Strangely, each cap severely cracked on my three cheap Preppys. I tossed them. May they rest in peace in fountain pen heaven.
Goodbye to my Preppys
- Thread starter Mendel
- Start date
"Just imagine if they cost $70 each and you were now e-mailing Taiwan to get replacement caps"
--BrianW
--BrianW
I get out the pen box often with my grand daughter to practice writing and play with colors. The life expectancy of Preppys with her is one session. Either the cap cracks from being jammed down too far or the threads get stripped. Thankfully, while every Preppy succumbs, no other pen has suffered damage.
Roger
Roger
I don't like them at all - I think they're dry writers and they break too easily. I was giving them away to students, but when I saw electrical tape used to hold the caps together I gave up. I really like the Kaigelu 316 for a cheap, quality writer. 
I gave away 80 or so to my kids at school.
I gave away 80 or so to my kids at school.
I got some Preppys because I wanted to try the eyedropper conversion technique. I'm sure I did it right, but the pen burps ink and, even when that doesn't happen, my fingers come out all messy from the ink. And yes, I did seal the gap with the rubber gasket and silicone grease as instructed.
The truth can never be a low blow
Certainly right there.
Haven't used my Preppies in quite a while; I'd bought two of them separately, and gotten two of the modified ones that come with some bottles of Noodler's. They worked perfectly well for a $4 pen, and I didn't have one crack on me, but I was worried that if I carried them around too much they would; they just have an aura of flimsiness. They'll be good give away items at some point for someone who wants to try a fountain pen, no big waste if they break them.
Well, friend you have just experienced the joy of eyedroppers, burping and leaking. "They" say that the burping is caused when the volume of air in the ink chamber greatly exceeds the ink volume, the pen / air warms in your hand, expands and, "Burp!" pushes out some ink. not sure what the cause of gthe other messiness could be if you have ruled out operator error. sun spots? Guess we know why the fountain pen companies of old employed designers to come up with better ways to keep ink in a pen. I have never had a Preppy because a good $4 pen always sounded too good to be true...
My experience was different than most. I had good success with my Preppy until I lost it. My Pelikano Jr. cap cracked quickly.
I've had a preppy since Christmas (Thanks to my mother-in-law), and I don't think it feels cheap at all. Granted, the need to keep it pretty full is a bit annoying. Makes it hard to sample inks, but other than that, it's pretty much a daily writer. In meetings I often see people looking at the ink sloshing in the barrel.
I agree, and thought of you when I heard about he cracked cap.
The truth can never be a low blow
I got a Preppy free with a bottle of Noodler's ink and I don't like it at all, it feels really flimsy and the nib's awful. I didn't expect it to write like my Lamy 2000, but given the choice I'd rather use a pencil or a gel pen.
Feel free to send it my way.
Were you in the UK I'd happily send it to you, unfortunately postage to the US would be significantly more than the value of the pen.
Tis true. Maybe you can introduce a friend (or enemy) to the wonderful world of the Nib with it.
I know the feeling. Another member decided he wanted to unburden me of my Arko. Postage was twice as much as the stick- but it was worth it to get the Turkish stink bomb out of my shave den.
Happily, unlike the Arko apparently, the Preppy isn't offending me with its presence it's just lurking quietly at the back of my pen box. If I was going to try to induct someone I'd probably lend them my Lamy Vista, it writes really smoothly but replacement nibs are cheap and it wouldn't be the end of the world if it got lost.
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I keep two Preppies at hand. My daughter and I use one for writing with J Herbin's invisible ink. It's fun, and I don't have to worry about ruining an nice pen. I keep another one around for trying out ink. When it eventually breaks, I'll probably just replace it with a cheap dip pen that I found in a junk store.
