My Top Fountain Pens $50-$100 

I've always thought the Kaweco student was highly underrated. It looks great and the fit and finish is excellent.

I brought a Pilot Prera last month and haven’t stopped using it. Love it.

Hi DB. Great list. You had briefly mentioned the Lamy Studio. I have a stainless steel version with a nice medium nib, and I love the look. It has that handsome brushed stainless steel, "Porsche-Design" look, without the cost.

A really good video. From my perspective the Lamy Studio is the real jewel in Lamy’s crown. Beautifully made, with serious heft, part hand finished and as reliable as sin. This pen also fills the brief of one pen many nibs. The nibs are easily interchangeable even for me and reasonably priced. This pen is surely a serious contender in this price band. Most of the pens mentioned are really good although Osprey not available in the UK and one I’d like to have tried. I think that the FPR Jaipur has given me the most pleasure in this price band. Great Ultra Flex nib. Gravitas and Ennso great choice but for a few more dollars more you can get a seriously good pen with either of these brands although I got my Ennso Italia for $79 USD. Finally one should be able to get a vintage Parker 51 with a 14k nib within the price range. Certainly possible in the UK. Fabulous video. Thank you.

Shoutout to sheaffer’s! You can even find restored touchdowns for UNDER $50. And beautiful restored balances from $50-100. And a nice thing with vintage pens is their value is always appreciating.

As a newby to the world of fountain pens, I'd like to thank you for your assessments of these pens. Clearly, not all of them trip my trigger, but you have highlighted the differences and what I think I should be looking for. Thanks also for listing the pens you reviewed in the notes section. That will allow for some additional research.

Just a quick thing. As someone who watches a lot of pen reviews, what I love about writing samples is actually seeing the pen doing the writing (it's satisfying to see the nib run across the page and watch the ink flow out). So, personally, saving time by doing the writing sample beforehand is a shame.

Great list! Loved it! I would also mention the Platinum Curidas highly underrated but the nibs are so reliable.

Another great pen I think is underrated is the Platinum Procyon. I got mine (a Procyon Luster, Black Mist) for around $52 in Korea. It's hefty, but not heavy. Feels great.

Awesome! You covered some nice pens that I wasn’t aware of, especially some of those beautiful ebonite examples. I really enjoyed this video. Thanks. 👍👍👍

Nice selection, thanks!

DB, I agree with your Lamy appraisal. I find the Safari mundane, the Al-Star kinda nice, and the LX pretty attractive. I am very fond of my Studio, for which I bought a black section/feed and got lucky with a very nice 1.1 mm stub nib. The stub seems a little narrower than other 1.1 mm stubs I’ve had, and I love it.

Lovely breakdown Doodlebud!! Thanks for introducing brands like FPR and Osprey that aren’t that commonly known!😊

Direct and to the point. Well done.

Nice collection you have there DB. My wife got me the exact same pen as you, Lamy AL Brown, I love it, writes every time.

I'm waiting for my Ensso pocket pen from kickstarter. Your anodization effect is stellar!

I can recommend the customer service at Fountain Pen Revolution. Kevin makes every effort to sort out any problems, and the Himalaya is a good, sturdy pen. But I'd choose the Sheaffer first. The Balance nibs are extraordinary. Thanks for another excellent show.

What a great list!

I appreciate the tip on the special alloy Capless/VP.

D, I agree with you about the Narwhal nib sizing. My fine, which is about 2 months old, definitely writes more like a medium and also VERY wet. Thanks for an interesting recap.

Lovely list and i also think if someone doesn't want to spend more than $100 you can get great performing fountain pens for sure.

I would love to see more of these. Great vid as usual Doodlebud.

I have many pens but the two inked up on my desk right now are a Lamy Safari (EF) with Noodler's Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia ink. The other is a Lamy 2000 (M) that I bought new maybe 10 years ago for $90-something. They are sadly over $200 now but for those who can stretch it’s an absolutely brilliant pen to write with. I’m really enjoying KWZ Iron Gall Mandarin in that pen.

Narwhal/Nahvalur nibs are wonderful pens. The newer pens have nibs that are extremely smooth and you are right they do write broader than stated. However I have been able to do reverse writing quite well.

