I am about to buy a Platinum Plaisir, Lamy Al-Star, or a TWISBI Eco (or possibly all of them) but I can’t decide which nibs. Even physical shops around here don’t have inked pens to try. Problem is different makers and countries describe nibs differently, eg with Japanese F often being like European EF apparently.

Any tips? I hate scratchiness and like some stroke variation, but I generally prefer finer nibs usually on cheap paper. If that means anything, my Muji pen is about right but a liitle too scratchy. My old Pilot F is excellent.

  • jvw@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4·
    17 days ago

    I have the ECO, with an EF nib. It’s not scratchy at all – it’s almost ghost like if you want to make very fine lines. At max pressure it’s about the same size as a roller gel.

    It’s the only fountain pen I have (I have an ancient set of adjustable dipping pens from my great grandpa’s engineering toolkit, not sure if that counts), so this isn’t an expert opinion or anything.

    I mostly write in a moleskine, which isn’t supposed to be great for fountain pens but works fine for me.

    Edit: just to say, I got the plunger stuck at the bottom, and was about to toss it when I found out that there’s tutorials on how to completely disassemble and reassemble the ECO, and forums where people talk about the exact problem I had. It’s super easy to maintain. Reminds me a bit of owning a VW – you think “I can’t possibly fix this,” and then you start tinkering and it’s fixed before dinner. Except the pen takes about 5 minutes.

    • Stopwatch1986@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      16 days ago

      That helps – thanks. I apply almost no pressure, with pens basically resting on my hand, so F may be more appropriate for an Eco for me.

      Not applying pressure also means very light pens don’t work great for me but I prefer the metal look more than resin.

  • Guadin@k.fe.derate.me
    2·
    16 days ago

    So weird you can’t try them out. The shops over here don’t have pens inked up either, but when asked they will dip the pen in ink so you can try them. How else are you able to decide which one to buy?

    • Stopwatch1986@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      16 days ago

      I was planning to suggest dipping tomorrow. Fingers crossed but the general attitude here is like going to a supermarket.

      • Guadin@k.fe.derate.me
        1·
        16 days ago

        Man that sucks. It’s not like they have customers lining up around the corner so a little a bit of customerservice wouldn’t hurt them.