As a site sponsor, JetPens kindly provides me with a little "spending credit" each month to find pens or paper for review and I'd been sitting on some for awhile and wanted to dig through the $50 - $100 range of fountain pens to see what I could find.
Granted, this range is pretty tough although there are some goodies that most of us will recognize like the Kaweco AL Sport, LAMY Studio or Pilot Prera just to name a few. All pretty solid pens.
While perusing this range I stumbled upon a pen I hadn't seen yet: the Sailor Young Profit. From a glance, it looked pretty sleek, not too flashy and the price was right at $70 (with free shipping within the US...). I was intrigued and new it was it. I highly respect Sailor as a brand and wanted to see how this one fit in against the others.
It seems like Sailor has a fairly good spread of pens, but generally Sailor = pricey. When you jump into a gold nib Sailor, the price scales up to right around the $200 range for the slim models of the Pro Gear or standard 1911 and then up from there . Below that you have the Reglus (haven't reviewed this one yet) coming in around $115 and the next step down would be the Young Profit.
The Young Profit arrives in a nice Sailor box. Nothing over the top, but a classy presentation nonetheless. Packaging that would be perfect for gift giving.
The pen is made primarily of a plastic or resin so it comes in pretty light. I would consider it to be on the slim side with the barrel and section measuring around 3/8"-1/2" in diameter. Compared to other Sailors like the standard Pro Gear it is quite dainty. It is still a comfortable size though and not too small for my hands.
Upon receiving the pen I popped in one of the included Sailor Black cartridges (proprietary) and the nib inked right up. Like, impressively fast. My first stroke to the page had ink flowing which was a huge surprise.
The Young Profit comes with a steel nib adorned with the lovely Sailor scroll work, "1911" and the Sailor anchor logo. For a midrange pen, very classy.
From the get-go, the medium nib wrote wonderfully. I have been impressed by the perfect flow (for me, just enough to slightly pool the ink with each stroke to get a glisten) and not a skip to be had. If you've never used a Sailor nib, I've found them to have a very distinct feel while writing. They are wet enough, but definitely have some feedback. They almost feel dry, but they aren't. I actually find them to be in almost my perfect range. I like the ink to be wet and the lines to be dark, but I enjoy feeling the nib on the page. Super glassy nibs kind of weird me out actually.
From an aesthetic standpoint, the pen overall is very clean and professional looking. Something that won't catch too much attention but is still classy. It is adorned with some really subtle chrome accents and not too flashy. Kind of has a 70's vibe almost.
The clip is made from pressed steel, but is nice. Comparing to say a Pilot Metropolitan where the clip looks like a cheap clip, the Young Profit clip is integrated with the cap and they've taken some more time in making sure it stands out a little more.
The cap pulls off from a pressure fit seal, so there are no threads in the section. I know this is important to a lot of people. The step down from the barrel to the section is also non existent as the cap is slightly larger than the barrel.
Worth $70? You bet, in my opinion. Great brand, good looks and a solid nib that has performed beautifully for me. If you're in the market for something in that range, the Young Profit may be definitely worth a shot for you. Check the Young Profit out at JetPens, and also a special thanks to them for making it possible for me to give it a review.