I can't remember the brand, but I got a Japanese pen with two ink color nibs and a mechanical pencil (!) cartridge inserted as the third thing. You just spun it to switch between and with the pencil you could click the end to extend it.
I used to be really into pens, but one time I went to a pen store in a rich village and the store owner didn’t want to sell to me because I didn’t look like the rich people that lived there. I switched from fountain pen to rollerball because the cartridges are more durable.
What’s so good about fountain pens? Last time I used them, I was a literal child. I remember it being so freaking hard to use - at first nothing would come out, you had to hold it a specific way, then suddenly the ink went everywhere including my hand. Haven’t touched it since.
Maybe I’ll give them another try.
And this unlocked another memory - You couldn’t keep it in one spot on the page because the ink would start pooling there! And the pages in the notebooks were thin so this would cover up the notes on the other side.
So I had to raise the pen if I had to stop for some reason, which meant I had to figure out the correct angle again to continue writing. I also sometimes just tore through the page with the tip because it was quite sharp.
The day I could use ball point pens were a blessing, but even better were gel pens because they were way more comfortable than the ball point pens.
Kaweco Sport in brass with a fine nib. I use Noodler's Ink in Brevity Black. Love it.
I have my grandfather's Parker 51 and it's an utterly amazing pen and looks like I'm writing with a pen from a world where the Soviets won the space race..
Lamy 2000. Yes it's $150, but it's the only fountain pen you need. It's perfect. The design hasn't changed in 50+ years. There is no pen better imo. I have used mine for over a decade and it still feels new.
well i was going to recommend you a platinum century because i'm pretty sure i got mine for a hell of a lot cheaper than $200 but apparently that's about what they go for now. if you want something fun with kind of different vibes, TWSBI ecos are quite solid. i'm a sucker for inks that do cool things, so i gravitate towards the flashiest inks made. some favorites are j. herbin emerald of chivor, one of the craziest inks of all time; noodler's baystate blue, which is so vividly blue it's sort of a crime and will stain anything it touches; sailor shikiori yamadori, which is a teal ink with some crazy copper sheening. tomoe river paper is also an interesting thing, ink looks kind of crazy on it. fountain pens were a special interest for a while for me.
Big fan of my Kaweco AL Sport. It’s a small one so not great for big hands but it’s solid aluminum body so fairly heavy and stable in the hand. The cap screws on closed so it doesn’t dry out easily either. Consider buying one size nib bigger than usual, my Fine nib can get scratchy.
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.
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!








