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First of all I want to mention this review by FPN user sova featuring stunning photos of the Turquoise blue Platinum Procyon. In my opinion the Platinum Procyon receives less attention than it deserves, thus I decided to write a review. I want to provide some information, share my experience using it daily and also take a look at why it might be not hugely popular. Introduction This review is meant to depict my personal opinion and valuation, thus I don't want to use points to rate aspects. Surely comparability is an advantage which makes using points worth considering, but neither am I an expert for the standards used nor could I compare a pen to dozens of first hand experiences with other pens. And frankly speaking in my eyes many reviews aren't objective which to me relativises the value of scores. Because of that I will try my best to describe my experience with this Procyon in a way which allows you to contrast it to your experiences and preferences. Platinum introduced this model in the summer of 2018 and named it after Procyon, the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Minor who in turn got its name from rising before Sirius, the brightest star visible in the night sky. Sirius is also known as dog star. Procyon stands for a distant relatives of dogs, too, the racoon. Hopefully the pictures I took will remind you more of a clear night sky than a racoon however. First Impressions My pen came in a black carboard box along with four cartridges. Platinum specially created three inks called Gold Ochre, Aqua Emerald and Dark Violet which accompanied the Procyon along with a instruction on how to recreate them yourself and a regular blue-black cartridge. Unfortunately this pen doesn't include a converter. The packaging is utilitarian, the unique ink cartridges are nice but I would have prefered a converter. This pen comes in five colours called Deap see, Porcelain white, Turquoise blue, Persimmon orange and Citrus yellow ranging from understated to pretty colourful. The dark blue doesn't attract attention, taking a closer look however reveils its twinkling. According to Platinum this colour is inspired by the deep sea, I link it to the stars. It has about the size of a Lamy Safari and feels solid. Appearance & Construction The Procyon's body and cap are made from laquered aluminium. The Deap See's base layer is of deep blue on which aluminium flake powder was added which gives the blue depth and creates twinkling. In a dark environment the sky-laquer of this pen resembles a starless night, with more light it becomes reminiscent of a clear night which allows one to see thousands of stars. The white one's laquer is smooth and shiny while the colourful versions feature matte laquer. The trim is silver coloured. "Procyon" and "Platinum Made in Japan" are written on the cap in capital latters. Its grip is made from semi-translucent dark grey plastic. Metal threads on both the grip and the body make a stury, long-lasting impression. Furthermore the threads are rectangular making them pleasant to touch. Usually the nib has a good chance to be the most interesting part and I don't want to say this one isn't but it isn't spectacular visually. It looks similar to nib the Preppy, Plaisir and Prefounte use but is larger. It lacks a breather hole and adornment is limited to Platinum's logo and a F or M indicating the nib size. Platinum proudly advertised this pen's new feed as it is able to draw ink from a hole below the nib at about half of the nib's length. This allows you to more easily fill your pen and use up bottled ink because to don't need to insert the entire nib into ink. Cleaning the pen after filling thus also becomes easier. My feed shows signs of Sailor Seiboku. Usually its black and clean. Besides this the Procyon also features the inner cap known from the 3776 Century which is supposed to prevent ink from drying out for up to two years. I didn't test that but notice its effect in comparison to a Waterman Hemisphere for example which lacks a inner cap. In the Hemisphere ink becomes less keen for writing for the first few letters after a day. Thanks to the inner cap this is no problem with the Procyon even with more difficult inks. Two things I don't like: I find the grey material below the semi-translucent plastic of the grip makes this part a bit cheap. I carry my pen in a pencil case in which there is no scissors, only pencils, two ballpoints and markers and treat it carefully but at the end of the barrel the laquer is coming of where the barrel transitions into the end finial as well as in one place on the barrel. That's disappointing to me and makes me apprehensive of the laquers future. Nib and Performance The nib is made from steel. Platinum claims the pentagon shape makes writing feel similar to a gold nib without much explanation of what exactly they imply. It is not soft or flexy but very stiff. As you might expect from a Japanese nib it runs relatively fine. The nib provides some even feedback and is audible when writing. It has medium flow and works very reliably, starts easily every time and feels controlled to me. There is no beautiful adornment but it works. Reverse writing is possible, makes for a very fine line. The flow keeps up well. Filling System and Maintenance Platinum uses a proprietary cartridge/converter system. I find their cartridges and converters to be of high quality and work reliably. While the cartridges contain quite a lot of ink I wished for a bigger converter. As I mentioned above there is no converter included. The converter's mouth is reinforced by a metal collar. Cost and Value The Procyon retails for around 50 US Dollars to 70 Euros. This makes it one of the more expensive steel-nibbed pens and maybe also is the reason it is less often recommended than other competitiors. There is a lot of competition in this price range. Lamy and Pilot for example both offer several pens up to this price range and at least in Europe you are also able to get a Pelikan M200 for this price. Additionally the Procyon will also compete with its new sibling, the Curidas. I think this Platinum has a lot to offer: a very reliable nib, good size and weight generally speaking, a handy feed, an excellent inner cap and a sturdy body. Its features are very reasonable and utilitarian, but maybe not flashy enough to stand out. Conclusion If you are looking for a understated, reliable next-level pen to accompany you in daily life and like its design, you will probably soon appreciate its qualities.

