Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen Medium Nib 0.5mm Blue Black Ink

The pen itself is very good. One of the 'school level' pens that are popular for everyone. The nib is quite a soft writer, so produces slightly bigger than it's .3 nib size, but it's still very easy t handle and work with. A star is lost on this from the store. Despite showing all the colours, and stating they had more in, there was only ever Black and Blue. If there had been more of the brighter colours I would certainly have bought more pens.

Best Inexpensive FP

I wasn't sure how much to expect from such an inexpensive fountain pen but the Preppy exceeded my expectations. I followed the video here on Goulet to mod the pen into an eyedropper and it worked perfectly. I may never run out of ink. I filled the barrel with Monteverde Horizon Blue and it's a perfect match for this pen. The EF nib was super scratchy when I got it and I was very disappointed. But I'd heard that some nibs will work this out after use. So I scribbled a few pages with it and it became smooth as butter. Easily one of the best bang for the buck pens I've ever used. Skip those leaky Chinese cheapos and get this Japanese wonder instead.

Delightful!

While the Preppy steel nib (Medium) won't win top honors, it is sufficiently smooth and substantial. I loved turning this into an eyedropper, which was a breeze. I put a modest amount (a sample) of ink this time but will fill it generously in the future, as it has capacity to hold a lot of ink. No leakage issue, no issues at all. I'm satisfied and delighted with this purchase. A good beginner's pen, workhorse pen, informal pen, and you certainly can't beat the price!

Flawless. Top quality at incredible value.

These pens are made in Japan and are excellent quality. They write perfectly smoothly, gliding over the page in clean lines. I highly recommend them. I started using them years ago. Best to buy some extra ink so you have it on hand before you need it. It’ll last quite a while but always runs out when you’re needing it if you don’t buy some in advance. Great colours with all the different coloured pens.

Good pen for the money

This pen is simple and does just what I wanted it to do - it is an inexpensive, well made pen great as a first fountain pen and very useful to try out inks from Goulet’s deep catalog of ink samples. They ought to bundle this pen with their ink samples!As its name implies, it would be a great pen for people who write a lot and want the reduced wrist fatigue of a fountain pen. (Fountain pens glide on the paper and don’t require as much horizontal force as ball point pens.) At this price if a fellow student nicks your pen it isn’t a catastrophe. And converted to an “eyedropper” pen it will have the ink capacity to go for days between refillings. (If you start out with the ink cartridges you will understand the value in that).The Preppy has a non-flex nib, meaning ... MoreThis pen is simple and does just what I wanted it to do - it is an inexpensive, well made pen great as a first fountain pen and very useful to try out inks from Goulet’s deep catalog of ink samples. They ought to bundle this pen with their ink samples!As its name implies, it would be a great pen for people who write a lot and want the reduced wrist fatigue of a fountain pen. (Fountain pens glide on the paper and don’t require as much horizontal force as ball point pens.) At this price if a fellow student nicks your pen it isn’t a catastrophe. And converted to an “eyedropper” pen it will have the ink capacity to go for days between refillings. (If you start out with the ink cartridges you will understand the value in that).The Preppy has a non-flex nib, meaning that it always writes at the same line width. It comes set up to use pre-filled ink cartridges. A “converter” (manually fillable ink cartridge) is available at Goulet, but will not work well with Goulet’s ink sample vials, as they are not deep enough to keep the feed submerged while filling. I will work with a bottle of ink.To convert the pen to eyedropper use, see the video on Goulet’s catalog page for the Preppy pen. You will want to buy the O-rings and silicone grease (search those names on Goulet) and I recommend buying the pack of 5 ml syringes to transfer ink from the sample vials to the pen barrel - they are much more controllable than eyedroppers or pipettes. Read that as “less ink where you don’t want it”. These extra items will set you back less than the cost of a fancy morning coffee drink, and there’s enough there to convert 3 or 4 pens. These supplies also work for the Noodler Ahab pen.Now you have the tools to get every last drop of the ink from a sample vial into the pen, and a simple but effective pen to try out those new-to-you inks! It’s really nice not to have to fiddle with my every-day pens to try out a new ink.

Great beginner pen!

I have used my platinum preppy for 2 years now and absolutely love it. For the price point that it is, its kept up well. It writes well, the nib is very sturdy and writes beautifully. I love the fact that it has many different ways to hold ink; my favorite being the converter. In comparison to the TWSBI ECO, it's lighter and thinner.The only negative I've come across is the pen cap. While the body of the pen is holding up really well, wear and tear has pretty much broken my pen cap arm. Even with the damaged arm, this pen is still very useable. Mind you, this pen is less than $10 and has held up for over 2 years. It's more than paid for itself.Would always recommend and even bought one for my teammate to try at fountain pens.

