Sheaffer Prelude Review

[a.lachlan]

Initial Impressions:

Initial impressions were pretty good, the nib wrote very smoothly and rather wet, it felt pretty solid but overall a little on the cheap side. The grip section’s indentation similar to that found on the Lamy Safari, Al Star, etc didn’t really do it for me - they were set too far back to really be of any use for me.

That being said however it did write very well and reliably with no hard starts or anything an came well presented in the usualy Sheaffer gift box and came with a decent converter.

Design:

The finish I opted for was the stainless steel finish as it was incredibly cheap on Amazon relative to the price of the other finishes - mine was only £22.50!

The finish it pretty tough and hasn’t suffered from any scratches or anything so far. The cap seems to attach rather softly, the plastic ring seems to just be too soft to give it that satisfying click. It has indentations like that of the cheaper Lamy fountain pens but these, for me at least, are useless as they are set too far back and aren’t deep enough to be of any help. The plastic of the grip section feels rather cheap, and very smooth making grip a little slippery. The threads on the section are also very thin and there are far too many of them - it takes ages to screw it onto the barrel and when you do you feel the need to be careful not to wreck the threads. The end of the barrel is rather plain as well, being basically a round bulge at the end - you’ll see what I mean in the pictures.

The pen is however as a result of these drawbacks very lightweight and, despite the parts feeling a bit cheap, would probably take quite a beating. At the end of the day I’m glad I didn’t spend the full £40 or so this pen would normally be for the other finishes, especially when you compare it to the other Sheaffer’s in the same price-range (well, cheaper than the full price for this pen), like the Sheaffer 100 and 300 which are both very solidly built pens, have (in my opinion) nicer nibs, and just generally feel much better buit and designs. Overall I give it...

5/10

Nib and Performance:

The nib initially was a very good performer, but alas this soon deteriorated. The tines became very unalligned, and the it became very scratchy and dry. I thought this might be because of the angle I was using it at but it turned out that they were unalligned in the opposite direction you’d expect based on the angle I wrote at. After getting them alligned it was still not as smooth as before, and not quite as wet. After some smoothing and spreading the tines a little, it’s writing pretty well again, not an amazingly smooth write nor amazing wet, but good enough to be a perfectly nice pen again, albeit with a little too much feedback to be overly comfortable

In terms of line width it write quite a fine line only a little broader than that of my Kaweco Allrounder that has a fine nib. I’m a little disappointed by the problems before, especially after such a good start but it’s now not too bad so it gets...

6/10

Conclusion:

Overall not a bad pen at all, for the price I paid, if I spent anymore than what I did I would be very disappointed. It isn’t in my pen rotation very often these days, I don’t find it’s nib comfortable enough for quick writing of notes as it just has too much feedback but it’s alright for slow relaxed writing at home. The body is tough but very plain in appearence, the grip section looks and feels almost tacky for a pen of this price range.

Score: 11/20

Update: Since writing this review I've tried the pen with new inks that have bought the best out of the nib, namely Diamine/Cult Pens Deep Dark Blue and Diamine Florida Blue that have somehow made it a very smooth nib - Overall I think this change boosts the nib/performance score up a mark or two

Pics!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3823/12254090225_7d952a141e_c.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/12254522644_7727222f22_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5536/12254521704_c24d0a1a9b_c.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/12254085755_74a7c63c99_c.jpg

Writing samples, with comparisons...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7066/13166733734_6932cc7790_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/13166733314_51ccd3a148_c.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3810/13166733894_12567bc433_c.jpg

And a size comparison...

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2857/12254281983_82b552b578_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7440/12254281053_a872506103_c.jpg

Sheaffer 300, Sheaffer 100, Sheaffer Prelude, Lamy Studio, TWSBI Diamond 580, Kaweco Allrounder, Pilot Prera

[goodpens]

Thanks for posting this and for the nib observations, in particular.

[sotto2]

I have this pen with an F nib and it's been excellent using standard Sheaffer black ink cartridges. It seems like a pretty bulletproof pen. The only thing I've noticed is that if it sits nib up for a couple days, it takes a moment for the ink to start flowing again, and then it's fine.