Platinum Fountain Pen, Preppy, Fine Nib, Black (PPQ-200-#1)

I had been looking at these pens for quite a while. When I fell a few dollars short of free shipping, I I decided the time had come to try one of these. With the difference in shipping it was like I was getting paid $4 to get this pen. Yay Amazon!The pros:-Writes smooth, really smooth, even smoother than that.-Easily converted to an I dropper pen to hold tons of ink.-Can take some abuse. Toss it in a backpack with a bunch of other pointy things and it'll be fine.The cons:-It takes it's own converter/cartridge. Same as most (all?) Platinum pens.-The converter costs more than the pen, still cheap overall though.The review:It's a $4 fountain pen. That's a big plus in a world that can be hazardous to pens. This pen seems to be able to hold its own in the durability category. I've tossed it around quite a bit, and no real damage has been done. That's probably due to the plastic it's made out of. It's not so hard that it feels like it's going to crack, and not so soft that it feels like it's going to bend. It feels like plastic, but it's very smooth plastic more like what you'd find on a more expensive pen.The nib writes smooth right from the first time I put ink in it. It feels more like a big rollerball than a fountain pen. I got the 0.3 nib and it writes more like a medium German French nib. That's with the cartridge it came with. Personally I would have liked a finer line. Did I mention it's smooth? I have pens that cost 100 times more than this one that don't write this smooth. In fact there's only a few pens that I have that wrote as smooth as this one without tuning. So while I want a finer line, this pen gets top marks for smoothness. It really is that good. For comparison it writes about as smooth as an S.T. Dupont Orpheo, and smoother than a Waterman Le Man 100, or Lamy Vista.I plan on using this with Noodler's Baystate Blue, and being able to convert it to a eyedropper pen is a big plus. There's plenty of videos that show you how to do this, and it's really cheap and simple. An O-ring and some silicone grease is all it takes. As an eyedropper pen it holds a ton of ink. Basically you do away with the cartridge or converter and use the whole back of the pen to hold ink.One of the things that surprised me is the little spring section in the cap. My guess is that it puts a small amount of tension against the pen where the nib and feed come out to form a better seal and keep the ink from drying up too fast. That's kind of a big deal here in the desert where pens dry up really fast. I've seen this sort of spring mechanism on other pens, but never would have thought it would be on a $4 pen.This pen uses the same converter as other (all?) Platinum pens. I tried it with a few different “International” converters and they didn't fit well. Definitely recommend the Platinum converter. I had one on hand, and it seems to work fine. It sicks to the pen pretty well, and doesn't seem to want to fall off. Even if it did, clean up would be pretty easy. The downside to the converter is the price. I found it online for $7.50 which is higher than the pen itself. However, when you combine both prices along with the price of converting it to a eyedropper pen, you get about $12. That's still a really good price for a fountain pen. Even better for one that writes as nice as this one.Overall I am happy with the quality of this pen. I think I'll start recommending it to people that want to try out a fountain pen. It came with one cartridge that could possibly be refilled with an ink syringe and used again.

I'm a fountain pen addict. I've owned quite a few. I've spent up to, but never over 100$ on a fountain pen. So I've never used the really high end pens. But I've used many many styles and brands under that mark. I've fixed up a few that I've found at garage sales and flea markets with mixed results. And I take good care of the bevy of pens I currently own. That's where I'm coming from. I'm not a "leading authority" by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm comfortable with my opinions and confident in my recommendations regarding fountain pens.Shortly before buying this pen I decided to treat myself with a nice fountain pen (the a fore mentioned 100$ pen). Then I saw this one mentioned in a blog (the Mythbusters offshoot "Tested" blog did a pen test and gave a shout-out to the preppy pen). Even though I had a more expensive pen on the way, when I saw the price on this one I couldn't resist.I love my "Sheaffer Silk Screened Bamboo Design Fountain Pen", and comparing it to the "Preppy, Platinum Fountain Pen," is a bit of apples and oranges. But since I got them so near each other, it's hard to resist. This pen - the Preppy - is the one that is always with me. I won't say it writes as well as the Bamboo Shaeffer pen, but it's very very close. Especially when it comes to flow. And when a 5$ pen comes that close to a 100$ pen, I'd say it's a pretty good deal.Here are the downsides. It's light. Very light. Absurdly light.Writing shouldn't be the equivalent to weight lifting, but as I hold it right now and try to find something on my desk that's about the same weight, the beer bottle cap is the only thing that comes close. That might be too light for some.The cartridges can be hard to find. I've always been able to order them here on Amazon, but even with Prime they take a while to get here. I'd recommend getting the "Platinum CONVERTER" if you want to keep using it down the road. I used mine once, it works fine. I prefer the refills, but I keep the converter as a back up.It's not sturdy. That is to say, it might be metaphorically mightier than the sword, but it is literally as brittle as a twig. I had it in my pocket during our recent cold weather, and when I took it out at the bank the clip on the cap snapped off just from pulling it out of my pocket.The things I like:Price, price, price.... Five bucks for a very nice writing pen. You can't really beat that. I'm ordering another as soon as I finish this review.It writes well. If has a smooth feel to it. It is even, and consistent. You don't feel like you're carving into the paper as much as gliding across it. It has a nice line, though the "Fine Nib" seems more like a medium to me. Compared to the disposable Varsity fountain pens, I'd say this one comes out on top, by a good bit.Maintenance. Most of my fountain pens are like needy children. They demand a little attention every day, and they'll act up if they don't get it. The only two that can go a long time without use, and still not need any cleaning, are this one and my "LAMY Al-Star Model" (about 50$).In the end, if you want a fountain pen that's going to dazzle the ladies (or gentlemen - either way) when you pull it out of your pocket, this probably isn't going to be the one. If you're using a fountain pen so that people can see you using a fountain pen, then there are flashier choices out there.If you want a fountain pen because you love the way they write and you are going to splash ink across untold reams of blank pages - 'scribing your story someplace solitary (preferably an isolated cabin, or a cave if you can find one), then I'd highly recommend picking one of these up.Also, it's five bucks.

Excellent product, writes very smooth, ink flow is flawless, but the body looks very fragile otherwise very good but it is too costly in comparison with the flair ink pens which comes 5 pens of different colors with a box packing containing of three blue ink cartridge with every pen, cost is only 275/- inclusive of delivery charges. I bought it ten days back from Paytm.com but ink colour is always blue. The original ink cartridges are very costly and only available in Amazon for Rs.130/- for two cartridges in one pack. Normally it can't be available in open market.But over all is is a very good product and I like it very much. My suggestion is - the Co should lower down the cartridge price at least ...Cheers ......

Packeging was very good, the colour of pen seems pink side of red not a bit.delivery was very quick 2 days before expected delivery. Will try it out and update soon.UPDATE- The pen is very smooth on regular paper no feathering no bleed through page.Totally value for money . Really impressed with japanese manufacturers, but keep wait the M nib is a bit more thick for normal use go for fine. Soon going to bye purple colour with fine nib. Totally satistified with product. ( ◜‿◝ )♡

Giving a 3 star since the pen I received had problems with ink flow. No matter in what angle I tried to write, the ink flow didn't improve. Hence opted for a replacement. Will update this review if the replacement pen is good.Had high hopes from this made in Japan pen.

An excellent piece of fountain pen from Platinum. The nib is superb.

Smoothest fine nib for the price.