Cheap vs. Expensive Fountain Pens: What Are the Differences?

#fountainpen #writing #notsponsored

SHOP THE VIDEO:

GUIDES YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS:

VIDEO CREDITS:
→ Script: E.J. Daniels
→ Camera & Editing: Lukas Mooney
→ Supervision: Preston Schlueter
→ FLNK Feedsys
→ Conaire Group

Want to see more videos? Subscribe to our channel!

Become a part of the Gentleman's Gazette community - support us on Patreon!

Want to join our team? Take a look at our open positions!
________________________________________________________________________
Gentleman's Gazette

00:00 Cheap vs. Expensive Fountain Pens Introduction

Fountain pens can range in cost from under $5 to almost $100,000 and higher. How does one determine a reasonable price point? And what determines the differences between cheap and expensive fountain pens?

01:51 The Nib

The nib is a vitally important part of any fountain pen. The nib conveys ink onto the paper through capillary action, by which a liquid is propelled through the interaction between surface tension and adhesion.

Overall, nib size has an obvious aesthetic impact, but flexibility also impacts your ability to have lines of varying width. And nibs will also impact how favorably and cleanly the ink is spread onto the paper.

06:22 The Feed

The feed connects the nib to the ink reservoir. This is what allows ink to flow freely through the nib when it’s in contact with paper, but prevents ink from spilling out when you’re not using the pen. Basically, the ink flows into these channels through the capillary action that we mentioned previously.

When ink is flowing onto the paper, air from outside the pen is allowed to flow upward along the feed, bringing ink down from Ink storage.

When it comes to feeds then, construction is ultimately more important than material. A well-made plastic feed will function well enough for most writers’ needs, but an Ebonite feed represents a noticeable step up in quality that will definitely improve your writing experience.

09:23 The Body

The body of the pen is essentially just a container that holds all the components that actually make the pen function. Obviously, the body considerably impacts the appeal and aesthetics of the pen itself, but it also impacts the functionality of writing when it comes to balance and weight of the pen.

14:00 The Filling Mechanism

There are multiple ways to get ink into a pen, many of which come down to preference and personal taste.

Ultimately then, the filling mechanism is most important as it pertains to your convenience. Investing in a more expensive system will usually make the process easier for you and will also spare you the unpleasant cleanup associated with cheap and leaky pens.

16:50 The Ink

In a nutshell, cheap inks are kept cheap by cutting corners. Pigmentation is low, leading to runny, bland, and semi-transparent colors; cheap ink is poorly manufactured, so it can be sticky or prone to smudge on the page; and cheap ink will dry hard inside the pen, potentially gumming up the works

Expensive inks, on the other hand, will flow easily and lay neatly on the page; have good color fastness and endurance so they won’t fade with time, and come in various unique and memorable colors. Some of our favorite colors include rusty brown, sky blue, and dark green.

18:05 Conclusion

Now that you’ve learned the differences between cheap and expensive fountain pens, you’ll have the knowledge to determine which price point is best for you.

18:37 Outfit Rundown

[murraycarpenter]

I think this video greatly exaggerates the difference between cheap & expensive pens. Cheap pens from reputable companies are quite good and can move to great by just spending a few bucks more. On the other hand, a lot of expensive pens are designed to appeal to collectors and do not work as well as one would expect.

[felixcolon]

Found extremely funny that when they mentioned flex they showed a Sailor nib. Which is gold but feels like writing with a nail.

[dsb]

As a hobbyist collector, I have lost count of how many rages I have had during this video. The information is useful and correct on board levels, but the visuals are infuriating. Calling the Montegrappa Lord of the Rings a cheap pen is just one example, a $5000 pen is not a cheap pen.

[Hedgehog-plant]

I agree that expensive pens are generally higher quality and get the job done better than cheaper ones. My issue is with the misinformation in this video, particularly on nibs.

