Before I ventured whole hog into the land of refillable fountain pens, I started with the Pilot Varsity. One of the most important things with any fountain pen is that it write smoothly, without and skipping, hard-starting or scratchiness. I've purchased two of these pens, (one black and one purple) and each of them wrote quite smoothly.
I did notice that the nibs are very easy to damage. Slipping this pen back into it's cap while tilted on a slight angle (yes, completely my fault) caused me to bend one of the nib tines to the degree that it was unusable and had to be thrown away. Nibs on regular/refillable fountain pens are made of a much stronger material, and while they still can be damaged, are not as flimsy as the material used on the Varsity nibs.
The next thing I noticed, wasn't until I bought my first, (2nd, 3rd, 4th , etc.) non-disposable fountain pen. The Varsity nibs write really, really wide and on cheap paper, the ink bleeds and feathers all over the place. It's just not suitable for all kinds of paper.
Keeping in mind that it's a disposable pen, it's actually a great way to test the waters before venturing into the land of fountain pens. Fountain pens in general require very little pressure to write and the Varsity is no exception. A light hand will deliver a solid line. Being able to write with light pressure allows a person to write for longer periods of time with less hand fatigue and cramping - which is why I use a fountain pen 98% of the time.
Once you decide to take the plunge and buy a refillable fountain pen, check out the Lamy Safari Charcoal Fountain Pen w/ Extra Fine Nib with an optional Lamy Safari Converter Z24 so you can refill with any kind of fountain pen ink you choose. If you want a classier looking pen, try the Pelikan Tradition Series 150 Black GT Fine Point Fountain Pen - 993535 Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen, Medium Point, Black Barrel/Black Ink PIL90010 - Pilot - Disposable Fountain Pen - Varsity - Disposable'
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