Customer Reviews

Love this pen. I got the medium point and the fine point (both black ink) and I love the way they write. The converter really lets you use any ink you like so these pens are the perfect fountain pens for newbies, but also great for students or those that want a pen to use for quick notes, etc.

This is the first time I've tried a "nibbed" pen I didn't have to dip. the flow is very smooth and I could get alot of good effects with it.
Flow is a bit thicker than I thought it was going to be but other wise I like using this pen.

The main feature of these pens, other than price (you need not cry too hard if one goes missing) is their ability to become eyedropper pens with a #5 washer available at any "hardware" store like Lowes or Ace Hardware. The instructions are posted elsewhere on this web site.

Just be sure to dab a bit of vaseline in the threads and you have a good writing pen that lasts literally for weeks or months without refilling.

As a college instructor I have one in each of four colors, black, brown, red and green, for everyday use in marking, editing, etc. Superb pens if used this way. Of course their writing feel is limited by their material and cost - but for a couple of bucks what do you want? Mont Blanc??

Great pen for a great price. I really like the blue black ink color and it flows very smoothly. The fine point is a nice true fine point

Great pen, although it was very hard for me to unscrew the end to put the ink in. I would say the color could be described as chrome yellow, #FFA700 on a hex color chart. It writes nicely, and I have not had any more problems since.

Wow, what a nice pen... I got this one to carry around in my professor's leather book bag (I teach undergrad courses), and because I prefer that old-fashioned "scratchy" feel of a fountain pen on paper versus the skip and rub of a ball point (who can write with a ball point other than for endorsing a check at a bank?). I like gel pens, too, but I sometimes miss the fountain pen feel, so this is perfect to remedy that. :-)

Love the colored nib. Very nice feature. Makes the pen look more like a conversation piece. It writes with such a graceful line, it's almost impossible to think that it's a $3 pen! Got two extras on the way: one red pen for marking up papers, and another black for my wife (so she doesn't take mine away). If you haven't already done so, get one now. You can thank me later. ;-)

I cannot even express my love for this pen. I had never written with a fountain pen before, and I tried a few out at a store and wasn't too pleased, but when I tried this one I immediately had to buy it and pick up a couple extra cartridges. It's the kind of pen you just know you'll be using for the rest of your life.

After purchasing the Platinum “Preppy” fountain pen, I also bought the Sailor Ink Pen.

Ink flow of the Sailor Ink Pen is good. The problem lies with the very smooth flowing Sailor ink instead (as with other very smooth flowing ink like Aurora). The ink tends to spread into thicker line and also exhibits tendency to bleed through some types of writing paper.

Richard F. Binder wrote in his website that "Inks that flow too well often tend to feather or bleed, especially on cheap papers, and this sort of excessive flow lowers an ink’s score."
Source : http://www.richardspens.com/?page=main.htm

Now I get to see what Richard F. Binder meant by his words above. Ink that flows well is good enough, it does not need to be very smooth flowing.

Since the Sailor (and Aurora) ink needs certain sort of good quality paper, this restricts my application of this ink as I cannot always dictate the quality of paper accessible to me.

The nib is without pellet at the tip. This makes the Sailor Ink Pen “scratchy” on the paper.

The above problems do not happen to the Platinum “Preppy” fountain pen.

The Platinum ink is more water-resistant than Sailor ink and the Platinum ink does not bleed through paper as much as the Sailor ink.

The nib of the Platinum “Preppy” is pelleted to give a smooth writing experience.

An additional spring-loaded cone is inside the pen-cap of the Platinum “Preppy” to provide additional seal to the nib-section. This slows down evaporation of the ink. Intelligent design for even a cheap pen ! No such thought is put into the pen-cap of the Sailor Ink Pen.

Verdict : Platinum “Preppy” and Platinum ink are superior than Sailor Ink Pen and Sailor ink.

This is an outstanding fountain pen. I love how smoothly it writes and the nib. It gets an A in my book and now I'm planning to get the purple one based on the great reviews and my love for the color purple. But of course, black is the standard color.

Good pen for this price. But don't use standard Platinum ink cartridges with it.
I tried Preppys with standard Platinum ink, then with brush cartridges (...products_id/1973) and with carbon ink cartridges (...products_id/3462).
In my opinion it is good pen only with two last. Smooth, non dries without cap for 10-15 minutes. And price (for carbon ink) is the same. Brush ink darker and smoother. It is the best one for Preppy pen.

I bought this pen in three colors. I do not believe the colors make a difference--they were, each, faulty. And all in the same way. Following the instructions, I inserted the cartridge and thought that the ink would begin to flow. Not only did none of the ink flow, I had to run the nib under warm water, drying it carefully with a paper towel, I tried to prod the cartridge into beginning to flow, I put everything back together and, leaving the pen capped with the nib side down, I left the pens alone for a few days. When I returned, everything remained the same. No ink. No writing.
I find these pens to be quite aesthetically lovely, with the nib matching the ink and cap color. Someone clearly put a lot of thought into the design, but went blank on the engineering portion of the pen. There is just no performance. At all.
I am aware that the pens are valued at $3.30 each. So, some may say, you get what you pay for. I have paid hundreds of dollars for some pens, yet my all time favorite is one that I paid $17. to acquire. One never knows when one will find a little treasure.
Know this: You will not find a little treasure in this pen. You will find a little headache. Hardly pays to send them back. what a waste of money...as I bought cartridges, as well.

Inconsistent quality from these pens. When they work well, they're great. The latest one I received has a problem drawing ink. Looks like I can't return it, so I won't be ordering them from here any more.

