Sailor Professional Gear Slim Sky Blue

[visvamitra]

Sailor is one of most popular japanese fountain pen makers. There’s a lot of discussion as to which one is better – Pilot, Platinum or Sailor. I guess it all comes to personal preference and it’s impossible to indicate the winner among the three. When it comes to pen design I consider Platinum slightly inferior to other two but, on the other hand, they have amazing nibs. Pilot offers bigger variety of designs than Sailor and Platinum but I’m not that keen on their nibs though, not before sending them to a professional who will grind them and improve the flow. Sailor on the other hand offers really great pens that perform perfectly well out of the box. Designs may not be very innovative but the manufacturing quality is high and meets my expectations. Because of this I’ve came to trust this brand. I’ve heard about some quality issues with Sailor 1911’s nibs but I haven’t experienced them and can’t base my opinion of the company on hearsay.

 

 

Anyway while scrolling through Sailor catalogue I usually drool a little. Especially while looking at Sailor King of Pen but, sadly, it’s one of the pens I can’t justify buying at the moment. On the other hand even cheaper Sailor fountain pens are more than decent. As I enjoy wet medium and broad nibs most, Japanese pens are never my first choice. The thing is that sometimes I enjoy finer lines and when the moment comes nothing can compare to Japanese medium (which, to me, is fine). That’s one of the reasons why during last years I’ve managed to gather few japanese fountain pens. And most of them bear Sailor logo.

 

 

 

Let’s look at Sailor Pro Gear Realo Slim. I’ll be honest. I no longer have this pen because I sold it. There was only one reason to do it - it was too small for me. I’ve bought this pen on eBay for reasonable price and used it for some time before passing it to someone else.

 

 

Sailor Professional Gear continues the Japanese pen tradition of classic and understated shapes and materials, but with some twist. It’s transparent and has nice shade of light blue. The flat-topped pen is made with a highly polished acrylic glass, and has rhodium-plated accents (clip, trim, nib). Sure, the looks of the pen aren’t extremely exciting or fresh but I find blue clear version of Pro Gear Realo appealing.

 

Nib

 

The nib on this one was very, very smooth, slightly different than the medium nib I have in Sailor 1911 Black Luster. It’s 14K Gold Rhodium plated nib and can be bought in following sizes EF, F, M, B, Z, MS. Sailor medium is actually finer than, for example, Waterman Hemisphere medium but it gives great feeling of gliding across the paper. It’s not soft, but still it’s very smooth.

 

Filling system

Nothing exciting - proprietary cartridge / converter. It works well, it's easy to clean, and that's all.

Dimensions

Pro Gear Slim is small. Too small for me. It'll suit the taste of Pelikan M200 fans.

Closed - 12.8 cm

Capped - 14.6 cm

Open - 11.3 cm

Weight - 17 g

 

Summary

All in all Sailor Pro Gear Realo Slim Sky Blue is great fountain pen. It’s turned out to be too small for me but apart from this I enjoyed everything else: design, color, construction quality, feel of the pen in the hand,nib. If only I’ll have a chance to buy bigger version of this pen (Pro Gear Realo Sky Blue) for reasonable price (50 % of MSRP) I’ll do it.

 

[michaelcockerham]

While you make a good case for your love of Sailor, in particular their nibs, I want to add that your photos are superb!

[visvamitra]

Thank you

 

Ps- I posted in wrong section, so it it's possible I would appreciate Admin help with moving it to Fountain Pen Reviews section

Edited September 12, 2016 by visvamitra

[tinta]

Thank you for your review of a fine (I don't mean Fine as in nib grade but as in manufacture) affordable Sailor pen that could certainly suit Pelikan 200/400 fans.

The grip of the Pro Gear Slim/1911-M is only slightly wider than my trusty old Pelikan 400NN & became my natural choice as a replacement pen.

