Posts filed under Sailor

Sailor Pro Gear Tequila Sunrise: 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.)

I have a love/dislike relationship with Sailor fountain pens. I love the nibs. I dislike the PMMA resin bodies (which can feel kind of cheap) and the stingy converters (holding only .7 ml of ink). Obviously, many fountain pens are made of resin, so that’s not a deal breaker, and Sailor’s PMMA resin is strong and thick. But the converters seem rather flimsy.

But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) I’ve been lurking on various Japanese pen sites like Wancher and Pensachi and discovered all the color variations Sailor offers to the larger world market. Sailor pens come in some outstanding special and/or limited edition colors. Many of the colors remind me of tropical flavor LifeSavers. Yum!

I fell for a Sailor Pro Gear limited edition called Tequila Sunrise. It was already sold out at both Wancher and Pensachi, but I found an eBay seller who had one with a medium nib, so I bought it. I ordered it July 4 from Japan and it was here on July 12.

Even though the Tequila Sunrise is a limited edition pen, it came in a regular Sailor clamshell box with a couple of cartridges but no converter. I had a spare Sailor converter on hand, so that wasn’t a big deal.

The pen is gorgeous from top to bottom. The finial is clear with a cool red and gold Sailor logo in the center.

The cap is a yellow-orange color with gold-plated trims (clip and cap bands).

The body is a peach-orange color that deepens the closer you get to the base.

And the finial at the base is a translucent red-orange.

The pen looks exactly like the cocktail after which it is named.

*From Wikimedia Commons;* *original photo*

The Pro Gear Classic is a small to medium-sized pen. It is 5 inches/128mm capped, 4.6 inches/116mm uncapped, and 5.9 inches/150mm posted. The grip is 11mm, and the barrel at its widest is 13mm. It weighs 25 grams inked and posted and 16.62 grams inked without the cap.

The nib is a beautiful two-tone 21K medium with all the usual Sailor scrollwork and anchor logo. I’m very happy with the medium nib, which writes smoothly and has perfectly-aligned tines.

I inked the pen with Robert Oster Ng Special ’16. The ink is a nice match for the pen, but may be a bit too dry for this nib. I didn’t have any skipping issues, but the ink doesn’t flow as smoothly as I would like. It may be that I need a wetter ink or that I’m just not accustomed to the Sailor nib feedback that people talk about. The last few Sailor pens I bought had custom-ground nibs, so they wrote more smoothly. I’ll try the ink with Sailor Apricot and see if they get along better.

Regardless, this is one Sailor I plan to keep in my collection. I love the unusual, bright colors which are happy and make me smile. Even though I typically prefer larger pens, I really like how the Pro Gear Classic feels n my hand. The grip is wide enough that my hand doesn’t cramp after writing a few pages, and the pen is light and well balanced. The only negative is I crave tropical LifeSavers whenever I use the pen.

If you’re interested in the Sailor Pro Gear (or any Sailor models), I highly recommend the eBay seller from whom I purchased my Tequila Sunrise. I also recommend Pensachi who carries Sailor, Pilot, Platinum, Namiki, and Lamy, and offers limited editions and special versions you can’t find at American retailers.

(I purchased this pen with my own funds.)

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 July 19, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Sailor, Pro Gear, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Sailor Ink Studio 123: 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.)

Sometimes there’s an ink you see on the Internet in a review or on Instagram that you simply must have. It doesn’t matter if that ink is difficult to obtain or if it comes in a dinky 20ml bottle or if it’s expensive, or if you have to wait weeks for it to arrive from Japan--you buy it anyway. Sailor Ink Studio 123 is one of those inks.

I first saw 123 on Mountain of Ink’s review of Set 1 of Ink Studio inks. I was mesmerized by this strange and magical unicorn ink that shifts between gray, green, and purple depending on its mood.

Sailor Ink Studio is a collection of one hundred inks (out of 20,000 created!) that were blended by inkmeisters at Ink Studio events. Each number represents a unique blending code (source: Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery).

I purchased my 20ml bottle of 123 from an eBay seller who stocks the collection (although you’ll discover that 123 is often out of stock). I paid $21.49 for the bottle (including shipping). It took about two weeks to arrive.

Although the bottle is tiny, I am not disappointed with this ink. It really is unique and magical, but it isn’t necessarily the most practical color for writing since it can be very light and hard to read depending on the paper.

