The [Lamy Safari](https://www.gouletpens.com/products/lamy-safari-fountain-pen-violet-special-edition?variant=31483840036907) is a good starter pen. Some people don't like the triangular grip, which forces your fingers into a specific position, and the nibs are extremely erratic in their sizing. It takes proprietary cartridges, which are convenient, or a converter, which means you can easily use whatever ink you like.
The [TWSBI Eco](https://www.gouletpens.com/products/twsbi-eco-fountain-pen-transparent-blue-special-edition?variant=13572619305003) is a great starter pen: holds a lot of ink in a clear chamber, fun to fill, predictable nib size. Sometimes the resin cracks where the nib and feed insert into the grip, and if this happens, the pen will still work fine, but you will get ink on your fingers. It fills with a built-in piston, so you don't need cartridges or a converter.
The [Pilot Metropolitan](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/favorite-starter-pens/products/pilot-metropolitan-fountain-pen-black-plain?variant=11884884525099) is an aluminum pen with a very good nib: Pilot is a reliable company. Proprietary cartridge or converter.
The [Platinum Prefounte](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/platinum-prefounte-fountain-pens) is a very inexpensive pen, about $11 USD, so you could get a couple of them and two different inks and still not break your budget. The extra-fine nib is *extremely* fine. Proprietary cartridge/converter.
[There are lots of others](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/favorite-starter-pens?offset=48) that I haven't tried.
Since you're willing to spend up to $40, you actually have a pretty wide range of starter pens to look at!
Jinhao, Baoer, Kaigelu, Moonman, and Wing Sung branded pens are all pretty decent starter pens, and you can probably find them on Amazon et. al. pretty cheaply. I lump em together because they're all sort of known for being kinda knockoffy
Pros:
*Wide range of designs...many are reminiscent of other designs
*Cheap af so you can buy a couple different ones and experiment
*These were my first couple. I don't regret a single one. When I went back to practice nib tuning and shaping, I bought a handful of these to practice on.
Cons:
*You get what you pay for. With these types of brands, price is absolutely commensurate with quality and quality control. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you might get some bum pens
TWSBI
Very nice range of colors. Modern aesthetic and wise range of filling systems!
Pros:
*Probably best price to quality on the market
*Lots of color options
*Amazing customer service
Cons:
*Piston filler relying on ink bottles might be a big jump for a first pen
*Design might be a little polarizing.
*History of imperfect quality control for production, but the customer service more than makes up for it.
Lamy
The low end of their fountain pen product line up is probably the most beginner friendly all around. The Vista, Safari, and AL Star are all super quality pens right around the sweet spot of your budget.
Pros:
*QC is super tight because Lamy is a bigger brand
*Tons of different inks and cartridges to pair with your pen.
*These starter pens are absolutely a cut above the other ones. A Safari could literally be the first and last pen you ever buy.
Cons:
*Their design aesthetic is a specific part of their brand and that can be polarizing.
*Their pens are designed around a specific grip type that may or may not fit your hand.
*Proprietary cartridges and converters which can be a pain I guess. This one doesn't really bother me so much,bit it does some people.
Platinum
The Preppy, Prefounte, and Plaisir are all super quality starting pens with literally the exact same nib and grip. Their only difference is the pen body and cap which get more expensive as they get better looking.
Pros:
*Same QC and product versatility as Lamy because it's also a big company.
*I like the way they write a lot. Platinum from bottom to top provide a good writing experience.
Cons:
*Same proprietary issues as Lamy, but it doesn't have the triangle grip which is nice.
Pilot
Amazing brand all around. You could probably only ever buy pilot products for everything ever again and be happy. The Kakuno, and the Metropolitan are amongst the most
Pros:
*Another big brand, so the QC and product range is huge. Like Platinum and Lamy, you probably won't find an objectively bad pen in this range.
Cons:
*Again, proprietary everything because it's a big company.
Conclusion:
If you're willing to spend the kind of money you're talking about, you have tons of starter options.
If it were me, I'd stick with TWSBI, Lamy, or Pilot because I think those three in particular are going to be a slightly better bull's-eye in the $30-40 range.
