Last minute Christmas present, perhaps? I just picked up one of the new Platinum Prefounte fountain pens. Goulet Pens is selling it for $10USD and I paid only $15CDN locally. This pen is a bargain, and more.
If you’re familiar with the Platinum Preppy you know something about this pen as it’s pretty much a “super” Preppy, with significant improvements. First, it looks great and comes in orange, red, blue or green. You can get it with fine or medium nibs, just like the Preppy.
While the Preppy caps are prone to breakage, the Prefounte cap is a significant upgrade. Much stronger, and with a very positive click when you cap the pen. More important, however, is that this pen includes Platinum’s super-d-duper no evaporation double cap seal. The packaging claims you can leave ink in it for a year without much loss. Try that with your Lamy (grin).
As a street sketcher, one of the things I really like about Platinum pens is that they are the one company that sells a waterproof ink for their pens in cartridge form. This is also wonderful if you’re trying to get someone involved with sketching and/or fountain pens because they don’t have to deal with pen filling. You just throw in a cartridge, about $3 for four of them, and you’re all set. I’ve been using a Platinum Plaisir that way for quite a while. This new Prefounte is lighter, though and I know I’m going to love it. Kinda silly since I’ve got a bunch of high dollar pens sitting around but I don’t have to worry about losing these cheaper solutions.
I apologize for the horrible photos but I wanted to get this post up this morning and the overhead light in my studio isn’t the greatest for taking close up photos. Goulet Pens, though, has good photos 🙂
I should add that the pens don’t come with red nibs; Prefounte nibs are silver. I made the mistake of buying the medium nib, didn’t like it, and exchanged one of the Preppy nibs. Of course I did this strategically to show you that this was possible. Sure I did (grin).
Oh — so Preppy nibs are interchangeable with the Prefounte? That’s cool! So it sounds like the main upgrade from the Preppy to the Prefounte is in the body, not the nib.
Yes they are and easily. I don’t know if you’ve ever pulled one out but the nib and feed are one unit with a long tube that inserts deep into the pen. You can pull them out with your fingers. Truly, the main upgrade is the cap. Platinum caps, with the exception of the Preppy, have always made Platinum special.
I’ve been thinking about this one ever since I saw the announcement on Goulet. I agree that this or the Preppy are good for location sketching as I, too, am prone to dropping if not loosing.
Yep, I almost dropped my Platinum 3776 down a sewer grate and ever since I’ve had an appreciation for inexpensive sketching pens 🙂
I’m in Vancouver and hoping that your local store has a location here too. Where did you buy it?
I bought it at a local (as in Quebec) store. I suspect you have better pen access in Vancouver than we have here, though.
Just when I thought I had all the fountain pens I’ll ever need… De Atramentis Document ink (also waterproof) comes in cartridges, but you need to find a pen that accepts international standard size. I use them with Duke P3 and Duke 600 pens. One of these is a Bent nib pen.
I’m a big fan of using a syringe to fill converters and empty cartridges, too. It’s faster, cleaner and less frustrating in most cases. When I’m traveling, I love the ease of carrying a couple of extra cartridges. The small size doesn’t bother me, because it makes me think, “Oh, look how much you’re sketching. You used up all your ink again!”
Yep, pen syringes are the way to go. Funny how the same thing can be viewed differently by different people. When I finish up one of those tiny standard cartridges I always think of how much so little ink costs 🙂 Maybe I’ll adopt your point of view.