I also would recommend to hunt down Platinum 3776 Century, they are often can be found from Japan for around $100 and for that price it is a spectacular pen, with large gold nib.

Thanks for mentioning Ranga pens!

I'm super new to pens and have had the Pilot Metro in black for a little while. Recently found your channel and am excited to expand my collection and skills. I use penmanship as a way to relax so nothing serious. Not looking to get too deep into the high cost equipment. I will be the budget warrior.

Found a brand new Lamy Studio LX near me, last one in the country and it's discounted to $35!! Not that it's on topic just wanted to share somewhere!

TWSBI Vac 700 is so cool... but I think I like writing with my 580 a bit more.

Fan of Ranga fountain pens. They delivery great value for the price.

When I was ready to upgrade from the TWSBI Eco, I went with the Precision. I love the metal body.

The price seems ridiculous to most people, but these last a lifetime. Anyway great video

Wow! GREAT list! In regards to Ranga and FPR, I'd add their recent addition of the FPR Ranga Madras (with an architect nib!) under $100 with premium ebonite! I'll have to look into the Kaweco student a bit more but most of my Kaweco nibs have needed some tweaking out of the box so maybe not.

I would love to see the Gravitas fine flex nib in action. I’ve been saving up for a pen to get in the upcoming holidays so this list was great see

Great selection for real. I'd love to have your opinion on the Gravitas flex fine nib cause when it comes to the controversial subject of flex you're the only source that I trust.

Still trying to find a easy fill like a vac or something but that works well with waterproof ink for artwork that watercolor can go over

I haven’t tried the gold nib Pilot Capless, but I own the Capless Special Alloy. Mine is the Medium size nib; the fine nib was too scratchy for me. I highly recommend folks try out the Special Alloy version.

Ranga Pens are amazing, love the feel of ebonite and they are so well balanced

At these prices, a gold nib pilot 95s aka elite is a steal. The design of the cap is incredible.

Nicely done, Doodlebud. A lot of reviewers forget to include Ranga, Nahvalur, and Gravitas in this price range. However, you did leave out Opus 88. I have several models, and they are all excellent.

I only have a few pens in this price bracket. And they are the only pens at this price range that I cared for enough to buy and keep. So, it’s the Lamy Aion, Kaweco Steel Sport, an Ensso, a Gravitas, a Passaporto, and several fully restored vintage Esterbrook pens. That is really all. Everything else I currently own is overwhelmingly in the $200+ zone. Edit: I have four Ranga pens. But they all cost me $100+, owing to my ordering custom nibs for them. One of them cost me $299 for an 18k broad Boch nib.

Nice picks

I have the Nahvalur Schuylkill Dragonet Sapphire in Medium and it feels like a medium to me, so I think they have fixed the issues. They're a great pen for the price.

Pensachi has a sale right now on the VP Alloy for $100, and $93 for the Silver with a discount code.

Another great video. Thank you. I like the idea of getting a vintage pen, but don't know a reputable place to get one. Any recommendations?

Great vid! You should do an under $50 version of this. I'm curious if there are any really well engineered pens in that bracket!

Love my kaweco student.

I think if I were recommending a pen in this price range today, I’d ask if it would ever go on a plane or not. If air travel is a consideration I’d go for a TWSBI vacuum pen. If air travel is not a consideration I’d look at one of the Lamy or Pilot pens you mentioned, or another of my favorites in this range that is in heavy rotation for me is the TWSBI 580AL (M) that I usually pair with J Herbin Emerald of Chivor ink (which is a very decadent ink to be sure). Caveat on the TWSBI vacuum pen vs more $$$ vacuum pens (like Pilot 823)… the TWSBI vacuum back cap can be a bit fiddly. But once you’ve found the sweet spot it’s nice. Absolutely cavernous ink capacity (true of most TWSBI pens).

A WEBSITE ABOUT FOUNTAIN PENS. MY LUCKY DAY. I LOVE EM. MIGHT EVEN SPEND $15 FOR ONE. TKS.

It is still pronounced narwal.

Requesting a review of the phosbronze nib from Osprey pens.

I got new favourites! 😁. 😍😍😍 Gravitas and Ensso 😍😍😍

Thanks!

I prefer plastic Lamy. And glossy. The plastic is very high grade. Warm in the hand.

