Amazon Basics Refillable Fountain Pen - Fine Point, Black Ink

This pen is ridiculous! Next day, $8, whatever. I'll buy it.WOW! This pen is SO MUCH better than deserved for the price. It's not the best pen out there, but it's good enough for everyday. It has; solid interface, fits all of the "good parts", costs almost nothing, balanced weight, doesn't scream "steal me", looks "professional", writes VERY smooth with the ink cartridge I transplanted, and it's Goldilocks size dimensions. I didn't use the Amazon ink, so that might be a factor, but it's far better than you have a right to expect from it. Nothing fancy, just the right stuff.Buy it. Buy it now.2 months update:The nib is almost ruined, but not quite. I'm searching for a suitable replacement. It's been a really good nib that nothing else has been able to performance match so far, and I've been really using it. Hours a day, every day, and pretty much all day weekends. I've researched to find that it's very long lived under the circumstances I've used it. The ink still flows rather well, and line is consistent, but the contact surface is flat. I've literally worn it out in 2 months. Let me remind though, that was almost constant use. It held up wonderfully. I'd buy another, but the feed and body are almost mint. I've been thinking about it though. The pen is that good, and it's about $10. I really wish Amazon Basics would make one in solid raw brass with a screw cap. That would be my grail pen.

The Amazon Basics fountain pen is solid. It is mostly metal and has a good heft. It uses "Standard International" cartridges, which means you have many choices of ink from many companies.As someone else has commented, the fine point (which I bought) is not really fine. It is pretty much in line with the American-made dime store cartridge pens I used on occasion when I was young (shortly after the end of the most recent ice age). "American" fine in those days, especially on the cheaper pens, was like this: Fine means fine enough that you can use it on less than great paper without the line soaking out to unusable width. I would say this fine point would be a medium-broad by the standards of Japanese or Chinese pens, with which we are more familiar today.Someone else commented that this pen only uses Amazon brand cartridges. I have not found that to be true. I am using a different brand of "Standard International" cartridge in mine right now, and it works perfectly well. Of course the so called standard cartridges come from many different manufacturers- Monteverde, Special Reserve, Pelikan, Diamine, Waterman I think, and many other companies all make them. There's bound to be some drift in specifications, so it is likely some of these will work and others won't.Speaking of the so called standard cartridge there are actually TWO "Standard International" cartridges, because of course there are. There is the short standard and there is the long standard, which is the length of two short ones end to end. The idea with the stubby cartridges is that with a full sized pen (like the Amazon Basics model) you can put in two cartridges; when you run out of ink, you have a spare. When you get home, add a new spare to the pen. The Amazon Basics is long enough to hold two Short Internationals. It is also broad enough that YOU CAN GET THE SECOND ONE OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF THE PEN BARREL WHEN YOU NEED IT. This is such a basic design feature you'd think pen makers wouldn't ever get it wrong, but they do.The Long International is the length of two Shorts. Obviously it contains a lot more ink; more than twice as much, because it avoids the wasted space of the neck and end of the second cartridge. I haven't tried a Long International in the Amazon Basics pen, but since it holds two Shorts just fine, it should work.Don't try a Parker, Sheaffer, Lamy, Aurora, etc. cartridge. These and some other companies use their own design, because of course they do. The different designs don't interchange.I find the Amazon Basics is good and smooth. It is a "wet" pen, dispensing quite a bit of ink, which is what I like. The point has no flex to speak of, but flex is a specialized thing most people (myself included) haven't had experience with, so that probably doesn't matter.

Normally $10.35 at the time of my review, on sale for $8.80 with over 11k purchases so I thought what the heck, I'll try it and see.While a little heavier than my other fountain pen, it surprisingly writes almost as good as my other fine point fountain pen. The ink flows more than my Lamy pen, so it appears a touch heavier, especially on more absorbent papers. But that can be good if I'm using it to draw, and I need to fill in space.Overall, it writes as smoothly as my Lamy Safari (which is everyday quality) and it has had very little skipping, very likely due to leaving the cap off a little longer than I should have. Wiping it on scrap paper resolved the one time it did. It feels comfortable and only bled through the Moleskine paper. And I like that if I'm thinking and I forget to lift the nib, it won't continue to excrete ink into the paper. I accidentally dropped it on the table and was very happy to note it didn't drip ink anywhere. That's a big plus that has happened with art pens.I'm impressed since it was so cheap and performs as well as any everyday fountain pen. This one came in a very sturdy giftable box, with two refills.My only complaint would be how the cap doesn't really stay on the back end, which is where I prefer it to be while writing. But I would definitely recommend this for someone who wants to try fountain pens but isn't ready to fork over $100 to do it, or someone who needs a decent affordable pen for ink artwork.