Posts filed under Sailor

Sailor 1911 Standard Royal Tangerine Fountain Pen Review

I fully understand how good Sailor fountain pens are. I own a baker’s dozen, and always have my eyes on the next one. Since I own, use, and love so many already, I was convinced I didn’t need another one when the 1911 Royal Tangerine launched. Yes, it’s practically the perfect pen for me and my tastes, but I was ok holding off until the next one, or the one after that. I have enough Sailors!

Apparently I don’t, as it turns out. My friends at Goldspot sent me one to review, and as soon as I inked it up I wondered what I had been waiting for. This is a fantastic example of everything that Sailor does right.

*Pro Gear Orange (top) vs 1911 Standard Royal Tangerine*

If you’ve read or listened to me for any length of time, you already know what those things are. Sailor pens are stylish, yet refined. The colors are bright, and the hardware fancies up the joint without being ostentatious. This tangerine orange barrel with rhodium trim POPS, but in a way only a few companies can pull off.

And the nibs. I feel a tinge of guilt if I ever say they aren’t the best in the business. Platinum has an argument here, but any Sailor second place talk is squashed quickly by the sheer amount of variety. I even tried something new this time while remaining in my writing wheelhouse. This medium fine nib is a wonderful every day writer.

That’s where this pen fits for me. It’s almost the perfect every day carry fountain pen. From the moment I inked it up, with Bungubox Tangerine of course, I’ve wanted to carry this pen with me. Clipped to my shirt, in a front pants pocket, attached to a notebook, in a case - anywhere.

The feeling I get with the 1911 Standard (my first one, btw) is that it wants to be an EDC pen, unlike all of my other Sailors. They are mostly Professional Gear models with flat end caps. The 1911 has rounded end caps. The Standard model is also smaller than the Large. Those things combined mean it stealthily fits into more places than its larger, edgier counterparts.

It’s durable too. The barrel construction, including the clip, are rock solid. Another reason I want to carry it anywhere and everywhere is that I know it can take a beating. It gives me the confidence to carry it to the shop at Nock and leave it on the counter while I work around it. I don’t have to pretend it’s a fragile little flower. That feels great, and makes me want to have it with me at all times.

I’m still not sure exactly why this particular Sailor made me change my mentality around carrying it, but I’m glad it did.

If you are waiting for the kicker, there is one: It’s expensive, especially for a pen I’m recommending as an EDC option. It’s currently $196 at Goldspot, which is above the comfort zone for many. If you are a Sailor fan and user, you get it and understand the cost. If you haven’t reached this threshold in your pen buying, then it can be a tough pill to swallow. There are tons of great pens that are cheaper. There are many worse pens that are more expensive. It’s about finding a pen that fits your needs, and this one fits mine more than I even considered.

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

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Posted on April 30, 2018 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Sailor, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Sailor Profit Realo Tenku-Gensou Special Edition with Music Nib: 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.)

I own several Sailor fountain pens, but I’ve always been interested in their Realo model. I never bought one because I don’t like the colors offered by American companies (black, maroon, and nibs.com has a special edition in yellow). Luckily, I stumbled upon a Japanese-only edition Realo in the Sale forum on Fountain Pen Geeks. This special Realo is called “Tenku Gensou” which I believe means something like “sky illusions” (someone who speaks Japanese please correct me if I’m wrong).

This pen is absolutely stunning. It is a dark, translucent blue acrylic with subtle sparkles.

It has rose gold accents and a rose gold 21k music nib. Just look at that gorgeous fat nib tip.

The Sailor Profit Realo is exactly the same size as the large 1911 model.

But, the Realo differs from the 1911 in several ways. First, the cap band is much wider (about 1/2 inch). It is engraved with “Sailor Japan Founded 1911.”

Second, the Realo has an ink window, beautifully accented with two gold rings.

Third, the Realo is a piston filler, unlike most Sailor pens which are cartridge/converters. The Realo only holds 1ml of ink, so it isn’t a large-capacity piston filler. Sailor cartridges hold 1.2ml and their converters hold 0.7ml. Even though the pen doesn’t hold as much ink as a Pelikan M800 (1.5ml), it’s still nice to have a piston filler on a Sailor pen, especially one with a juicy music nib.

