Sailor Professional Gear Gold 21k Fountain Pen, Black, 11-2036-220 Fine Point

Bought this a year ago and was skeptical at first because of its size and the exceedingly glowing critiques of the Sailor nib. As time passed, however, the pen's brilliant design has become increasingly obvious. Though rather short when compared to the Sailor 1911 and many other pens, it's almost perfectly balanced when the cap is posted (palced on the bottom of the pen). Quite simply it's as large as it needs to be for most individuals. And, surprisingly, it writes well without the cap.The body is made from Plexiglass and the trim sparkles, conveying the mark of distinction requisite for public displays of professionalism. But its greatness is signified in its name - Gear. It's a highly dependable, smooth and flawless writer. As it turns out the hooplah about the nib is well deserved. In the hundreds of hours I've used it, it has started writing immediately with very few exceptions and rarely if ever skips. I've written with Mont Blanc, Aurora, Pilot, Lamy, Cross, and this has been the most reliable, and thus the least annoying, of them all. To be fair the Aurora Talentum, which is a larger but well balanced pen, is almost as reliable. The reason for this, stated simply, is that it's a wet writer, yet without overloading the nib. Need to take a pause to construct the next sentence? No problem; the pen continues to write without priming.Though the fine nib is steady it provides minimal flexibility. Consequently, producing flourishes requires more effort than with a Pilot or some Mont Blanc models. If showmanship is a requirement, either get a larger sized nib like Music or try another brand. On the other hand, if you are merely writing notes or pages of unadorned text, this may be ideal for you.The screw cap is easy to use. The cartridges and the Sailor ink are fine. The converter, however, is a bit small and if you're putting the pedal to the metal you may find filling up repeatedly a bit annoying. It's one of the odd faults in an otherwise nearly perfect product. How, after figuring out all the difficult challenges, did the Sailor designers forget the simple practicalities? To remedy the problem, I fill up an empty cartridge with a syringe.Sailor ink works well, but so too does the affordable Quink.Fountain pen owners can be a quirky lot, extolling the virtues of their instruments in poetically laudatory, and sometimes metaphysical, prose. They're pens. What's the big deal? In this case, it may be said, the simple elegance of an entire culture, the delicacy and the power have been intricately crafted into a wondrous tool well suited for the ancient ritual of handwritten communication. Sorry Radical Empiricists, that ineffable fact is inspiring. And if that's not enough to inspire you, consider the fact the Sailor pen co. made its first pen headquarted in Hiroshima in 1911, survived the great bombing, and like the Phoenix rose again -- a testament to enduring excellence.

I have developed a bit of a fountain pen habit, and I have two of these- one in Medium with Rhodium trim, customized by a well known seller, and this one in gold with a fine nib. The first thing I will say is that this pen is exceptional. My pen collection contains many pens, some more affordable, and some much more expensive, and this is the best writing. The nib is fantastic- arguably the prettiest I have seen (although I am partial to my 2-tone Nakaya), the feed is generous without being wet, and the feedback is perfect. While one of the pens was tested and personalized prior to shipment, this one was not, and both pens came to me writing perfectly. Side-by-side, the fine is a perfect eastern fine, and the medium is a perfect eastern medium. This is not insignificant considering many pens have nibs that can vary by one whole size, such as my lamy F and M with have the exact same line.The build quality is fantastic. High quality Plexiglas, well plated accents, all fit together perfect. Its quality shouts luxury even if the design is understated.The cartridges are fine, the converters are sold separate, and while well built are somewhat small in capacity.

Just received the pen today with a fine point nib. Compared to my PELIKAN M200, it's a little bigger in size (length and girth) and the detailing is beautiful (lush black finish, gold banding on the barrel and cap, gold anchor logo on the top of the cap, and a very impressive gold nib). I love my PELIKAN but for a fine-point nib it's more towards a strong medium and the ink flows very freely. (BTW I bought the PELIKAN Souveran M1000 green/black with a fine-point nib--had to return it because it laid the ink down very thick and, was again, closer to a medium plus nib.). So ... I LOVE THIS SAILOR FOUNTAIN PEN so far. It's truly a fine point nib and lays down a beautiful line of ink with a hint of shading--very classic. When I started writing with it I couldn't stop -- I just loved the feel of the nib against the paper, the classic look of the fine ink line, and the overall look and feel of the pen. The cap screws on (which I like) and posts very securely on the barrel when you write. The SAILOR PROFESSIONAL GEAR GOLD 24K FOUNTAIN PEN is worth the price when I compare it to other fountain pens I own (A.T. Cross, Waterman, Pelikan, etc.).PROS: The style and size of the pen--very classic.The fine point nib--it is truly a fine point, but has a hint of shading when you write.Price point is good when compared to PELIKANCONS: I don't know why they don't include a converter--not a dealbreaker because they are pretty inexpensive.

I've had a few Pilots and Lamys, but nothing beats this nib. There's nothing spectacular about this pen's design. It's almost boring. It's pragmatic. But the nib is extremely hard to beat.I ordered the F nib, and it is finer than most Western nibs. What I particularly like about this F nib is that it writes well on cheap paper. I don't like cheap paper, but sometimes we don't want to put the fountain pen down. I made the mistake of starting a long-form journal with a Moleskine (which has cheap paper and is not fountain pen friendly), but writing with this nib sort of mitigates the issue.It does write wet, but not super wet. It's a good balance. It writes wet enough for me to like, and it dries fast enough on Rhodia or Leuchtturm paper.The only drawback, and this is the case with basically all Sailor fountain pens, is that you're not going to get a "work horse" type of capacity. The converter is not bad at all (sold separately), and the cartridges don't hold much more than the converters. I will say that because it writes fine, it helps the converter/cartridge go a long way.It's my favorite pen in my collection.