This is a well-known question that I have got several times from my blog: the best fountain pens under 100 dollars, and which one would be perfect for beginner fountain pen users!
Today is the day of answering your question, and also I’ll give you a guide on how to choose a better fountain pen under $100 that will meet your needs adequately.
In this comprehensive guide on how to choose a well-designed and well-made fountain pen, I’ll highlight 5 of the market’s best pens that are ranked in the top 5 fountain pens in 2020.
So, if you have a bit of interest in this and try to search for a review where you can trust, this place can be one of your choices.
Top Five Best Fountain Pens Under $100 On The Market
1. Cross Classic Century Brushed Black PVD
This is the first one that I want to recommend to you when buying a fountain pen under $100.
Thanks to its super slim silhouette, what is the Cross Classic Century PVD fountain pen’s main attraction if anyone asks me? I’ll say it’s a super slim silhouette.
Because it makes the pen more attractive and popular also in the current market.
According to Cross brand, the pen is considered one of the dainty-looking fountain pens that make it look too fragile.
You’ll notice that the pen is a little bit short and lightweight, but it feels well-balanced, whatever your hand size is.
The barrel of the pen is beautiful as well as the brushed black PVD finish.
Together with the diamond-patterned engraving, the Cross Classic Century PVD looks imposing with its polished black finish.
You’ll also get a click-off cap feature in the pen and stainless-steel nib with polished black PVD plating. It comes with a box and two M size black refill cartridges.
Now I’m going to show you one thing that you may don’t know about it. It’s also available in other types.
As a fountain pen, this pen is available in F size and M size nibs. As a rollerball, you’ll see it has a refill option, including a gel rolling ball, porous point, and jumbo ballpoint. One more type is a ballpoint that uses a short rotating ball for its tip.
Unlike the fountain one, this is not capped but retractable through a rotating barrel system. And the last type is the mechanized pencil that comes with a 0.7 mm tip size.
Technical Details:
- Brand: Cross
- Weight: 0.49 ounces
- Pen Dimensions 5.75 x 0.38 x 0.38 inc
- Color: Brushed Black PVD
- Closure: Click-Off Cap
- Point Type: Fine
Pros:
- This one will provide you great value for your money.
- For its lightweight body, it is possible to write fast and comfortable in hand with the pen.
- The metal body is always the reason for your pen durability and long-lasting writing performance.
Cons:
- It can feel flimsy to the new fountain pen users due to its slim metal body.
2. Parker Urban Premium Amethyst Pearl
If you’re living a luxurious lifestyle, you should use a fountain pen that meets your needs, like the Parker Urban Premium Fountain pen.
It can be said that The Parker Urban Premium Fountain pen is a new revolution of the pen world and one of the most well-known fountain pens in the market today.
This isn’t the first Parker pen that I’ve shown on my site, but my first experience with a Parker fountain pen that isn’t of the entry-level tier.
Parker has a substantial brand value for making well-quality fountain pens for a long time. And this is why they are right now one of the established pen brands that offer a range of fountain, ballpoint pens for better writing.
Usually, when I talk about the Parker Urban, I always love its affordable price range as it’s quality and writing performance. You’ll also love it! I’m sure!
It comes in a very stately box. It starts with a grey sleeve with Parker’s brand logo on it. Its texture feels good to the touch. That slides out to reveal a correctly printed card, underneath that the fountain pen securely nestled on a bed of velvet-like elements.
Performance: The Urban form of its appearance looks smooth and unique, in line with my impression of the brand. The metal body and its stainless steel nib make its good.
You may also love its slow taper to a narrower point towards both ends. But you may notice its balance because of its metal housing. The pen is slightly back heavy. This can be helpful for the pen user with more giant hands than mine.
If you buy the Urban, vibrant blue model, you’ll see that this model looks turquoise when you hold the pen in your hand.
You may also see that the influential turquoise color is accented with chrome trims, and both ends of the Urban have straightforward polished chrome tips. But when it comes to its clip section, we can see that the clip has Parker’s popular arrow shape.
