Review: Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen

The budget king. This is the Platinum Preppy fountain pen, and it's one of the most bang-for-your-buck options out there in such a low, sub-$10 price range. It's also an offering from one of the "big three" Japanese fountain pen companies.

This fountain pen is inconspicuous and it'll blend in with your other writing instruments in the pencil case in terms of looks and how it feels. I'd feel comfortable with throwing this pen around as an everyday pen given the absurdly low cost.

First Impressions

I bought this pen online, and it came in a plastic, brandless sleeve. This was a little disappointing, but I shrugged it off. I mean, I only paid a few dollars for it, so I can't expect a Montblanc-style presentation. That's alright.

The pen comes with a single black ink cartridge, which is standard. Especially in a pen where a converter from the same brand costs more than the pen itself. Again, you can't put this against Platinum. It's not feasible to include that much in a pen that can cost as much as a Big Mac.

Writing Experience

Even though it's pretty bare-bones, the Platinum Preppy is still amazing. It comes in a variety of nib options, and I chose the medium nib (0.5 mm). It's an amazing, wet nib that writes relatively smoothly. I wouldn't exactly call it Pilot gold nib-level smooth (I mean, those pens are at least 25x the price), but it's better than some of my $30 pens.

The nib is a good size for an everyday user. It’s not too large to be overbearing and make you stand out when using it, but it’s also enough to provide a satisfying experience in use. I like the Preppy more than its (most likely) largest competitor, that being the Pilot Kakuno.

The nib itself is also fairly well-detailed as well. Again, it's on par with some pens costing up to 5x the cost of the Preppy. It features the Platinum logo, along with 05. Something a little weird is the engraving of a faux breather hole. I'm guessing it's to make it look more premium, but it looks a little strange to me. Who knows, I could be completely wrong.

Below is a nice shot of the medium 0.5 mm nib.

Further Thoughts

Quite honestly, it’s pretty amazing how Platinum managed to pack such a fantastic writing experience for such a low cost.

The Preppy features all the standard features that a nicer fountain pen would have. It’s refillable, unlike some other pens in the price range, it’s post-able, allowing the user to customize the weight distribution, and it’s a good writer. There really isn’t much more to ask for in a writing instrument. Sure, more money definitely provides a much more pleasant experience, but the Platinum Preppy gives the nearly same general fountain pen writing for a very small fraction of many other pens out there.