Best Fountain Pens for Beginners - Scottsdale Pen and Knife

So, you're interested in trying out a fountain pen but don't know where to begin? If you look on the web you're going to find lots of inexpensive options from all over the world and in lots of price ranges, but we have a few ideas for you.

For those who really don't want to get their feet wet or have a very tight budget, the Pilot Varsity and the Platinum Preppy are excellent choices. For roughly $3 or $4 respectively, both are actually very good fountain pens. The Varsity is disposable so it's only good for as long as the ink supply lasts while the Preppy is refillable and can be fitted with a converter for bottled ink filling.

Sticking with those two brands, the next step up are the Pilot Metropolitan and the Platinum Plaisir for about $17 and $22 respectively. The Metropolitan includes a squeeze converter so you can fill from a bottle of ink if you'd like, while the Plaisir has an optional converter. Both do use their own brand of cartridges.
http://www.scottsdalepen.com/pilot-pens-metropolitan-c-80_595.html
http://www.scottsdalepen.com/platinum-fountain-pens-c-233.html

The Platinum brand offers an airtight cap, so your pens will not dry out between uses, sometimes for extended periods of disuse, a major plus for this brand. However, the Pilots mentioned are always reliable and extremely popular outselling the Platinums in our shop.

Another starter fountain pen is the Pelikan Pelikano Junior. This refillable fountain pen is used in schools around the world to teach children how to write properly - it's literally been field tested millions of times. A comfortable three-point grip puts the nib in just the right position for writing. Around $22 as of this writing - uses international-style cartridges, but a converter is adaptable for bottled ink filling.
http://www.scottsdalepen.com/pelikan-pens-pelikano-c-55_289.html

Overall, our best selling starter fountain pen has been the Lamy Safari (about $37). Year after year this is the choice of beginners and experienced fountain pen users alike. There are seven different interchangeable nibs available at $13 each, and the pen can be fitted with a converter, too. This pen comes with a limited lifetime guarantee, too!
http://www.scottsdalepen.com/lamy-pens-safari-c-139_141.html

The choice of using a cartridge or a converter is strictly a personal one, but over the long run you'll spend less on bottled ink and spare the eco-system from the disposable plastic cartridges if you use a converter. There's also a much wider variety of ink color choices if you go with bottled ink.

Hope this helps a little bit. Please contact us for more information!

Jay and Karen Sadow

Scottsdale Pen and Knife

7137 E. Stetson Dr. #7

Scottsdale, AZ 85251

480-947-2136

http://www.scottsdalepen.com