There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
If you are new, I always like to suggest that you purchase a "disposable" fountain pen the first time around, or until you find the nib size you like and have a chance to learn how to care for the fountain pen itself. One really good option is the Platinum Preppy, which can normally be purchased right around $4. It uses cartridges by default, but you can also get a converter to use bottled ink with it. And the cartridges can be refilled if you have a syringe.
If you are experienced in the game, I would suggest looking at a vac or eyedropper fountain pen for the sheer amount of ink they can store (2-3 ml is relatively normal there, as opposed to to ~0.5 ml that a cartridge/ converter normally holds). Now, I don't personally have any experience with non-converter pens at this point, so I can't give you much insight there.
The next major thing is nib. Do you like writing with flair and stylized strokes, or just straight standard lines? For the flair and style side of things, you will want to look at stub, italic, or flex nibs as they each offer some line variation (to various extents) that can help your handwriting pop a bit more. If you just want a consistent stroke, then get a normal nib - here steel works nice as it doesn't flex much/ at all.
My personal favorite pens currently are the Pilot Elabo (flex nib) and Japanese EF nibs (~0.2mm); but each person is different.