Originally Posted by guitarman19853
My first FP... i like it so i'm considering going for the real thing now. any suggestions? honestly, i'm looking sub $50 category...
The Parker Vector (~$8), Reflex (~$8), and Frontier (~$20) are all great and very smooth. Just keep in mind the medium nibs on them are pretty wide. The Frontier might be somewhat hard to find though nowdays.
Lamy's Safaris (~$25) and Safari Al-Stars (~$30) are also very nice and smooth. The Al-Stars have aluminum bodies and are very rugged, although I personally don't care for the clip. It just looks cheap hanging out of the pocket...like a huge paper clip.
You can also look into vintage Parker 51s (~$50). Not the most exciting fountain pen to write with as the nib is hidden under a hood, and the nib feels like a nail (it's one of the very few fountain pens you can actually use on carbon copy forms without worrying about bending the nib). Very reliable and smooth writers though assuming you buy one that's been fixed up.
There's also a bunch of nice Chinese FPs from Duke and Hero that write well and cost around $50 or less. Go to
www.hisnibs.com and take a look around.