Sailor Fountain Pen, Shiki-ori Hisakata Wakazu Fine Point 11-0500-249

It's important to keep in mind that any opinions of fountain pens are just that -- opinions. If the pen leaks, that's a fact, but to say that a pen is too heavy, or too light, has no meaning except to the person doing the writing. This is a fairly small, light weight pen, all plastic and weighing in at a bit under half an ounce -- good for people with small hands. It appears to be black, with chrome trim, but under a bright light there are small sparkles. That's a matter of taste. It takes either cartridges or a converter -- the converter is sold separately. Sailor pens have a reputation for excellent quality gold nibs, but their stainless steel nibs haven't been widely used in the United States. Also, Japanese nibs are finer than the European nibs. A Japanese F is comparable to a European XF. This, I suspect, will be a benefit when writing checks where you have to squeeze more words into a limited space. Writing with the Sailor on cheap paper (a yellow legal pad) there was evidence of slight toothyness -- (under a magnifying glass I could see that the pen had picked up slight bits of fiber). I didn't feel any unwanted friction, but it was evidently there. Using a better grade of paper (a quality note pad) the Sailor seemed to be as smooth as a 14K gold medium nib from a different respected Japanese brand). The ink flow was excellent, even in a test of rapid writing there were no skips right out of the box. The cap screws on, and posts easily and firmly. Considerations of weight and size are strictly personal considerations, but for writing quality this seems to be a "next level" pen at a reasonable price.

I bought this pen in F nib, I am not sure you get EF/M etc on this model. Every person I know has gasped when s/he has seen this pen (including those who have fountain pens -even sailor ones). And, when I write with this one, it ALWAYS makes me smile involuntarily. This is due to the light but well-balanced weight distribution (capped and uncapped); and the wonderful pencil feedback ( a sharp pointed HB pencil). I have a couple of gold nibbed pens, but this one surely is the best writer for my style aand preference. Also, it is best to use sailor inks with these pens - I have had great experience with Sailor Seiboku and Kiwa Guro.

A great pen as all Sailors are.

This is the second Procolor I've bought (the other was an Akanezora). It's a well-made pen; the body is essentially the same quality as in the 1911 Standard - very good, in other words, solid and pleasant in the hand. Adding a converter gives it just enough weight to be comfortable. While in my experience the Sailor gold nibs are mostly excellent, I haven't been as impressed by the steel nibs in these two Procolors. They're okay - very fine, which I like, write easily without pressure, but are a little ink-starved and rather rough. The nib in my Platinum Procyon, a comparably priced steel-nib pen, was much smoother out of the box while being nearly as fine. New nibs can improve with use, so this may smooth out some, but I don't think it will ever be really enjoyable without some deliberate tuning. I must say though that this is a beautiful pen. No photograph I've seen does it justice. The tiny, shimmery little flecks of bright colour in the black resin really do deserve to be called "stardust," and look far better in person than I ever thought they would. The chrome hardware is attractive too and balances the overall look well. All things considered, I'm glad I got it. I do think, though, that these Procolors are somewhat overpriced for what they are. I got this one at $20 off the usual Amazon price, which seems about right. My feeling, however, is that if you want a Sailor, you'd be better off spending a little more and getting a gold-nib one in the $100 range while there still are some of those around. I'm no snob about steel nibs - in fact, I often prefer them over gold - but these Sailor steel nibs have been disappointing. You can get just as good a nib, maybe better, in a Pilot Prera or Metropolitan.