Top 8 Best Fountain Pens Under $200 – Buyer’s Guide and Review

Writers, note-takers, pretty much anyone who diligently writes knows the value of a good pen. While there are budget options, like typical ballpoint pens, they’re hardly handy for creative writing. Fortunately, you are now able to find the best fountain pen under $200!

So now this leaves you with the question, “What is the best fountain pen under $200?” There will be so many options available that it can be difficult to make a choice. Each pen may come with different styles and unique features that make them ‘special.’ However, in the end, the best kind will always be the one that will make writing for you easier.

Your choice of fountain pen largely depends on your preferred features and sometimes, your budget. If you are looking for the best fountain pen under $200, then you’re on the right page!
Quick Overview: Top 3 Best Fountain Pens Under $200

Best Choice	Waterman Carene Black Sea Silver Trim Fountain Pen Classy design Smooth writing experience Different ink colors available Check Price	Check Price
Also great	Pilot Vanishing Point Collection Retractable Fountain Pen Excellent nibs Good size and balance Check Price	Check Price
Best Value	Cross Botanica Green Daylily Fountain Pen Looks beautiful with its floral designs Convenient with click-off cap Check Price	Check Price

8 Best Fountain Pens Under $200 – Compared List

1. Waterman Carene Black Sea Silver Trim Fountain Pen – The Luxurious Fountain Pen

The beauty of the Waterman Carene Fountain Pen comes from its high-gloss black lacquer barrel. It comes with a trim and clip featuring a liquid-shine palladium plating. Along with that, the pen has an 18-karat solid gold nib with rhodium plating in a chic curved design. Available in both fine and medium nib sizes, you can have it with cartridges and bottles in different ink colors.

Waterman Carene Fountain Pen is a popular writing pen that combines sophistication and excellent writing experience in one. Besides the features mentioned, its design makes writing so easy as the pen glides effortlessly on every page. The pen is engravable with 8 ink colors as an option and with a luxury box included as well, which makes it a perfect gift for momentous occasions.

A slight concern is that fingerprints often mark the pen, so it is best to have a cloth nearby to wipe the prints if they become a bother.

Summary:

For a price of $200, the Waterman Carene Black Sea Silver Trim Fountain Pen makes an excellent choice for a pen with its smooth writing experience. It has a classy design and its balance is just right. Overall, it is a great fountain pen for the price even with slight aspects that might bother you.

2. Pilot Vanishing Point Collection Retractable Fountain Pen – The Fountain Pen Fit for a Superior Writing Style

This Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen boasts of a design that comes from the radar invisible technology used in aircraft. It’s a patented design that gives the pen its retractable feature. Its nib is a special 18-karat gold with rhodium plating. The pen comes with one cartridge and converter, the former with pre-filled ink and the latter designed with CON-50 twist piston.

Vanishing Point takes pride in its high-quality product, just as expected of any Pilot fountain pens. It is designed to work well in taking notes and other writing activities. This fountain pen comes in different finishes and nib sizes, but the fine nib with the black matte barrel is one of the most popular. Designed to offer superior and reliable writing performance, it is a class of its own.

The black matte pen looks great, however, it can scratch easily.

Summary:

Vanishing Point is a wonderful pen – convenient and stylish thanks to its black matte finish and retractable feature. Although those feature itself has some drawbacks, as mentioned above. On the other hand, it may be the perfect pen if you do not plan to use it as a regular writing tool.

3. Cross Botanica Green Daylily Fountain Pen – The Collectable Fountain Pen

The Cross Botanica Fountain Pen is a particularly beautiful pen with its flowery patterns that appears like henna designs. It has brilliant lush colors in an ivory lacquer base engraved with swirling designs and metallic 23-karat gold inlays. It also has a stylish pavé band that adds to how striking it looks. More importantly, it features a click-off cap and gel ink rollerball formula. Together with the pen are two cartridges and a premium gift box.

With its stunning look and excellent mechanical design, it is not surprising that the Green Daylily fountain pen is popular. It is noted by users to be super smooth to use and durable.

On the other hand, the pen’s colors fade after a while, leaving a plain-looking pen after some time.

Summary:

This Cross Botanica Green Daylily Fountain Pen is a genuinely striking pen. Its design makes it an excellent gift, especially as it already comes with a gift box. It is durable and convenient enough for use, though the design fades over time. Some users also note that the pen is a bit heavy to hold, which might affect how well you write with the pen.

