Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen[IMG]



After the Pilot Petit1 fountain pens, US customers can now buy another disposable fountain pen from Japan, the Preppy fountain pen from Platinum.

- uses Platinum cartridges only
- very smooth writing; no feathering even on cheaper paper (that might be the ink though)
- can write with the nib upside down for a thinner line
- nib feels very comparable to a Pelikan steel nib & a Lamy Safari nib
- line width seems to be about Pelikan EF size or more like a Japanese MF size
- a tiny bit longer than a Pelikan M200
- weight & barrel girth about the same as a Pelikan M200
- $4.95 at jpens.com

Thanks for the review, Betty, and a nice clear photo of a pen I'dnever heard about...until now
Sounds like another nice disposable (sadly ) pen from Japan. I have a disposable Pilot V-Pen (or Varsity) and it too is a nice writer, but it lays down a M line. This is a nice alternative to those who prefer an XF nib width.

Wonderful to have around as a pen-borrower...Can I have your pen for a sec?

Never mind, didnt read the small text.

Betty, thanks for the review and the clear picture. I first noticed the pen going to JPens from the mention in your other post, probably one about the Pilot Petit1. I've bought my mother and sisters each one of those because they're cute and the colors are pretty, but I didn't get one for myself. I can pull off cute plastic, but the grip seemed too short and wide for me, and I didn't trust the clip.

It's too bad Platinum made the clip on this one clunky looking to my eyes, but I'm glad to see it takes normal sized cartridges, and probably isn't too short and fat. There's room for a converter, right? It looks from your picture as if they sell them with the cartridge loose inside. Is the barrel one piece and what do you think of it as an eyedropper? I remember the Pilot Petit1 having a little "ledge" inside, up against which the threads of the section butted. It looks like it'd be fun to get one of the lighter colored ones (pink or yellow or maybe green?) and have it as an eyedropper with the color all the way from barrel to feed to nib. Then I'll expect somebody to grind a yellow one into an italic highlighter with Noodler's Firefly.

I just ordered a blue one yesterday at Jpens because I thought they were cool looking and at the low price, worth a try. I'm glad to hear they are good writers. Thanks for the review.

Cheers,
Laura

Interesting pen! It looks like Japan is ready to compete with the Kultur, just in time for Waterman to stop production. How big is this pen compared to a Kultur?

Betty, I don't think Waterman is going anywhere soon, but they are discontinuing the Kultur. Several people here at FPN have spoken well of the pen. I am not familiar with them either, and I was curious to see what one might cost and to get general information, but I could not locate one anywhere on the Internet. I think they were a sub model of the Phileas, but I am not sure.

I sort of like the Pilot disposable pens, and I will at least try a Preppy to see what it is like. I really can see using it as a loaner pen. Thanks for the review.

Very cool, never saw that one before!

Here's my picture of the Preppy. It's a fun little pen for under $5, and cartridge filler, so not disposable. The colored nibs are quite nifty, but I settled on the somewhat boring blue.

jpens.com was prompt service.

Yup, Churl...turns out the blue is really a "blue black". I hated the color so much I emptied out the cartridge and refilled it with another blue...much much happier now

Mine arrived last Friday. I chose the blue, but I like the color of the ink. I like the pen, too. It is a nice writer.

This will be my giveaway pen since it is inexpensive, but a reliably good writer. It will be a good pen to introduce others interested in trying a fountain pen.

Cheers,
Laura

Based on the review, I ran over to jpens and got one, too, in the even more boring black. So far, I like it a lot! I have other, more expensive Platinum pens, and this one is a chip off the block. The nib isn't as smooth as the 14k Platinum nibs, but it is a reliable, fine writer, every bit as nice as the Pilot Petit, and in a more conventional form factor. I think I'm going to buy one of every color, and at less than $5 a pen, I can do that for not a lot of money!

Oh, and as an aside - the Petit is a great functioning pen, if you can handle the size. Thing starts up every time, writes consistently, and I think is much better performer than the Waterman Kultur Demo that looks similar, and cost three times as much!

Gepzo

Found one in a store and bought a black one today.

Its impressive for an inexpensive fountain pen. So far its the cheapest FP I have ever found. It cost me US$2.30 . And unlike the Varsity, it need not be thrown away.

The nib is a very stiff steel nib. Since its afordable, I smoothed the nib into a very fine stub nib. I am quite happy with the results. Quite a smooth stub despite the very fine nib.