For my initial ink test, I used Rhodia paper and a TWSBI Eco with a 1.1mm stub. The ink shows up well on white paper and looks like a dusty purple with the stub nib. But, the swabs fluctuate between gray, green, and lavender. The ink is not waterproof, but it dries quickly.

*Note: The ink is much more washed out in this photo than in person.*

In my Lamy Vistas (fine, medium, and broad) the ink looks more gray than lavender, but it sort of depends on the light and angle.

On my Col-o-dex card, the swab looks like a summer storm in Texas, complete with that green tint that promises hail. The ink shades beautifully, but it doesn’t have any sheen.

Chromatography reveals the complexity of this ink blend. I’ve never seen an ink separate out into so many different colors. This really is unicorn ink!

Sailor 123 shines in great, big, juicy nibs. Just look at that gorgeous shading and color shifting on MD Cotton paper:

The only time the ink fell short of expectations was (much to my surprise) on Tomoe River paper. I don’t know why, but the ink comes out as a super light lavender, and all that miraculous shading and color-shifting seems lost. Maybe it’s the cream color of the paper, I’m not sure, but I got the same results in my Kanso Sasshi booklet (picture below) and my Hippo Noto journal (both Tomoe River paper).

Regardless, I am in love with Sailor 123. It looks best on white paper with wide to super-wide nibs so you can see the color shifts. But, even in wet fine, medium, and broad nibs, it’s usable (though it looks more like a simple gray-lavender ink). This is also a terrific ink to use as a wash.

I ordered Sailor 442 as well, which is a darker color than 123. I’ll be reviewing it sometime soon. It’s certainly a more readable color than 123, but it doesn’t show the range of shades that 123 does.

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 July 12, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Sailor, Ink Reviews.

Sailor Pro Gear Ocean Fountain Pen Review

I have a strange habit of not having reviews on The Pen Addict for some of my most favorite pens. In my head, I’ve done them. I talk about the pen constantly online, or with friends, or on the podcast, so certainly I can link you to the review right? Time and time again, the answer is nope, I can’t. And I can’t figure out why!

But today, I’m logging the Sailor Pro Gear Ocean Fountain Pen into the permanent record. I looked back through the eleven plus year history of this blog and saw that I have reviewed exactly one standard Pro Gear fountain pen, back in 2015. That’s unacceptable for a pen I use and recommend so much.

Since that last review, my love for the brand, and specifically this pen model, has grown. Sure, I’ve had dalliances with the 1911, and rave about the King of Pen (which I haven’t reviewed yet either!), but the Pro Gear is one of my favorite all day, every day pens in my rotation.

Everything about this pen is perfect for me. The size and weight of the pen hit a perfect balance of not to small and not too heavy, while also remaining not too large. It slides into a pocket or a pen case easily, with the strong clip keeping it secure. It even posts to a reasonable writing length for you heathens out there.

As great as this pen feels, I have a lot of pens that feel just as nice. Two things set it apart from those other pens. First off, Sailor pens have a style that fits me and my aesthetic perfectly. There are always fun colors and combinations to choose from, including a ton of rhodium trim and nib options. The clip design is classic, the cap band is a strong, but not overwhelming, visual, and the anchor in the finial is as classic to me as the Montblanc snowcap. And don’t even get me started on all of the special/limited editions, of which the Ocean model is one of.

Secondly, and the thing most people think of when they think of Sailor, is the nib. If I can tell you one thing about Sailor nibs and how they compare to their Japanese counterparts it is that they are firm. Sailor stock nibs come in a wide range of sizes, from Extra Fine, to Zoom and Music. I ordered a Medium Fine for my Ocean, and had Dan Smith stub it before shipping - an awesome service he offers by the way. (Disclosure: I paid full price for this pen with my own cash money.)

Even with the nib modification, this thing writes like a nail. And I love it. A quick look at the writing samples in this review will tell you why. This is my normal writing style and size. The output on the page is tight and clean, and the ink flow is perfect.

For years, people have asked “Why fountain pens?” when questioning me about why people choose to write with certain pens. And my answer is always “Customization.” This Sailor Pro Gear Ocean is the epitome of that for me. It’s the feel I want, the color I want, and the nib I want, all wrapped up in one neat package. Add up all of those wants, and all I want to do is use it. There is no higher praise I can give a product than that.

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