One of the pen’s useful features is it has enough tension to keep the pen safe and secure. You’ll enjoy its cap pulls that will open quickly and very efficiently and closes with a simple, satisfying click. Moreover, it can be posted if you are so fancy.
The grip is made of bare black plastic with a metal lip, and the pen size is 7.1 x 2.2 x 1.6 inches, which is enough to fit most hand sizes like your hand!
If we look at the barrel section of the pen, we can see a small step between the grip and the barrel but don’t worry. This will not be any problem when you write!
It is simple to fill and clean the pen because the Urban is a converter and cartridge system, and also you’ll find a push converter with the pen.
Pros:
- The Urban has a solid nib that will allow you to write more smoothly than other pens.
- It will help you to write well even with dry inks.
- The body structure is perfect for all kinds of hand sizes.
- Although it's an expensive pen, you can start your dream writing with a fountain pen as a newbie.
Cons:
- The ink capacity of its converter is a lot less than the other brands of the converter.
3. Lamy Studio Stainless Steel Fountain Pen
The Lamy Studio Fountain pen is the three number choice of finding the best fountain pens under $100, and it’s mainly designed for nonstop writing performance and comfort.
For the $50-80 range, this one is a good step-up, next level fountain pen, with over 100+ five stars positive customer feedback, it can be said that this is the perfect pen for the money.
Structure and Longevity:
The pen harmonizes forward-thinking fashion with excellent function for a propeller-like clip and slender finish.
The pen comes with an F size nib, and you can switch from F nib size to a broad writing nib with the same fountain pen.
After all, the Lamy Studio is a long-lasting and easy to use fountain pen that you will get under $100.
Material and Size:
The whole design and body structure of the Lamy Studio fountain pen are rather minimalistic, and the pinched clip is its distinctive feature. It’s designed with brushed stainless steel along with a chrome-plated mechanism.
As for its body weight, we can say that the Lamy Studio is quite a lightweight pen, its value just about 1.1 ounces and body dimensions: 6.1 x 0.38 x 0.38 inch.
Comfort and Ergonomics:
With no pressure on fingertips, the Nab of the pen helps to write smoothly and comfortably. The grip is as ergonomic as possible. The grip has a subtle rubbery texture, which doesn’t get oily after your long writing workshop sessions.
The Lamy Studio also has excellent heft and feel to it, being tip-heavy and friendly-barreled. Any cramps are out of the question.
Technical Details:
- Brand: LAMY
- Weight: 1.12 ounces
- Material Type: Metal
- Size: Fine Nib
- Point Type: Medium
Pros:
- Lightweight and slim
- Easy to use and write
- Made of stainless steel and long-lasting
Cons:
- The pen is too light to use
4. Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen
The Kaweco Sport is one of the affordable pens in the current market known as the best pocket fountain pen. And you can buy it even if your budget is under $50, although today we’re reviewing pens under $100.
Materials and Construction:
All sections of the pen are made of plastic, like the barrel, cap, which is a wise choice given the pen’s pocket pen designation.
As a pocket-friendly fountain pen, the pen is more likely to be exposed to comparatively harsher requirements than more conventional fountain pens on the market like coins, inside a pocket with keys, and others.
If we look at the plastic type of the pen used in it, the plastic is quite durable, but it does pick-up scratches comparatively fastly and easily.
In a word, the pen’s build quality is just reliable, and this is quite an important consideration on a fountain pen that’s meant to be carried anywhere you want!
You may love the barrel and cap because these both feel very sturdy, despite its seemingly slim walls. Also, the lid of the pen meshes cleanly with the barrel threads that look like tightly!
The Kaweco will guarantee you that the pen will give you confidence when you carry the pen with you!
But one thing you may notice is that it doesn’t include a clip, but don’t worry about it; you can buy it from any of your local shops or online market like amazon that will cost around $2-$ three maybe or higher than that!
But if you would like to buy a clip from the same brand, yes, the Kaweco, they also sell slightly several and more beautiful hooks in various finishes that you’ll get only for $6.