Does anyone here know which converter can be fitted onto it other than the Platinum? I tried LAMY but it doesn't fit.

Also , its the ink water resistant ? I tried smudging with water and it remained pretty reisitant.
Anyone experimented?

Its quite nice they come in a rather wide assortment of ink colors ... Black / Blue / Red / Green / Yellow / pink

My platinum converter fits the Preppy but no ink will flow through the nib....I cannot believe it!

I got a green Preppy, which looks kool with the colored nib, but writes a little too wet for me. I am going to experiment with different inks to see if it'll do better.

Another cheap pen, the Pilot Petit writes so much better. I love it, but then I bought another one and it leaked so bad I had to trash it. So much for cheap pens.

Itoya also makes a cheap fountain pen, called the Blade. It is more like the Pilot Varsity than this one, the Preppy, because it is truely disposable, no cartridge. I have not been able to find it yet on the web (anyone?) -- I have only found it in a local (privately owned - non-chain) stationary store. Like the Varsity, it's extremely robust, always writing at the start and not skipping even dispite some abuse. The Blade has a much finer point, like the Preppy it's comparable to the Lamy EF nib. I find the black ink to be a little too much on the grey side, the blue is fine. Interesting that cheap disposable or semi-disposable fountain pens are starting to proliferate from Japan.

I picked up another Preppy. The pink is a great color!

The pink certainly is cute! (even though I'm not really a pink-gal ) I may need to get some of these... Does the colour on the nib scratch off over time?

Anybody happen to locate a converter that fits this pen?

So far, my blue-black one hasn't had any chipping of the nib color, but the writing tip is colorless (exposed steel), and maybe it's gotten a little larger over time, but not noticeable.

As far as converters, I am told that the Platinum converters do fit, but not well. In any case, I reload my carts anyway with a syringe.

Hello,

Earlier in the thread someone asked about converting the Preppy to an eyedropper. I tried it out myself on three pens, using silicone grease on the threads. I only filled the barrel of each about 1/3rd full. So far, after a week of use, none of the pens have leaked or even come close to leaking. One of them, however, is tending to flood the feed, although this has not yet caused any problems on the nib or in writing.

I wouldn't trust the set-up enough to throw of the pens in a purse or a pocket, but for keeping and using on my desk it has been very nice. I really enjoy watching the ink slide up and down the transparent barrel (ink matching the color on the cap, of course!).

I don't recommend this if you are wary of making a mess or of possibly hurting the pen. But, it has been fun for me!

Macrina

You might try a small O-ring in addition to the silicone grease. I'm going to try it on my Wality and see if that improves the very occasional tendency to blob onto the paper. If it is a definite improvement, I'll post on it.

Donnie

Donnie,

Thanks--I look forward to hearing how that works for you. My husband was so shocked to see me buying silicone grease, since I'm not very mechanically minded. If I start buying o-rings, he's really going to wonder what's going on!

Thanks again--

Macrina

The Varsity aka V-Pen can easily be refilled. Check here, among other places, for some info on how to do it.

I've done it many times: the whole nib end of the pen just pulls out like a cork. A pair of pliers makes it easy -- and if you happen to have parallel jaw pliers you can do it without scratching the nib or scoring the plastic -- but some folks do it by simply wrapping the nib in a paper towel and pull, hard.

Careful on the refill: since the nib end snaps back in you'll have an ink geyser if you over-fill it. MESSY!

I'd also recommend caution if you slide the nib off the feeder assembly: under the nib is a fiber feeder that is easily damaged.

I've posted a bunch of writing samples of my preppies on flickr.

Green Preppy
Yellow Preppy
Pink Preppy (among other pens)

-churl

Hi RobertJ,

That's funny....as there are many people who has reported that they have successfully used platinum converter for Preppy in Japan! Is there any issue with ink flow when you use the cartridge? Mine is quite dry when I used the cartridge (haven't checked converter yet)

I agree that this is a very good pen (for this price range). I like the grip of the pen, the design and so on... I have tried this pen on different types of paper and none of them seem to have any "feathering" effect; even on the back of supermarket receipts; except on my Moleskine notebook. Perhaps it's not so suitable for this type of paper... but on the whole, I love this Platinum Preppy Fountain pen.

I got a bunch of Preppies a few months ago, with a converter to go with each one.
Platinum fountain pen cartridges are expensive here in the USA. The brand's standard ink colors are not waterproof.

