The Preppy is a disposable, refillable fountain pen from Platinum. It is probably the best fountain pen under $5 and possibly under $10, thanks to its excellent writing, dependability, and ability to easily convert it into a eye dropper pen.
To learn more about it, don’t miss our Platinum pen buying guide, which highly recommends the Preppy.
The Preppy is sold in Violet, Pink, Red, Yellow, Blue Black, Black, Crystal, Green, and Red colors. The Preppy Crystal is the most recent release, and it brings an almost entirely clear, demonstrator-style body to the Preppy.
The Preppy is sold in Extra Fine, Fine, and Medium nib sizes, with the Medium being a 0.5 mm tip that writes more like a Japanese broad or European medium. It’s quite a wet pen, which makes it fun to use, but most people prefer the pen in Fine. The Extra Fine is quite usable, but it does write on the dry side and it is often sold at a $1 (or so) premium when compared to the other models.
The Preppy has a steel nib that can slide off the pen for cleaning or swapping with some of Platinum’s other pens, like the Plaisir and Prefounte.
Platinum Preppy vs. Prefounte
The Platinum Preppy and the much newer Prefounte are easy to confuse with one another. The Prefoune is essentially the same pen, but comes in brighter colors than the Preppy and the plastic used in the pen’s body feels a bit nicer. The nib, feed, and grip section all the same across both pens and the parts are all interchangeable.
The Prefounte a slightly different barrel shape and cap shape. It also has an upgrade metal clip.
With the Prefounte selling for about $10, it’s a nicer pen than the standard Preppy, but it’s hard to justify the price which is 2x that of the Preppy Crystal, which does away with the original Preppy’s ugly information “sticker” which is printed onto the side of the plastic and is extremely difficult to remove.
Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen Information
| Street Price | Check Price |
| Manufacturer | Platinum |
| Pen Type | Fountain Pen | Cartridge/Converter, Eyedropper |
| Rating | |
| Barrel Color | Clear, Blue, Red |
| Barrel Material | Plastic |
| Grip Color | Clear |
| Grip Material | Plastic |
| Country of Origin | Japan |
| MSRP | $2 |
| Still Sold | Yes |
| Similar To | |
| Refills | |
| Capped? Retractable? | Capped - Snap On |
| Clip? | Plastic |
| Length Capped / Retracted (cm) | 13.8 |
| Length Posted (cm) | 15.1 cm |
| Length Uncapped (cm) | 12.1 cm |
| Weight (g) | 11 grams |
| Refillable | Yes |
| Ink Color Shipped | Purple, Pink, Blue Black, Red, Yellow, Black, Green, Red |
| Nib Material | Steel |
| Nib Color | Silver |
| Nib Sizes | Extra Fine, Fine, Medium |