20 Best Fountain Pen Under 200 (2023 Updated)

I got this pen for my birthday (to match my TN Passport) and have been happy with it. It is small, but feels good in a medium-sized hand, and the weight is very good. The threads are great and satisfying, and the cap is solid and caps well.

The nib is smooth. This pen is a great EDC and awesome to carry in your pocket. I usually keep it clipped to my phone pocket, where it won’t get scratched, and it has survived thus far. The clip is good as well.

As the big man, Brian Goulet, has said, this pen will resist the heat just fine. I have forgotten it in my pocket multiple times when rushing to get to marching band rehearsal under the hot sun, and there was no mess.

This is a great pocket pen which fits properly in your pocket, writes well, and behaves well in the heat.

I adore this pen. I’ve had mine for about four years now and it has been my most consistently inked pen for the majority of that time. I love the nib width, the fine non works wonderfully on school handouts, and the nib writes shockingly smooth.

The brass patinas beautifully; I haven’t polished it once in the four years I’ve had it and I love the character it has. This pen has been snorkelling and dunked in lakes a few times (all on accident) and it’s had absolutely no effect on its functioning.

It stands strong against some of my fancier pens, like the lamy 2000 and the pilot vp. I cannot recommend enough, if you are even floating the idea of buying this pen, go for it.

More than half a year later and 9 fountain pens in, this remains one of my favorites and without question the one I have used most. Others are more comfortable for me–I find that my (somewhat large) hands struggle with the thinnest point of the grip and that the point where it jumps up to the body of the pen, designed at virtually a 90 degree angle so that the cap is flush with the body, isn’t necessarily noticeably uncomfortable but does eventually make my hand cramp up a bit faster than the pens I have since purchased for writing (most of them I use to draw).

What saves it for me? The construction of the pen is so solid, especially at the 20 dollar price point. I find the silver finish to be soft and calming, visually. The pen is slick and gorgeous. The nib is just about as perfect as I know steel nibs to get, at least thus far–strikes a perfect balance between being juicy enough to feel buttery smooth if I’m not pressing down while I write while being just dry enough to be usable (with the standard Noodler’s Black Ink) on paper not specifically designed for fountain pens, something some much scratchier pens I own still fail at.

This thing is a dream–only fault is that, for some, it may not be the most suitable for long writing sessions. I have certainly survived doing so though–for a time, this was the only pen I was willing to write with.

Nicely balanced both posted and alone, with a satisfying weight. I have the M nib, which is a little dry and thin for my tastes as a Japanese nib, but it is still a nice smooth writer, with a little feedback but not scratchy.

I like the color – usually not a fan of how the Metro looks with that colored or textured band, but the white and grey band looks nice and subtle and the white has a soft satin, almost pearly look. For someone who put off getting a Metro because I thought they were ugly as sin, I actually like this little guy.

The grip is quite thin (think almost pencil-width) and does have that step up as you move up into the body of the pen that is a little sharp to the feel. However, the way I hold my pen means I don’t notice it much or often.

Overall, a very impressive pen for the price. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive pen with a metal body and snap cap (the soft click is amazingly satisfying), hard to go wrong here. I refill my cartridges and haven’t tried the squeezie yet, but to have it included is very nice.

The pen writes better than all of the reviews I read. ‘Nuff said!

Great fountain pen for a beginner writer like me, great design and smooth

I have spent too many years using expensive fountain pens that wrote well but leaked ink all over my fingers, so I decided to see if I could make do with a cheap pen that I could afford to throw away if it leaked.

A Preppy pen from Platinum was the easy choice on economic grounds, and I added a converter so I could use whatever ink I wanted and not have to mess with throw-away cartridges. I didn’t have high expectations, but I didn’t figure there was much to lose, either.

I have been pleasantly surprised by this pen. The size is comfortable for my large hands, it writes very smoothly (fine nib), and it hasn’t even thought about staining my fingers. I haven’t figured out how to remove the label from the barrel without abrading the surface, but if I find I can’t stand advertising the brand of my pen I will move “up” to a Platinum Prefounte.

I am thoroughly satisfied with this pen. If you are looking to get started with fountain pens, or simply want a fountain pen that works with no fuss, just buy one.

These are fantastic beginner fountain pens. They are typically easy to use, and Platinum’s patented spring cap keeps them from drying out! They come with a cartridge that’s replaceable, and if desired, these little pens could even be eye-droppered for more ink capacity.

I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard of those who have. They’re great, and I’ve had several. They are plastic, so if dropped, they could be prone to breaking. I’ve had one break on me, where the cap developed a crack and wouldn’t stay on any longer.

