Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Platinum Procyon Citron Yellow Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Platinum Procyon is an aluminum fountain pen with a matte finish. It is packaged in a black box and comes with one blue cartridge but no converter. My pen also came with three special “commemorative colors:” aqua emerald, dark violet, and gold ochre. These are mixable colors, but I’m not sure how you’re supposed to mix ink that comes in cartridges. Regardless, the commemorative colors will be available only while supplies last.

The screw-on cap is adorned with a chrome clip and band. “Procyon” and “Platinum Made in Japan” are printed on the cap in silver lettering.

Although the cap and barrel are made of aluminum, the grip is a smoky black, semi-transparent plastic. I like the plastic grip because my fingers don’t slip as easily.

The fine stainless steel nib is quite plain--no scrollwork or fancy styling. There’s only a letter “P” and the nib size on the face of the nib. It looks very similar to the nib that comes on the $4.00 Platinum Preppy.

As is typical of Japanese nibs, the fine writes more like an extra fine. So, if you prefer a Western-size fine, you’ll want to order a medium. The nib is smooth-ish, but because it is so fine, it sometimes catches the paper on upstrokes. It’s also rather noisy, which surprised me. I don’t know if the aluminum barrel conducts the sound or if it’s just a characteristic of this steel nib, but the scritch-scratching of my writing was quite noticeable. Usually, I enjoy the sounds of a nib on paper, but this was actually rather distracting.

The pen is medium sized, measuring 5.5 inches/140mm capped, 4.7 inches/119mm uncapped, and 6.1 inches/155mm posted. Overall it weighs 24 grams, but uncapped it weighs only 13 grams. Posting is certainly possible, but because the cap alone weighs 11 grams, it throws the balance off considerably. The grip is a very useable size (10.3mm)--not too skinny or too fat.

You can get the Procyon in several different colors: Deep Sea (a dark navy blue), Turquoise, Persimmon Orange (a muted orange), Porcelain White, and Citron Yellow. I thought I saw a photo of a matte black Procyon, maybe on Instagram, but I can’t find any references to one on the Internet.

The Platinum Procyon costs $53 at JetPens, which I think is a little overpriced, especially since it does not come with a converter and the nib is so basic. But, if you want a stylish pen with good heft, a screw-on cap, and a simple steel nib, the Procyon might be a good fit for you. I suggest adding a Platinum converter ($8.25) to your cart so you can use bottled ink with it.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Platinum, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Ohto Fude Rollerball 1.5 mm Color Series Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

Fude usually indicates a brush tip pen, but what Ohto has with the Fude Rollerball is create a rollerball mechanism that behaves a bit like a brush pen. They've achieved this primarily by making it super huge. These are not your everyday writers. They were designed for bold statements. And while I didn't quite get the brush pen effect, I did have a lot of fun.

Even if you prefer fine tip pens, these are worth a try. They're great for sketching, outlining, journaling, addressing envelopes, or writing loud things. They worked okay for coloring books, but would not do well in the popular adult coloring books that have very small spaces. The bold lines may also overpower the smaller pages in pocket notebooks and may not stay inside the boundaries of grid or lined paper.

In addition to making thick lines, this liquid ink is very wet. It's a water-based pigment ink that behaves similarly to fountain pen ink or marker, and it may bleed through uncoated papers. The flow can be a bit inconsistent and I noticed they have a tendency to gush ink, though some colors did this more than others. Because of this gushiness, there is a longer dry time for this ink, and it can be a bit smeary for a while. I also wonder how quickly it will run out of ink supply. I imagine it would go even faster than a gel pen, and these are not refillable--so while these are inexpensive at roughly $16 for a set of seven, they're probably going to need replacing quite regularly if they're put to good use.

The set comes with green, light green, orange, pink, sky blue, violet, and wine red. I did find myself wishing for a few more colors, but this is overall a good variety. They're well made with sturdy plastic bodies, a flexible metal clip, and a strong conical tip. The cap snaps and posts securely. There's a clear feed, so you can watch the ink in action.

I'm not sure if it's because of the size or the quality of the tip, but this is one of the smoothest writing pens I've ever used. They really are fun to write with, and even though most of my work is done with fine tip pens, I find myself looking for excuses to pull these out. And if you prefer bold tips, these are going to delight you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Sarah Read and filed under Ohto, Rollerball, Pen Reviews.

Kaweco Frosted Sport Soft Mandarine Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The new collection of Frosted colors from Kaweco this year has been a fantastic edition that probably has many people scrambling to collect them all. The semi-translucent pastel body colors are perfect for spring and summer, and I doubt they'll be around long.

The particular model I have is the Soft Mandarine ballpoint, which is also available in five other colors. The Kaweco Sport ballpoint has been around for quite a while in all the regular colors and materials that you expect, but the soft pastel colors are refreshing. If you haven't used or seen one of these before, they're about the same size as a closed Kaweco Sport fountain pen, and feature a soft click mechanism at the top of the pen. The overall diameter is the same as the cap of a Sport fountain pen, but it's the same diameter for nearly the entire length of the pen, save the click button and cone. As you can imagine, writing with a chunky pen like this can take some getting used to. For the most part, it's a really comfortable writing experience, but I did find it to be slightly uncomfortable after a little while due to the short length. I like a bit more material on the pen to rest on my hand while I write, but this will vary from hand to hand.

The pen is very light, which makes it comfortable for short writing sprints, and I found it fairly easy to control even with the short body. Even though this pen is comparable in size to its fountain pen cousin, you have to factor in the cap on the fountain pen variant. Posting the cap gives you a good amount of extra length that makes it more comfortable to use and easier to control when writing. That's not to say that the ballpoint is difficult or uncomfortable, but they are much different writing experiences.

The included refill with this pen is a decent 1.0mm ballpoint with blue ink. It does skip a little and the lines aren't as crisp as I like, but it flows smoothly and always starts writing quickly after being unused for a while. As far as traditional ballpoints go, it's great. But, let's say you aren't a fan of ballpoints. That's okay, because I'm not either. Luckily, the Kaweco Sport ballpoint line uses a common refill format: the D1. This opens up your refill options by a lot, with over 60 choices on JetPens as of this writing. With that amount of variety, you can find a good combination of tip size and color to fit your writing needs.

Replacing the refill is an easy process, and I really enjoyed discovering the unique refill mount system on this pen. Instead of the traditional method of a spring in the tip of the pen that works directly against the refill to provide resistance, the spring is built into the nock mechanism. This means that there isn't a spring in the nose of the pen that is either stuck to the refill or can fall out when you remove the refill. I've never had good luck finding a lost spring on a carpet floor. The D1 refill is friction-fit into the nock mechanism, and requires a good amount of force to remove and replace. This is good because it means the refill won't fall out by accident in your pocket or bag.

Overall, I've really enjoyed using the Kaweco Ballpoint. It's a solid little pen that fits in a lot of small spaces, but is just big enough to be comfortable and usable. It's not something I'd use for long writing sessions, but it's a fun pen to use every now and then. On top of the that, the Frosted color options are so much fun. The translucent pastels are pretty and the price is very fair. And, the addition of using the popular D1 system means you have lots of color and size options!

The Kaweco Frosted Sport Ballpoint is available in Blush Pitaya, Light Blueberry, Natural Coconut, Soft Mandarine, Sweet Banana, and Fine Lime, and each one costs about $22. These make great gifts and personal treats, but once you have one, you'll want all six colors!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!