Whereas a general school guy finds a ballpoint pen every day go-to solution for his study, a writer or a teacher would always not choose it to record his statement.
He will certainly choose a fountain pen because the classical elegance a fountain pen possesses is undeniable. Unfortunately, all the fountain pens you go through are not the best. To help you out with that, we have come up with the best fountain pen with under 200 reviews.
To match all your writing styles, we have selected these fountain pens with top-notch significance. However, a fountain pen can reflect the best visual representation of your expressions and feelings when you wear them. So, to choose your ideal one, let’s go through our exclusive picks of fountain pens under 200 with their elegant features.
In a Hurry! Check out our top products at a glance
| Product | Feature | |
|---|---|---|
| Waterman Carene Black Sea ST Silver Trim Fountain Pen | Engraved, presented in luxury box, gold nib | |
| Engraved, presented in a luxury box, gold nib | Gold trim, Presented in a Parker gift box | |
| PILOT Vanishing Point Collection Refillable & Retractable Fountain Pen | Innovative luxury pen | |
| Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen | Classic design Extra fine nib | |
| Pelikan M200 Fountain Pen Black Fine | Germany Origin Easy to fill | |
| Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen, Spring Strength | Classic Brass made Built to last | |
| Sailor Fountain Pen Professional Gear Gold 112036420 Middle Point | Large, sturdy Gold nibbed |
7 Best Fountain Pens Under 200 USD Reviews
There are hundreds of different fountain pens with unique features and a great deal of price value. Bringing home the most expensive one and breaking your bank would not be wise when we are providing you with a review of best fountain pens under $200!
1. Top Selection – Waterman Carene Black Sea ST Silver Trim Fountain Pen
Standing out of all other fountain pens in the market, the Waterman Carene Black Sea Fountain Pen is our top pick till now. With the utmost distinction, this fountain pen is empowered with an incredible appearance.
Its black lacquer with glossy materials on the barrel attracts anyone’s eye in a second. The shiny pen is featured with a nib of 18-karat solid gold nib that comes in both medium and fine nib figures. The secret of its luminosity is its clip plating with shiny liquid palladium.
Giving priority to all the writing enthusiasts out there, the Waterman Carene is engineered following a meticulous process. Offering the writers a mixed feeling of great experience and sophistry, the pen makes the best choice for you.
It is engraved with different ink colors as options, so, your writing statement gets the exact power you want to represent. The moment you hold the pen you will be filled with an aspiration of writing with it.
However, the pen comes with an excellent luxurious box colored dark blue which indicates that you can immediately make anyone’s day special the moment you gift him this pen!
What we liked
- The fountain pen comes in a sleek and classy appearance.
- Comes with 8 ink colors and two nib sizes ensuring the best writing experience.
- Arrives with ritzy dark blue keeping box.
What we didn’t like
May feel a bit heavy and reflects less shine and more matte while writing.
In an overall statement, the Waterman Carene fountain pen offers the top-rated fountain pen under $200.Gliding across the pages, the pen writes so well that it gives your writing a new level of standard.
2. Best Gold Nib Fountain Pen – Parker Sonnet Black Lacquer Fountain Pen
Parker Sonnet Black Lacquer Fountain Pen, Fine Nib, Black Ink
This luxurious fountain pen comes with extraordinary external features. The pen is beautiful, solid, and totally unimpaired. It is featured with a black lacquer barrel giving the pen a sleek and smooth finish.
Again, the pen is wrapped and trimmed with 18K gold reflecting the extreme luxuriousness. The pen holds a cap that has a gold clip on it. The clip is signified with an arrowhead design.
Being attractive doesn’t mean the pen lags and efficiency. In fact, this pen is extremely popular among writers for its gliding writing performance. The pen goes with literally any kind of writing style giving the writer the utmost pleasure. It comes in a fine nib giving affirmation to any intricate or tricky writing.
The box that carries the pen has a premium outfit. No wonder, PARKER has given a whole lot of effort to give it a precise look and size so it can carry all the two cartridges, welcome card, and booklet including the pen.
What we liked
- The pen is lightweight and perfectly balanced for smooth writing.