Tha Gravitas entry is so tempting, but sadly it would be about 170 euro after importing it to Norway. Ended up getting a Lamy Ideos, as it looks very nice in my opinion, and it was a bit below 100

Yeah..this is my price range..I like the metal kaweco sports(have a brass and stonewashed black al sport), have a signature edition peter pen, a tiny micro sized vintage pen, all in the 50-100$ range.....then have one that was many times more and out of my range..but worth it.

Diplomat makes great pens and their nibs are excellent! There are two models in the range: the traveler for a slim pen or the Esteem. Great list tho. I do agree with Gravitas pens taking top marks. Tho the Pilot e95s is another contender as it’s often under $100.

Don’t know if still a sale but FPR has a few pens BOGO. Himalaya v1 and ambassador. However, I own the ambassador and if you get the ultra flex, the feed doesn’t keep up. So it’s up to you if you want to spend the extra $10 on the feed.

Thanks for this, very helpful. The metal pens look wonderful but i hate that noise they make when capping/uncapping, it sets my teeth on edge 😬

1. What a great list, thanks. 2. When I was passing (upwards) through this price point, the perfect pen for me was thin, metal, flush, and cylindrical. Consequently my favorites were the Faber-Castell Neo Slim, the Lamy CP1, and the TiLiner (the titanium version, to push the price up to >$50). Now I've ended up strictly in Franklin-Christoph ($100-$200) and Sailor (>$200) territory.

Lx and Al Stars scratch more visibly though. Al star finishes are also more liable to flake off. I personally find no reason to buy a different Lamy until you reach the CP1.

I like your videos. I'm new at using fountain pen and learning. I would like to know what you mean by flex nibs and what is the difference. If you can point me to an article, I would greatly appreciate. Thank you.

Great video! Well done! Just a note on the Majohn A1; you can get them off of Ali Express for a little under $30US and Pen Chalet has the Pilot VP 18k gold nibs for $70US so at around $100US you can put together a very nice pen for not a lot of money. Just a thought! Again, thanks for the excellent video!

what is your discount code? not working at osprey pen

Getting towards the end of the video, I was thinking 'Where's Gravitas?' 🤔 I needn't have worried 😆

How did you do the wash on the Namisu pens? Is it something you can easily ish at home?

This is a VERY interesting and helpful video, thank you! Could you please direct me to a list of online contacts for repairing vintage fountain pens? For the most part, mine need just new ink sacs (I hope). I need someone who will do a meticulous, skilled job and charge a fair price. I don’t know where to start!

We're all different. I've had numerous Lamy pens, including the 2000, and I hated them all. I'm not a fan of the plastic Kaweco Sport, but I like the metal Sports, especially the Brass Sport. I have a gold nib on mine, which added close to a hundred and sixty dollars to the price, but I really enjoyed the steel nib, as well. It's one of my three daily carry pens. I find Conklin pens are hit and miss, but I have two Duragraph, the Amber and the Purple, that I think are beautiful, and both have very smooth nibs and good flow. I like them enough that I think I'm going to add gold nibs to them, as well. I love ebonite, but I'm very cautious about ebonite made in China, and most pens made in India use Chinese made ebonite. Chinese made ebonite can be very beautiful, but the sulfur content is often ridiculous, sometimes twice as high as in western made ebonite. I've heard of sulfur content of up to seventy percent. Not at all good for longevity. I love the FPR Ultra Flex nib, but I do recommend making sure you get the matching feed to go with it if you buy it separately. Not only does this add versatility when switching nib and feed to other pens, it also seems to have higher ink flow, which is a big plus for a flex nib. With a rare exception here and there, I've never been a fan of steel nibs, but I needed something to do during the Covid lockdown, so I bought a TWSBI. Then another and another and another until I had every model in production, and several of most models. I love all of them, including the Swipe. The Diamond 580 ALR and the Precision are fantastic writers. But they all are, down to the GO, but the ALR and the Precision just feel better in my hand, though I don't really know why. Other than my TWSBI pens, my two Conklin Duragraph, a Pilot Lucina, and a Pilot Elite 95s, I don't think I own any pens in the fifty to one hundred price range. I probably wouldn't own these had it not been for Covid. It seems hard to believe, but the Pilot Elite 95s has a fourteen K gold nib, and only cost about ninety dollars.

