Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen 03 Fine Black

The pen arrived yesterday, the usual fast Amazon delivery, in a cardboard envelope and the pen itself was in a loose plastic wrap.Unscrewing the pen you'll find the ink cartridge, hold the nib end upright and push the cartridge in until the little ballbearing clicks, reassemble the pen and hold vertical with the nib facing down...hold it in this position for a couple of minutes and then the ink has time to run into the nib.I am no expert in the field of fountain pens and I only own one other that was around £18, which I have been using for about a year. My older pen has a medium nib and writes beautifully.I saw a few reviews of this Platinum pen and decided to try it with the fine nib, as I said the ink does flow after a little preparation, it's plastic body means it is much lighter than a metal bodied pen...it is really made for kids after all!I wanted to try a fine nib but didn't want to spend a lot of money...I've used this for a day now and can honestly say it's a lovely pen, it's comfortable to hold, the ink flows with no problems and I've had no issues using on a variety of paper mediums.Four decades of Biro use and then texting certainly had a detrimental effect on my handwriting, so to start improving this I decided on going back to fountain pens. The beauty of fountain pens and cursive writing means you have to actually think about each letter in the word...it's very therapeutic indeed!I've ordered two more ink cartridges as I'll be using this pen for workTo summarise....cheap, easy to set up, lovely to write with and I thoroughly recommend this pen.

Using this with waterproof cartridges for urban sketching. Writes smoothly, really good value and makes alovely line.

The pen is the bic of fountain pens. Use it for everyday use and you'll be fine. Writes smoothly however, I'm not a black fountain ink fan. It's a workhorse pen. Worth a try for sure.

Great quality for the price

My favourite pen, this is the third one of these pens I have purchased. My son pinched the others so had to get this one. The pen writes well and is also really useful for drawing. The ink flows smoothly and the carbon black is very good, dark black. The nib allows for really small detailed writing but also allows for larger writing styles.

Great pen for line drawing prior to adding watercolour. Difficult to start ink flow, PATIENCE! Eventually the ink came through. Press the cartridge into the nib part inside the pen. Hold pen vertically, start writing and the ink starts.

writes better than my TWSBI GO, a pen almost 5x the price.

Purchased because it got very good reviews online, for drawing and sketching with the appropriate ink.I haven't used it yet, but look forward to using it.Good value for money.