Sailor Reglus fountain pen review
3 February 2014
I’d had my eye on this particular Sailor for while. Sexy and slim… and orange: how could I resist? Particularly when a brand new one came up on eBay for a bargain price. It was meant to be.
It’s hard to capture quite how shimmery and lovely the fairly slim resin barrel of this pen is. It really does shimmer as the light captures it. The silver trim looks good too, exuding quality. The cap closes with a very satisfying click and it will post if that’s your thing. The build quality is mostly excellent but not perfect. The cap wiggles a little when it’s on and the clip also wobbles a little. Not much in either case but it’s noticeable (especially the cap).
All was going swimmingly until I inked it up (Sailor cartridges or converter) and started to write with it. It was very very dry. To the point of being unusable with a pale ink and a pain with a dark ink. Very disappointing. However, I struggled on with it because I wanted so much to love this pen.
Then in the process of trying to fix the nib on my Franklin-Christoph one of the strategies suggested I tried on this and, hey presto, it worked. So now the nib flows perfectly. (It was called tricking the nib and it was simple enough but I don’t want to take responsibility for what might happen by describing it here.)
This rhodium-plated steel nib is still a little scratchy though. The fine nib on a Prera is much better and the Prera is around half the cost. I have to be honest, I’d hoped for better, and it surprised me to learn from Todd about at That One Pen that Sailor say their focus in on the nib not the barrel. I guess that this is a pen where Sailor strayed from that and focused on the barrel instead.
Don’t get me wrong, the nib is okay, it’s just that I’ve got pens at this price point and below with better.
Overall, this is a stunningly beautiful pen with an average writing experience. It’s available with, apparently, a fine or medium nib (but I’ve only seen fine versions for sale) and in a variety of lovely sparkly colours.
What a great looking pen! As you know, I have a similar experience with the Sailor nibs as they do seem to give a bit of feedback (thanks for linking!). Like you said, it’s not a deal breaker but it sure does seem like it should be smoother given the price. If I go to the Long Island pen show next month, I may take my Sailor with me and see if a $20 visit with a nib meister can turn a good nib into a dream writer.
Yes a little work by someone who knows what they’re doing would put this pen right into my top 5. I don’t think I’m going to get to a pen show any time soon though. Love your site by the way!
Okay, due to popular demand, here is what Franklin-Christoph told me was ‘tricking the nib’. I’m not suggesting you try this and won’t be held responsible if you do and it goes wrong!
Cheers for the’know how Ian, love the pictures of this pen 🙂
Very helpful suggestion on how to get the nib to work better. And, thank you for the review of the pen, as well.
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I am looking at this pen for… almost five years? Love the colour and little anchor on the cap :))) nice review and also good advice about the nib.
Sailor nibs are best for Kanji, not tuned for western writing. They offer a lot of feedback, but personally, I find the feedback very pleasing.