Sailor Reglus fountain pen review

3 February 2014 By ian

Sailor Reglus fountain pen cap

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.

Sailor Reglus fountain pen orange shimmer

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).

Sailor Reglus fountain pen trim

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.

Sailor Reglus fountain pen nib

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.)

Sailor Reglus fountain pen nib close up

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.

Sailor Reglus fountain pen orange glow

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.

Sailor Reglus fountain pen converter

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.

Sailor Reglus fountain pen handwritten review