My wife gave me a Pilot Capless, black carbonesque, for our anniversary and I was excited about it as I'd always wanted to try one out. Even better that she did this with no prompting from me other than she knows I like pens!

It came with a medium nib that I was lukewarm to and that eventually my son mangled when I left it out in the open by accident. I replaced it with a fine which is more to my liking, bought a few boxes of cartridges and have found that over the past couple months it keeps finding its way more and more frequently in my pocket, on my desk or in my hands as my daily user. I have been a fairly devoted vintage guy - my most frequent daily users are "51"s, a Vac and a striped Duofold. The Pilot seemed a bit hefty compared to my vintage pens, at first at least, and it has taken some time to get used to the clip. But for some reason the weight has been less of an issue and my typical daily use does not consist of handwriting pages and pages, but jotting down notes at meetings or on phone calls, marking up documents, etc... so I don't hold on to it for hours on end.

What has really taken ahold of me is how convenient it is to use. No cap to worry about, obviously, easy to deploy, and the never failed to write on the first stroke reliability have made it a very, very appealing pen for my typical daily use. Plus, I really like the cartridges it uses - both blue-black and blue - flow nicely and are quite water resistant to boot as a bonus. It's also become my staple travel pen - again because it is just easy and trouble free, travels well and throw some cartridges in my computer bag and I'm good for a long time. With the fine nib (that has a perfect wet but not too wet flow) the cartridges also last a good while.

While I didn't fall in love with it at first glance, I've definitely fallen in love with it over the past few months, which is for me at least the best sign of a long term relationship!

The pen is great, BUT the blue cartride is crap. Awful wishy washy blue. OK when wet, but fades dreadfully when it dries.

OK with bottled ink - American BLOOOOOO by PR - or anything really.

Peter

Hes Not

It's neat when you come to enjoy a pen that you didn't at first. I have a Waterman's Expert that I thought was just too heavy, but I found it to be really quite nice, and substantial...especially working with children like I do, and having it banged around sometimes. I kept using it thinking that if I didn't like it soon, it would go away with my prompting. But somewhere along the line I specifically began reaching for it.

Andrew

I never understood why anyone would want a Vanishing Point. For some reason they never appealed to me and I never thought I would own one. Then one day while in an all-day meeting in an auditorium, I kept dropping the cap to my Lamy 2000. And the off-on-off again of the cap was getting to me. The next day I took another look at the VP and ordered one just for the convenience of the capless design. Now I have both a black and a blue carbonesque -- AND they are two of my favorite and most functional pens. I see a green one in my future.

Steve

I definitely understand this! I just ordered my second VP Decimo. The first one arrived a couple of weeks ago and since that time I've found myself reaching for it again and again. I have lots of pens that I love, inked and ready to go, but for a short quick note or a notation while in the middle of something, nothing beats the convenience of the click and write VP. For me, the turning point was the Decimo. The original VP that I have was just too big and awkward for me, but the Decimo is just the right size. (I may end up with a Bindered nib, though. My current one 'sings' just a little too much for my taste. (Haven't received the second one yet.)

I always have two Pilot Decimos in regular rotation -- one in slate gray for business use (inked with a blue or blue-black ink) and the other one in pink for journaling (inked with something more interesting). I love the convenience and practicality of the Decimos.

My VP really snuck up on me as well. I love the carts too, specifically the black Namiki ink is fantastic! Perfect flow in the VP nib units, very dark but still has a unique softness to it I don't see in Aurora, Pelikan, or Noodlers black. The blue-black is also nice, but gets a little to washy for me. The blue ink is that sickening wishy-washy blue that I hate. Ugh. But hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! And I really do like the black a lot.

Two capless pens I need are the Raden, and then I can sell my black and gold VP, and one of the decimos, but none of the current colors really turn me on. I love my silver colored Fermo. Very attractive finish that hasn't lost its luster, even after a couple months of non-stop pocket workhorse use.

And HesNot, if you haven't tried a Binderized capless nib unit you owe it to yourself. Its the cheapest and quickest way to get a 14k Binder. The 0.9mm stub I use in my regular VP brought my writing enjoyment to a whole different level. It'll definitely be moved to my Raden whenever I get it.

I like my VP so much, its made me want a Custom 823.

Because of this thread, I am even so much more excited to get my chrome on chrome VP! I ordered it from Pam Braun and it's on its way. I'm thinking of using Omas gray with it.

I was a little bothered that some FPNers complained that it was like a blimp to hold, but I saw a review of it on Pig Pog, which was actually a comparative review of the VP and the Decimo, and the photos of the two pens lying beside each other on a tabletop didn't show much difference. I thought, what's a few millimeters? So I decided to buy the less expensive VP first, and then if it IS indeed like a blimp to hold, then I have an excuse to buy the champagne Decimo!

I too find that the VP come around more in my rotation than its equal share. I also own two, which is a sign that I really like the design. They are perfect for sporadic writing, which is primarily what I do at work.

I think that you'll find that although the size difference is very small between the regular VP and the Decimo, it is noticeable. I am now very very happy with my Decimo, but I will probably invest in a regular VP as well in the near future, for home use.

One of the benefits of the VP design is that most of the weight seems to be at the bottom end of the pen, rather than at the top. The bottom-heavy design is much more stable to hold, IMO.

TMann

HesNot - welcome to the VP conversion club!

The Pilot VP was my second fountain pen, following the Parker 51. I stumbled upon it quite by accident and was instantly intrigued by the design. It's such a great design that was started way back in the early 1960's with the VP arriving in 1999 with the sturdiest construction. The relatively inexpensive nib assembly interchange feature is a marvel. But that capless convenience has to be the most compelling feature. I like this pen even more than the Lamy 2000. I just wish the VP had a better ink capacity converter.

Johnson, you are right--the Raden has to be your next one. And a Binder cursive italic has to be my next upgrade.

I definitely enjoyed the fact that I could replace the nib on my VP when my son got ahold of it and mangled the first one. And at a local brick and mortar (albeit at $30 retail) but still quite convenient!

I now have to save up for a Binder stub ... perhaps .6 for day to day use?

Welcome to the Club.

My name is Bob and I am a VP/Capless addict.

I started out with a Mustard Yellow VP after reading The Noble Savage's glowing review of the pen. At the time my weekly rotation consisted of a couple Parker "51"s, and a couple Pelikan M400's. I soon started grabbing the VP more and more frequently. It wasn't long before it became the only pen I was using. The desire for another VP soon took over, and the Raden was next in line. Then I wanted the older faceted models. I soon added the Black Stealth (my favorite pen), the Burgundy, and most recently a NOS Green. My only problem now is deciding which of the 5 to use. But this is a good problem, I am not complaining at all.

Johnson, get the Raden, you will love it.

For the few who don't like the larger size of the current VP, I recommend the older models. They show up here in the Marketplace or on Ebay, and can be had for a decent price. The clip is smaller, the width is smaller, and the facets give it a nice feel. I assume they are the same size as the current Decimo, but I had yet to hold a Decimo so can't verify for sure.

Here is a pic of 4 of my 5. The Green was on it's way when the shot was taken.



Bob

The popularity of the VP doesn't seem mysterious to me at all. They're handy, well made, reliable, and wonderful writers. They come in a lot of colors and finishes and have a sort of muted bling.

My Fermo just arrived in last night's mail and will accompany me to the office today. It had a Binder .5mm cursive italic waiting for it, and the two of them are getting along quite well!

Doug

I've got two, but I really want two more: the Raden and the SR-71-like older black model.