Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen - 05 Medium Nib - Red Ink

Nib Swap: I used parts of this pen to 'upgrade' my Plaisir 'Fine' to a 'Medium' nib instead. The nib is a little to scratchy for the sketch book I am writing in, but I think with usage, time, and perhaps some minor adjustment to make the nib 'wetter' it will be perfect. I actually don't know how this pen writes because I used it for parts :)

Pretty cool pen, but I have a couple of concerns and probably won't order again.

The red is on the pink side, it's not a good deep crimson. Not really a problem, just need to be aware of it.

The other problem is the same problem I've had with all my preppy fountain pens, the plastic is brittle (for lack of a better word) and the caps especially have a tenancy to crack on you. Once the cap cracks, it doesn't stay on the pen well and the tip tends to dry out. I've bought 3 of these over the years and the caps cracked on two of them. One I dropped, but the other cracked just from normal use.

It's too bad. I love the pretty highlighters and love the idea of a refillable, disposable fountain pen.

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.