- Arrives with a beautiful box and two ink cartridges and a Parker converter inside it.
- Gives sophistication to all kinds of writing styles.
What we didn’t like
- Seems likely to be dried out if not used continuously and comes in only black ink.
With the most exclusive ‘Chisel Pattern’ the Parker Sonnet Black Lacquer fountain pen comes in various designs and is considered the best gold nib fountain pen under 200. In spite of its sophisticated style, the pen is way too comfortable and a good choice.
3. Best Value Fountain Pen – PILOT Vanishing Point Collection Refillable & Retractable Fountain Pen
For over a hundred years PILOT pens are slaying the market and to talk about its fountain pen collection, you will never get any better. Its PILOT Vanishing Point fountain pen is the best value fountain pen and the most popular one which has built-in features.
The pen is airplane safe which means it is manufactured with invisible radar technology. The pen is patterned in a retractable way so the 18K gold nib featuring with rhodium plate can go inside the pen when not used.
The pen comes with extra fine, fine, medium, and broad nibs so your writing output in pages describes a piece of art. It doesn’t come with a cap but a twist piston, thus, your grip gets a lightweight and convenient tool to use.
To give your writing an ultimate execution, the pen arrives with a cartridge and a converter of CNT40 ensuring your valuable time doesn’t go waste after refilling the pen.
With a pretty gift box, this pen is one of a kind. You will barely find a fountain pen with an incredible mixture of tradition and technology.
What We Liked
- The pen is manufactured with an excellent combination of tradition and technology.
- Comes in various nib sizes and is well-balanced.
- Convenient in using and offers smooth writing.
What We didn’t like
- The clip may annoy you a little as it tends to come off easily.
This pen-on-grip enables you the force of combining art, intelligence, and poetry altogether to novelize your writing in a great way. Hence, the Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen is a pen that stands decades ahead.
4. Best Luxury Fountain Pen – Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen, Black, Extra-Fine Nib (L01-EF)
This legendary fountain pen is serving for decades with its iconic German Bauhaus features and design. Maintaining the legacy, this fountain pen boasts a significant feature without any noticeable changes in further editions.
The nib of the pen is wrapped with 14K platinum plated gold with a retractable feature. The grip is of stain-resistant steel and the body has Makrolon brushed finish with black fiberglass.
The pen has a clip manufactured with a spring and a piston mechanism. Therefore, to fill the pen, an ink bottle will be required instead of a cartridge. The pen offers you the sight of four window sections through which you can measure the ink and you are warned before it finishes.
With the achievement of the most design awards, the Lamy 20000 is a pen worth having. It allows you to write smoothly page after page without actually hurting your grip. Holding a Lamy 2000 is a fancy you don’t want to miss!
What We liked
- Comes with a great brushed finish appearance.
- Lightweight and piston filler offers great capacity.
- Easy on grip and writes smoothly.
What We didn’t like
- Doesn’t offer an ink cartridge and feels discrepant sometimes.
The Lamy 2000 fountain pen is classic enough to sort out your everyday writing. The pen is not the kind with which you can play calligraphy but surely, it is one of the best fountain pens for under $200 you might want to have definitely.
5. Pelikan M200 Fountain Pen Black Fine (993915)
If you are a rising writer with a passion for writing, then the Pelikan M200 fountain pen is made for you. Pelikan never fails to amaze us with its new lines of high-quality fountain pens year after year.
The M200 is exceptionally built up and constantly achieved recognition as the best seller. It has an exclusive nib featured with stain-free steel plating with gold.
The pen is timeless thanks to its absolutely black polished finish on the barrel and cap. It is decorated with a ring worth 24-carat gold which is insane!
The pen has a signature viewing window on its body to acknowledge the ink to its user. It includes great piston filler and a beak clip. Offering a great writing flow and ergonomic grip the pen is infinite.
This fountain pen shows great efficiency in its internal structured piston every time you refill it from a bottle of ink. That offers you writing with your required countless number of ink colors.
What we liked
- Comes in a super handy shape and low maintenance process.
- Provides continuous flow of ink while writing.
- Featured beautifully both internally and externally.
