Sailor Professional Gear Fountain Pen Review featuring the Lucky Charm

Can a fountain pen be a good luck charm? In this pen review, we're going to test if this new Sailor Pro Gear design, called Lucky Charm, can bestow good fortune upon its owner. a

History and Evolution of Sailor Pens

Since 1911, the Sailor Pen Company proudly maintains a long history of technical excellence. Being one of the first manufacturers to produce gold nib fountain pens, Sailor continues to command attention for the writing ability of their nibs. In 1969, Sailor developed the world's first 21kt gold nib. In 1981, Sailor introduced the 1911 model, becoming the brand's best-selling model for over 35 years.

The Professional Gear takes the 1911's cigar-shaped profile and flattens the ends. A Sailor anchor medallion adorns the top of the cap. Much like the Sailor 1911 pen, the Pro Gear has two sizes - the Slim and the Regular.

Design and Features of the Professional Gear Lucky Charm

A decade ago, the 1911 and Pro Gear began expanding in color varieties, exclusive designs, and limited editions. In 2020, the first North American exclusive Professional Gear is called "Lucky Charm" and features a teal green transparent resin body finished in rhodium silver trim.

The cap has a rhodium-finished silver band engraved with the words "Sailor Japan Founded 1911." An inner cap sleeve protects the pen nib from drying out when closed for long periods. But, you won't be putting this pen down for long. The anchor emblem on the cap finial beckons to be taken out of your pocket or pen case.

Unscrewing the cap from the body of the pen reveals a tapered resin grip section with a slight lip at the front. Opening the body from the section reveals metal barrel threads and an o-ring. The Professional Gear fills using a Sailor proprietary ink cartridge or converter - both options are included with each pen. Due to the metal inner section, this pen cannot be converted to an eyedropper-fill.

Here is the Sailor Pro Gear compared with other similar fountain pens, including the Goldspot exclusive 1911 Sea Glass (sold out), and the limited edition Platinum 3776 Kumpoo (sold out), highlighting the sailor 1911 vs platinum 3776 debate. The Aurora Optima and Pilot Custom 74 are presently available.

Comparing the Sailor Pro Gear with Other Fountain Pens

Nib Quality and Writing Experience

When it comes to nibs, it's hard to compare with the technical precision of the Sailor gold nib. If you're looking for the finest line possible, the Sailor extra-fine will be finer than any other brand's extra-fine nib.

The Pro Gear Lucky Charm has a two-tone bicolor nib that is partially finished in rhodium, leaving the delicate scrollwork gleaming in yellow gold. Other Pro Gear pen designs may have different nib designs, such as all-gold or all-rhodium finishes.

The Pro Gear Slim is fitted with a 14kt gold nib. The larger Pro Gear Regular is fitted with a 21kt gold nib. The larger size of the nib, coupled with the higher content of gold, gives the Pro Gear Regular a smoother and more pliable feel.

But, let's not confuse pilable with flexible. Because Sailor nibs, despite their gold content, are stiff as nails. The charm of a Sailor nib is the precision consistency. The feeling of putting a sailor nib to paper is likened to writing with a sharpened graphite pencil.

From a retailer's point of view, Sailor is a top-tier brand with exceptional quality control. Seldom do we receive complaints of a Sailor nib not flowing or having misaligned tines.

What we do receive complaints about usually involves the amount of feedback, especially while writing with the finer nib sizes. If you're looking for a smoother writing experience, opt for the medium or broad nib sizes.

Sailor Pro Gear fountain pens are usually offered in 7 different nib sizes - extra-fine, fine, medium-fine, medium, broad, zoom, and music. To see the different nibs in action, check out our Sailor nib comparison video below.

Packaging and Presentation

Rather than packaging the pen in a pot of gold, Sailor opted to include the Lucky Charm in a blue, clamshell Sailor pen box with the company logo in metallic gold foil. The pen rests on a felt platform that can be removed to obtain the included cartridges, converter and warranty card.

Is the Sailor Pro Gear Right for You?

Is the Sailor Professional Gear a great fit for you? Which nib size would you go for? What pen colors would you like to see in future exclusive editions? Let us know what you think in the comments below.