Customer Reviews

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.

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.

It\'s a nice pen for the price, that\'s for sure. But I like the PILOT Petit1 better.
A big down side for me is the non-removable bar code and label. So it\'s not so
esthetically pleasing, but hey, it\'s ok for the $. The ink color is more violet than
purple - close to the cap color.

Once I got it started it was fine but the ink flow isn't as consistent as I would like, especially given the broadness of the nib. The color is great though and very vibrant. For my money however I'd rather invest in a nicer ink to refill my Lamy.

Bought the pen because it was the only one that was 1. $3 and 2. had no negative reviews.
It came with a 2.25" ink cartridge it ran out after about 50 full pages of notes in 3 days for me because your hands never ever get tired... i don't know why...
never bleeds, never leaked, it gets dry if you leave it out uncapped for like a minute, but i'm guessing the drying issue is universal to fountain pens. I learned to just tap the table once before starting to write again and the dryness can be avoided.
Love the fine point; I can't imagine getting a european brand pen, and finding out that their "fine point" is really a "medium point" thickness... For this pen, it says 0.3mm, but realistically, it is about 0.5mm on paper, which is PERFECT.

Absolutely flawless.
Better than any pencil and pen I have ever used. (Dr.Grip, and alpha grip combined)
The fact that I have to change the cartridge frequently motivates me because it tells me that I'm doing a lot of work (unlike other ball point pens where the ink never, ever, ever runs out...)

Contemplating on whether to get a converter.
I absolutely love this pen, I am scared to get any other pens =\.

The Platinum Preppy is one of the first few fountain pens I've owned/used, and as cheap as it is... this is a great pen. I give it good marks for having a very buttery writing experience, as well as good flow even after you ignore it for a few days. The Blue-Black is somewhat light but I still like the slight variations in the shade of blue. If I have anything that I would improve in this pen... well I love fine lines so an extra-fine nib would be ideal, because for me the fine nib seems fairly thick almost like a .5-.7mm ballpoint/gel pen line. Also, probably attributed to low cost and being clear, the plastic in the cap and barrel is pretty fragile. The second time I used my pen, I slightly twisted the cap as I removed it. This cracked the barrel about 3 places, easily remedied with some clear tape... even If I got a defective barrel, I think a matte finished black body on these pens would not only help aesthetics but probably allow more durable plastics to be used. If I return to the Platinum brand on my next order, I might give their Plaisir line a go... they seem like a more robust version of these little beauties.

P.S. the coloring on my nib started coming off almost immediately, now I have a half blue, half silver colored nib... this did NOT effect performance.

I converted all my Preppys to dropper fill just as jetpens suggests. I love these pens. Never once have they given me any trouble. No leaks. I've taken them on airplanes to China and they were fantastic. I have four filled with Noodlers ink: black 05, blue 03, whaler's brown 05, black 03.

It writes like a dream but the barrel and cap are made from weak, brittle plastic. I've been very careful with mine and both the top of the body and the bottom of the cap have developed cracks. This is my second Preppy, which I got to replace the first one that had the same issue.

I know it's only a $3 pen, but I still expect it to not fall apart after a few months of easy desktop use, especially after buying the $8 converter. It's a shame too, because the fine nib writes like a dream, much smoother than many of my "real" fountain pens.

The Platinum Preppys are the best pen for $3 you will ever buy*. If you have ever wanted to try out a fountain pen, the Preppy is a great way to do it. At that price you cant get hurt much if you don't like it.

jeff stiefer

* For a full-sized cheap pen. I actually prefer the Pilot Petit (sold here at jetpens) but its a small pen and my not be good for big hands

For $3.30 I ordered these along with another pen. Just for kicks I thought I'd give it a run. I was totally impressed. the ink flow was silky smooth, almost like writing with a felt tip. The lines are broad for a Japanese pen. I plan to order a couple more to hold colored inks.

Best $3 pen of any kind I own.

I have several Preppy pens, and give them out regularly to friends and siblings. They are a really good pen for the price. I have had several for almost a year now and have only ever had one crack. The crack is in the cap and it only happened because I dropped my seven pound laptop on the pen. This isn't a pen that can take a lot of abuse, but at this price that's not really expected. They are well worth the price.

I completely disagree with the comment below. This is the most amazing fountain pen. One I put in the cartridge, the ink flowed easily and freely. The ink is beautiful and vibrant. I bought a refill and now I\'m back to buy more because of how frequently I use this pen. I took it with me to a convention along with another bag of pens. This pen fascinated me so much I ended up blowing through 2 cartridges. This is a must buy. At the $, this pen is a great price and quality.

A nice economical FP, writes very well with a smooth flow. If you don\'t write with it for a few days it does tends to dry at the nib but a second of scribbling brings it right back. Definitely recommended for a reliable everyday FP and as a great starting pen. For the $ this is a fine work horse. The purple is a very rich color, more on the violet side but still easy on the eyes.

The barrel cracked along the seam within days of receiving one of these pens...Very poor quality plastic...but when these pens do not crack they are great, they have a very nice nib and are easily converted for barrel fill to use with Noodler's Inks...It would be great if the company that makes these would put more effort into the quality of the plastic especially at the seam.

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.

Very good functioning pen. I've had it for a good while now, about 5 months. Everything works well on it, except the barrel and cap developed cracks quickly. Recently the cap finally cracked enough to stop clipping onto the pen. A shame that happened just after buying the converter for it. I am going to keep it around and see if there is a way to remedy the cracking, perhaps with some gorilla glue or more tape.