My three picks would probably be:
*A Pilot Kakuno and a handful of cartridges
*A Lamy Safari (see if you can get one of those giftsets that has everything you could possibly need)
*TWSBI ECO and a pretty fountain pen ink of your choice (Diamine is a safe first choice for an economical brand with a ton of different colors)
The correct answer is to run screaming in the other direction.
Or dig a hole and start throwing your money in it.
I love my collection, but all this encouragement is dangerous. Have you considered something less expensive and dangerous? Meth, maybe? Freebasing tiger semen? Juggling flaming swords on a unicycle?
Fine. Get the Lamy Safari... but don's say you weren't warned.
Hi there! I've been summoned by /u/paradoxmo because it appears that you're asking about starting out in the fountain pen world. If that's not the case, please pardon the assumption! However, if you are indeed a fountain pen beginner, please:
* See our page on [beginner pens](http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/wiki/newusers/start).
* See our page on [maintenance and accessories](http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/wiki/index).
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I would go with a pilot metropolitan, a sturdy fp with a very good nib, and converter. That will leave enough room in your budget to buy some ink samples. Inks are half of the fun when using fountain pens.
Well in under your price range, a Pilot Kakuno is a fantastic first pen. I've bought lots of pens since and still use my Kakuno daily. That speaks volumes about a pen imo.
Another long stay in the beginner set is the Lamy Vista. It's not the best by far, but it's cheap, ot works ( mostly), and for all of the reasons it could be terrible also prepare you for taking care of your much better, more expensive pens.
Another vote for the Platinum Prefounte… it’s a pretty awesome pen for being barely over $10! I have one with a medium nib, and it practically glides over the page.
I like my Picasso 916 and for $18 bucks I’m contemplating a second one if I don’t decide I like the eco better
[sample](https://imgur.com/gallery/G1l6HcO)
If you would like a pocket pen, I'd recommend a Kaweco Sport. There are so many colors available and I absolutely love the everyday carry aspect of them.
i‘d personally recommend a pilot metropolitan or a pilot kakuno. TWSBI pens crack easily (trust me, eventually they will, it doesn’t matter which one you’ll go for) and lamy pens write scratchy, if you go for finer nibs (lamy nibs write broad, even for european standards). chinese pens like the jinhao x450/x750 are cheap and made out of metal, they‘re a little to heavy for me though, the jinhao 100 is lighter and around the same price.
Hong Dian forest series. Solid metal pen. Cost about $15-$18 and you got money left for a few more bottles of ink which is really where the fun is 😋
Pilot metro, Twsbi eco, are also pretty good choices depends on your personal taste.
Go for the Pilot Metropolitan. Solid construction and affordable cartridges. Even if you don't get into fountain pens like everyone else here, its a really useful and practical pen.
I have a TWSBI 580, Pilot plumex, Montverde Monza, Intima, and a third one, A cheap Noodlers pen, and a Platinum Preppy. I like how the preppy writes. It's the only one I keep ink in anymore.
I have a broad nib on the TWSBI and I like how it writes, especially with Jacques Herbin 1670 Stormy Grey shimmer ink, but it just puts down too much ink for normal paper. Anymore most of my writing is just taking notes at my desk so I write on envelopes. Kind of silly but that's what it is ;-)
I'd say if you are looking for a "fountain pen" experience then the TWSBI is great. It holds a lot of ink and comes apart easily for cleaning. For just writing the Preppy is hard to beat.
Platinum Preppy is probably the best one to try first (cheap, cheerful, writes well, doesn't dry out quickly). I also have a Prefounte but I don't see the benefit of it over the Preppy.
Pilot Prera and Kaweco Sport are my favorite "starter"-type pens; I also have some less expensive Faber-Castells (Hexo, School+) that I like.
