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Another Pilot Custom 823 Believer


Tseg

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I ordered the Smoke colored Pilot Custom 823 (F) not because I wanted to fall in love with it, but because I wanted a workhorse pen that met the following qualifications:

  • Perfect out-of-the-box nib that never fails for any reason
  • Good feeling nib (not necessarily great-feeling)
  • Large ink capacity for week-long trips
  • Travels well in planes
  • Fine print capability for writing in my tight-spaced Moleskine
  • Unassuming aesthetics that would not stand out at a meeting

Three weeks later it arrived. Those were 3 painful weeks where I became committed to finding every Custom 823 review - print and video - on the web. When the pen finally arrived there were very few surprises. It's nib/writing quality is outstanding... like a well-oiled machine each and every time. The pen is also super-comfortable, both in the section as well as length. The whole ink system and reservoir size is also stand-out.

 

What caught me off guard:

  • The pen arrived in a very nice quality plastic box (I was expecting less)
  • The empty pen felt much lighter than expected (it is 3 grams lighter than my TWSBI 580AL, even though being 7mm longer)... once filled with ink, had a heft more like I expected
  • Once I filled the pen with Iroshizuku Take-Sumi black ink I can't even tell the pen is transparent
  • The plastic felt kind of cheap... the screwed in cap with pressure applied made plastic bits rub and squeak. HOWEVER, I put the smallest spec of silicone grease on the cap threads with a tooth pick and the squeaking went away and the entire pen's plastic quality now seems elevated
  • The gold trim feels a bit on the cheap and cheesy side, with the gold being a bit too yellow - more yellow than the nib... the nib yellow is the right color yellow

In summary, the pen is not much of a looker, but the resulting writing experience from proper pen sizing, ink reservoir and nib quality overcomes a lot of ills. The Fine nib is Metropolitan fine, but more juicy. Perfect. Ultimately, if necessary, you will need to go out and buy a 'showing off' pen since this pen does not deliver in this regard.

 

39069412720_ddae89a28a_b.jpg

 

40171037834_51f1aeceba_b.jpg

 

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Very typical in design but one of the few modern vacuum fillers out there I know of. I've found myself recently considering a black 823, to my own surprise, since I've considered it one of the more unrealistic of my "lower" grail pens, though perhaps not impossibly unattainable. A Namiki Yukari on the other hand.... :P

I broke my $100 threshold a while back with my first love - an Edison Collier. I'm more attached to bigger pens now and I like the mechanically "flight ready" design of the 823, as well as its crystal black aesthetics. I only wish it had a two-tone nib.

...The history, culture and sophistication; the rich, aesthetic beauty; the indulgent, ritualistic sensations of unscrewing the cap and filling from a bottle of ink; the ambient scratch of the ink-stained nib on fine paper; A noble instrument, descendant from a line of ever-refined tools, and the luster of writing,
with a charge from over several millennia of continuing the art of recording man's life.

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I travel with both of my Pilot Custom 823s. The smoke version I purchased from Tokyo Pen Shop Quill with the Falcon nib. I also purchased a Pilot Custom 743 with SF nib to allow me to swap nibs when I felt like I needed a change. And the I also purchased my Transparent version from Tokyo Pen Shop Quill with the Waverly nib. Love how they all write and they do make great travel companions in the air.

Duane Pandorf

--------------------

Blog

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I am presently considering buying this pen but this comment really puts me off:

 

"The gold trim feels a bit on the cheap and cheesy side, with the gold being a bit too yellow - more yellow than the nib... the nib yellow is the right color yellow."

 

This is exactly the same way I feel about the Platinum 3776's gold trim which I find truly awful.

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I am presently considering buying this pen but this comment really puts me off:

 

"The gold trim feels a bit on the cheap and cheesy side, with the gold being a bit too yellow - more yellow than the nib... the nib yellow is the right color yellow."

 

This is exactly the same way I feel about the Platinum 3776's gold trim which I find truly awful.

 

 

I think the 823 gold is much better then on my Platinum 3776. I also don't think the plastic is cheep compared to other Japanese pens I have. It feels a lot more solid to me. I like using it as much as much more expensive pens.

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I have both the smoke and the amber and the plastic seems pretty robust to me. I suspect the transparency can give the impression of fragility, particularly in the amber, which is more transparent. But I've had the 823s for something like 3 years now and they are rock solid workhorses. I bought them as Broads and had them ground into cursive italics.

 

I agree the pen is not a looker but I think it's really good value for money.

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I suppose my first impression on the plastic was related to the squeaky, creaky plastic sounds I was getting from the pen around where the cap screwed to the body. Since adding the dot of silicone grease to the threads there is none of that sound like a creaking old fishing boat which now makes the plastic feel much more substantial. With the minuses expressed (which is now a non-issue with regards to the plastic), most importantly, this is BY FAR the best writing pen I own. I received a nice French pen on the same day that also had an amazing feel when writing.... but now I have found that French pen is temperamental depending on the paper, the ink flow comes and goes, etc... This Custom 823 is on it at peak performance at all I've thrown at it to date (which, admittedly, as only been a few days). Ultimately, I place function over form (which, I guess, is why I end up with more Japanese pens in stable).

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I think the 823 is a very under rated pen, especially for a working professional that needs a pretty decent ink capacity. The nibs are very good on these pens. If they would spiff up the barrel/cap colors, they would sell a lot more of them, IMHO.

...So much ink, so little penmanship....

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I suppose my first impression on the plastic was related to the squeaky, creaky plastic sounds I was getting from the pen around where the cap screwed to the body.

 

 

Strange my amber 823 did not have that issue. Maybe the plastics on the smoked one are different, but I would not have thought so. Mine was also the American market version. I had a discount to use which made it about the same price as expedited ones from Japan when I ordered it. Those come with the bottle of ink in the big box pictured bellow.

 

Just happy it's working out well for you now.

 

http://driften.dragonsightsoftware.com/images/PilotCustom823-1.png

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