Detailed Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Review

The Pilot Metropolitan and the Lamy Safari are two of the fountain pens that are always recommended for beginners. You can read my recent detailed Lamy safari review. Today I’m going to check in detail the Metropolitan to help you decide if this is the right pen for your collection or to start this hobby.

In my Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen review, I’m looking to show you all the details as well as the pros and the cons to help you decide if this is the right pen for you.

Introducing the Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen

The Pilot Metropolitan is a simple and reliable fountain pen. Despite its modest price, this beautiful pen features a well balanced metallic barrel and a smooth stainless steel nib. 

The luxurious writing experience and the solid barrel give you the impression that you’re writing with a much more expensive fountain pen, and that value for the money is one of the major strengths of this pen.

I personally love this nib. It’s a simple Medium steel nib, but it’s so smooth and reliable that you forget you’re using a budget pen. The smoothness and the reliable ink flow all lead you to believe you’re using a premium fountain pen.

Even if you keep this pen inked for some days, the Metropolitan is ready to write once you uncap it. 

The Pilot Metropolitan is a very versatile fountain pen. Featuring a simple sleek body, the pen looks modern yet conservative at the same time. The design itself is a timeless design, so this is the kind of pen that can be used at the office or by professionals. There’s nothing particularly different about the design lines, so clearly the designers followed a conservative path here. Then, there are multiple barrel colors that perfectly fit the barrel and that bring it some modernity. 

When you combine the classic design lines with the modern colors you end up getting the best of both worlds. As a result, the Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen is the kind of pen that can be used at school, at home or at the office. This pen won’t shock or look strange anywhere.

The Metropolitan uses a snap cap that assures a perfect sealing. When you cap it, you hear a click that assures that the cap is in place. But the best thing about this cap is that it seals pretty well and avoids any drying. I’ve never had any problem in starting my Metropolitan thanks to this simple but effective cap.

The Pilot Metropolitan can be used capped, but I personally prefer to write with it uncapped (as with most pens). It might depend on your personal preference, but I find that the barrel has more than enough length to assure a comfortable writing experience without the cap. 

The plastic grip is comfortable but can be a little slippery, especially after long writing sessions. 

An advantage compared with the Lamy Safari is that the Metropolitan comes with a squeeze converter, while on the Lamy you need to buy a converter. I can’t really say the converter is that great. It works well, but since it’s not transparent, you can’t see the ink you have there. Overall, I prefer piston converters, but getting even a squeeze converter at this price point is definitely a plus. 

You can also use a Pilot proprietary cartridge. Pilot cartridges are very easy to refill. I use a syringe to refill them, but due to the large connecting hole, you can even refill them with a transfer pipette.

The Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen is a popular choice across different types of users. Those who are looking for a pen to take to the office find it a classic choice. On the other hand, if you are looking for a fountain pen to take to college, a Metropolitan with a Fine (F) or Extra Fine (EF) nib is a valid option.

Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Design

The Pilot Metropolitan features a classic design. It’s a pen that won’t turn heads but won’t be out of its element anywhere. The classic design assures this pen looks good now but it will continue to look good 10 years from now. 

Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Nibs

Despite its affordability, this pen offers a smooth stainless steel nib that glides across any type of paper.

The Pilot Metropolitan shares its nib with some of Pilot’s premium pens, and that’s why most users notice this nib is much better than the one you find on most pens at this price point.

Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Review: The Pros

There are plenty of reasons why the Metropolitan is a bestseller pen and why it is recommended by most bloggers and YouTubers. 

#1: The Price

If you’ve been buying or checking the price of some of the most popular fountain pens, you already know that a nice fountain pen can be pretty expensive. There’s not really a price limit once you get to luxury brands. 

One of the interesting parts of some good affordable pens like the Metropolitan is that they offer you the type of writing experience that you usually can only get in more expensive pens. 

The Pilot Metropolitan can usually be bought at around $20, and at that price, it offers such a great quality for the price! If you’re comparing the Pilot Metropolitan price with disposable ballpoint pens, you won’t find this a cheap pen, but for a reusable fountain pen that offers such an amazing smooth nib, this is a really affordable pen.

Even if you look at the body, the feel of it, the Metropolitan can be confused with pens that cost a lot more.

Considering everything the Metropolitan offers for the price, it’s not easy to find a pen that offers so much in this price segment.

#2: Premium Feel With A Metal Body

This is one of the things that separate the Pilot Metropolitan from the Lamy Safari. While the Lamy Safari comes with a plastic ABS barrel, the Pilot Metropolitan includes a metal body pen for less money. This is something that I had to mention in my Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen review.

I personally prefer metal pens and I love how the Pilot Metropolitan feels. It’s a smooth metallic barrel that definitely feels more premium than any plastic pens on the market. 

The metallic body adds a little weight compared to plastic but offers a comfortable experience since we’re still talking about a lightweight pen. 

