As you might know, I'm not a fountain pen collector and I certainly don't own expensive pens. My most expensive fountain pen costs around $50. Yet, one of the best fountain pens I have in my humble collection, which also happens to be the cheapest, is the Pilot Varsity. While many users of the Varsity most likely don't give it a second thought and simply throw it away after the ink is depleted (because, after all, it is a disposable pen), I have chosen to refill my Varsities with all kinds of inks.
Follow the link to my review if you haven't read it already, but I would like to re-iterate the fact that the Pilot Varsity has an amazing nib-and-feed system which offers very smooth writing, great flow and even defies drying (with the cap off), something which even very expensive fountain pens fail to accomplish. The post (linked above) which details the refilling process shows an anatomy of the Varsity.
Next, we have Noodler's Heart of Darkness, a black ink with a heart, if you will forgive the silly pun. I like this ink for all kinds of reasons. I wanted the blackest ink possible and HoD fills the bill. Ironically, I've heard that Noodler's Black is even darker but I have yet to test that ink.
Heart of Darkness has plenty of good features across the board. It is a very easy ink to work with and it is also very resistant to water. In fact it might be the best performing (and well behaved) waterproof ink I have tested.
Now, take these two ingredients and combine them into... drum roll... a Pilot Varsity filled with Noodler's Heart of Darkness. I have been using this for almost two weeks and I have to say it is amazing. It's simply (cheap) fountain pen heaven.
The Varsity gives good flow with any ink but HoD makes it even better. It flows wet, not extremely so but just the way I like it. On a 1-10 scale, it is at least a 7, if not 8.
The Varsity's nib is smooth but with Heart of Darkness it becomes a baby's butt. I don't know what's up with HoD but I suspect it has some very good lubrication.
Apart from these two features that stand out, all the best characteristics of the pen and ink are now combined into one.
This is all I wanted to say but I highly encourage you to experiment with your Pilot Varsity. If you also happen to have Noodler's Heart of Darkness at your disposal, even better. You might give up more expensive fountain pens entirely!
I actually have a few very inexpensive fountain pens and I agree that some of them offer incredible bang for the buck. A fountain pen does not have to be expensive but it does have to be a good writer. Good writers come in all price ranges.
ReplyDeleteI bought several Fine pointed Varsity pens (the V Pen) from MyMaido (http://www.mymaido.com/143-pilot-v-pen-fountain-pen-) I'm looking forward to finishing off the initial ink so I can refill with HoD. I love that "disposable" pens are often "ReFillable" and stay out of landfills. ^^
ReplyDeletespeaking of cheap fountain pens, I've not seen a review of the Pilot Petit1 (Jetpens has them). $3.30!!!! They write amazingly well and are comfortable to use when posted. They do use cartridges, which is the only downside.
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible little pens for the price. For me, their only downside is not that they use cartridges, because I expect that in these little pocket/purse pens, but that they use proprietary cartridges. It limits both my choice of inks and the availability of inks. Other than that I think these little pens are a steal.
ReplyDeleteNo arguing with you there!
ReplyDeletePilot also has the Petit which essentially has the same nib and feed as the Varsity. Those use cartridges which can be easily refilled. I'm thinking about picking up a couple of them.
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah I just replied to Sara above about the Petit. I'm gonna pick up a couple of them some time. I kind of prefer cartridges because the ink gets used quicker and I don't have to remove the feed in order to fill the pen. Besides, I'm pretty sure that, if you want, you can easily convert the Petit to an eyedropper.
ReplyDeleteI happen to think Pilot cartridges are the best... although the Petit uses small cartridges, I believe. Why I like their cartridges? Because the mouth is wide and can be easily cleaned/filled and the capacity of the large cartridges is fairly high.
ReplyDeleteNow if we can just figure out a way to make those nibs flex!!! We would be GOLD!!!
ReplyDeleteThat would be an interesting project for a nibmeister. I know that people have successfully ground (grinded?) Varsity nibs and they are very well suited for that due to the low cost, but flex...? I don't know what to say. Maybe when Pilot releases a version with a gold nib :))
ReplyDelete*cough* falcon *cough* Still, a steel wet noodle would definitely be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Falcon is an expensive pen, I was merely considering the wacky idea of a Varsity with a gold nib. But wet noodle? I highly doubt we'll ever see that from a modern manufacturer.
ReplyDeleteI'm sold.
ReplyDeleteOn the pen and ink both?
ReplyDeleteThe Petit is also extremely easy to turn in to an eyedropper with just a bit of silicon grease, which I much prefer to refilling the cartridges....
ReplyDeleteAnd they are good candidates for learning nib smoothing/grinding since they aren't a huge monetary loss if you mess up :)
I agree. A Petit is on my to-buy list of pens. It should be a lot easier than the Varsity to refill.
ReplyDelete