The music nib is absolutely fantastic. Unlike most music nibs which have three tines, Sailor music nibs only have two.

The nib provides a juicy broad line on down strokes and thin lines on horizontal strokes.

I inked my Realo with Iroshizuku Asa Gao, and the music nib shows off this ink’s shading properties well.

Sailor’s Realo fountain pens are more expensive due to the piston mechanism. A regular 1911 cartridge/converter costs around $250+ (depending on the color and style). A Realo costs $328. And, if you want a Japanese-only Realo, expect to pay even more. My Tenku-Gensou is currently $353.57 plus shipping on Rakuten (at current exchange rates).

I’m really happy with my special Tenku-Gensou Realo. The color is spectacular, I love how it sparkles in sunlight, and the rose gold accents are gorgeous. I’m very happy with the music nib—it’s smooth and wet.

Pros

This special edition Sailor Profit Realo Tenku-Gensou is stunning— deep translucent blue with sparkles and rose gold accents. It is one of the prettiest blue pens I own (and I own a lot of blue pens).
A Sailor with a piston mechanism is wonderful. Even though the pen doesn’t hold copious amounts of ink, it holds more than a converter, and the ink window adds another beautiful design element to the pen.
Sailor nibs are gorgeous and well made. The music nib on this pen writes perfectly.

Cons

Sailor Realos are more expensive than Sailor’s other pens.
If you buy a Realo from an American retailer, you’re stuck with two color choices: black or maroon (unless you want to pay $520 for Classic Fountain Pens 22nd Anniversary yellow Pro Gear Realo).
If you want this glittery blue special Realo, you’ll need to purchase it from a Japanese retailer and pay the shipping costs. I was lucky to find a used one.

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Posted on March 9, 2018 by Susan Pigott and filed under Sailor, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Sailor Shikiori Tsukuyo-no-Minamo Fountain Pen, Shimoyo (Frosty Night) Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

I was in public when I first saw the new Sailor Shikiori pens hit the JetPens site. Worse than public, I was at work, where I do my best to appear as a perfectly normal human who doesn't make noises like that when they see a picture of a pen. I lost some serious cred that day--but I gained an excellent pen. So, overall, I came out ahead.

The pen build is the same as their Procolor 500 series, and very similar to the 1911 Standard—almost identical, until they are held side-by-side and examined closely. The plastic of the Shikiori feels a bit softer and the edges are a little less crisp than the Standard model. The weight is about the same. The nib on the Shikiori is gold finished steel, rather than the 14k gold of the Standard nib. I had to double check this, because the nib is so smooth and pleasant, I wasn't convinced it wasn't gold. There is a small amount of feedback with the fine nib, but in a good way. The steel nib of the Shikiori is more slender than the Standard. It looks a bit small in the pen, but it still has the beautiful Sailor branding stamped into the metal. It's the same size and shape as the Procolor 500 series, but with the added gold finish.

It's difficult to capture the pearlescent sparkle of the material--the photos don't do this pen justice. This Shimoyo color was named for the frost that appears on ponds on a winter's night. The other colors of this series are the deep blue of the full autumn moon on the lake (Yonaga), the red of a summer night bonfire (Yodaki), and the delicate pink of evening cherry blossoms (Yozakura).

All four colors have matching inks that are just as stunning as the pens themselves. If I wasn't trying to slow the encroaching ink tide in my home, I'd have picked them up like Pokemon, but I resisted and filled mine with Akkerman #8 Diep-Duinwaterblauw. It's a good match, I think, though the ink is more greeny where the pen is a bit more grey.

If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive way to become hopelessly addicted to Sailor pens, this is a great place to start. I say relatively, because at $70, this is more of a next-level pen, rather than entry-level in terms of cost--but the experience you get for that price is an excellent value. This is definitely one of the best under-$100 pens that I own--and it's better than a few I paid over $100 for.

You may have to do a little bit of hunting for these, or keep your eyes peeled for the Jetpens restock. They aren't widely available outside of Japan. I hope Sailor does more of these models in other fun themes and colors. It would help me out a lot if I could indulge in beautiful Sailors without paying for the gold nib every time, especially when the steel nibs are as nice as this one.

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

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