The Design of The Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen:
It features a protruding finial at the top of the pen’s cap, which allows showing an embossed brand’s logo on a textured background. Near the final, the pen’s lid starts off round but fastly transitions into an octagonal faceted pattern.
The facets provide both design and substance, as the flattened edges run the pen from rolling while also calculating unusual optical sensitivity. It can take about 1.5 trunks to remove the cap from the pen, which will help you use the pen as a note writing tool that you may like to do very quickly like me!
If we take a look at the back end of the pen’s barrel, we’ll see a coined edge, which adds quite an exciting bit of texture to an otherwise sleek, attractive design.
This section also has an engraving that reads “made in Germany,” and you’ll find a pattern of 4 dots below the quote.
It can accept standard international short ink cartridges, but remember that the compact size limits converter options. But the pen offers a mini converter unusually intended for only this version of Kaweco fountain pen that can be had for just around 6 dollars.
The plastic production and airtight barrel make the pen a fantastic candidate for eyedropper transformation.
Technical Details:
- Brand: Kaweco
- Color: Black
- Closure: Screw Off Cap
- Point Type: Fine
- Ink Color: Blue
Pros:
- When you post the pen, you'll feel its compact design and comfortable size.
- The pen provides unconventional double broad BB size
- Good quality pen at an affordable price range!
Cons:
- All the parts of the pen are made of plastic, so this can be a fact for you if you love metal body pens.
- The price should be higher than its current price, from my perspective!
5. LAMY Imperial Blue Studio Fountain Pen
The Lamy Imperial Blue Studio Fountain Pen is the five best choices on this list of the best fountain pens under $100, and this one would be great, especially when you are looking for a fountain pen for your art work!
Although this Lamy Imperial also functions well for everyday use thanks to its practical design.
It showcases a metal design with an exceptional matte blue lacquer finish. And this pen comes in the pure classic cigar-shaped stateless design that will attract you!
There is an inequality in how the pen takes classic style with a contemporary design through polished chrome fittings; these design options give the pen a more attractive and fantastic look and make the pen more distinguishable than others.
Additionally, the new take on the barrel also has a distinguishable clip in the propeller shape.
The unique shaped clip makes the pen unique too, and as for the Nib of the pen, it has a polished steel one. You may also love the most straightforward replaceable system for its Nib, and it’s available in varying need sizes.
With so many options of various nib sizes, any writer or artist cab quickly chooses from one as small and as sharp as that of a needle.
These extra-fine size nibs will create fine line sizes, which is essential in improving all kinds of art and writing styles.
ItsNibb is almost 99% smooth, and the grip allows the writer’s complete comfort when they write, and along with that, its high gloss chrome grip runs the pen within the writer’s grasp.
The pen uses a T 10 model ink cartridge, but you can modify it from yourself, so a converter Z26 will also work with the pen.
The LAMY Imperial Blue Studio Fountain Pen comes in a premium gift box designed to safeguard the pen from humidity and dust.
At the end of the review of the LAMY Imperial Blue Studio Fountain Pen, it can be said that this is a genuinely well-designed fountain pen that looks stylish and advanced functional just as intended.
LAMY Imperial is a great and ideal choice for those who work in a calligraphy studio or something like that!
Technical Details
- Brand: LAMY
- Weight: 0.8 ounces
- Color: Blue
- Material Type: Metal
- Size: Ex-Fine Nib
- Point Type: Extra Fine
- Ink Color: Blue
Pros:
- Provides consistently smooth writing
- You'll get a Premium to feel when writing
- It has chrome-plated tips and solid construction
Cons:
- its ink can sometimes accumulate inside the cap after use
Summing-Up: The Best Fountain Pens Under $100!
After reading the complete review, if you’re still unsure which is the perfect pen for you, you can pick up number one (Cross Classic Century Brushed Black PVD).
Because the Cross Classic Century fountain pen is one of the user-friendly fountain pens recommended by professional fountain pen users!
So, pick up the pen and get ready to start your fountain pen journey from now! Best of luck!