Review: Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen

Once in a while, I get asked on my Youtube channel on how good a fountain pen the Pilot Metropolitan is. It's an affordable budget pen so some are thinking of getting this as their first fountain pen.

To find out the answer, I bought one for myself, under USD $15 from Amazon US (at the time of this writing).

The fountain pen came inside this clear case box. I'm not sure what material they used for the case but it's quite sturdy. Perhaps the box can be reused for other purposes.

There's one ink cartridge provided. Inside the pen is an ink converter so there's no need to spend extra money to get one.

Design of the pen is pretty simple. It's like a torpedo with the front and back rounded off. There are no special trimmings. The metallic body is matte. There are three colours to choose from: gold, silver and black.

Design on the nib is also quite simple. There aren't any intricate carvings.

The ink converter included is the squeeze type. If you like the twist type converter, you can get the Pilot Con-50. The Con-70 converter is too big.

One good thing about Pilot fountain pens is the nib section is easy to dismantle. This is great for cleaning the pen.

Here's a handwriting sample. My pen has the medium nib and it has a nice tactile feel on the paper. The steel nib is stiff without flex.

These are some drawing samples. Ink flow is good enough, not the most generous but it gets the job done. The lines are consistent and dark enough. You can turn the nib over for a thinner line but it will feel more scratchy.

Conclusion

For less than USD $15, the Pilot Metropolitan is definitely worth the money. The build quality is solid. It writes and draws relatively well. Everything can be dismantled and put back easily. There's also the added bonus of an included ink converter.

For beginners, this is a good fountain pen to start with. If you get it, you also won't have the fear of dropping or losing it.

If you want to consider other beginner fountain pens, watch this video.

Availability

You can check out more reviews of the Pilot Metropolitan via these Amazon links:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.au | Amazon.co.jp

Do a search for the different colours.

And check out all my other fountain pen reviews at https://www.parkablogs.com/tags/fountain-pen-reviews