3:05 durability is never a problem, a soft nib should also be durable
3:10 some ss nibs do flex easily- the fpr ultraflex and the fpnibs full flex are two I can think of off the top of my head. These both flex more than most gold nibs (with the exception of vintage wet noodles)
3:28 except for calligraphy flex nibs made of spring steel or titanium, virtually all cheap nibs have tipping made of iridium alloy or similar hard metal
3:52 all nibs are likely to gum up if not cleaned, cheap pens not more so
4:35 corrosion is only really an issue if you are using iron gall inks
4:50 the gold nib shown is very rigid, like many gold nibs are. That being said, you can get really soft gold nibs
5:05 softness does not affect how hard you need to push down on the paper. A fountain pen should be able to write under its own weight
5:17 personalisation is mostly a myth. the nib material does not affect how a pen adapts to your writing style over time, but the tipping material does. A pen feels smoother at your writing angle because over years and decades you eventually get a flat spot in the tipping at your writing angle. Sharing your pen with a friend should not affect the smoothness at your writing angle, unless they write on sandpaper

This was all the misinformation in just the nibs section

[devlieg]

I've regularly used fountain pens for over fifty years. Maybe sixty years. I've used everything from super cheap Parkers and Shaffers offered from drugstores hanging on a hook in the stationery department to the Montblanc Meisterstuck Diplomat. Some of them were filled with cartridges and others had a suction filling system. Some have had chrome plated mild steel nibs, others stainless nibs, and still others that were gold plated or with iridium tips. I have never worn out or had a nib fail because of corrosion because of the elements of the ink while using proper fountain pen ink. Using India ink will mess up a pen right quick, but the corrosion factor is minimal when using ink intended for a fountain pen.
What is important is the flexibility of the nib. A chrome plated and stainless nib can be just as flexible as a gold nib if it is designed to do so.. And, while a gold plated nib may wear more quickly than a steel nib, be aware that the tips of many expensive pens are not gold. They are iridium, which is a hard material.
The most important thing in choosing a pen is to find a pen that you find comfortable writing with if you are more interested in writing than pulling out an expensive pen from your pocket to impress others. A Montblanc Diplomat may look impressive, but writing with that log may not be comfortable because it' so big. On the other hand, a Lamy Safari looks cheap, but it may be easier to write with.
The things, whether cheap or expensive, last almost forever.

[MrIchBinEineEnte]

Seriously guys, there are so many great "cheap" fountain pens out there and there is so much generalisation and things not quite right with this video. You can do better.

[ReticentSparrow]

Just keep in mind that a high price-point doesn't always mean a superior product. That Pilot Varsity/V Pen, for instance, is a great pen to use, even if it's not visually appealing. It can even be refilled, though it wasn't designed for that, which makes the process more difficult.

I got a good laugh at the Lord of the Rings pen being under the "cheap pens being garish to distract the user" part. That looked like a limited edition by Montegrappa, which goes for ~$4, 500 when I write this. If it was meant more to show a pen better as a paperweight, I can agree with that. That pen barrel has so much going on that writing with it looks unpleasant.

[karrotlover]

LOL this video is so full of generalizations!! The only difference you can say for certain between cheap and expensive fountain pens is how much they cost. So many expensive fountain pens and inks don’t live up to their cost and so many cheap fountain pens and inks work perfectly, reliably, and pleasantly. There are good, quality fountain pens to suit every budget, like the Pilot Metropolitan at under $20.

[SilktheAbsent]

Oh, boy. Where to begin. You say that cheap pens use unreliable plastic feeds and then show a Pilot Varsity, which uses a fiber wick feed, and is known by the community to be one of the most reliable pens available. Serioulsy, I live in the desert southwest, and can pull one from my non-insulated garage after having been in there for literal years and it will immediately write with no priming.

Next you say that plastic feeds are unreliable in general, neglecting the *fact* that Montblanc uses them exclusively now, and if you bring in a vintage one for service, that vintage ebonite feed is getting replaced by default.

You also rail on inexpensive inks saying that they aren't archival quality, except unless *any* ink is specifically made to be archival, *it isn't*. Full stop. And drying in the pen? That happens with *any* ink when you don't use the pen for prolonged periods.

You also claim that plastic feeds are prone to dripping. I've been restoring vintage pens for years. In my experience, that dubious honor belongs to ebonite feeds (for which the picture you showed was of modern ones made by a 3rd party company that makes them for modern pens, but be aware that the use of them *will* void your warranty). The reason being they have significantly wider channels and much higher flow, to the point of being more flow than is needed. So yes, while you can heat set them to the nib, they will still be more prone to dripping than plastic feeds. Do I still keep vintage pens in my everyday rotation? Absolutely, I just keep aware of their limitations.

Above all, don't gatekeep. At the end of the day, a pen is a tool, nothing more. It is a tool for putting ink to page. That doesn't mean it can't be appreciated, but it also doesn't mean that we should be behaving in such a manner that holds tools that cost x amount of dollars to be akin to a religious experience. I find it rather ridiculous that you are attacking pens like the Lamy Safary and the Pilot Metropolitan; two pens that are both excellent quality and affordable, for literally no other reason than they are affordable. This is the definition of new money gatekeeping. Please, get over yourselves and go back to the positive content you used to do.

