Not particularly impressed, plus poorly packaged...

I'm new to Fountain pens and did a lot of research into "intro level" options. The Platinum Preppy showed up on a lot of people's lists, and costs next to nothing. So, it easily made my list of initial pens to buy. Unfortunately, of the 4 FPs I currently own, the Preppy is my least favorite. I like the line width. But, at the same time it seems "scratchier" than pens of comparable Nib sizes. That, and I seem to get more hard starts and skips with the Preppy than any other pen; by a considerable margin. In short, it's not a bad pen. It's just not as enjoyable to write with as the other FPs I've tried. I did recently purchase some bottled ink, so I'll reserve full judgment until I do a complete flush and refill. I figure using the same ink in all the pens is the best way to compare apples to apples. And, it's entirely possible the ink that came with the Preppy was the weak link. One note about the included ink. Or more precisely, the poor packaging. The whole thing came smashed, and all the ink cartridges (save for one) had exploded inside the package. It was a royal mess, and I nearly just tossed the whole thing altogether. But, I took some time to clean everything up, and was happy to find one salvageable cartridge. I provided feedback to Amazon, and hope they'll resolve the issue. I just can't understand why they'd think it's OK to put a ink into a envelope mailer (non-bubble style) and think it'll survive the shipping process.

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