The nib is not as smooth as my Lamy Safari Fine nib; it's about as smooth as my Hero 329's. It writes wetter than the Lamy, more like the Hero. Its line is a little wider than the 329's. It's still OK for new Sheaffer Skrip Blue on bad paper.

The pen's diameter is wide enough for comfortable, continued writing.

One converter leaked out its back end, so I had to throw it out.
Another converter doesn't stay firmly in place, but it doesn't slip off super-quickly either. The others are OK.

Trying to fill a Preppy mostly full from a bottle in one session requires several steps and often results in messes. It's better to fill it just one piston travel at a time and refill it when the converter gets down to 1/3 full. This will eventually result in a mostly-full collector and reservoir. It is a transparent pen, after all.

When I hold the pen nib-up, it looks like there is a moat around the nib's holder with the breather hole at one point in the bottom of the moat. There is indeed a moat of ink around the nib holder after a filling. The way to drain this moat is to take the pen out of the bottle at 3/4 of piston travel, point the nib upward, angle and turn the pen so that the breather hole becomes a drain, and move the piston the rest of the way back. Like I said, refilling at 1/3 of converter capacity will eventually get you true fill-ups.

The cap is more airtight than the caps on some of my pens (new Sheaffer Skrip Red doesn't become discolored even after a month and a half in a capped Preppie!), but the pen doesn't start easily if it has been sitting capped and nib-upward for more than a few hours; it seems Sheaffer Skrip Blue, Red and Purple in the feed channel drain back too easily into the reservoir. Those inks stay in the collector comb, but not in the feed channel. The Preppies do start right up after even a week of no use when they have lain on their sides. That puts my Preppies in good company because the same thing happens in my A T Cross ATX, A T Cross Century II, Pilot Knight, and two Sheaffer Preludes!

I came across the preppy when i got my Lamy about a month back. Got one in blue-black out of curiosity.

I found that the nib is almost as smooth as my Lamy Safari Fine. I actually like it even better than my petit1's. Preppy tends to have less ink-flow and feathers a lot less on most (cheap) paper that I use at work. No major problem even on my daily moleskine notebook (with a bit feathering though)

It's interesting to know that the official platinum converter might fit the preppy...but given the low cost of the pen (it's around USD2.3 when i got it), would it be wothwhile to put in the cost of the converter and the ink?....i might check out the cost of the cartridges first....

One caution: the cap of my preppy actually cracked!....i dont know what happen, i just discovered that. :s Oh well, it's plastic afterall. It definitely feels more "prone to damage" than petit1.

All in all, it's a nice find and i'm going to keep it (or them).

I had four Preppy pens converted to ED fillers. Now I have three. The first one wouldn't write until I pulled the nib and reset it. Then it leaked as an ED filler, so I took off the o-ring and put a cartridge in it. The second came with the 4.5 oz. bottle of BSB I bought at the New England Pen Show. Its barrel cracked and the pen leaked all over my hands. Yes, I still have BSB colored paws. I tossed the barrel and kept the nib and cap as spare parts. I haven't yet tried the other two.

I've successfully used a platinum international cartridge adapter with my preppy. It looks like the product code is SPY-300.

I have had six Preppy ED conversions filled with different inks for more than three months. (Legal Lapis, Marine Green, Nikita Red, HOD. BSB, and the yellow highlighter YGP). I keep them horizontal in my desk drawer and they write instantly, no skipping. Sometimes I carry one or two in a briefcase and have had no leakage whether they were horizontal or vertical (nib up).

They all have been converted with O-Rings and I assume silicone grease on the threads. After filling the pen a little over half full, I am careful to make sure that it screws firmly against the O-Ring.

So far, so good! All are great performers! Fingers crossed!

Very cool, I just bought a couple myself! ;-)

Edit: NM. Found them at "jetpens.com" rather than "jpens.com." Stocked up on one of each color, and even picked up a Vista in XF and a converter.

I've converted multiple Preppys into ED fillers using sillicone grease and have carried them mostly in my pockets and also being tossed around in my bag. So far no accidental leaks or spills and the pens have been writing great as a ED.

I have both pens---the Kultur is very similar in length, though the Preppy appears to be a touch fatter around the barrel. The Kultur is rounded on both ends, and the Prep is a flat-top.

These are MY kinda pens! I ordered a green and a yellow.

Where to get the o-rings, btw, if I want to convert a few?