4. Parker Sonnet Black Lacquer Foundation Pen – The Fountain Pen for the Sophisticated Writer

This fountain pen stands apart for its flawless quality and refined style thanks to its black lacquer barrel. It features varying designs including the Ciselé pattern. Besides this, this Parker Sonnet fountain pen has an 18-karat gold trim, capped gold clip in an arrowhead design, and a fine nib perfect for intricate writing.

Besides being an attractive looking pen, it is popular for its smooth writing performance with skillful execution. It suits any style and is optimized for the best writing comfort due to it being lightweight and well-balanced. Parker ensures the quality of each pen by having all nibs and other parts checked and assembled by hand.

The problem is if you don’t use it continuously, it will dry out easily.

Summary:

All features of the Parker Sonnet Black Lacquer Fountain Pen seem to work well together to bring one of the best fountain pens in this list. It is nice that besides a sophisticated style, the pen is comfortable to write with and well-balanced to use. It is a shame that you cannot use it for a long time, otherwise, it would dry out.

5. Sailor Fountain Pen Professional Gear – The Fountain Pen for Precision and Consistency

The Sailor Fountain Pen is a professional pen known for its beautiful bicolor and 21-karat medium nib. It works with a cartridge/converter formula to deliver an effortless writing experience. It is a pro gear 21-karat nib and does well when it comes to consistency as well as precision.

It has an excellent flow, looks elegant, sturdy, and writes smoothly. Having a slightly finer nib makes the Sailor Fountain Pen a lot better for day-to-day use. It has a superior mechanism that takes in the cartridge, making it convenient as you don’t need to carry a separate bottle of ink.

The downside is that you will need to purchase the cartridge separately.

Summary:

The Sailor Fountain Pen Professional Gear is easily one of the best fountain pens in this list for its simple, yet effective mechanism. Its fine nib does well to help you write legibly and smoothly that is ideal for taking notes as well as intricate writing. Besides the fact that it doesn’t have a cartridge included, users still make this their choice of pen.

6. Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen – The Fountain Pen for Smooth Writing Experience

This pen comes as a combination of Makrolon, a brushed stainless steel, and black fiberglass. It equals to a sleek looking pen that looks way better than what you see in the picture. Lamy 2000 is piston filled, which means you will need an ink bottle instead of an ink cartridge. Featuring an extra-fine nib with 14-karat gold and platinum plating, it is one of the highly rewarded pens you can find. Another notable feature is its pen barrel, which has 4 small window sections for viewing the ink inside.

It has a nice weight, feels solid, and is pleasant to use. It looks incredible with its brushed finish that looks a lot like brushed stone, which feels cool and smooth. The grip is comfortable and it doesn’t have any ridges when you write.

Perhaps one thing that some users won’t like is the fact that it doesn’t use a cartridge ink.

Summary:

The Lamy 2000 is a fountain pen that works well enough for everyday use. It is not a calligraphy pen, but you can use its fine nib to write intricately. Many users note that it is so easy to write with, which is one of the reasons for its popularity. It is a little inconvenient when the ink runs out and you do not have a handy ink bottle, but this pen is great for any writing style.

7. PELIKAN Fountain Pen – The Gold Plated Practical Use Fountain Pen

The PELIKAN Fountain Pen is a good-looking pen featuring a black acrylic resin for the barrel and cap’s finish. For the tip, it comes in gold plating. It also has gold plating ornamental rings and fittings. The pen has a piston filling system, which means you need a bottle of ink to refill. As it has a transparent ink tank, it is easy to see if the pen is running out of ink.

This PELIKAN pen is one of the classic 200 series, which uses high quality materials and handcrafted meticulously. It writes smoothly and is ideal for cursive writing. Its design is also easy to clean and maintain thanks to its threaded nib that is easy to remove. The pen is light and just the perfect weight.

Since it uses a piston filling system, it will be a little tiresome when you need to refill it. It is advised that you take the time to turn the piston so that you can fill your pen with a lot more ink into the chamber.

Summary:

The PELIKAN Fountain Pen is a nice pen for practical use. It writes well, light, and easy to maintain dispute it having a piston filling system. The outside design is simple but elegant, which also adds to its practical charm. Overall, it is a nice, cheaper priced fountain pen that works just like a $500 one.

8. Xezo Legionnaire Fountain Pen – The All-Around Fountain Pen

Xezo Legionnaire Fountain Pen has many notable features including the German-made medium point nib. The pen is hallmarked with 18k gold plating and is mirror polished. On the other hand, the cap and barrel both have .999 pure platinum plating. Also, the pen has 18k gold plated fittings. All plated parts have clear lacquer coating as added protection. Together with the pen are 4 ink cartridges, an ink converter, fountain cloth, gift box, and a 3-year warranty card. It has a standard European sized ink refill and may be interchangeable with other fountain ink refills. It has a snap cap with diamond cut and platinum finish.

