Ooo, fountain pens, pricey hobby!
Behold, a $7 pen that writes as well as anything, purchased from a local stationery shop.
Original ink cartridge re-filled using a re-usable $4 pack of ink syringes, filled from a $20 bottle of ink that lasts for weeks of heavy writing or months/years of casual writing.
@rl_dane I love my Preppies. I just wish I could get the fancy Wa editions for that price - they're double that in the UK.
OTOH, they're so cheap that I have aaaall the colours for the plain ones. :-) Plus some Crystal for using with Platinum's carbon ink.
Oops, I didn't realize the preppy I had was one of the fancy, more expensive ones. XD
@rl_dane Says something that the fancy one with the decorative print is that price (or £10 in the UK). :-)
Of course, the really fancy one is the Plaisir, which is basically a Preppy upgraded with an aluminium body and cap. That will set you back a whopping £14 here (unless you're daft enough to buy one of the limited edition graduated colour schemes, which I very nearly did for one I loved even though it was a daft price).
My very first FP was a green plaisir I bought a decade ago.
I actually like the Preppy Wa better. ;)
I was never really impressed with the super-cheap pens I got (Wing Sung 698 or Jinhao).
I've had better luck with Japanese than Chinese pens, so far. Better (extant???) QC. ;)
@rl_dane QC is hit and miss, but improving, and I've had some really nice Chinese pens. And some horrible ones. :-)
I love my WS 3008s, but they're known for having a rust problem with the screw in the cap. Since they're even cheaper than a Preppy and they write just as well if you have a good one, I don't mind. But current love of my life is a Moonman/Majohn A1 retractable.
Ah, I recall many ebullient odes to the Moonman on r/FountainPens back in the day. ;)
R.L. Dane 
🍵 
JulesJones
paradoxmo