Pilot Prera Fountain Pen - Fine Nib - White Body

I love this pen! It's smaller than the Kaweco Classic Sport EF. I have had some trouble with the converter easily leaking, but using the Pilot Cartridges proves to be no problem, so I might just use a syringe to fill them up with Carbon Platinum next time.

Nice pen, just didn't work out as the sketching pen as I had hoped. After putting Lexington Gray ink in this pen and testing it out on scrap paper, I excitedly went sketching with it and found that it skipped terribly on the watercolor paper in my sketchbook. Very frustrating! Come to find it has trouble with 90 lb paper too. For that matter, just simply writing with it with the Lexington Gray ink was not satisfying, as the pen tended to write dry. I flossed the nib and everything, still unsatisfied. But then I put Private Reserve Tanzanite in the pen, known to flow well in dry-writing pens, and now I am enjoying the pen a lot more--but just for writing. Tanzanite is not the waterproof ink I need for sketching with watercolors, nor the right color for that matter. The Platinum Carbon Desk Pen is still tops as my sketching pen. But the Prera is cute, compact, and very well-constructed, so for me, with Tanzanite ink, it's a nice pen to write with.

I bought a brown Prera then followed by a white Prera.
The brown one shows smudge (from finger grease / perspiration) quite clearly and requires more frequent cleaning to clear the visible smudge prints. It also makes any dust that is on it, appear visible. The darker brown attracts more heat if the pen is left under the Sun, therefore causing more ink evaporation within the pen cap.
The white one does not show the smudge, though they are there. Any dust on the white surface is hardly noticeable. The white surface does not attract as much solar heat.
Verdict : I prefer the white Prera more than the brown one.

Gorgeous pen for a great price. The F nib is VERY fine - much finer than the F on my Lamy Safari. I've only had it for about a day, but the pen writes well out of the box and looks great. The white and chrome together are very bright and modern. There is also something nice about the way this pen feels when capping it. There's somewhat of a soft slide, then a satisfying click. It's also nice that there are converters for it, and I'm enjoying the combination of this pen with Noodler's Squetegue. The CON-20 converter takes some getting used to, but that's another review. Overall, this is a GREAT pen for the money.

1) An outstanding fine point, perfect for making quick notes in margins or short entries in my journal. I didn't know such a combination of fine line and smooth consistent flow to paper was technically possible. This nib seems incapable of skipping. Unlike the _EF_ nib in the Penmanship, which seems better suited for finest detail and drawing, this nib can still be used for writing.

2) Maintains a fine line even on poorer paper, including newspaper crosswords, when using Noodler's Black (warning: non-zero Nib Creep with this ink).

3) I even use it in handwriting practice as the finer line reveals errors in letter shape that were (ahem) hidden using edged nibs or normally tip'd nibs.

4) I received it on 25 Oct 2010 and it came with two cartridges and one CON-20 converter.

5) Actual color is quite close to that of the last photograph showing pen and cap adjacent to it.

6) The cap has magnets in it. Strong ones. I'll try to keep it a safe distance from portable memory devices (USB flashdrives, camera memory cards) and my digital watches and calculators.

I waited several months for jetpens to restock this pen and it has proved well worth the wait.

This _F_ nib and its _M_ sibling are so good I'm compelled to take all our Pelikans from Fahrney's Pens and put them up for sale.