But to be fair, I’d also gotten a lot of use out of it! So I highly recommend these for trying out a fountain pen!.

Have had a few over the years, and they are such a good starter fountain pen. Only problems I’ve ever had was with the cap ; durability of the pocket clip, and the “snap” security of the cap. I suppose the latter was from wear or small cracks.

Either way the Preppy is a great value, and one of the best things besides the price is the wide selection of nib sizes. You can also very simply make them eyedropper pens, or use a converter, which is costly if you have to buy a converter (Platinum converters are different from others, and so are their cartridges) but it can be done.

Not sure it is worth it. I refill Platinum cartridges and am quite happy with that. I have a lot of (over 25) costly pens because I like variety, but honestly, very few give better writing satisfaction than the Preppy.

More costly pens satisfy in other areas, such as aesthetics, but it is amazing a $3 pen can hold my attention when I have plenty of $200+ pens.

These were a gift for my grandson and as we went to use them the red ink was all over the inside of the tank. The spike to penetrate the cartridge was not opened and it did open the ink and we both became stained with ink.

The green and orange pens were the only two that worked properly. I have many fountain pens and these are VERY poorly manufactured. I was hoping for more to begin teaching the art of calligraphy with these colors to my grandson.

If anyone decides to purchase, check all the openings to where the cartridges snap into to release the ink into the NIB.

I absolutely love ooly products. I have bought many pens from them, many types of markers, erasers, folders, and much more! Their individual fountain pens are one of my favorite writing pens. This is why I was so disappointed in these fountain pens.

Not only are the colors not bright, it is hard to get them started.

I love colored pens for all of my crafty projects. When I’ve seen these unique pens that are fountain pens and at a great price I had to order it. These arrived and they’re really easy to use and I LOVE the way it writes! It doesn’t bleed through the paper.

Great colors too and they’re dark enough to use on white paper.

I’m not exactly new to fountain pens as I had one gifted to me 40 years ago. I don’t know what name brand it was, and believe it was an extra fine nib – which I found to be scratchy & very difficult to use.

I cleaned it, packed it away for a few years and would eventually purchase another pack of cartridges to give my little pen another try, only to have similar results. The person who gifted the pen to me never taught me to hold it differently than a ballpoint and never taught me to use higher quality paper.

So I continued my process of trying to learn these things every few years, eventually gifting the pen to someone else who was very enthusiastic about testing it out themself. Fast forward to January 2022 when a Goulet video dropped into my YouTube account… I started watching the instructional videos and decided to purchase a couple beginner range pens with fine and medium nibs so I can give it another try with my newfound knowledge.

I also imagine fountain pens have improved in the past 40 years. Upon receiving my pens (Pilot Explorer, Platimun Plaisir and Clairefontaine notebook) I found everything to be PERFECT right out of the package! I’m loving my new pens, the videos (informative and entertaining!) and Goulet Pen Company.

I love my new pens and will be purchasing more as I rediscover fountain pens. Thank you for outstanding service and a wonderful experience overall.

I bought this pen because I love how my Platinum Preppy writes, but I wanted something with a little nicer body. The color got me, in the end – I’m a sucker for all things violet and all things pastel.

Function/feel: It was kind of a major struggle to get this one to start writing, but it DID eventually start up. I’m not sure how it happened, but I managed to fill it through the feed (ie I didn’t just fill the cartridge and plug it in) but it still wouldn’t write for a good 5-10 minutes.

I guess it didn’t fill through the same route that the ink would flow through? Or maybe it just randomly got temporarily clogged right away? It’s still a mystery. Fortunately, it’s writing fine now. And once I did get it started, it was immediately that beautiful light, smooth flow that I know and love from the Preppy.

Aesthetics: As stated, I got this as an attempt to find a “nicer-looking Preppy. ” I succeeded. This one is as beautiful as the Preppy is not (to me). The design is great and the pen’s overall aesthetics are very balanced.

It’s not too cutesy, but it’s definitely a fun color. It’s not too big, not too small. Not heavy but also not featherweight. I do feel like I could write all day with this and not get muscle fatigue or anything.

Problems/potential negatives: Other than not writing out of the box and requiring some patience and fussing? The pull-off cap (not screw-off) is not going to be for everyone but I personally like a “quick draw” pen, so that’s actually a plus for me.

Also, it’s a bit of a bummer that it doesn’t come with a cartridge converter, but I shouldn’t complain, since very few under-$20 pens do. Overall: Pretty darn good value. It’s exactly the price I would want to pay for a very pretty version of the Preppy.