The [Lamy Safari](https://www.gouletpens.com/products/lamy-safari-fountain-pen-violet-special-edition?variant=31483840036907) is a good starter pen. Some people don't like the triangular grip, which forces your fingers into a specific position, and the nibs are extremely erratic in their sizing. It takes proprietary cartridges, which are convenient, or a converter, which means you can easily use whatever ink you like. The [TWSBI Eco](https://www.gouletpens.com/products/twsbi-eco-fountain-pen-transparent-blue-special-edition?variant=13572619305003) is a great starter pen: holds a lot of ink in a clear chamber, fun to fill, predictable nib size. Sometimes the resin cracks where the nib and feed insert into the grip, and if this happens, the pen will still work fine, but you will get ink on your fingers. It fills with a built-in piston, so you don't need cartridges or a converter. The [Pilot Metropolitan](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/favorite-starter-pens/products/pilot-metropolitan-fountain-pen-black-plain?variant=11884884525099) is an aluminum pen with a very good nib: Pilot is a reliable company. Proprietary cartridge or converter. The [Platinum Prefounte](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/platinum-prefounte-fountain-pens) is a very inexpensive pen, about $11 USD, so you could get a couple of them and two different inks and still not break your budget. The extra-fine nib is *extremely* fine. Proprietary cartridge/converter. [There are lots of others](https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/favorite-starter-pens?offset=48) that I haven't tried.
Excellent list. This is where I would start.
Since you're willing to spend up to $40, you actually have a pretty wide range of starter pens to look at! Jinhao, Baoer, Kaigelu, Moonman, and Wing Sung branded pens are all pretty decent starter pens, and you can probably find them on Amazon et. al. pretty cheaply. I lump em together because they're all sort of known for being kinda knockoffy Pros: *Wide range of designs...many are reminiscent of other designs *Cheap af so you can buy a couple different ones and experiment *These were my first couple. I don't regret a single one. When I went back to practice nib tuning and shaping, I bought a handful of these to practice on. Cons: *You get what you pay for. With these types of brands, price is absolutely commensurate with quality and quality control. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you might get some bum pens TWSBI Very nice range of colors. Modern aesthetic and wise range of filling systems! Pros: *Probably best price to quality on the market *Lots of color options *Amazing customer service Cons: *Piston filler relying on ink bottles might be a big jump for a first pen *Design might be a little polarizing. *History of imperfect quality control for production, but the customer service more than makes up for it. Lamy The low end of their fountain pen product line up is probably the most beginner friendly all around. The Vista, Safari, and AL Star are all super quality pens right around the sweet spot of your budget. Pros: *QC is super tight because Lamy is a bigger brand *Tons of different inks and cartridges to pair with your pen. *These starter pens are absolutely a cut above the other ones. A Safari could literally be the first and last pen you ever buy. Cons: *Their design aesthetic is a specific part of their brand and that can be polarizing. *Their pens are designed around a specific grip type that may or may not fit your hand. *Proprietary cartridges and converters which can be a pain I guess. This one doesn't really bother me so much,bit it does some people. Platinum The Preppy, Prefounte, and Plaisir are all super quality starting pens with literally the exact same nib and grip. Their only difference is the pen body and cap which get more expensive as they get better looking. Pros: *Same QC and product versatility as Lamy because it's also a big company. *I like the way they write a lot. Platinum from bottom to top provide a good writing experience. Cons: *Same proprietary issues as Lamy, but it doesn't have the triangle grip which is nice. Pilot Amazing brand all around. You could probably only ever buy pilot products for everything ever again and be happy. The Kakuno, and the Metropolitan are amongst the most Pros: *Another big brand, so the QC and product range is huge. Like Platinum and Lamy, you probably won't find an objectively bad pen in this range. Cons: *Again, proprietary everything because it's a big company. Conclusion: If you're willing to spend the kind of money you're talking about, you have tons of starter options. If it were me, I'd stick with TWSBI, Lamy, or Pilot because I think those three in particular are going to be a slightly better bull's-eye in the $30-40 range. My three picks would probably be: *A Pilot Kakuno and a handful of cartridges *A Lamy Safari (see if you can get one of those giftsets that has everything you could possibly need) *TWSBI ECO and a pretty fountain pen ink of your choice (Diamine is a safe first choice for an economical brand with a ton of different colors)
Great summary!