I first noticed Robert Oster's ink on ebay and wasn't too sure about it. Then I saw someone here had taken the plunge before me and the ink seemed good, so I took the plunge and contacted him. Customer service was truly excellent; he always responded very promptly and politely and was very helpful. I got seven inks in one package by ordering directly from him. I can't give a full picture review here as all my photographs are too big, so I have a picture of a comparison sheet below, after my thoughts. Moss Green: Very nice green with a slight grey aspect. Quite dark and a genuine 'moss' colour. No shading. Orange: This one doesn't come out very well in the picture. It is very bright, no shading and is a little bit like a highlighter ink but is deep enough for normal use. It 'pops'. Lime Green: Really lovely citrus green. Nice and bright with slight yellow hints underneath and a small bit of shading. It gives Kobe's lime a run for its money. Royal Red: A standard red, but quite a nice one. No shading. Looks a little flat on Tomoe. Barossa Grape: lovely murky purple. Very dark; perhaps a little like Ink of the Witch? I have nothing quite like it. Deep Sea: really awesome. Like a slightly more saturated Emerald of Chivor. Nice shading and sheen. It has a tendency to bleed a tiny bit on Tomoe, but I had no problems on Clairefontaine or Rhodia. Jade Green: Very nice murkey green, a touch lighter than Tanna Japonensis if you know that ink. Has shading and a slight brownish/yellow undertone. I simply wanted to add that these inks are really great. They all have quite strong saturation and a wetness on the nib, good flow, decent lubrication, no staining issues (some of them wash out really easily) and reasonably fast dry times. Except for the Deep Sea on Tomoe I had no issues with show through, bleed or feathering. It's the deep saturation for me that makes them really attractive. I liked these inks so much that I'm already narrowing down my list for the next seven in a pack. Highly recommended. flic.kr/p/HHFYdq

Robert Oster Signature Inks are a new line coming out of South Australia and are making enthusiasts sit up and take notice! They are very competitively priced too. So, I acquired a handful of these, thus: Moss Emerald Green Deep Sea Bondi Blue Fire Engine Red Yellow SunsetIn the following short reviews the writing samples are created using an Osmiroid B4 italic nib and an Esterbrook 2048 fitted to a standard XT Esterbrook dip-less pen holder. All writing is by dipping. More time is needed to discover how these inks behave in cartridges, converters or eyedroppers. Swabs and comparisons with other inks will be provided later in the week – I’m all out of Q-tips! Time to brave the deep, deep oceans with... Simply lovely! The seas around New Zealand often adopt this exact colour. This is very much a blue-green. Some very decent shading but again no noticeable sheen. Others are seeing sheen so perhaps it may simply be a lighting problem here. Drying times were better with this one, completely dry somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Paper is again Rhodia.

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