Pelikan Souveran 400 Black/Green GT Fine Point Fountain Pen - 994855

I have a small fountain pen collection and I'm fortunate enough to own some of the world's best pens, including Montgrappa, Montblanc, Delta and many others.

While not as elite as some, I have always liked the Pelikan pens. They hold up to day-to-day use, and are generally solid performers with few shortcomings.

The Pelikans come in three different sizes ranging from oversized to one that would be appropriate for a woman. I usually prefer this one, which is the middle size...it handles well without feeling too bulky in my hand. It's simple to use...ink filling is a standard piston-type affair, or you can use the supplied adapter to have it work with standard cartridges if you don't like to draw your ink from the bottle.

One other positive is that it's an easy pen to clean. I rotate through my pen collection, using one for a few months and then moving on. Thus, many of my pens sit unused for months at a time, and I prefer to drain and clean them rather than leaving ink in the pen. The Pelikan makes this fairly easy by just running water through the filling system.

With fountain pens, everything comes down to the feel of the nib on the page. Some inexpensive pens have a "scratchy" feel, or tend to skip across the page leaving blank spots because the ink didn't get fed quickly enough. I usually like a fine point, which sometimes makes this tendency worse. The Pelikan excels in this area, with a nib that feels "right" as it glides across the paper, and the ability to put down a smooth, consistent line of ink. Everyone's writing style is different, but to me, the Pelikan feels every bit as good as some pens costing five times as much.

As for inks, I tend to load mine with Pelikan's blue. It lasts a long time and dries quickly on the page. I've noticed some other brands of ink tend to have a gritty feel, or flake off the page in small bits after drying. The Pelikan inks have none of these problems and they tend to be among my favorites.

Overall, highly recommended