My only real complaint was that I had to spend $11 extra (so more than half this pen’s cost) to get a converter, but that’s an issue for another day. Just bear in mind that unless you have a ton of Platinum cartridges or converters around, this is essentially a $28.

60 pen, not really a $17. 60 one. But, with that taken into account, I still really like this pen.

I bought this on a whim after watching Brian Goulet espouse the qualities of this pen on YouTube. I needed a everyday carry replacement for a fountain pen that holds significant sentimental value, that I don’t want to lose.

I did not expect much at this price point. This is a phenomenally constructed pen. I am usually a Medium nib person, but this Fine nib was pretty great too. The writing experience is nice, and the pen feels surprisingly compact, ergonomic in the hand after a while.

I did have some challenges to adjust my cursive writing style to this instrument, but I was not disappointed once I felt the smooth way in which this pen deposits ink onto paper. This is also a great value for the construction quality that this pen offers.

They claim that this ink doesn’t dry even after a year, and I have to believe them due to the beautiful mechanism they have developed for the pen cap. The locking motion is delightful, and overall, this pen offers a quality experience, that only aids in ones’ writing endeavors.

The pen has a fine point nib and writes beautifully. The difference in nib size from a medium is not huge but it is noticeable. I find I prefer this size of nib as it provides a clearer text than the medium size nibs.

The grip is wonderful and feels very good in the hand. The only criticism of the pen is in its description: from what I could discern, it came with two refills. That is fine but typically I use a bottled ink and so I ordered a Piston Converter.

However, the pen also comes with the converter in addition to the two refills, so I did not really need to order another. I will keep it just in case – it may be needed in future for this or my other fountain pen.

This is a fantastic writing instrument. The plated steel nib is perfect for us men that write with a heavy hand. The most impressive data that I can give is that the Sheaffer 300 Fountain Pen weighs 1.

6 oz. and my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck No. 149 Fountain Pen weighs 1. 3 oz. Another feature that I like about all the Sheaffer 300 series is that the clip is spring loaded to handle heavy fabric shirt pockets from heavy cotton, canvas or wool.

The 300 has the quality and features of pens from Germany, France, Italy or England costing 10 times more or higher. The Sheaffer ink Fendrihan markets is just as high quality as any other ink on the market.

To sum it up Sheaffer and Fendrihan are world class at very fair prices. SALUTE!!!!!.

I really like Sheaffer fountain pens in general, and this one does not disappoint! The fit and finish is spectacular for a pen at this price. The design is pure class, and its a standout at the office.

Where the 300 really hits the sweet spot for me is in terms of size and heft. This pen works well for those with larger hands and is very well-balanced unposted. As with every other Sheaffer Ive had, the nib performs flawlessly right out of the box.

I bought this calligraphy fountain pen specifically to make broad marks on my abstract art works. It does come in different nib sizes and since I specifically wanted ink marks on my art this pen was perfect.

This pen has not worked well for me. I ordered it because I was intrigued by the fill mechanism, but the spring-driven plunger is too stiff for me to push with just my index finger, as I see being done in the demonstration video.

It is so stiff, I have to use two hands to fill: push the plunger down with the thumb of one hand, while holding the top of the barrel with the other to stabilize it, to get it to compress for filling.

This means both hands are close to the lip of the ink bottle and I get ink all over them every time I fill the pen. Also, no matter how I try, I can’t get the pen nib far enough down past the neck of the bottle to get the nib completely submerged in the ink, so I only get a partial fill of the ink reservoir.

I have read all the other reviews here, and no one else has mentioned this problem. I don’t have particularly short or weak fingers, but I can’t even come close to depressing the ink filling plunger with my index finger.

Even using my thumb, it is a challenge. My husband, who is a mechanic, said, oh, well, the spring is too tight. And that makes sense. He suggests clipping a couple of coils of the spring off, to make is less stiff.

I’m not sure it’s worth it for a pen this inexpensive. I am a seasoned pen user, so not doing newbie/snowflake complaining about a little ink on my fingers. I’m just here to say that this pen doesn’t work for me, for some reason.

I do have other TWSBI’s and I am a big fan. I just don’t ‘get’ this one! (BTW I have contacted Goulet and also TWSBI, but no one could really explain why I am having this problem. ) I guess it’s just one of those things.

Everything else about the pen is great — feels great in the hand, nice and light but not totally cheap-feeling, great price. TWSBI GO fine for some, just not for me.