What we didn’t like
- May seem too small to use for larger-handed people.
Overall, a Pelikan M200 fountain pen may appear simple to you but its efficiency will give you a rhetorical feeling worth more than $200. Thus, this pen automatically comes in our list of the best fountain pens under 200 for this year.
6. Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen, Spring Strength, Medium, Brass (Two Pack)
Measuring 13 cm, this Kaweco Sport fountain pen comes with a compact size fitting your pocket. Being featured with plastic resin the pen offers a very lightweight and smooth finish. The pen is customizable to your requirements.
The cap of the pen has its name on with gold letters along with a Kaweco logo on its top. Without the cap, the pen may seem to you smaller but with the cap on the pen comes in a great size giving comfort to your writing.
With the octagonal shape of the cap on each side, the pen looks exclusive and offers the grip a non-slippery distinction. The pen has a brown brass finish that gives a classy look and it is styled with a cartridge feature.
The pen fits any type of cartridge, still, we recommend you choose the Kaweco branded one to match your pen.
This amazing fountain pen comes with a low maintenance yet a great value of efficiency for your everyday writing. With interchangeable parts, you can easily build your own Kaweco fountain pen exactly the way you want.
What we liked
- The pen comes in a brief size and customizable design.
- Mellifluous nib and elegant appearance out of the box.
- Offers effortless smooth writing and easy maintenance.
What we didn’t like
- Fades the color over time and use.
Long description short, the Kaweco Sport fountain pen is best under $200 to start your new journey in writing. Offering spring strength this fountain pen is worth giving a shot as one of the best budget luxury pens!
3. Sailor Fountain Pen Professional Gear Gold 112036420 Middle Point
This fountain pen is popular for its amazing feature of a 21K gold pro gear nib which offers immense consistency to the writing. Hence, the Professional Gear Sailor fountain pen is recognized as one of the best gold nib fountain pens under $200.
The pen includes a cartridge style giving low maintenance of the ink refilling. As the pen comes in different sizes and array designs, the size would not bother you anyway if you buy matching your grip.
This beautiful pen is designed with a bicolor feature giving an eye-catchy look. The pen allows the writer to have smooth and scratch-free writing. With a sturdy and sleek finish, the pen keeps on consistency no matter what. Its finer nib happens to give it all its perfection and precision.
However, at a reasonable price, the Sailor fountain pen offers you a great feature with an efficient converter filling system.
What we liked
- Great quality nib and a classic look out of the box.
- Comes in an abundant number of sizes, colors, and designs.
- Styled in cartridge property.
What we didn’t like
- Needs to buy the cartridge separately.
In the overall conception, under $200 buying the Sailor Fountain Pen Professional Gear would not be an unwise decision. Rather, it will add great value to your fountain pen collection and may increase your passion a little for writing too.
Buying Guide for the Best Fountain Pen Under 200
As there is a vast array of different luxurious fountain pens we find in the market, it becomes hard to choose the right one. To make it easier for you, we will acknowledge you with some points we have as the guidelines before you buy a fountain pen. Hopefully, that will help you get your desired fountain pen.
1) Nib
Nib materials: A normal fountain pen generally comes in stain-free steel or iridium tip material. But a luxurious one has a nib wrapped with 14 or 18-carat gold. While the stainless steel material will offer you a strong grip in an inexpensive look, the solid gold one will offer you a sturdy grip with a classy appearance.
Both are suitable for everyday use but most prefer the gold one for occasional purposes. The gold nib fountain pen gradually forms the style of your writing which gives it an extra point.
Nib width: There are nibs with extra fine, fine, medium, and broad sizes. Among all, the medium is mostly preferable as it can serve all writing purposes. An extra fine size nib is mostly used for thin writing of letters and is also best for write.
The fine nib almost works as the extra fine nib and if your handwriting is small then this suitable for you. The broad nib fountain pen is mainly used for calligraphy being uneconomical to the ink. But with medium nib, you can draw, write and do other things too.
Nib cut: Usually standard, Italic, and oblique are main nib cut. The standard or the round one writes with consistency giving uniformity to the lines whereas the Italic and oblique nibs are mostly suitable for calligraphy as it shapes the writings a plane and wide look.