Italic Preppy

Platinum Preppies are great. They write at once and they fit well in the hand, neither too small nor too large. They have limitations, however. They have only a few ball-shaped nibs, yielding extra fine, fine, or medium uniform lines, no matter which way you angle the nib. A lot of people are satisfied with the existing nibs, but if you're like me, one of the reasons you like fountain pens is line variation. Variable line width is hard to extract from a stiff steel-ball nib. But it is Preppy to the rescue once again -- you can view it as an inexpensive starting point on a homemade stub or cursive-italic nib grind. If you mess up the grind, it is no disaster (of course, such operations void the warranty). I found it so easy that I succeeded the first time. De-ink but ... MorePlatinum Preppies are great. They write at once and they fit well in the hand, neither too small nor too large. They have limitations, however. They have only a few ball-shaped nibs, yielding extra fine, fine, or medium uniform lines, no matter which way you angle the nib. A lot of people are satisfied with the existing nibs, but if you're like me, one of the reasons you like fountain pens is line variation. Variable line width is hard to extract from a stiff steel-ball nib. But it is Preppy to the rescue once again -- you can view it as an inexpensive starting point on a homemade stub or cursive-italic nib grind. If you mess up the grind, it is no disaster (of course, such operations void the warranty). I found it so easy that I succeeded the first time. De-ink but you need not remove the nib. Start by snipping just behind the ball with wire cutters. Then use a fine abrasive pad or stone (grit ~ 2000) to break the sharp points. Further use an intermediate grit around 5000, if you have it. Finally finish with 12000 micromesh, and at this stage follow Mr. Goulet's videos for pen tuning and smoothing. Only several strokes are necessary at each stage. Examine the nib often with a strong magnifying glass to make sure you are maintaining that flattish look with the curved tips. Because the nib has been truncated, the feed may now protrude too far and interfere with writing at a comfortable angle. If so, slice a little bit from the narrow end of the plastic feed with an X-Acto knife. Finally, clean and wipe thoroughly to remove fragments. None of this required power equipment or even much skill. The weak link of the attached photo is my shaky italic hand. I also cut a mild left oblique, but that is just personal preference.

Platinum Preppy (Extra Fine) - Over a year of usage and still holds

I have been using this pen a lot for note taking in my institute and writing in general, with one pen alone doing most of my writing work, and occasionally my doodling work when procrastinating. My experience of fountain pens is relatively new, so I can't compare it with other pens that are beyond, cheaper or at the same price range (except for Zebra V301, which I didn't like for its scratchiness and the ink having trouble feeding. That's a whole different topic though.) Therefore, I'll cover this pen with my objective experience using it:First are foremost, it has a smooth, light body, and a round tip. The plastic is quite sturdy; I used to travel lots on the bus, biked a lot with it and sometimes it fell to the ground, and I did not experience the plastic ... MoreI have been using this pen a lot for note taking in my institute and writing in general, with one pen alone doing most of my writing work, and occasionally my doodling work when procrastinating. My experience of fountain pens is relatively new, so I can't compare it with other pens that are beyond, cheaper or at the same price range (except for Zebra V301, which I didn't like for its scratchiness and the ink having trouble feeding. That's a whole different topic though.) Therefore, I'll cover this pen with my objective experience using it:First are foremost, it has a smooth, light body, and a round tip. The plastic is quite sturdy; I used to travel lots on the bus, biked a lot with it and sometimes it fell to the ground, and I did not experience the plastic cracking or any hindrances to the writing. Still best to keep this pen safe to avoid damage however, since the sturdiness can be unpredictable; I've witnessed other people getting their pens cracked.This pen also has a secure cap with a spring inside, which prevents the nib from leaking or drying. I had no leaking issues whatsoever with my model. It seems to be a trait of Platinum fountain pens that they create very secure caps which make these pens tolerant, and that is great.As for the writing, it often writes without hiccups and without the need to be pressing hard on the pen - or pressing on the paper at all for that matter, the great and positive difference that I felt when transitioning from ballpoint and gel pens to fountain pens for the first time. It has a faint scratch to it when you write with it, but it's very minimal, and ultimately Preppy manages to write reasonably smoothly and comfortably for long periods of time (unlike Zebra V301 which is way too scratchy.) The grip of the pen is also plastic, and the pen is comfortable to hold whenever the cap is attached to the back or not.Preppy comes with its own ink cartridge, and so far I've only been writing with these cartridges in black and ink colours; I plan to try different inks, like Sheaffer Black, the proprietary cartridges are very reliable. The ink capacity is decent on them, and a converter is not necessary to use it. If you don't want to get new cartridges, you can clean out your existing one (cleaning both the cartridges and the pen is easy,) and dip the ink inside that cartridge using a pen syringe or something similar, or convert it into an eyedropper pen, which I haven't tried.In conclusion, Platinum Preppy is a solid fountain pen. It's good for beginners in that it is easy to handle, clean, refill, and the transparency is convenient for keeping track of your ink and quality of the pen, overall making Preppy very approachable. No clue how to judge its strengths for intermediate or expert usage, with considering how sturdy it is I imagine its uses to be reliable and convenient for just about anyone.

Platinum Preppy Black, medium nib

I bought this pen with the converter as a backup for my everyday pen, and to use up some old ink that I have doubts about. It’s working very well. The medium nib is slightly less broad than my usual preference, but it’s broader than I was expecting, so it’s satisfactory. I was surprised at the amount of ink in the section after I filled it, but the pen has black accents and the ink is black, so it’s not a problem. For such a low-cost pen, the nib is remarkably smooth. I was expecting it to be scratchy like other very inexpensive pens I’ve had, but it’s not at all.My ideal pen has an internal piston-filling mechanism for large ink capacity, but other than that, this pen is so good that it could easily be the main or the only pen rather than the backup pen.