[jackdabeanstock]

I have a Parker Duofold White marble with grey and gold tip. Writes smoothly and nice. 25 years of ownership

[donaldvincent]

For almost 40 years I have been a lover of "Nice" pens. Nothing crazy expensive, mainly Waterman Ballpoint and Fountain styles. But now as I get older, I have a bad tremor that ruins whatever writing I am able to do. It sucks, so enjoy whatever you write with while you can. I am glad I was born at a time when good handwriting was a skill to be practiced and developed.

[celticchrys]

The Pilot V-Pens are usually reliable easy writers, and all of Pilot's low-price pens are excellent reliably writing pens for any fountain pen beginner. There are also some extremely great cheap pens from China like the Jnhao 51A, which cost very little and just write reliably. Likewise, even very expensive fountain pens have hit-or-miss writing quality out of the box, and it is not uncommon at all to spend hundreds and still need to have the pen adjusted. Price does not equal quality a lot of the time in the world of fountain pens.

[BillWrightabc]

Probably should have talked to folks who actually use fountain pens. There is so much misinformation in this video that it makes me want to cry.

[Chronosmaster]

I care less about cheap and expensive, and focus on good and bad. Of all the pens I own, my favorite is still the pilot prera

[randomstuff]

The way you guys are saying people never gonna buy a cheap fountain pen, i am using a jinhao x450 since 2015 it never leaked never hard started .
Look people buy pen within 10-30$ budget if you can maintain it it gonna last decades.
Gold nib pens are just a bit premium and luxurious my dad have one lamy 2000, i used it it's not something that without an expensive pen you can't feel the fun of using fountain pen,

[H.G.Halberd]

Steel nibs can be just as good as gold or better

[winter]

Strongly disagree with many of the conclusions expressed in this video. You seem to be fountain pen novices who approach pens as fashion accessories rather than writing instruments, and unsurprisingly think that expense is the only relevant factor in quality of the writing experience. A Lamy Safari, which you consistently show as an flawed “inexpensive pen” is in reality a practical, bulletproof, unpretentious pen that writes wonderfully, a classic of 80s design that has stood the test of time. The Montblancs you consistently show as the example of desirable “expensive” pens are luxury items that have as much to do with displaying status as they do with writing. A $1000 Montblanc not really write better or is “more meticulously balanced” than a $150 Pilot or even a $50 Lamy. I own several Montblancs and while they are wonderful pens, I can’t honestly say they are better or even match Pilots or Sailor pens that cost nearly 1/10.

So focusing on “expensive” pens vs. “Inexpensive” pens really misses the point, is an unhelpful dichotomy after a point, and really indicates that you are only concerned with pens as a status symbol fashion itemz. I understand you guys arw into vintage style, but there are some aspects of the past that don’t deserve to be preserved - using pens as tokens of your status in society is one of them.

[rexharrison]

I grew up with fountain pens. Our school desks had ink wells for our ink bottles. The pens could be refilled either with a lever or squeezable eye dropper method. The pens were ubiquitous and cheap, probably Parkers or Shaeffers and the inks were some generic brand, always navy blue. They usually leaked, causing one's middle finger to stain. To this day I still have a callous on my middle finger from using pens for both writing and drawing. Ball points were forbidden and a variety of punishments were available should we be caught using one, including a few strokes of a cane!

I have been using fountain pens again semi-regularly for about five or six years - a couple of cheap Shaeffers, one with the brand's blue ink and the other with black. They work well, the nibs are fine pointed and the ink flow is good. They have yet to leak! I can write and draw with them.

Pens are functional things firstly. To use an advertising analogy; no-one wants a pen, what they want is words on paper. That is, the benefit the product carries with it. If one wants a pen above all else, it's because a pen may carry status (the benefit).

For day-to-day writing, an averagely priced pen should do the trick, anything from $35 to $70.
If calligraphic quality is required then a dip pen holder is the best option, with interchangeable calligraphic nibs from a company like Speedball or Leonardt and inks from Winsor & Newton, Dr Ph Martins or Pelikan.

Oh, and one thing not mentioned in the video - a blotter! For both types of pens.

[RecorriendoHK]

I got four fountain pens:
Waterman Hemisphere and Phileas.
Lamy Safari.
Pilot Kakuno.
My favorite is the cheapest one, the Kakuno.

[AlgernonMoncrieff]

I am a great fpuntain pen lover and collector. Can't live without fountain pens.