Are Pilot Vanishing Point Poor Writers In General?

[kissing]

I really love the clicking feature of the Pilot Vanishing Point.
I have owned mine for years, originally bought from a very reputable seller who I will not name.

 

However, I cannot help but notice that compared to many other fountain pens, the Pilot Vanishing Point is simply a poor writer.

The nib tends to skip, ink feed is inconsistent and it does not tolerate as many different kinds of papers and inks compared to many other pens. It certainly is a poor pen to write long passages, as the nib gets thirsty very quickly.

 

And in case you're thinking that it is just my nib, that is not the case at all.

For this pen, I have tried two new Medium nibs that have been adjusted professionally, a ground Cursive italic nib and the latest nib I am using on it is a Broad nib.

 

On all of the nibs I have tried, I have found it to be a somewhat frustrating writer.

 

It's such a shame, because the clickable feature makes it the only pen practical for me to keep clipped on my shirt pocket in my retail job where I frequently whip out my pen to take down notes, etc.

 

I have tried many many different inks. Watermans, Noodler's, Private Reserve and Quink in various colours.

The ink that seems to be 'ok' in it is a mixture between Noodler's Burgundy and Private Reserve Purple Haze.

 

However, it still skips every now and again and does not tolerate some papers that other pens have no trouble with.

 

I can't help but conclude that I am not experiencing a quality control issue, but how these pens are designed make them poor writers in my hands.

 

I've been using and collecting fountain pens for over 10 years now, and it boggles my mind how a pen at this price range can write so poorly! There are pens literally under $10 that write better than this!

It's a shame there is no better clickable fountain pen on the market.

 

Your opinions of this pen are very welcome!

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/pactio_kiss/20150228_001710_zpsilgn1wpe.jpg

[doggonecarl]

I have three VPs and five nibs. They all write good. The only ink that gives me trouble is Montblanc Midnight Blue.

 

I refill Pilot cartridges, as I find the converters troublesome.

[kissing]

Do you mean the converters are troublesome as in they cause ink-flow problems?

I always fill my pens from bottles.

 

I tend to be a somewhat fast writer and prefer my pens to be on the wetter side.

What is your writing pace like?

Edited February 27, 2015 by kissing

[doggonecarl]

I've had issues with ink not flowing down properly in the CON-50s. Ink being hung up at the twist knob end when you invert the pen to write. Something about surface tension (as read about in other FPN posts). As for writing pace, I'm not sure. It's so sloppy, it looks like I fly across the page. But if I had to guess, I'd say medium. I also print more than I write cursive.

[Davros]

That's not my experience with VP's. Hard to pinpoint what might differ, though I use finer points. The ink capacity is a bit small.

[Blue_Moon]

 

 

And in case you're thinking that it is just my nib, that is not the case at all.

For this pen, I have tried two new Medium nibs that have been adjusted professionally, a ground Cursive italic nib and the latest nib I am using on it is a Broad nib.

 

 

 

Mine is a great writer. No scratchiness, no skips, no hard starts, nothing to complain about.

 

Having said that, although I do not know from personal experience, I have heard of people having problems with the QC of Pilot higher end (100.00 and up) pens. Just some chatter on the forums recently.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "have been adjusted professionally." Was that at the POS, or you got the pen, and later sent the nib units in to be adjusted, or just bought additional nib units from a nib meiester? I would recommend buying from John Mottishaw or Linda at Indy Pen Dance. Disclaimer - I've never purchased anything from either, but I've heard excellent things about them both. You're probably familiar with Mottishaw, but Linda is a nibmeister also. I believe you buy them factory new with both, but they may adjust the pen and make sure it writes well, before it's shipped. Between the two, if you wanted to have it adjusted and confirmed that it writes well, you would probably have faster service with Linda, due to Mottishaw's backlog.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Blue_Moon

[kissing]

 

 

I've had issues with ink not flowing down properly in the CON-50s. Ink being hung up at the twist knob end when you invert the pen to write. Something about surface tension (as read about in other FPN posts). As for writing pace, I'm not sure. It's so sloppy, it looks like I fly across the page. But if I had to guess, I'd say medium. I also print more than I write cursive.

 

Thanks for the responses. I write in cursive nearly all the time. I do find that the pen seems to like printing better than cursive...

When I write cursive, the nib gets 'stuck' or skips on some of the rounder angles.

The tines are not misaligned. If I get it in the sweetspot, it writes smooth and even. It's quite a narrow sweetspot thought I gotta say..

 

 

 

Having said that, although I do not know from personal experience, I have heard of people having problems with the QC of Pilot higher end (100.00 and up) pens. Just some chatter on the forums recently.

I'm not sure what you mean by "have been adjusted professionally." Was that at the POS, or you got the pen, and later sent the nib units in to be adjusted, or just bought additional nib units from a nib meiester? I would recommend buying from John Mottishaw or Linda at Indy Pen Dance. Disclaimer - I've never purchased anything from either, but I've heard excellent things about them both. You're probably familiar with Mottishaw, but Linda is a nibmeister also. I believe you buy them factory new with both, but they may adjust the pen and make sure it writes well, before it's shipped. Between the two, if you wanted to have it adjusted and confirmed that it writes well, you would probably have faster service with Linda, due to Mottishaw's backlog.

The nibs were purchased from a well known nibmeister who personally adjusts the nibs before sending out.

The nibs are tested before they go out, so apparently what I receive is supposed to be up to the standard...

