Platinum Preppy Crystal Fountain Pen 0.3 – Fine
The Platinum Preppy has gained popularity owing to its high writing performance while maintaining a very low price since its Launch. Along with the growing number of fountain pen users, there are more customers enjoying ink colors. This has led Platinum to create the colourful pens which allow you to write with the ink that complement the colour of your pen. The Preppy Crystal however, is not as colourful. It is made of Poly Carbonate, the body is clear and transparent. The nib made of highly-polished stainless steel, and the mixed metal point that provides excellent abrasi on resistance, make Preppy one of the best quality fountain pens for this price range. It also utilizes the Slip & Seal Mechanism, which prevents the ink from drying out inside the pen even after a year without usage, providing a smooth, consistent writing experience at any time. The Preppy model enhances the joy of writing with a fountain pen.
laurenseraph (verified owner) –
The Platinum Preppy looks cheap, but it’s comfortable to hold and the F nib writes smoother than my Lamys, even though it’s finer than any of them. At such a low price, I’m thinking of getting a couple more just so that I can ink up with a wider range of colours, especially now that I’ve bought so many ink samples. The F nib also makes it useful for my work, which often involves marking up manuscripts.
The one drawback is that it’s not well suited to filling from ink bottles using a converter. There’s a gap between the plastic body of the pen and the top of the feed, and when you dip that into the ink to fill the pen, some ink will collect there and eventually leak out. Messy and annoying. My suggestion: don’t buy a converter. Platinum converters cost more than this pen anyway. Instead, get a syringe from a pharmacy (they’re very cheap) and use it to refill the cartridge once it’s empty. The cartridge holds way more ink than the converter, the syringe allows you to get every last drop out of a bottle or sample tube, and in the Crystal Preppy you’ll be able to enjoy seeing the colour.
Craig E (verified owner) –
I bought this for fun, not expecting much, but it writes reliably every single time. I’ve never had any drying out or skipping problems. It’s cheap enough that I can leave it lying around the office and it won’t cause any heartbreak if it falls and breaks. My only complaint is that the black ink that comes with it is more of a dark grey and doesn’t do the pen justice. Will definitely refill the cartridge with a better ink.
Riaan Blignaut (verified owner) –
Nice pen to start with if you not sure if fountain pen are for you. Price is just great and the nibs writes really nice. Plus with the slip and seal tech in it, your ink will last a long time and not to worry about drying out.
gnwooding (verified owner) –
I find the Platinum Preppy pens to be great value for money. I have bought a number of them and they have all been good so quality control is good.
This is the clear one which I think looks the best. The coloured ones have a bar code on the body which detracts a bit from the looks. The clear one doesn’t have this and looks better for it.
The fine nib is very fine but fairly smooth. Because it is so fine this pen is a great option to use with wet inks and poor quality paper.
Overall these are great and I have bought a number of them which I have given to a couple friends to get them into writing with a fountain pen.
mattrudlles1 (verified owner) –
An R80 fountain pen which can be refilled with cartridge or converter, has a smooth Japanese F nib, is light, a demonstrator and has slip and seal technology – it is a brillaint fountain pen.
I got one for my wife, and one for myself thinking to just give it a try for the price. I am really happy with the Preppy Crystal! Long term endurance will still have to be assessed.
mattrudlles1 (verified owner) –
The pen is working great and I am on to my second cartridge. I decided to top up the included cartridge with KWZ Thief’s Red once it was empty. A really cool effect seeing the blood red ink in the feed!
gabor242 (verified owner) –
Wow! I can’t believe how well this pen writes. It’s novel and it’s fun. A great gateway model for those entering the gloriously inky world of fountain pens.
laurenseraph (verified owner) –
Revising my initial review (although the suggestion about using a syringe to fill a cartridge still stands)
The Preppy has a surprisingly smooth nib and the F/0.3 nib offers what, for me, is the perfect line weight. It’s a tacky-looking pen, but at such a low price-point I ended up buying several so that I’d always have one at the office and one to throw in a bag without worrying about losing an expensive pen.
But you do get what you pay for, and their quality seems to be wildly inconsistent. Out of the 6 or 7 Preppies that I once had, in various nib sizes, only two remain. The others either developed frustrating problems with ink flow (hard starts, the feed drying up after longer writing) or the cap or barrel cracked, damaging the seal and further inhibiting flow. I’d fiddle with the nibs or tape up the cracks, but the problems inevitably returned and I eventually tossed any of the repeatedly unreliable pens, wishing I’d spent that money on another Lamy or Kaweco. They might be pricier, but can handle being carried around and will start writing immediately.
I still use my last two Preppies (F and EF) on a regular basis though. They’re better suited to wetter inks to help with flow. Avoid depending on them for taking notes in a meeting or lecture unless you’ve gotten one of the better ones, with a dependable ink combo.
Paul Botha (verified owner) –
I bought a few of these some months ago to give the kids an opportunity to experience fountain pens themselves.
I converted them to eyedroppers using an o-ring and silicone grease, and these pens are a true crowd pleaser with coloured ink from Diamine sloshing around in the barrels!
The three children that are old enough to use pens at school (two are lefties) now use their Preppies exclusively for school writing, with no complaints, issues or problems.
If the barrel does not get overtightened, and the pen does not get stood on, it is not going to break: the preppies have survived the harsh environment of school classrooms without any problems.