idea where to begin 😅. This video is exactly what I need. Thanks Abbey!
I just got a sailor EF and it’s writing super inconsistently, sometimes it just stops writing and then goes really thick… I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if something is wrong with the pen and I should ask sailor. I am super new though so I don’t know the right words to use to describe what is wrong :/ any advice for that?
Sailor EFs are generally scratchy nib-wise. I usually get MF or M for Sailors! What ink did you load it with? Try inking with a Sailor or Pilot ink (both wet flow), or maybe check out Goulet Pens videos as they definitely have more solutions for this or have similar people asking. Good luck!
@@AbbeySy Thank you for your reply!! Yeah the scratchiness I expected but the skipping and the globby ink coming out I did not. I loaded it with the cartridge that came with it (plus I bought 4 other colors of Sailor cartridges).. I will check out Goulet Pens video next!
Like yourself, my preference is towards new. Only exception was when a favourite antique shop acquired a vintage Waterman fountain pen, and bottled ink at a good price, got it for under $60 US. My grail pen triumvirate are Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 743, and Esterbrook Estie with a Gena nib.
I've been thinking about getting a student kaweco for a while, but that small size #5 nib always puts me off! I have been in the fountain pen hobby a couple of years so have a good idea of what I like now, and I prefer to have range of nib sizes (both japanese and european) depending what I'm writing and my mood. I really like all to points you made here! I do wish that I had something like this a few years ago though when I was moving from cheaper or entry pens up to mid-high range pens. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and helping newbies to the hobby!
I think you can switch the nibs in Kaweco Student! Not sure what particular sizes it allows though. Thanks for appreciating! I also wish I had this video when I started, so in some way I dedicate it to my past self :)
I really like kaweco because it’s really easy to switch the nibs in them. The nibs are also easily accessible. So you can equip your pen with a nice nib in your fave size (even 14k) even if you missed the sweet spot at first. I truly adore my Kaweco student in the pinkish colour and I just recently changed its nib to a more pro quality in medium size. At first it had a bold for titles and big captions in my spreads but I decided it is a waste and a sport has this purpose now 😅
How did they get "nuts" for that green color?! Maybe they were thinking of pistachios...😊 Since it's a special edition it'll be too expensive even if I could find one. I do see there are several lovely greens in the regular pro gear slim collection to consider. Mary
Born in the Philippines with Chinese descent. I don't share everything about me on the Internet so there are things I never mention / share until I casually bring them up
It's a Sailor Manyo Pro Gear Slim (Nuts) - limited edition from 2022! I share more about that pen in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yzO6p1i0RUc.html