I just don't want to mention names, because then it becomes a drama of "Well why didn't you contact the nibmeister about it before posting?". The answer to that is, at the time of purchase, I had faith the the nibs were "how they are supposed to be", considering that I have 3 adjusted/ground nibs from that reputable seller and one stock Broad nib that I bought elsewhere.

It appears to be a case of "some pens write well for others" situation.

Maybe it's the particular way I hold and write. My other everyday writers include Platinum 3776 (Music nib), Pilot Knight (M), Noodler's Nibcreep (regular and Flex), Parker Frontier (with ground cursive italic), Rotring Newton.. I picked up a Sheaffer VFM for dirt cheap the other day and that wrote completely fine. There are more pens that are uninked at the moment which all write well! It's just the Pilot Vanishing Point, which is the kind of pen I require for work, which gives me nib problems. Strange indeed!

[mc021]

I have a Fermo, uses same kind of nibs as the VP. It came with a rhodium plated tip that wrote well until I borrowed it to the wrong person. Now I have 2 binderized nibs that are the plain gold ones that are used in the VP and haven't had any issues with those.

[swanjun]

I have a broad nib VP and it's one of my very favorites, smooth and with a good flow. I didn't think I wrote slowly—I have certainly outpaced the flow on other pens!—but perhaps that *is* a factor here.

[doggonecarl]

It very well might be how you hold the pen. It only takes slight rotation to take it off the sweet spot. The VP has a small nib and the "rotation" might not be as noticable as with a pen with a large nib.

 

I have that issue with my hooded nibbed pens.

Edited February 27, 2015 by doggonecarl

[kissing]

I guess all I can say is... while I love the features of the VP, it's probably my least favourite writer on the spectrum of "decent" quality pens :\

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/pactio_kiss/20150228_013519_zpswmrh5bjn.jpg

 

I have spent far too much time and money on this single pen to try and get a nib/ink combination that works >_<

Edited February 27, 2015 by kissing

[rochester21]

I tried two VPs. One of them was shipped with a bad F nib and was unimpressive. The other one had a better nib(F) that was quite good. Not necessarily great, but good nonetheless.

 

And by the way, if you don`t like it, why did you buy 3 spare nib assemblies for it ??

Edited February 27, 2015 by rochester21

[Blue_Moon]

 

Thanks for the responses. I write in cursive nearly all the time. I do find that the pen seems to like printing better than cursive...

When I write cursive, the nib gets 'stuck' or skips on some of the rounder angles.

The tines are not misaligned. If I get it in the sweetspot, it writes smooth and even. It's quite a narrow sweetspot thought I gotta say..

 

 

 

Maybe it's the particular way I hold and write.

 

 

I very well might be how you hold the pen. It only takes slight rotation to take it off the sweet spot. The VP has a small nib and the "rotation" might not be as noticable as with a pen with a large nib.

 

This might well be the case. Mine has a smaller sweet spot than other pens, Pilots included.

[kissing]

I tried two VPs. One of them was shipped with a bad F nib and was unimpressive. The other one had a better nib(F) that was quite good. Not necessarily great, but good nonetheless.

 

And by the way, if you don`t like it, why did you buy 3 spare nib assemblies for it ??

 

Initially it came with a cursive italic nib (which I ordered from the nibmeister) and its stock Medium nib included (which is adjusted by the nibmeister).

 

The cursive italic nib produced impressive writing, but was a bit of a pain to write with.

I wasn't even new to cursive italic nibs, but for some reason, this one was skippy and a bit too dry for my liking.

The Medium nib wasn't very impressive either, being a bit dry. I used them for about a year when I felt that perhaps I just had bad luck and got some bad nibs. So I ordered an extra Medium nib from the same nibmeister, thinking perhaps a year of use has "worn out" the other nibs..

 

The new Medium nib wasn't all that impressive either...

 

But I had already invested quite a bit of money into buying this pen. Then I thought perhaps a Broad nib would have better ink flow and purchased one on eBay from an authorized seller.

 

The Broad nib is the one I am using now. It does write a bit better than my Medium nibs.. but it still is not without its issues.

It had quite a baby's bottom when it was new, causing considerable skipping. It's broken in a bit now, but the ink flow is still rather stingy and skips a bit.

 

Anyway, after all this happened, I felt it was finally time to voice my experience with this pen.

Edited February 27, 2015 by kissing

[kissing]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/pactio_kiss/20150228_020305_zpslekbjj6y.jpg

[Penman222]

Not at all. My 5 year old VP with a gold medium 18k is one of my best writers, and I have used a wide variety of different inks in the pen with the CON-20.

 

However, I briefly owned a Decimo that was pretty poor writer and I returned it.

[torstar]

Can't get used to the grip to make it a part of the main rotation.

 

And it doesn't write that super-greatly to make me want to make it to the big leagues.

[deepak23]

Had ordered one VP two days ago and on seeing the title of this thread, I was like 'Oh Shyte have I blundered (again)'. Now waiting with fingers crossed...

[jar]

If you don't like the pen, simply switch to something else. Expecting different results from the same experience is seldom successful. I only have three VPs and they are all the older faceted version from the early to mid 90s and while they have all be totally reliable I'll readily admit they are not among my favored fountain pens.

 

Since you have tried several nibs and ones that were adjusted for you perhaps it's time to just admit that the VP is not the pen for you and move on?

[WateryFlow]

Well Pilot pens seem to have their fair share of problems. The only one I owned was scratchy and horrible, so I sent it to fountain pen heaven.

Edited February 27, 2015 by WateryFlow