Platinum Procyon Fountain Pen Review

The Platinum Procyon has made the rounds at Pen Addict HQ, but I have yet to take the plunge with one, until now. Why? Because I’ve already made my mind up on what this pen is.

After reading many reviews and talking with many friends, there was no doubt in my mind I was going to like the Procyon. It’s a good pen made by a quality manufacturer. That said, it’s priced strangely. Those were my assumptions going into this review, and regular use over the past week hasn’t changed a thing.

The Procyon is an aluminum barrel, twist cap upgrade to the Platinum Plasir, which, itself, is an upgrade to the Platinum Preppy. Connecting those dots, the Procyon is an upgraded Preppy. It uses the same nib, has the same slip and seal mechanism in the cap to prevent drying out, and uses Platinums cartridges and converters. All for the low, low price of 10x the Preppy!

Now, if you think I’m here to bash the Procyon, I’m not. It’s genuinely good. But $64 good? That’s for you to decide.

It fills the Pilot Prera zone in Platinum’s lineup. The Prera is an awesome pen, but at one point, certain models were priced up in the $40-$50 range. You can find them now around $33, which is a much different conversation - especially when Pilot offers the equally as good Metropolitan for around $20.

The same argument holds for the Procyon vs. the Plaisir vs. the Preppy. What does the extra cost gain you? I mean, it looks cool, but that’s all I have. I love the Preppy, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. If you love the $5 Preppy and want an upgrade, the Plaisir, starting at $16.50, is a great choice. $64 for no feature changes other than aesthetics? That’s a big ask.

I enjoy using the Procyon. The writing experience is great - as it is with all Platinum fountain pens - and it looks cool. But as a recommendation, I think it is a perfect match to only a small subset of users.

As strange as this may sound, the Platinum Maki-e Procyon might be money better spent.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

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!

IWI Handscript Classic Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The IWI Handscript Classic is a compact fountain pen with a sleek design that really surprised me. I've never heard of IWI until using this pen, so I really didn't have any expectations aside from "meh." Fortunately, after using this pen for a while, I'm happy to report that it exceeded all expectations to become something I'd heartily recommend for the price point.

The Handscript Classic is a sleek metal pen that features small engraved lines along the body and cap that give it a more modern feel. The lines are so shallow and minimal that you can easily miss them at first glance. But the added texture really takes this pen beyond the simple black tube that you might mistake it for. Everything about this pen's aesthetic is subdued, and I really like it for that. Some pens are meant to be flashy and love getting all the attention, but this pen sticks to its "camouflage" of being unobtrusive while still being quite attractive in its simplicity.

The end of the pen and the grip section add to a slightly industrial look and feel, but not at the cost of writing comfort. The cap posts very securely on the back of the pen thanks to a couple of o-rings. Thankfully, the way they've designed and spaced the o-rings makes it blend in well with the rest of the pen, as opposed to something that screams, "I'm just a weird bit added to the end of this pen to allow posting." Overall, it's a very sleek package that fits in with almost any coordinated aesthetic.

The size is also really well done; it fits somewhere between a Kaweco Sport and a Lamy Safari in length. While I find the Kaweco Sport uncomfortable to use without posting the cap, the IWI Handscript is totally comfortable to use unposted. It's just a tad longer, and that makes all the difference for writing comfort. At just 4.8 inches capped and 4.1 inches uncapped, it's a diminutive size. Even at 5.9 inches posted, it's only just starting to encroach on the capped size of full size pens. It's also fairly slender in diameter without being so small as to be uncomfortable to grip. It's a perfect size for my fingers at least, but your mileage may vary. The grip section has a nice taper and ends with a substantial lip at the nib, providing a great deal of tactility and grip area. It fits my tripod grip easily, and I've used it for quite a while with no fatigue.

This pen comes with a black steel EF Bock nib and no choice of tip sizes. As long as you like EF, you're good! I don't fully understand the lack of choice here, but at least the nib worked beautifully out of the box. It's a smooth nib with plenty of ink flow and no issues starting or skipping. It's exactly the kind of experience you want from a pen that you've just opened — it just works as expected and doesn't require any fiddling or tweaking.