Ink is beautiful, pen is beautiful. The rest is horrible. The rest is quite a different matter. Now, I’m new and I’m giving it a benefit of the doubt, but for some weirdest reason when I write, quite often, the first stroke of a letter is skipped (I write in cursive, so it is usually first stroke of a first letter of every second or third word).

I have three other pens (Pilot Metropolitan (M nib) and two FPR Himalayas (M nib & Flex nib)) and none of them does that, so the chance that the culprit is my style of writing or my grip or whatever is quite slim.

Pressing a bit harder on the pen helps (although not 100%) with the problem, but at the same time makes my hand cramp much faster than normal writing. Edit: No change after several pages of writing. I feel that this is completely unacceptable for a pen at this price point.

Edit2: After some tinkering, careful tines alignment and flossing and washing, casting spells and cursing the hell out of Pelikan I managed to improve writing a bit. It still hard starts (almost 100% percent of the time, even after short rest, say 20-30 seconds capped), it still skips from time to time (like once every one or two sentences) and it still feels like cheap garbage, well at least I think it does, because all my cheap pens are very nice and don’t have any of the mentioned problems.

I’ve tried writing to Pelikan support – they didn’t even answer. Keep clear, this Pelikan sucks as a company to give money to. Edit3: In contrast Massdrop was amazing in handling this they promptly answered my support request and fixed the situation by sending me a replacement, which writes much better than the first one, still not my favourite, but I’d give it 4- out of 5 (B- for US folk).

I’m not changing this review score though, because (I know I’m repeating myself) when you pay upwards of $100 for a plastic pen with stainless steel nib you should expect a quality product and support or at least a show of care from manufacturer.

Pelikan just doesn’t deliver. There are companies out there that do and for a much cheaper products, look at FPR for example.

I’m enjoying using this pen. I recommend soaking it in water to give it a rinse before using. I loaded it up with ink before doing so and had some problems with skipping, but this seems to have been corrected by cleaning out residue that was left over from the manufacturing process.

It’s an attractive pen. Well-balanced and light. Next time I will probably upgrade to the resin body for a little more class.

I thought that my Vanishing Point and Custom 74 were smooth, but Pelikan showed me what smooth can be. The Pelikan M205 is so smooth it is like a figure skater gliding across a fresh ice. The M205 is also the easiest pen I own to fill with ink.

The very first time I inked it I did not get any ink on my hands. I wish all pens would use a piston filler. This pen has definitely made me a fan of Pelikan!.

It has been 2 months since I purchased this Pelikan M200. I admit when I first opened the package and used it for the first time, I was not at all thrilled with it. I actually disliked it so much that I thought about returning it and I wrote a scathing review on it.

It took finding the perfect ink to go with it, and using it for awhile before I started changing my mind about my first impression. Over the last couple of months I have used this pen daily and the more that I use it the more that I absolutely love it now.

I didn’t care for the light weight of it at first, but once I got used to it I found that I really didn’t mind it at all. The resin material that it is made from seemed really plasticy at first, but I’ve since discovered that as you write with it it seems to warm in your hand and feels totally different than I first thought.

I don’t know how to explain it, you’ll have to use it to see what I mean. So here I am two months later and this Pelikan is the first pen that I reach for when I want to journal or just enjoy using a beautiful fountain pen.

I was fortunate to get it while on sale at an incredible discount, and should Goulet have another great price drop like this one on a Pelikan I am sure that I won’t hesitate to purchase one again. The gold swirled barrel is stunning in person, pictures really don’t do it justice until you see it in person and can really get a good look at it.

It’s amazing, I’ve taken to calling mine the Golden Milkyway because it’s absolutely beautiful. I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone. If you do get it and think that you are not so sure you like it.

use it for a few weeks and you’ll find yourself more in love with it every day until it becomes the first pen you reach for every time. It’s definitely worth every penny. Happy Writing.

I am a collector of what I like to think of as fountain pens with a sophisticated and mature appearance. I aspire to the thought that my EDC in all things should be the best that I can recognize and afford.

(After all, “who deserves it more”?) The Pelikan M205 Petrol-Marbled is one of the most striking fountain pens I’ve seen from the manufacturers you represent. From your photographs, I expected as much – or thought I did – but when the pen arrived yesterday, truly I was startled.

It is far handsomer than I’d expected – impressive but subtle in appearance, mesmerizing of mien, strong but quiet. This is not just another turquoise/teal/aquamarine molding of resin – much as I like them, they quickly start to resemble each other.

This is a cut above. And of course, as a Pelikan, the build is once again impeccable, and the nib grinding was taken all the way to completion. This pen is masterful. Thank you.

