Reddit mentions of Pelikan M200 Fountain Pen Black Fine (993915)

I'm going to say either the 2000 or neither. The reason I say this is capacity. With most of my converter pens, I can get a day's writing on a fill. With a piston filler you can get a lot more, though it depends pen by pen. For this reason, I don't advise against converters, but I say that they are the better system by a long shot. Also, I've got a 2000 (actually just got it) and it does feel very substantial and well made, just not heavy. Also, there isn't much flex to the 2000, a bit of spring, but very little flex. It's actually in my opinion a kind of hard nib. It's also Rhodium plated, so the main advantage is longevity, and that wee bit of spring.

That said, you can have both a extravagant pen and good ink capacity by going vintage. The one that comes to mind is the Pelikan 400NN. It's a vintage pen, yes, but it's within your price range in like new condition, and is a kind of classic fountain pen. You can find them at pen shows, on the FPN classifieds, or on eBay.

Here are some other vintage pens:

• Parker Vacumatic: 1 [2](http://www.fountainpenrecycler.com/servlet/Detail?no=506 [3] (http://www.fountainpenrecycler.com/servlet/Detail?no=976) [4] (http://www.fountainpenrecycler.com/servlet/Detail?no=753)
  
• Parker 51 Vacumatic
  
• [Sheaffer Lifetime Balance] (http://www.fountainpenrecycler.com/servlet/Detail?no=803)
  
• Aurora 88
  
  And a couple modern pens:
  
• Pelikan M200(also available as a Demonstrator)
  
• Gate City Belmont

Lamy 2000- piston-filler with a 14kt gold nib

Sailor 1911 Standard- a cartridge/converter pen with a 14kt gold nib available in several specialty sizes

Visconti Rembrandt- a cartridge/converter pen with an extremely smooth and wet steel nib

Pilot Vanishing Point- a cartridge/converter pen with an 18kt gold nib available in many different finishes

Pilot Falcon- a cartridge/converter pen with a 14kt gold semi-flexible nib

Pelikan M200 - a piston filler with a steel nib; you can buy a 14kt gold nib for this pen for about $160

Levenger True Writer Select- a cartridge/converter pen with a steel nib

Any regular production Edison pens- cartridge/converter pens with steel nibs; they're turned by hand and available in many different models and acrylics

Most of these are between $100 and $150, so you could also pick up a few inks or some paper. If I had $200 to spend right now, I would buy either a Lamy 2000 with a double broad nib (only available in Europe) or a Sailor 1911 Standard with a music nib.

EDIT: Added links and descriptions

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pelikan-M200-Special-Edition-Souveran-Tortoiseshell-Brown-Color-Fountain-Pen/132612563256?hash=item1ee0532138:m:m9a-3ZsSX2uFdULsaJcuO7w

Or

https://www.amazon.com/Pelikan-M200-Fountain-Black-993915/dp/B000VR7XDY

Good price to be honest.

I also can recommend a Pelikan M400 if you like the TWSBI Mini. I generally use smaller pens (my Safaris are by far my largest pens) and also use my Mini unposted quite comfortably. The M400 is just slightly longer than the Mini unposted; here is a comparison of the two (paper is Clairefontaine Pupitre notepad; ruling is approximately 8mm).

I don't own any Sailors, so I can't comment on their quality vs. Pelikan, but I can say that my Pelikan is very nice to write with in terms of weight, feel, and performance. It is actually just as easy to use posted or unposted (much like the TWSBI Mini) and does not get back-weighted at all when posting (the pen always seems to have perfect balance; not sure how Pelikan pulls that off!). I think the only difference between an M200 vs. an M400 is the 200 has a steel nib, but I'm by no means an expert, so please don't quote me on that! For around $100, I think an M200 would be a great pen for your needs!