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
As for the pens, you'll get a lot of differing opinions. I have an Ahab (it was my second fountain pen), and I have always liked it. But I'm a tinkerer, so I enjoyed the fact that I can tweak the pen to write/flow as I want it to. The downside is that the pens often NEED that extra work (heat setting the feed, adjusting the nib, etc.) in order to write well at all, so these are definitely NOT pens for people who want a pen that will just write well out of the box. If you're just looking for a steel flex nib at a bargain price, I would recommend FPR pens (their house brand pens). Their flex nibs are better than Noodler's nibs, IMO, and the pens tend to work well right away. I have an FPR Himalaya with a flex nib upgrade, and I think it's a great pen for the price. I also bought a #6 flex nib from FPR and replaced my Noodler's nib in my Ahab with it and found it great. The downside to FPR is that they don't have nearly as many color and material options as Noodler's pens.
As for American pens in general, there are a number of pen turners who are well known here who make coveted custom pens, but if you mean "brands", you should check out Edison, Franklin-Christoph, and Karas Kustoms. These are American made pens with excellent reputations for quality.
Monteverde and Conklin are both Yafa brands. Yafa is an international conglomerate. Parts for these pens may be sourced from different companies in the conglomerate and also sometimes from China. Be aware that the modern Conklin is a resurrected brand, i.e., the current Conklin pens have no real continuity with the vintage Conklin pen brand. The current owner bought rights to the brand. Both brands seem to have quality control issues from time to time. If you're interested in these pens, you should monitor reviews and feedback on the Internet to see what the QC is like at the time of purchase.
Sorry this ran long, Hope it's helpful.
Thanks for the clarification of Conklin and Monteverde. I have seen some reviews online praising pens, and then some that says they are well - not good. So, they appear at the same price point as TWSBI pens in Europe - and TWSBI is a big surprise for me. Really nice pens and I get why so many likes them.
Nice to hear about you being a tinkerer :) I'm the opposite I guess, I rather pick a pen and ink I like and go with that. Though I guess that to some degree, some minor and easy tinkering would be necessary to get into to make that small adjustment to get the most out of your pens. Any good post or vidoes you could recommend? I saw the guy from Pen Habit showing some tricks and tips which looks easy enough to start out with.
To the Noodlers point, thank you VERY MUCH! Great feedback and a lot of nice tips there and I will definitely be busy searching around for those new brands and pens you recommended! When it comes to Noodlers, I'm mostly eyeing the Apache Sunrise. I haven't quite found one (on line, videos images) that seems to behave like that when you check KWZ, Diamine or j. Herbin. Now, I have to go check out the FPR pens, a flex nib is definately on my to try list. Cheers and again, great feedback and you have given me a lot of fun threads to check out! :D Best regards Fredrik