I bought my o-rings at a hardware store for less than a dollar each.

Next time I'll probably take the pen along for a better 'match.'

Last week I bought Noodlers Boralis Black ink and it came with a free eyedropper fountain pen. I see now that it is a converted preppy. Other than the lightweight feel of the plastic barrel the pen writes wonderfully. They did use an O-ring to control the ink. It is kinda neat to see the ink sloshing around in the barrel.

I first started using fountain pens when I read that people were using the Pilot Varsity to sketch with. I didn't enjoy sketching with the varsity but I did find that I really liked writing with it. What I didn't realize was that the varsity is the proverbial "slippery slope". A few hundred dollars and a new found fascination with fountain pens later I get this free pen only to find that the EF nib on it is perfect for for sketching.

“Where to get the o-rings, btw, if I want to convert a few?”

“I bought my o-rings at a hardware store for less than a dollar each.
Next time I'll probably take the pen along for a better match.”


My question too. I love this answer! I always complicate things. No need to Google, search pen repair sites, exchange emails. You take your pen, get in the car, go down to the hardware store - problem solved. Clear thinking . Thanks for that

You're welcome---but I'm not sure how well they'll fit. Might need to end up Googling after all.

Sam @ pendemonium.com has the o rings.

If you go looking for them, they come in many sizes and diameters, so it may take awhile to find them.

I thought about it, but the thought of getting the wrong size and having one of these coming loose on me is not very appealing.

I have successfully used the Platinum coverters with Preppy pens. The converter was from Swisherpens.com. I use converters because I do not want to chance a leak on my clothes.

Of note the blue-black ink in the Preppy is water resistant so it may contain a low percentage of iron gall. After 10 minutes of dry time, I ran water over the writing and most of the ink ran off, but a grayish color remained.

Well, I had an order with Pendemonium for some penmanship books and a couple of cool Sheaffer lab beakers that I was tipped off to in their Midnight Madness letters. So, I sent an email in response to my order telling them precisely what I wanted to do. Sam wrote me back and said that I would need the large sized o-rings, and I got a pack of 10 for 9 bucks.

Pendemonium has the best service and the coolest people ever. I love them. *gush*

I got a few of these after using the Noodler's Year of the pig free pen. I do agree that they yellow ink that comes with the Platinum preppy is pretty awful but the other cartridges are nice.

So I got some more and removed the cartridges and put o rings on them all and without any silicon grease, used them as eye dropper pens for all my new bottles of Noodlers, so now I have a dedicated preppy for each ink color. I bought some glass eyedroppers from the drug store. I haven't had a leak yet and put a fair bit of pressure on the O rings. I labelled each pen with a writing sample on a small piece of paper taped to the barrel, roughly matching the pen color to the ink color - the red I used for Nakita red and Waterman Red, The Black for HOD, etc. So far I'm quite pleased with the performance, especially considering the price. It gives me a 'standard' pen to compare various inks. I like finer nibs, so this is a good pen choice. I may try my hand at grinding a nib or two - at this price, I can learn without too high a penalty for failure.

I got the o rings at OSH hardware item #0533. It is pictured next to a disassembled pen. The ring is bigger than the rings that come from noodlers and you CAN feel them (I don't find it particularly annoying. I noticed that I'm missing my Hunter green one Hope it didn't make it to the laundry. That might be a bad test.

So far no leaks carrying it in my shirt pocket, etc. I'm lpleased so far.

Pardon the high resolution but when I scaled it back the handwriting samples (taped to the barrel) were just too degraded to see well.



http://www.kenss.com/pens/preppys.jpg


Those pens without gaskets have the preppy refil installed. In instances of duplicate colors, one tip is the pen tip and the other is the highlighter felt tip. The very last pen has brown preppy ink with a marker felt tip ending as oppossed to a highlighter ending. Note in particular the two Year of the pig Yellow highli8ghter pens and notice the thin gasket which is supplied with the year of the pig pen as compared to the thicker gasket I'm using. I have not had a problem with either gasket., although you can put more pressure on the thicker gasket before it distorts, possibly causing some of the leakages previously mentioned (speculative). Also I've installed these gaskets in a number of my fountain pens (Waterman and Schaeffer) as extra protection against leaks with no interference with the caps fitting securely.

---
Ken

Great post, great pics! Thanks.

I'm tempted to order more Preppys and try the eyedropper thingie!