Is the Ranga green/yellow pen in your video a matte Finnish or a polished Finnish?

Man... The most I have spent on a pen so far was the BENU Minima City Lights... I love it so much, the color is perfect, and the WEIRD shape is surprisingly no problem for my small hands to hold- it is not postable though so large hands would probably hate it tbh I think it was 86 USD when I bought it, and uhhhh thank goodness I did, cuz some months later, a lot of stuff went down, and the pen now MSRPs for 106 USD... I do think it's funny how my pen went from double digits to triple overnight smcnsnxnns

why u never talk about parker ? is it a bad brand?

So do you guys recommend buying from goulet pens? Its weird on Pen Chalet has no reviews.

I have a Platinum 3776 that has a leak at the base of the feed, which seems to be the same as the leak you describe for the Namisu. Do you know if it is possible to get a new nib housing for the 3776?

Wow, are all those pens inked up? How many pens do you usually have inked at a time? Do you have a rotation or is it you just prefer to be able to grab a pen and have it inked and ready to go?

I have the exact same experience with TWISBY, it's a great pen, I love the filling mechanism, but I think it gets the least amount of use out of all of my pens. I can't pinpoint what it is, but I think it might be, for me, the grip.

My Ranga experience has been poor. Ink leaking and seeping from the feed and it’s been unfixable.

You’re the real deal DB! Congrats on 9000 subs coming soon! If it wasn’t for you, I would have never learned to help Jack off a horse! 😂

Because of my first pen (in the early 1980s) was an Esterbrook J, when i got back into fountain pens, my first was an old NOS Arnold. Then another cheapie, a "Bell System Property" Esterbrook LJ. Both around $10 USD and lever fillers. First cartridge converter one was a Jinhao X750 from Amazon. All worked well. Never had an interest in the "usual suspects" in budget pens. The Metropolitan and Safari don't do anything for me... Best $50+ I have? Depends. What I paid, or what they were worth, on average, when I got them? 😁 A 1912 Mabie Todd Swan C2 I paid $60 for? (Worth about $200.) My 1940s Conway Stewart? Under $50, worth around $100. Heck, every one of my 20+ vintage Esterbrook pens have been $50+, restored, and I've stayed under $25 for them. 1937 Parker Challenger goes for around $80. I paid $35. Just needed a polish, and the sac sealed (new sac, just not finished when I got it.) Sheaffer' Balance Junior from the 30s? Sells for more than double, minimum, the $25 I paid. I can go on... 😁 Gotta admit. I have plenty of free time to find bargains. And the prices in general have jumped, recently. I have a Parker 51. Restored, they aren't in the $50-100 range. $150. But get an "unrestored" aerometric. They just need cleaning to work well. That PVC sac should last several lifetimes. 😉 Vintage is easily the best "bang for your buck."

I bought a gravitas pen, and unfortunately, it never came. It’s been two months and unfortunately I just don’t have the money to spend on something that just won’t show up. The pens seem like they’re amazing, but I guess I’ll never know. :(

Best fp are for 1€, exactly 1.29€.

WTF doodlebud, you made me buy a Gravitas. Wanted one for a while and you got me to pull the trigger. LOL BTW, I bought the flex nib option.

Wait for black Friday sales to buy pens

Good video. For your prices, are you giving them in USD, even though you are in Canada? Because your prices are low for Canadian prices. As for the Narwhal, I agree, their nib size is a bit off. That's the reason why I don't like them to much. I put a goulet pen in mine.

No PenBBS 😩😢

TSSH TAA TSSH TAA TONG DEAD MAN WALKING

Should have not watched your video... I ended buying another Ranga pen because of you... FML. 😅🤣😂

My two cents: I don't know who told you such good things about the Lamy Studio, but I find it to be a an utterly terrible pen. The clip scratches the finish off in a clear arc, it's got very sharp edges on the metal body, the cap feels kind of loose, and it just generally feels cheap for an $80 pen. i can't recommend it-I loved the way the styling looked online, but to actually use one is fairly dissatisfying.

Screaming from India….. Pilot E95S in Black or Deep red ? Under $100, 14K Nib…

Nahvalur is pronounced "Narwhal."

The entry now goes for 90🥲