Pilot Prera

After a year of “I’ll get it next time,” I finally pulled the trigger and got one of my grail pens. It was a rollercoaster finding one in stock though, cuz when I was windowshopping at Pensachi with the intention of checking out later in the evening after work, the listing was already sold out hahaha. Was legit heartbroken and just thought ”maybe it wasn’t meant to be” till someone pointed out that it was still available over at Amazon JP and was actually cheaper. A few weeks later and it finally arrived and it’s much more beautiful in person than in photos, the size did surprise me though despite owning a Pilot Prera.

I quickly saw how much I preferred FPs, and the community. I then moved to a Ltd Edition, Ebony Conklin All American, a Kaweco Steel and Brass sport as well as the Aluminum, a Pilot Prera, a Sailor Compass some additional Lamys, a Noodlers Ahab and Triple Tail and two TWSBI Ecos and a TWSBI AL R, a Muji, some other Jinhaos etc.

I'm not sure what your price point is for "budget" but the Pilot Prera with a F nib is a Japanese fine (closer to a North American/Euro EF) but smooth as butter when writing. (I own 3 of the solid color ones.).

The cap has an amazing snap-on-off mechanism, which I believe also carries over to the Prera. The easy deployment of the nib makes it very nice as a daily carry. (And combined with Pilot’s nibs… 🥰) Similarly, the size of the pen measures about the same as the Prera — I barely noticed a difference when I asked to compare the two in store.