Sailor Pro-Gear Slim F (Everyday Carry) Review

[KellyMcJ]

Dropping in with an update: this pen is still my everyday carry and I'm totally in love with it. It's never failed to start or write, and with the Sei Boku ink, I can reliably and consistently write small and legible on the worst paper (it does feather some as it is a very wet writer).

 

At this point if I could only keep one pen I'd be hard pressed to give this one up.

[ENewton]

A very wet writer? Mine isn't.

[KellyMcJ]

A very wet writer? Mine isn't.

 

It could very well be the ink. I'm using Sailor Sei Boku and haven't tried other inks in it.

[minddance]

+1. No matter how much I open the tines, it can never be a very wet writer. And there is a limit to how much the tines can be oened before capillary action fails.

[Olya]

I find Sailors to be on the wetter side too. Nowhere near Pelikan firehose territory, but wetter nonetheless. My Pilot CH 91 is imo also wet-ish, whilst my Platinums (3776 Century) are on the dry side (except the Balance, rather wet that one).

 

Having used various brands over the years, I have to say that I have always had at least one Sailor inked at all times, ever since I bought my first one. And I didn't even like the fussiness of the M nib, but still always had one inked. Over time I learnt to hold a Sailor right (in spite of always being comfy with a triangular grip, which is how I learnt writing!), and with some experience I have to say that Sailor has become my n°1 brand in terms of "best nib around". That happened when my Pilot was extremely fussy and my Platinum not too reliable either and only my Sailor would lay down a proper line of ink when my paper gave up on me due to handoil transfer. The Pilot acted worse than a Pelikan with baby's bottom and the Platinum wasn't 100% reliable either, only Sailor did the job (all were 14k gold nibs, M, inked with M's Horizon Blue).

 

I'm glad the Sailor worked out so well for you Kelly! I suspect more will join in the (near) future

[KellyMcJ]

I find Sailors to be on the wetter side too. Nowhere near Pelikan firehose territory, but wetter nonetheless. My Pilot CH 91 is imo also wet-ish, whilst my Platinums (3776 Century) are on the dry side (except the Balance, rather wet that one).

 

Having used various brands over the years, I have to say that I have always had at least one Sailor inked at all times, ever since I bought my first one. And I didn't even like the fussiness of the M nib, but still always had one inked. Over time I learnt to hold a Sailor right (in spite of always being comfy with a triangular grip, which is how I learnt writing!), and with some experience I have to say that Sailor has become my n°1 brand in terms of "best nib around". That happened when my Pilot was extremely fussy and my Platinum not too reliable either and only my Sailor would lay down a proper line of ink when my paper gave up on me due to handoil transfer. The Pilot acted worse than a Pelikan with baby's bottom and the Platinum wasn't 100% reliable either, only Sailor did the job (all were 14k gold nibs, M, inked with M's Horizon Blue).

 

I'm glad the Sailor worked out so well for you Kelly! I suspect more will join in the (near) future

 

Oh I currently have four!!!! *sigh* I think I have a problem...

 

I find my fine to be wetter than my broad or zoom- They're almost on the dry side (I suspect the same amount of ink is spread out over a wider area causing this impression) however have great flow nonetheless.

[ENewton]

My Fine has a very nice, medium flow, and so far I've been able to use very wet inks without feathering, even on printer paper, but I have yet to try a Sailor ink in the pen. I am curious now.

 

My Japanese pens offer a satisfying variety of writing experiences, even within the same brand (I'm thinking of the Platinum 3776 and the Balance), but all have been reliable and easy to use from the start. The Sailor is edging the others out by a little--the size, the shape, and the nib are ideal for my hand and style of writing--but I really like all of them.

[minddance]

The Sailor feed is no slouch, the limiting factors, or bottleneck lies in the nib grind and slit.

[KellyMcJ]

Update: I've been carrying this pen and using it daily, or almost daily, with the same ink (Sailor Sei Boku) for a solid six months. In that time it has never given a bit of trouble, always worked well with little difficulty on the worst paper my workplace can procure from the depths of office supply hell, and the only issue I ever have is picking up paper fibers (which I can hardly blame the pen for, and instead blame the aforementioned demonic paper.) I carry a piece of shim stock in my pocket notebook for this purpose.

 

There are some scratches on the barrel from use and especially posting, but the plating still looks flawless and it performs flawlessly!

 

It is scratchy on some papers, but not others- again, I blame the paper. There are days when I could swear it was misaligned somehow...but then I change papers and it's smooth as anything. I'm not sure that this isn't something that would happen with any nib that fine.

 

Overall, I still highly recommend this pen.

[AmandaW]

+1

 

I received my Pro Gear Slim F pen last November and have had it in daily use for making notes in a Moleskine. The fine nib is far from wet, but it never skips, making it perfect on paper that many people complain about. I use Kiwa-Guro ink (the black version of the Sei boku in the opening post). It floats around my desk, sometimes in the pen cup, but I don't post and it lives one of those cheap little single pen sleeves that sometimes come free with Chinese pens - the fake velvet ones - so there is no damage, no micro scratches and gets given a little polish every time it goes in and out of it's pouch. It is my only Sailor pen and the fascination with it has yet to wear off.

[TheDutchGuy]

The first Sailor I bought was a Pro Gear Slim 14k H-M. It's the only pen so far that I fell head over heels in love with from the first letter I wrote, and that opinion hasn't changed. All my other pens required a certain "let's learn to love each other" period and a search for the right ink (currently going through that with my new Pilot Custom 823 F). Not so with the Slim.

 

Then I dropped it. Of all the pens I could've dropped, I dropped that one. I worked on it myself and two nibmeisters did the finishing touches. By some fluke chance it's now better than ever. My no. 1 pen by far. My no. 2 pen is also a Sailor: a 1911 Standard 14k H-M and that nib is also divine.

[Honeybadgers]

I really need another sailor. I love my 1911 standard zoom nib, but it's not exactly great for signing receipts with a fire hose.

 

Just gonna save my pennies for a 1911 large, I think. In the meantime, I have a young profit skeleton demonstrator, which has a MF nib that just writes soooooooooooooo well, with a clear feed, I pretty happily use that (and I have no idea why that pen doesn't get more love, for the price, it easily punches with other pens in its class)

 

[TheDutchGuy]

A 1911 Large... someday...