I’ve always loved the Pilot Prera Fountain Pen, but it hasn’t always been an easy recommendation due to its price relative to the competition. With the prices of Gold nibs skyrocketing, does this Steel nib fountain pen look like a better value, even though its price has stayed in the same range? I think so.
The state of the union in the sub-$100 fountain pen category is that there are some great pens to be had in the lower and middle parts of the price bracket, with the upper limit (over $75 let’s say,) a bit weaker in comparison. Pens from the Platinum Preppy at $7, to the TWSBI ECO at $37, and up to the $64 Prera all provide good value and good options, depending on what you are looking for in a pen. And there are dozens of other good choices in this bracket, too.
The Prera was one of my first fountain pens, and I loved it from the start. It’s a simple plastic barrel pen with a fantastic nib, it posts well for a small and light pen, and has a satisfying ‘click’ when you cap it. The problem over the past few years is that it had become too expensive.
The launch of the Pilot Metropolitan in the early 2010’s - which was around $15 at the time - took a hacksaw to any value the Prera offered - even as a $30 pen at the time. Mix in other companies doing good work in this area, and Prera pricing being all over the place (regional pricing is fun!) it fell out of favor. It never stopped being a good pen, though.
The only negative of the Prera is the inclusion of the CON-40 converter. It was created by Pilot to be a more universal option for more of their pens, but it is worse than the CON-50 in pens where it was replaced. I guess corporate is happy, though.
I’m on record multiple times saying that the $64 price tag of the Prera is too high, mainly because of other options. Those options included the Platinum 3776 14K Gold Nib fountain pen, which at the time of my statement ran about $180. That’s around three times the price of a Prera, making it a good choice to save up for if you wanted to purchase your first gold nib fountain pen.
You can guess what happens next.
As you may have noticed, I’m pretty fired up about the escalation of precious materials prices driving the up the cost of fountain pens. What were recently aspirational pen purchases have been pushed into the realm of the impossible for many buyers. That stinks, but what can we do? Well, we can look differently at less expensive Steel nib pens like the Prera, and understand how nice the experience of a pen like this can be.
For beginners, the Prera might represent an upgraded purchase from starter pens like the Preppy or LAMY Safari. For experienced users, it could be a playground for nibs, which are hot swappable in Pilot’s Steel lineup, especially from cheap pens like the Pilot Penmanship - where you can grab an Extra Fine nib for $10 and have a second writing option. It could even be the endgame for many users because the Gold nib upgrade jump has gone from a short hop over a puddle, to requiring an appearance from Mondo Duplantis.
I’m not saying that the Pilot Prera is the end all, be all pen - even in its own price bracket where it costs more than pens you may find superior. What I am saying is that the context has changed, and I need to be willing to change along with it. I’m looking forward to even more change along these lines in 2026, especially when I plant a flag on the Pilot Kakuno as being better than the entirety of this price range! 🤪
(This Pilot Prera was gifted to me by a friend.)
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