Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen - 05 Medium Nib - Blue Black Ink

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.

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!

My pen came as a very dry writer but after using it and applying a little pressure to the nib it writes really well now. Found the ink color to be insipid but might have liked it better if the pen had been writing better at the time. Modified mine to use as an eyedropper. Well worth the price! Will probably buy other Preppies in Fine or other colors.

I think the Preppy Fountain Pens are just terrific. I would have given this a 4/5 because the cap breaks on about a third of my Preppies, but the low price of this pen makes up for the cap issue, at least for the most part. I find them reliable, and pretty darn leak-resistant on average. If it were not for the questionable cap integrity, I would be completely raving about them. I purchase the refills, and as long as the cap stays intact, I can keep refilling them. I find this a bargain at the price, and love the fine as well as the medium point. At this price, this is a win/win if you can get past the cap issue. I order enough so if I have to throw one away for lack of cap, then so be it!

Pros
This pen writes really smoothly, and dispenses a very consistent stream of ink.
Inexpensive.
Broad, but controllable nib.
Easy to use.
Does not dry out.
Does not leak despite being thrown about in my bag

Cons
Cap breaks easily, unable to keep it closed - That pretty much limits the use of the pen

Like the pen for the price, but will have to hunt for something more robust. You get what you pay for, however it is a good introduction to fountain pens.