They were easy to deal with, packaged the pen well, and had an accurate description.This is my first review, so anything I may have left out, please let me know! I've happily stolen headings from other reviews here.
First Impressions:
It comes in a plastic case with a clear hinge top. Sturdy, and despite being older than me, looks ok. No ones going to mistake it for a hundred dollar pen box, but it works, and doesn't scream cheap either.
Appearence and finish:
The pen itself is well... a pen. It has understated good looks, that while won't turn heads, will probably leave people with a positive impression. The cap is a dull brushed gold color, with a charcoal plastic body, and a brushed gold colored metal cap at the bottom of the barrel. There is no ring, the word PILOT is inscribe on the barrel near the cap. The cap clip is reasonably stiff with enough flex to go over most materials, including denim pockets, although that might be a tight fight. The body itself looks quite sleek uncapped, the grip and barrel look like one piece.
Weight and Feel:
The body seems to be made entirely of plastic. The metal button at the end of the breel adds a balancing weight to the pen. Unposted it feels fine in my hand. Posting adds a bit more weight to the end of the pen, but not a huge amount. I don't find it tiring posted, which is unusual for me! The barrel itself is not too wide or too thin (but I have big hands), approcimately 1cm in diamter at its widest, about 0.6cm around the grip. Uncapped the pen is just under 12cm long. Posted it is about 16cm long.The 'balance' seems to be right posted or unposted.
The cap itself is not very heavy, but doesn't feel cheap either. Closing the lid completely gives an audible 'snick' sound. It feels very secure capped. It's not liable to fall off when posted either.
Filling system:
The filler is a rubber sac between two metal clips. Fairly standard looking. The filler works well. The sac is dark colored, so it is difficult to tell how much ink is in the pen. It does appear to be nearly full, based on how much ink is ejected, after 3 or 4 presses though, it certainly hasnt run dry after writing some 10 A4 sheets with my tiny writing!
Nib:
Gold colored, with quite a large area visible. I do not think it is plated, and am unsure as to what tipping material it has, or what metal the nib is made of. It has a nice streamlined look and is stamped:
PILOT
Made in Korea
Super
Quality
I rinsed the nib in mild detergent solution before first use. Filled with Skrip Sepia and wiped. It wrote as soon as the nib touched the paper. Since then it has never been difficult to start. I left the pen uncapped for about 3 minutes, and it started up with only a slight hesitation. Properly capped though, it has never failed to start on the first touch. The line produced is quite fne, about 1mm in width. The nib is fairly rigid, pressing down doesnt appreciably alter the line width, although I didn't press down very hard! The nib is beautiful to use. The line produced is wet, but not wet enough to smudge while writing quickly. I've been using it on fairly cheap notepaper and there has been no feathering and no scratchiness. I can pull the pen down the page and produce a nice line with no 'dry' areas.
Overall:
Can you tell I love this pen? The weight is perfect for me, and the nib and ink flow are amazing. For the price, I'll be suprised if I can find a smoother writer. Out of the box, this pen has been writing smooth and without problems. My only con would be the capping system. A little care is need to slide the cap on, as the metal cap slides snugly over the plastic grip, I get the feeling the cap could scrape the grip area if one was a little uncaring. Otherwise though... I can't think of anything bad to say about it! If you get the chance to own one of these, I'd suggest doing so without a hesitation! The price is right and the writing is great.
Pictures to come soon!
!