I personally prefer the tad longer, cigar shaped Sailor1911 Standard. The Sailor Pro Gear Slim or Sailor Sapporo share the same quality materials & construction as the 1911 Standard, along with a large variety of excellent 14K nibs & efficient feeds.

Enjoy your very attractive Sailor demo.

Edited September 12, 2016 by tinta

[tinta]

Oh my, something weird happened. Sorry.

[rafapa]

Dear visvamitra, I believe there is no Realo Sky Blue pen. Am I wrong?z

Edited September 12, 2016 by rafapa

[visvamitra]

You're right. I'll see if I can still edit the title

[Behike54]

Thanks for the review!


I have purchased two SAILOR pens, one from JM @ CFPs and the other while I was in Taiwan. The buying experience in Asia was superb. The had every pen with every nib combo, and the ones I wanted to look at that they didn't, were provided by a salesman and the proprietor of the shop. Get this, they were their own personal pens!

The nibs were outstanding on every pen I tried, even the smaller nibs were smooth and seemed to have a flow that was just perfect.

Finally, my experience was similar to yours. I love my Sailor pens, but they are just too small for my hand.

My next Sailor will be an ebonite KOP with Rhodium trim and will choose a nib then. Their 21K nibs are fantastic, so spending an arm and half a leg more just isn't worth it or doesn't excite me. That said, I can see if you are writing in Kanji, some of those nibs would be ideal.

Thanks again for the review and confirming my own experience in almost every regard.

Lastly, I'm a modern minimalist, so their designs, especially regarding the KOP, are right in my wheelhouse!

[Mew]

I even find the 1911 full size a bit small than the average acceptable pen size, and KOP just reaching the ideal pen size at 150mm. That's why I don't have a sailor pen. Price jump between 1911F and KOP is a tad too much, and ebonite finish dulls out in a few months, which isn't desirable.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Mew

[Behike54]

I even find the 1911 full size a bit small than the average acceptable pen size, and KOP just reaching the ideal pen size at 150mm. That's why I don't have a sailor pen. Price jump between 1911F and KOP is a tad too much, and ebonite finish dulls out in a few months, which isn't desirable.

 

Demonstrator?

[Omaslover]

I absolutely love Sailor pens!

[mmg122]

Thanks so much for this review of a pen I also own and really like. I'd wager my hands are smaller than yours (size 6 woman's glove) and this pen fits my hand perfectly. Mine has a zoom nib, which I really enjoy. In fact, I like it so much, I purchased the "Earth" edition. Of the 3 major Japanese brands, I also favor the Sailor brand. Lastly, I really like the transparent blue color...a lovely acrylic. Kudos to Sailor.

[mehandiratta]

amazing pics...what camera

[visvamitra]

Samsung nx300

[mehandiratta]

Samsung nx300

nice

[mk2579]

Beautiful photos and review

 

I'm currently looking at the same pen but with a music nib. Was also mulling the standard Pro Gear but price difference is quite a lot- I can get 2 PG Slims for the price and don't mind the size difference.

 

Also I haven't tried the 14ct gold nibs yet, but have a Sailor KOP with 21ct nib in clear Demo, so again not worth for me to go for the regular model which also has 21ct nib vs. 14ct.

 

I have noticed the the KOP is sold as standard 50% off the other KOP models inc. the sky blue one on sites like Amazon and eBay. Yes the medium nib on that is amaaaazing... quite broad for a Japanese medium I think, so I would like to the 14ct PG Slim to see how it compares. May have to go for the Sky blue for the Music nib and the green, or orange or pink (!) for the M nib.

 

Unfortunately I don't think my crappy iPhone pics will be able to compare with these!

[senzen]

Sailor should license your pictures; I have the regular Pro standard size or whatever it's called, in rhodium trim, it's just about big enough for my hands and at around $165 from japan a good buy; the prices for the sky blue edition versions is a bit too much (twice the regular models?), even if reasonable compared to "how much??" KOP.