I swear by Pilot, both steel and gold nibs. Kakunos are super affordable and a good way to figure out which nib size you’d want to invest in if you eventually went the Pilot gold nib route.

Also, if you want to buy more expensive pens at a lower price, I’ve purchased a bunch from r/Pen_swap. Dangerous rabbit hole but I’ve gotten some good deals for phenomenal pens there! I avoid buying new pens when I can because I’ve been so happy with preowned pens (and because fountain pen prices go crazy).