2) Grip
Grip materials: Most luxurious fountain pen offers a grip manufactured with metal. But there are pens with plastic and rubber materials. If you prefer a luxurious pen, metal is referred to you.
Grip shape: Ergonomic grips are always required for everybody. To help yourself in this section, you can select a shaped or ridged grip.
3) Ink Filling System
Converter: This is a helpful system for ink filling. Offers using of different ink colors of your wish yet not convenient for bearing.
Cartridge: It is considered the best filling system as a cartridge pen offers clean, convenient, and quick refilling. However, most modern pens have this feature.
Reservoir: Difficult to handle and requires high maintenance. Though, pens with this design offer a large capacity for ink but allow infrequent filling.
4) Barrel Design
Polished silver: It comes with elegant features. Barrel is beautifully engraved, expensive, and a bit heavy.
Base materials: It often comes with the material of stainless steel with a brass finish. Looks formal and has a modern appearance.
Resin: Many come with the resin finish which looks inexpensive but offers unlimited patterns and designs.
Plastic: Not expensive but long-lasting and lightweight.
How to Properly Maintain Your Fountain Pen
Now, to have a good deal of profit out of your investment, you have to take good care of your product. Your fountain pen will serve you for decades if you follow the guideline given below regarding its maintenance.
Proper usage of your fountain pen
When you hold a fountain pen to write make sure the ink is fresh. You have to stir the ink in the bottle or shake the bottle before you fill the pen as solidification of the ink often occurs.
Qualitative thinner ink should be bought. Again, while writing, you are not supposed to press hard through pages that will damage the nib. Also, make sure the ink inside the pen doesn’t go dry when you are not using it, otherwise, your pen would lose its efficiency.
Safe fly with your fountain pen
Many fountain pens out there are not airplane safe. But measuring some steps, your journey with your fountain pen under 200 is possible. Make sure when you fly, you keep the nib of the pen upright in your pocket.
If you don’t want the ink leaks because of gravity, then empty the cartridge before flying. Of course, never forget to put on the cap.
Proper cleaning of your fountain pen
Cleaning is the most important part of a fountain pen. Though most of the pens we suggested here require low maintenance and cleaning still is not ignorable at all.
You have to clean all the different parts of the pen separately with the different required care. Thus, you have to unscrew the pen and separate the barrel and the nib. As the nib holds ink residues inside it, you may need to put water flow to clean it.
Again, in that way cleaning the nib with a cartridge or converter is tough. So, soaking them overnight in water containing room temperature is a wise idea. Never use any other chemicals to clean it up. Gently put back all parts together after drying them properly.
How to Store Your Luxurious Fountain Pen
Doesn’t matter if you use your fountain pen on a regular basis or on occasion, you have to think of its best storage possible when you are not using it. Make sure your pen rests keeping the tip upright and lies vertically not horizontally. This way the ink would not clog giving you any trouble.
Your regular using a fountain pen is safe if you keep it by putting on ink inside. But when you keep it away for an extended period of time, you are not supposed to store the fountain pen with ink inside it.
Otherwise, the ink inside the pen would dry within days and it will create obstacles in the ink flow while writing. Then consequently it will cause fixed piston damage and waste of your pen.
Among all other ballpoint pens, your fountain pen is the most precious one. Giving it a special place on your study table will create a lucrative expression. You can make a special woodblock or a holder that will hold your pen exactly the way it should be.
That will help you easily reach your pen immediately after you thought of writing something special! So, your fountain pen will never need any professional repair and can give you long-term service if you maintain its storage properly.
Wrap Up
Unlike a ballpoint pen, you always want to give a good investment in a fountain pen. Still, there are some affordable ones to shorten your list to meet the most desirable one without a lot of searching.
Our given picks from the list of best fountain pens under 200 are classic and reflect tremendous writing performance. For a first-rate addition to your fountain pen collection, we highly recommend you the Waterman Carene 89573 (S0293960) fountain pen for under $200.
The rest selections in this guide are too recommendable as all of them offer great features with a perfect combination of art and proficiency.