All these features make the fountain pen quite a stunning writing tool. They also add the durability of the product, allowing you to use it for a long time. It comes in other versions besides a fountain. Its design is both practical and luxurious, which easily makes it one of the best pens on this list.

Just be a little careful with using the pen, though, as the ink might leak.

Summary:

The Xezo Legionnaire Fountain Pen is truly one of the best pens on this list if you consider all of its wonderful reviews. Both practical and luxurious, it is a pen you can use for daily use and more stylish writing projects. Given thatits less than $200, it will certainly not burn a hole to any writer, note-taker, or artist’s pocket.

Buyer’s Guide

First-time buyers of fountain pens have it hard. Since there are so many options available and they can be pricey compared to ballpoint pens, it is challenging to choose which one to buy. In this buyer’s guide to the best fountain pen under $200, we’ve put together these pointers below that will make it easier for you to pick.

Nib

It is the part of the pen that touches the paper, which is a crucial consideration in looking for the one you want to buy. You want the right nib that writes the lines or words in as thin or thick as you want. At the same time, you want it to be durable enough or else your pen will be worthless since it would then be nothing but decoration.

• Nib Size – Pick the right size of nib that works for you. The standard options are F for Fine, M for Medium, and B for Broad. Others also have XF, XXF, BB, and BBB sizes. The thing is the sizes aren’t standard, so even if it says Fine, it might not be the same as other ‘fine’ fountain pens.
• Nib Shape – Nibs also come in different shapes. You should check into that too if you want to find the right fountain pen for you. The most common nib shapes are round and italic. The rounded tips create uniform lines no matter the orientation or direction of the nib. Italic, on the other hand, is wide and flat. It creates narrow horizontal strokes and wide vertical strokes, which makes it ideal for calligraphy.
• Nib Material – Luxurious pens usually come in 14-karat and 18-karat nibs. You can also choose inexpensive ones with steel nibs, which can still write just as good than a gold nib if adequately tuned.

Filling System

The filling system of the fountain pen is another aspect to consider in finding the pen you’ll like. Some filling systems can be a chore if you need to refill it often. If you don’t choose correctly, your pen can become unreliable and difficult to use. The most common filling systems are:

• C/C Filler – It means a cartridge/converter filling system. The fountain pen is designed so that it can take either a converter or a cartridge. With cartridge, you can throw it out when the ink is gone. Converters, however, is reusable since it uses a piston mechanism.
• Piston Filler –Instead of a converting unit, the pen has a piston built into it. This filling system is known for being reliable and having a huge capacity for ink. However, you need to maintain them well to make sure they last.
• Lever Filler – This filling system is usually found in vintage pens where an internal reservoir holds the ink inside the pen. They are easy to use, can hold a good amount of ink, and durable.
• Eyedropper – A pen with this filling system is filled with ink using either an eyedropper or a syringe. It shoots the ink into the barrel, which allows it to hold a lot of ink although it can also be problematic.

Here are other factors you might want to consider in looking for the best fountain pen:

Design

When it comes to fountain pens, you must want one that looks aesthetically pleasing. After all, this is what makes fountain pens appealing. It is not like an ordinary pen, so besides function, you want to enjoy looking at it too. You have a lot of choices and they are all mentioned below.

• Classic – A formal, but not flashy or plain looking fountain pen
• Retro – A vintage pen that looks like their older versions, though modernized
• Elegant – Simple and sleek. They tend to give of a feeling of being a “ladies only” pen
• Modern – Combines design and function to create the perfect utility pen

Budget

Fountain pens are usually costly investments. However, you will still find more affordable options, such as those mentioned in this article. They can be great for daily use and if it is your first time using this kind of pen.

Grip

You want to consider the pen’s grip as a deciding factor if you want a good writing position. Some pens come with designs that guide you on how to hold the pen. With this, you may gain the ability to write well using a fountain pen.

Conclusion

Fountain pens sure are expensive, but you can find some affordable options, such as the best fountain pen under $200.  There are all kinds of pens available, so the effort is worth the investment. It is easy to be attracted to this type of pen because of its design. Admittedly, you may also want to get a fountain pen for its incredible benefits in your writing.

Whatever your reasons are for buying this product, you do not have to worry too much about which one to get. In this article, we have a great list of the best fountain pen under $200, each with features you would surely love and that would definitely suit your style.

For more of the best fountain pens, click here.