The Pelikan M205 is an excellent entry into a range of what I consider some of the best, most reliable and consistent fountain pens available today, and the Blue Marble I received from Iguanasell is no exception.

Even with its steel nib, as opposed to the gold nibs that grace the higher priced models (M400 and up), it’s a smooth writer and an excellent performer. It never fails to write, never skips, and lays down what I consider a perfectly wet line.

I wanted to add the Blue Marble to my collection, and Iguanasell had it on sale at a fantastic price. It was beautifully and safely packed and shipped it out to me promptly, arriving in a few days in perfect condition.

An excellent product, and excellent price, and first rate service – a hard combination to beat! Highly recommended.

I have been using this pen a lot for note taking in my institute and writing in general, with one pen alone doing most of my writing work, and occasionally my doodling work when procrastinating. My experience of fountain pens is relatively new, so I can’t compare it with other pens that are beyond, cheaper or at the same price range (except for Zebra V301, which I didn’t like for its scratchiness and the ink having trouble feeding.

That’s a whole different topic though. ) Therefore, I’ll cover this pen with my objective experience using it: First are foremost, it has a smooth, light body, and a round tip. The plastic is quite sturdy; I used to travel lots on the bus, biked a lot with it and sometimes it fell to the ground, and I did not experience the plastic cracking or any hindrances to the writing.

Still best to keep this pen safe to avoid damage however, since the sturdiness can be unpredictable; I’ve witnessed other people getting their pens cracked. This pen also has a secure cap with a spring inside, which prevents the nib from leaking or drying.

I had no leaking issues whatsoever with my model. It seems to be a trait of Platinum fountain pens that they create very secure caps which make these pens tolerant, and that is great. As for the writing, it often writes without hiccups and without the need to be pressing hard on the pen – or pressing on the paper at all for that matter, the great and positive difference that I felt when transitioning from ballpoint and gel pens to fountain pens for the first time.

It has a faint scratch to it when you write with it, but it’s very minimal, and ultimately Preppy manages to write reasonably smoothly and comfortably for long periods of time (unlike Zebra V301 which is way too scratchy.

) The grip of the pen is also plastic, and the pen is comfortable to hold whenever the cap is attached to the back or not. Preppy comes with its own ink cartridge, and so far I’ve only been writing with these cartridges in black and ink colours; I plan to try different inks, like Sheaffer Black, the proprietary cartridges are very reliable.

The ink capacity is decent on them, and a converter is not necessary to use it. If you don’t want to get new cartridges, you can clean out your existing one (cleaning both the cartridges and the pen is easy,) and dip the ink inside that cartridge using a pen syringe or something similar, or convert it into an eyedropper pen, which I haven’t tried.

In conclusion, Platinum Preppy is a solid fountain pen. It’s good for beginners in that it is easy to handle, clean, refill, and the transparency is convenient for keeping track of your ink and quality of the pen, overall making Preppy very approachable.

No clue how to judge its strengths for intermediate or expert usage, with considering how sturdy it is I imagine its uses to be reliable and convenient for just about anyone.

My new red Platinum Preppy fountain pen looks exactly like what it is, a cheapie, That appearance is magnificently offset by superb performance. I ordered the pen with an extra fine nib to use with sketches I do when I needed fine detail.

Preppy’s nib is smooth and the line it inks is sharp and clean on many different kinds of paper. Amazingly whenever I pick it up to write it immediately produces a perfect line without even having to shake to pen.

I have $300 fountain pens that won’t do that. One minor annoyance was that I also wanted to order your silicon grease that is used to help seal the O-rings, but discovered that your shipping cost was more than the cost of the grease.

So I left your site and ordered a small bottle of silicon grease shipped free of charge by Amazon which worked just fine. It even arrive before the Preppy got here. My Preppy is now a constant pal in my pocket.

It is an unparalleled good deal. **** Paetzke I ordered my Preppy with a set of O-rings because I wanted to trying filling the pen body with ink instead of depending upon an ink cartridge or the usual rubber ink sack so I could write or draw longer without having to refill the pen,.

A beautiful well made pen. The barrel is a bit slippery, partly due to the size of the pen but also because of the finish. Despite this I am very pleased with the pen. Most likely not a pen one would want to use for long writing sessions.

Highly recommended.

TranslateShow in original languageEin sehr hochwertiger Stift mit top Qualität. Die Gravur macht ihn einzigartig. Als Geschenk ist er echt super angekommen und sehr gelobt worden. Er liegt super in der Hand, beim nächsten Anlass gerne wieder.