Review: Pilot Prera Fountain Pen

The Pilot Prera fountain pen is one of the budget fountain pens from Pilot. It's priced around US$30 to $40.

The pen comes in various solid colours and it has the transparent demonstrator versions with different top and end colours also.

My first impression of the pen is I was surprised by the small size of the pen. It measures 12cm with cap, and 10.5cm without a cap. I've small hands and I found the pen to be too small for me too. If it's was 1cm longer, it would have been perfect.

The demonstrators have coloured top and end while the rest of the body is transparent. The pen uses a CON-50 converter, twist piston type.

I don't like the cap design because of that white piece of plastic inside that blocks off the view of the nib. It's a click-on cap.

The design at the bottom of the cap doesn't feel right with all those dots going on. While you see threads at the end, you can't actually unscrew the back.

The nib is made of steel. There's not much of a design on the nib surface except for the brand name and "SUPER QUALITY JAPAN". What is super quality anyway? It almost as cheesy as the dot design at the bottom of the cap.

The nib performs well. It's smooth enough with some feedback. Ink flow is great and the lines are dark. For a budget pen, this is a good performer.

Here are some sketches with the pen.

I like sketching with this pen. The nib is smooth and goes well with paper.

My main complaint about this pen is it feels awkward to hold for long periods. It's not that it's uncomfortable, but because it's small, it feels weird when I look at myself holding the small pen for long periods.

Conclusion

The Pilot Prera is a budget pen that's quite worth the money. My only gripe is the small size of the pen. I like it but I wished that it was bigger.

Availability

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