I know some of your nerds have way too many pens. Tell me about your favorites. Bonus points if they don't cost $200+, because that's silly.

I have a lamy safari medium nib that is very nice to use, but considering getting something else because they are fun, good for drawing and I'm switching back to paper for notes anyway. Any favorite inks?

  • Maoo [none/use name]
    ·
    4 months ago

    I got some EDC nonsense because I actually did need a pocket knife and a flashlight and was like, "fine I'll piggyback on the market created by these nerds". My conclusion is that there are very good Chinese brands that reach a nice compromise between quality and cost. For example, a very nice sofirn flashlight from AliExpress for $20 is just as good as random ones on Amazon for $80.

    I have no need for fancy pens but if I did I'd start looking at decent Chinese brands.

    Edit: based on 10 minutes of screwing around I'd buy a $5 Jinhao X450 or two and that would probably be enough for me forever.

    • Parsani [love/loves, comrade/them]
      ·
      4 months ago

      Yeah I've been looking at some Chinese pens, jinhao seems good and so does Asvine. I think I'll eventually order a few from Ali because they are so cheap.

      • Maoo [none/use name]
        ·
        4 months ago

        In retrospect I didn't answer your question at all since I don't even own a fountain pen but I'm glad if I was in any way helpful despite this!

        I'm probably gonna get one now that I know it's just $5 and I can use it as an excuse to declutter my army of half-used ballpoints. Pretty stoked to have ~3 writing implements instead of several cups full. Gonna donate the cups to organizing supplies. So thanks for reminding me that I can leverage nerd things to organize my spaces!