Well I thought I had found some of the perfect pens, a couple of P51's, a Lamy 2000, a Visconti Van Gogh, had most of my bases covered, Aan American pen (P51), an English Pen ((P51), a German pen and an Italian pen, sure no French or Chinese or Japanese pens, but asises from the Vp I was not too concerned, and then diaster struck, pendaddy offered to lend me a black carbonesque VP with the idea that if I liked it I might buy it off him, well it arrived last night, box, pen, converter, papers, cartridges, stickers, all well looked after, so I pulled out my new unopened bottle of lamy Blue (expect glowing review soon), filled the VP up, layed the medium nib to paper, played around withn ait a little bit and had a little smile on my face, when my wife got home she tried to take it off me, almost succeded too, she likes it and if it was a different colour she might have tried harder, really liked the material, but I digress, anyway this morning I pulled it out of my pen case, clipped it into my shirt pocket (good grip, but nothing fancy), very soon I had some exhibits I needed to sign in (someone tried to 'open' a door with a sledge hammer...), and wow, I could flick between information sheets and use the pen one handed, no wasted time, puts down a wonderful wet, smooth line that dries fast, hair thicker than my Lamy 2000 EF, and of course the texture of the carbonesque-kasuri? is wonderful to hold.
Well I am having trouble puuting the pen down, keep looking for excuses to write more, this is bad, I am pretty sure I will be buying this pen, and then maybe a second for my wife...
Beware the lure of the VP.........

Shelley -
Are you right-handed or left-handed? The reason I ask this is because, I too, am looking to purchase one of these pens but I am very concerned about the placement of the clip. I am right-handed and i have read that it is less of a problem for righties than lefties.

Also: how smooth is the nib compared to the Lamy 2000 EF? Currently I have a Lamy 2000 EF.

Thanks,
John

Hi John, I am right handed, like yourself and find no problems with the placement anymore, in fact after maybe 10 minutes I ceased to notice it at all, like the 'ears' on the Lamy 2000, I noticed them the first time I picked up the pen, then after that -nothing.
I imagine you will have the same experiance with this, its unusual, but not a problem at all, and that unusual quality is one of the characteristics of the pen that makes it so good-and make you keep reaching for it.
I have the black carbonesque model, which is not carbon fibre, but a cloth material, that has been boded with either epoxy resin of some sort or from laccquer (spelling?), but it is vey nice to hold, and has a slight "rippled" effect under the fingers which make it unlikelym to slip out of your gip.
The clip is adequte, holds on to the shirt well, and designed to stay out of the way, as compared to the clip on the 2000, which is spring loaded, and a little more prominent.
The VP feels a hair heavier and, retracted, is a hair longer, the VP is also a cc, so will not hold as much ink as the 2000.
As for the nibs, well there are similar in thickness-almost identical (I am running MB turquise in the 2000 EF and Lamy blue in the VP M). The lamy might have a slightly sharper feel to it where as the VP is slighltly smoother-that could be due to the ink but it should not be as lamy and MB ink is the same stuff.
I think it is that the EF is just a finer/sharper point so you feel the paper more, where as the VP glides over it.
So I would say gor for it, I am going to be getting a second one of these as my wife has decided she likes it so much that if I do not get her one then she will steal mine!
I note that Pam Braun (who I have bought from in the past) has them on her website for USD 83.98.
I would say gor for it!

If you want to get your wife to leave the carbonesque VP alone, show her the RADEN !! My husband just bought me one for our anniversary -- and I'm smitten (both with the VP and with my husband) !! Like you, I just keep looking for reasons to write with it.

Enjoy! HP

The Decimo got me!

I tried a VP yesterday at the pen store. The clip does not interfere with my index finger placement (and that finger is used to pressing down on lead advancing buttons, so it's OK anyway), but unfortunately, I prefer to write at an angle where my thumb wants to sit right at the edge of the clip, but is clearly unable to do so. So not for me.

By the way, I am right-handed.