Love, love, love this pen. The nib is very smooth and ink is a nice wet flow no matter how long it's been since I have used it. Who would ever think such an inexpensive pen would perform so well. I have some very expensive pens; Sheaffer's, waterman, pelican that don't write nearly as well. I plan to turn this into an eye dropper after I use up the cartridge that was included. It's definitely not impressive to look at and I wish it didn't have the writing on the barrel but that is a small complaint and doesn't in any way affect the performance. If you don't have one of these I would highly recommend that you give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

I was terrified of using fountain pens before I jumped in the waters and bought my first Preppy. That was almost a year ago and after my initial period of terror, I have come to use this pen every single day at work.

I have to send lots of faxes (old school style!) and the ability to consistently write legibly with a dark ink makes my job (and the fax recipient's job) much easier.

Yes, the ink feathers a bit and yes, this medium nib is probably too wide for some people, but after using my first Preppy, I bought more, in different colors, and now I happily pull my black ink Preppy out of my desk drawer every morning.

I did recently buy a new one as the cap on the old one had stopped snapping closed on the body due to repeated use (it is cheap plastic after all!) but at $3.30, I don't really mind.

Due to how much I use this pen, I usually get about 3-4 weeks of writing out of each ink cartridge. Once again, I don't mind so much as buying new refills is a widely known and accepted excuse to come back to place an order at Jet Pens...

I bought this pen and the blue one and the black one. it skips a lot at first but after a while it writes smooth. you kinda have to shake it a little bit to get the ink flowing. overall the ink flows well.

The pens writes fine for the price...But the ink color is terrible. It's so light and weak, I can't stand writing with it. It looks like it's been run under water and watered down. Not my idea of high quality at all. Maybe I'll order another color ink to see if it's any better. Black maybe?

At this price, it's a steal; I have one of these and it works great. I just wish it was a little heavier.

This pen far exceeded my expectations. At the price how can you go wrong? That's exactly how I felt about this pen when I bought it, but I was surprised at how well it wrote with the default cartridge, especially it having such a fine point. It is light and ergonomic, well-balanced in weight distribution, and made of thick plastic with a hexagonal design inside the barrel which seems to reinforce the structure. My only complaint about the construction of the Preppy would be the clip, which is loose and shallow; it doesn't grip my pocket enough to keep itself from falling out.

The ink flows well and isn't particularly dry or wet. It writes smoothly and with no skipping, delivering a thin line with minimal scratchiness. It is a very vibrant pink, and stands out quite a bit on the page.

For the$, this fountain pen is a steal. However, in terms of performance, it\'s only so good; it definitely cannot compare to other higher priced fountain pens. My first fountain pen purchase was a Lamy safari, so I am bit biased when I use this. However, it gives me peace of mind if I ever lose it since this is so cheap. The only thing more expensive is the fact that I refill the ink cartridges with Noodler\'s ink.
Writing with this pen can be smooth, but always stay writing or replace the cap because the ink tends to dry out in open air. I don\'t like how I have to press down hard to get the ink to flow out again; it gets annoying. But I\'ve gotten used that after using for a year now. This is a good starter pen actually, but I always miss using my Lamy more than this one.

I love this pen! It's very inexpensive yet good. It writes in beautiful, fluid lines and is never dry....it also never drips ink either if stored properly. I use this pen often for journalling and I look forward to purchasing different color refills. You have to try this pen!

The purple ink color is a good strong purple, and the 05 nib puts down a medium wet line. I have tried the 03 and would say the 05 is much better in terms of ink flow, even if it tends toward the bold side. The nib is almost slightly italic - it can be a bit thinner horizontally than vertically. I would say it's much smoother than the Pilot Petite1. I would also prefer it with less branding. I received a generic Platinum Preppy with a 4.5oz bottle of Noodler's Baystate Blue which was converted to eyedropper, and that pen is a clean transparent gray all around, which is ideal. I'd like to be able to buy more of the no-name preppies.

I've had Platinum Preppy pens for over a year and found them to be reliable cheap writers. Most of the time, they write well out of the "box", but sometimes I have one that doesn't flow well. I found that flushing it well with water with a drop of detergent seems to help, although the feed isn't the easiest thing to flush out. I had to use a baby nasal bulb to force clean water through the feed to flush it well.

I prefer the medium (0.5) nib and have even converted one of them into a eyedropper with some silicone grease and the o-ring JetPens sells. The cap has a spring loaded sealing cone that keeps the nib from drying out and I find that I can uncap the pen after a long absence and it writes fine.

The nib is reasonably smooth for such an inexpensive pen and I keep them around in my office where I wouldn't keep my much more expensive fountain pens.

I also refill the excellent Platinum cartridges with my favorite inks.

You can't beat this pen for the price!

The color is more hot pink than red--but a great pen nonetheless

Even with the bad reviews, I decided to try this pen. Bought some Blue/Black refills to go with it. I figured at only $3.00 who cares if it isnt so great, right?

wrong. The problem is that with this pen it COMPLETELY frustrates you. It doesnt write to begin with, so you pinch and poke and coax the ink into coming out. It still wont budge. You get determined one afternoon, roll up your sleeves and attack it with everything you have! You get some ink to come out..... And then it stops..

I stored it tip down (Gasp!) for over a week, checking it daily, no, still wont work. Finally, it writes without a ton of effort to start it, but i store it upside down, and recap it when i pause to think what i am going to write next.

Is $3 worth the time and frustration to you? I say give it to a friend to get it started for you and then, just maybe it might be worth it ;)

The color is a bit light, but it is fine. It writes smooth and not scratchy at all. Definitely will be buying more colors of this pen in the future!