[shane55]

   
I don't know about the other two, but the Sonnet is very easy to maintain (if that criteria is important to you). I have the cheaper version (aluminium body with gold trim), the nib and feed easily comes out with a pull. The nib is attached to the feed via a pair of tabs on each side of the feed. Once you have that disassembled, washing/cleaning/drying the pen is a breeze.

 
Thanks... Yes maintenance matters. It all matters; writing smoothness, line, ink flow feel-grip, build quality and styling.
Strangely, I had made up my mind to get the Sonnet (the one pictured). Then it was gone. I lost my chance for the one I wanted at the price I could pay.
So I wound up with my second choice.
A deep brown Waterman Expert with palladium trim.
 
We will see...

 

[Tangster]

http://www.cultpens.com/news/offers/q/date/2015/01/13/winter-sale
 
10% off everything at Cult Pens. My wallet hurts already.

 

[BGRoberts]

I'm so excited!
Finally regaining enough feeling in my hands that I'm about to give my pens a whirl!
WoooHOOOoooooo!
17 months without a fountain pen is WAY too long!
Going to start with a Lamy Safari, but have the mustard yellow Parker 51 waiting to go as well.

 

[Silent One]

 17 Months...without a...FP?
Had no idea your hands weren't able to allow the fulfillment that a fountain pen provides. 
Very excited to read you're re-engaging.

 

[brim71]

  I'm so excited!
Finally regaining enough feeling in my hands that I'm about to give my pens a whirl!
WoooHOOOoooooo!
17 months without a fountain pen is WAY too long!
Going to start with a Lamy Safari, but have the mustard yellow Parker 51 waiting to go as well.

Yes, congrats on that, very exciting!!
 
I visited the Philly Pen Show this weekend and probably shouldn't have, my wallet hurts... my pen case is happy though!
 
I grabbed three pens; Visconti Wall Street in platinum, Sheaffer PFM III in blue, and a Pelikan M400 in red with an amazing BB nib.  The Wall Street has been on my list for a while and I'm a sucker for the PFMs (especially in blue).  The Pelikan was sold once I tried that nib, wow...
 
Oh, and two bottles of ink that I have yet to try, but have read good things about: Diamine Red Dragon and J. Herbin Cafe Des Iles.  I'll let you know what I think once I get something inked up.

 

[BGRoberts]

Things went well with the pens.  Though my writing is worse than it used to be, I enjoyed things tremendously.  
Used the green LamySafsri, mustard Parker 51, and matte black Namiki Vanishing Point.  All fired up and wrote well after just a little coaxing to get the ink flowing.
A project for this year is to write letters to friends and family.  I got a good start.
Happy camper here!

 

[shane55]

 
 
Got this Waterman Expert about 3 weeks ago. Have been using it a lot. Dark Brown with black and silver trim. SS x-Fine nib (fairly soft). Line varies greatly with pressure and direction of stroke.
Well balanced and a wonderful weight. Quickly becoming a fave (though the Falcon beats everything I have for smoothness).
 
Noodlers Bulletproof black is more of a very dark grey. When this pen runs dry I'll try it with my other standby; Pilot-Namiki Standard black. Wonderful ink. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X2XJHI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

 

[proton007]

Haven't purchased pens in a while, but I did manage to find the JHerbin 1670 Stormy Grey.
 
Sometimes I feel I have enough pens to last me a lifetime...some are reserved for special occasions, others are going through a rotation, slowly.

 

[Pudu]

I ended up trading my broad for an ultra extra fine. The broad was a great, smooth nib, but it was a bit boring.



Loving the u.e.f. thus far.

 

[Noobmachine]

I ended up trading my broad for an ultra extra fine. The broad was a great, smooth nib, but it was a bit boring.



Loving the u.e.f. thus far.

Is it scratchy in any way? I own a Spencerian nib from Mr Mottishaw and without flexing the tip out it tends to be a little grainy/scratchy.

 

[Silent One]

The angle at which I write and print makes an extra fine nib way too scratchy for taste. Glad it's working for you, Pudu.

 

[Pudu]

You know I thought it would be. I tend to like bigger nibs - my favourite is a nice flexible, gushingly wet stub (so much fun to use). But I wanted a nice tight accurate nib for practising Hiragana and Kanji. This nib is perfect for that.

However it is surprisingly smooth. I pretty much only use Tomoe River and some left over Rhodia and this baby is not scratchy in the least on those. Not at all what I was expecting.

 

[Silent One]

You know I thought it would be. I tend to like bigger nibs - my favourite is a nice flexible, gushingly wet stub (so much fun to use). But I wanted a nice tight accurate nib for practising Hiragana and Kanji. This nib is perfect for that.

However it is surprisingly smooth. I pretty much only use Tomoe River and some left over Rhodia and this baby is not scratchy in the least on those. Not at all what I was expecting.

Yeah, I'm a long time Rhodian! Very excited to hear you're at level to practice Hiragana and Kanji. Think I'll start looking/practicing Kanji this spring. Will be starting from scratch so Hiragana maybe needed as well. But I'm always reading somewhere how Americans are interested in learning how to speak the language but not write. And that learning Kanji could actually help non-natives speak better.
 
If I'm going to do it, I'm going to sacrifice and study it all. 

 

[shane55]

Love my newest.
 

 

[Silent One]

  Love my newest.