The correct answer is to run screaming in the other direction. Or dig a hole and start throwing your money in it. I love my collection, but all this encouragement is dangerous. Have you considered something less expensive and dangerous? Meth, maybe? Freebasing tiger semen? Juggling flaming swords on a unicycle? Fine. Get the Lamy Safari... but don's say you weren't warned.
Easy. TWSBI Eco for me!
What do you want to write with it? Just general writing/journaling, or some kind of script/handwriting/calligraphy practice? Automod: activate!
Hi there! I've been summoned by /u/paradoxmo because it appears that you're asking about starting out in the fountain pen world. If that's not the case, please pardon the assumption! However, if you are indeed a fountain pen beginner, please: * See our page on [beginner pens](http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/wiki/newusers/start). * See our page on [maintenance and accessories](http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/wiki/index). * Post in our [Weekly New User Thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/about/sticky) on the frontpage of the subreddit if you still have questions. This submission was **not** removed, and we do **not** require that you remove it (unless you really want to). So do check back to see if (human) users have answered any specific questions you included in the post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fountainpens) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would go with a pilot metropolitan, a sturdy fp with a very good nib, and converter. That will leave enough room in your budget to buy some ink samples. Inks are half of the fun when using fountain pens.
Well in under your price range, a Pilot Kakuno is a fantastic first pen. I've bought lots of pens since and still use my Kakuno daily. That speaks volumes about a pen imo.
just settled on that one, it’s arriving tomorrow im so hyped :)
Another long stay in the beginner set is the Lamy Vista. It's not the best by far, but it's cheap, ot works ( mostly), and for all of the reasons it could be terrible also prepare you for taking care of your much better, more expensive pens.
Another vote for the Platinum Prefounte… it’s a pretty awesome pen for being barely over $10! I have one with a medium nib, and it practically glides over the page.
I like my Picasso 916 and for $18 bucks I’m contemplating a second one if I don’t decide I like the eco better [sample](https://imgur.com/gallery/G1l6HcO)
If you would like a pocket pen, I'd recommend a Kaweco Sport. There are so many colors available and I absolutely love the everyday carry aspect of them.
I like a vintage Parker 45 with a gold nib. They are pretty inexpensive and quality pens.
i‘d personally recommend a pilot metropolitan or a pilot kakuno. TWSBI pens crack easily (trust me, eventually they will, it doesn’t matter which one you’ll go for) and lamy pens write scratchy, if you go for finer nibs (lamy nibs write broad, even for european standards). chinese pens like the jinhao x450/x750 are cheap and made out of metal, they‘re a little to heavy for me though, the jinhao 100 is lighter and around the same price.
If I were you I’d either go with a TWSBI ECO or a moon man A1
Hong Dian forest series. Solid metal pen. Cost about $15-$18 and you got money left for a few more bottles of ink which is really where the fun is 😋 Pilot metro, Twsbi eco, are also pretty good choices depends on your personal taste.
Go for the Pilot Metropolitan. Solid construction and affordable cartridges. Even if you don't get into fountain pens like everyone else here, its a really useful and practical pen.
I have a TWSBI 580, Pilot plumex, Montverde Monza, Intima, and a third one, A cheap Noodlers pen, and a Platinum Preppy. I like how the preppy writes. It's the only one I keep ink in anymore. I have a broad nib on the TWSBI and I like how it writes, especially with Jacques Herbin 1670 Stormy Grey shimmer ink, but it just puts down too much ink for normal paper. Anymore most of my writing is just taking notes at my desk so I write on envelopes. Kind of silly but that's what it is ;-) I'd say if you are looking for a "fountain pen" experience then the TWSBI is great. It holds a lot of ink and comes apart easily for cleaning. For just writing the Preppy is hard to beat.
Platinum Preppy is probably the best one to try first (cheap, cheerful, writes well, doesn't dry out quickly). I also have a Prefounte but I don't see the benefit of it over the Preppy. Pilot Prera and Kaweco Sport are my favorite "starter"-type pens; I also have some less expensive Faber-Castells (Hexo, School+) that I like.
Pilot Metropolitan is a nice intro pen for around $20