Despite its low cost, the look and feel that you get out of this pen leads you to believe that you’re using a much more expensive pen. That’s a good value for the money you pay. 

#3: Beautiful Classic Design

The Metropolitan fountain pen is available in a myriad of different colors and finishes, from the more classic to modern options. No matter what you prefer, you can find the right Pilot Metropolitan look that matches your personality and style.

#4: Cartridge And Ink Converter

One of the main advantages of fountain pens is the ability to refill them and reduce the environmental waste generated by disposable pens. The Pilot Metropolitan includes a squeeze type ink converter that allows you to easily refill your pen with any bottled ink. 

The converter is opaque which makes it difficult to know when it’s already full. But for this price point, having a converter included is something good.

You can also use your Pilot Metropolitan with Pilot ink cartridges. Pilot cartridges are large capacity cartridges that can easily be refiled. Since they have a large hole, you can even refill these cartridges with a pipette. Even though, I personally prefer to refill them with an ink syringe. This way I can easily take advantage of the large ink capacity that these converters offer, and I can use these cartridges with any bottled ink. This gives me the best of both worlds.

Since the Pilot cartridges last for such a long time, refilling them is a great option for your wallet and for the environment. 

Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Review: The Cons

With all of these advantages, the Pilot Metropolitan is definitely a nice gift or a great fountain pen for beginners. However, nothing is perfect. Here are some of the things that can be considered negative aspects of the Pilot Metropolitan.

#1: Original Squeeze Converter

While I already mentioned the squeeze converter above on this Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen review, I have to say that it’s a great thing to get a free converter in such a budget-friendly pen. However, this original converter is not that great. 

The worst thing about getting such a converter in a beginner pen is that some people might not understand that they can easily replace the converter with a better one, or simply reuse cartridges. So, some beginners might get the wrong opinion about fountain pens and ink converters by starting with this one. 

The truth is that since the converter is opaque, you won’t even know when it’s full. Then, this is a squeeze converter. In my opinion, this is the worst type of converters you can possibly get. While a squeeze converter does the job, I personally prefer a piston converter, which is less messy and is also easier to control. Last but not least, this converter doesn’t hold much ink. This isn’t a huge con, but it’s not my favorite feature of the pen.

In fact, ever since I got the pen, I only use the converter that was included with it to clean the pen but never to refill it. Whenever I need to refill my Metropolitan, I use refilled cartridges. Then, after each change of cartridges or colors, I use the converter to clean the nib and feed. To do so, you simply insert the converter on your pen and fill it with water. In case it is necessary, you can fill it with pen flush. You keep squeezing, refiling and releasing until your nib and feed are completely clean. 

In my opinion, this is the best way to use this converter. For ink, get a better converter or stick with the cartridges.

#2: Not Many Nib Options

The nib is smooth and works really well in most types of paper. Even on copy paper, my Pilot Metropolitan excels. Unfortunately, the pen is usually only available in Fine and Medium nibs sizes which is not enough. At least, an Extra Fine or a Broad nib would be welcome additions to the range. 

A stub or italic nib would be terrific. But to get that kind of flexibility, you need to look to the Lamy Safari.

Is The Pilot Metropolitan A Good Buy?

Only you can answer that question, but for me, this is a good buy. In my opinion, and as you can understand from what I wrote in this Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen review, this little pen offers a lot for the price. If I knew what I know today, I would still buy it once again. 

Pilot Metropolitan Is An Ideal Fountain Pen For Beginners

While it is not perfect, the Pilot Metropolitan is a great choice for beginners and those who want to try fountain pens for the first time. This is an easy to use and easy to clean fountain pen that can be used for years.

It features such a smooth nib that most beginners will instantly notice and appreciate the difference in writing with a fountain pen.

While budget-friendly, this pen includes a converter and offers so many benefits when compared with disposable pens. This is an environmentally friendly pen (just like any non-disposable fountain pen) and allows anyone to try the difference.

Not many pens from reputable brands offer this much for such a low price. 

The Pilot Metropolitan is so easy to refill and use that even those who never experienced a fountain pen can easily use it.  

As a plus, at least in my opinion, it’s a beautiful fountain pen. It might not be as flashy as a TWSBI or as recognized as a Lamy Al Star or Safari, but it’s a classic timeless fountain pen that can be used anywhere.

The Metropolitan can also be a nice gift for those who appreciate handwriting, or a nice addition to your collection, especially considering that you can get this pen in so many different colors. 

I hope you have found my Pilot Metropolitan review useful! My goal is to always be as fair as possible and to demonstrate what I like about the pen and what I don’t like about it. 

Fountain Pen Ink Used in this Review 

The ink that I used in this Lamy Safari review was InexPens Burgundy.

It’s a well-behaved ink even on copy paper, and one of my favorite colors of late.  

Pilot Metropolitan Technical Specs