Really good price for a fountain pen with a 14K gold nib, around $250 locally, very well reviewed https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Fountain-Pens-for-Every-Budget/pt/368#Over%20$200
CamelCamelCamel.
Does it come with convertor or it has to be purchased separately?
There seems to be others on amazon. M nib going for $95
I think that one has gold plated nib instead of gold nib🤔
EF in a Japanese pen. Will this be too fine for everyday use?
Bought one of these a month ago from Amazon JP. A normal EF in Kaweco/Lamy would be like an F in Japanese pens. These are indeed very fine for most people for daily use.
EF is too fine. MF is best for daily use.
Got one maybe 10 years ago and after a year, the golden rim on the cap got rusty and turned blue. It seems pretty common. A silver cleaning cloth would help to some extent but still quite visible.
A Pro Gear Slim is a very small pen (usable if you have normal man-sized hands, but small, but not a great pocket pen as it’s resin and therefore not especially sturdy for pocket carry) and a Japanese EF will be like writing with the tip of a pin, and probably not recommended as your first fountain pen. That said, it’s a good price if none of those things are an issue for you, and Pro Gear resin does tend to look quite nice and (at least the ones I’ve seen) a bit sparkly.
that is only plated not solid gold …..
Haha looks like I'm late to the party, the MF was mentioned further above, and pointed out to only have gold plating there too
I think both EF and MF variants are listed as "14K Gold with Gold plating".
I bought the latter… I tried to find the differences but there's not much except the Gear slim has a flat top.
Any comments or experiences with these would be appreciated. This is my first sailor pen, I have a couple of monte blanc la grande and some others. The others are a bit scratchy to use…I hope the sailor is not like that but $100….worth the risk.
The shape, if nothing else. Pro Gear has flattened ends. It’s a a bit different to the classic fountain pen shape.
Thanks just as I was typing. lol.
Seems a pretty good deal for $100
I have a couple of Sailor pens (a Pro Gear Slim and a 1911) and I really like them, but things like shape and nib firmness and width are all pretty personal preferences so until you give one a try it’s hard to know if it’s your thing. One thing with Sailors is that they don’t hold a lot of ink – they’re mostly cartridge/converters and they’re not huge capacity (even the piston-fill ones are quite low capacity). But if you like to swap inks a lot even that might be a plus. But I’m any case, yes it seems like it’s a good deal.
@damonism: Cheers,
Yes the shape was the deciding factor here, I don't like the flat top so much. It's alright though. They rest of the specs seem very similar which is nice. I was a bit on the edge about the sky cloud colour but now I'm thinking about it I might get the PGS too. It's quite reasonably priced.
I'm not a fan of changing ink. I find the monte blanc (piston) don't last very long at all. Which is a bit of a shame considering they are large pens…
@barg99: If you want to try a Japanese pen that holds a boatload of ink, check out a Pilot Custom Heritage 92. Cheapest I can see on Amazon right now is about twice the price of these Sailors (like Sailor, Pilot nibs tend to run much finer than the equivalent European nib sizes), but it’s a good pen and worth the premium. Lamy 2000 is also a good choice for a pen that won’t run out of ink in a hurry (but also generally not on the cheap side).
@damonism: Oh not a fan of the transparent barrel. Maybe an Urushi, they look alright, have you tried one of those? I wonder how much ink that would hold.
Oh wow I haven't heard of Lamy before, they look very modern or even futuristic. That looks very interesting.
"Piston operated filling system with fiberglass, stainless steel and matt brushed finish. With platinum coated 14 ct. gold nib"
It's got the flat top again (I'm quite picky) but the design is very very interesting. Thanks for that.
@barg99: Ink capacity is largely driven by the filling mechanism. Piston (and vacuum) fillers tend to have much higher ink capacity than pens that use a cartridge or a converter (basically a refillable cartridge). Urushi is a decoration style, so doesn’t necessarily tell you much about the capacity (they do tend to look nice though, but it’s a process of applying coatings of lacquer, so they have a pretty distinctive feel). But you definitely should check out a Lamy 2000 – they’re easy to use (piston filler and a friction-fit cap), hold heaps of ink, and are lightweight but strong enough to stab a rhinoceros with. If you were to just buy one fountain pen, you could start and end with a Lamy 2000 and be perfectly content.
@damonism: LOL rhinoceros !
Oh man, so I've bought 1 tonight and after talking to you, potentially buying 2 more…
I think I'll give the sailor a go then try a lamy 2000. The minimal nib exposure on the Lamy is interesting. Maybe I'll go try one at a shop to see how it feels. https://www.lamy.com/en/lamy-2000/#sku-1201351 looks nice in black and also I read many people coming from more expensive pens love the lamy safari. It's quite funky looking.
So many options…
Thanks 👍
@barg99: nice thing about founatin pens is also ink colour selection , you can really personalise with color ink.
@garage sale: I received the sailor pen today. All instructions were in japanese(awesome) but figured it out. It's pretty scratchy to write with but looks nice.
Monte blanc with the piston refill glides when you are writing.
Maybe my standards are to high..
Edit: its pretty scratchy and you have to push to write..But its a 100 bucks.
@barg99: What about this: cheapy but comes with six cartridges for $45
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07WYPKCM4/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2…
I just bought 2, partner has already claimed most of my pens so hopefully they won't know how cheap these are and i'll get them back
Just recently made my own pen nib while visitng the pen museum in Birmingham UK, quite interesting and also didn't realise Birmingham was such a huge manufacturing area for ink dip pen nibs etc.
So just need a nib holder and some ink to try it out!
Got any pics ?
Haha don't think I'll show my creation.
Few crappy phone pics in the link below, lots of glass reflection though.
I have 2 Big I Design and a Tactile Turn bolt action so this is the last thing I need, but I'm open to someone convincing me otherwise.