As far as ink options go, this pen accepts the standard international short cartridge, so your options are quite vast. It also comes with a miniature cartridge converter that relies on the push/pull plunger motion instead of a twist like the full-size converters. I'm sure this decision was due to the length constraints, even though this type of converter isn't my favorite. It does the job well, which is all you can really ask of a converter. It's great that they include it with a pen of this price!

The pen barrel and cap is some kind of metal (brass?) while the grip section is plastic. There's also the two silicone/rubber o-rings at the butt of the pen that keep the cap secured. Overall, the materials used are good quality and executed well.

And that brings us to the factor that can make or break how well a pen can do in this market. At $40, it feels about 10 bucks too high, especially considering the other variants are just $22. I assume the metal body is what increases the price, but it still feels like an odd price decision. At $22, this pen is an absolute bargain because of how well it's made and how it performs. $40 feels too high, but that only applies to the metal body pen. The carbon fiber and wood body pens (both are plastic) share the same shape and nib for almost half the price. Adding a full metal body for another $18 feels high, especially when you compare it to the Pilot Metropolitan.

The IWI Handscript Classic is a fantastic pen — I've been so surprised by how it feels and performs. The price tag bums me out a little, but it's still within reach for the sum of its parts. This makes a great everyday carry, gift, or desk pen, so it's easy to find a place for it if the aesthetic matches your own style.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

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!

Fine Writing International Fenestro Fountain Pen in Aurora: 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.)

Fine Writing International is a Taiwanese company established in 2011. Their Fenestro series is named after the Esperanto word "window" because of the large ink window in the design. The color way, Aurora, alludes to the northern lights and is a mixture of turquoise and brown luminescent resin.

The pen arrives in a black cardboard box engraved with the company's motto, "To Experience the Joy of Writing." In addition to the pen, inside is a plastic eye dropper and a converter. The pen can also take a standard international cartridge.

My initial reaction upon seeing the pen for the first time was, "That's hideous!" There's something strange about the proportions of the pen. The smaller than normal clip, long cap, and the large ink window seem out of proportion with the pen's length and girth. Obviously, this is a purely subjective opinion. The sense of disproportion is lessened if there's ink in the pen, and it looks normal with the cap removed. Aside from the proportions, the resin is quite beautiful and displays chatoyance in the sunlight.

Flat finials and a slight taper make for a simple, almost angular design. As stated earlier, the clip is quite small compared to the cap. Metal rings encircle the bottom of the cap and the bottom of the ink window. The cap is lined to prevent the nib from drying between uses.

The Fenestro is a lengthy pen when capped or posted, measuring 5.9 inches/150mm capped and 7.0 inches/178mm posted (it's absolutely unwieldy posted). Uncapped it measures a reasonable 5.3 inches/135mm. The grip is 10.5mm and the pen (uncapped and filled with ink) weighs only 14 grams. It's quite comfortable as a writer.

One of the best features of the Fenestro is its multiple filling mechanisms. You can certainly use a cartridge or converter, but the pen can hold a whopping 3.6ml of ink if you eyedropper it. There's an o-ring seal, so you do not need any silicone grease.

The nib is a standard #6 JOWO steel EF with scrollwork and Fine Writing International's logo--a quill. My nib was perfect out of the box--tines aligned, smooth, and good flow.

I inked the pen with Scribo Blue Capri, which matches the turquoise well. The EF nib is not at all scratchy and writes more like a fine than an extra fine. It's definitely a nail of a nib, offering no line variation or flexibility. I tested it on Tomoe River Paper (review here), Cosmo Air Light (review here), and Ayush Paper (review here). Interestingly, on the Cosmo Air Light paper the line seemed wider and wetter than on Tomoe or Ayush paper.

The Fenestro comes in four colors: Kuroshio (royal blue and green), Aurora (turquoise and brown), Winter's Night (silver and black), and The Snow Scene (white swirls). Nib sizes include extra fine, fine, medium, broad, and a large 1.5mm stub. Currently, JetPens only has Aurora and Kuroshio, each costing $85.00 and they are running low on stock. This is cheaper than another eyedropper pen, the Opus 88, which runs between $115 and 120.

Although I'm not a fan of the Fenestro's aesthetic, the pen itself is well made and is a good writer. If you're looking for a pen that holds lots of ink and you're happy with standard JOWO nibs, this is a good option.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

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!