My never ending quest for the perfect pen has led me mainly to pens of Asian decent, as I believe I've mentioned before. And I've found some pretty good ones on offer, but with problems that prevent me from declaring them perfect. Mostly because they don't allow cartridges and since I do most of my heavy writing while traveling and carrying an ink bottle is both inconvenient and not allowed (on planes) I was forced to look elsewhere.
Recently I've set my sights on Pilot, trying a few different models, the FP-50R (reviewed here), the Knight (not yet reviewed), and most recently, the Pilot Prera.
The Prera is a relatively inexpensive pen not yet widely available in the US (I got mine from JPens.com for $36). It is available in a variety of colors and has a clean, functional compact design.
It comes equipped with a fine nib, which translates as extra fine in comparison to most Western nibs. It writes smooth fine line unlike the similar nib on the FP-50R. It takes proprietary Pilot cartridges (see earlier rant), and a Pilot converter. I originally filled it with Mont Blanc's English Racing Green (still one of my favorite colors) and now have it filled with a blue Pilot cartridge (which I do not care for at all, way too washed out).
The pen body is made from plastic so it's a pretty light weight pen. With the cap unposted it's a hair bit on the short side for my taste, so I generally post when I'm using it.
Over all I'm pretty happy with this pen, it works perfectly with a Molsekine as there is no bleed through on the thin paper.
Labels: fountain_pens
