Jump to content

If You Own Both A Pilot Metro And A Custom 823...


TheDutchGuy

Recommended Posts

It's pretty rare that people are so unanimous in their enthousiasm for a pen. Pens are so personal that opinions tend to vary a lot. I'll have to get an 823 F. To be continued, thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 34
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • TheDutchGuy

    13

  • akrohn2010

    4

  • Tseg

    4

  • Oranges and Apples

    3

It's pretty rare that people are so unanimous in their enthousiasm for a pen. Pens are so personal that opinions tend to vary a lot. I'll have to get an 823 F. To be continued, thanks!

A Pilot 823 F is quite high on my wish list. If I wasn’t able to get so many other wish list items for the same price, I’d already have it...

 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I found out long ago.

~C.S. Lewis

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

Current Rotation:

Edison Menlo <m italic>, Lamy 2000 <EF>, Wing Sung 601 <F>

Pilot VP <F>, Pilot Metropolitan <F>, Pilot Penmanship <EF>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

That will have to wait two of three weeks. I ordered the pen from Japan today. Now I will have to exercise patience (not my strongest point).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, sad there are no pictures through this whole thread. Don't forget to consider the JDM Smoke version. For all intents and purposes it ends up being a black and gold pen once ink goes in it.

 

40171037834_51f1aeceba_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ordered the amber version, but you're right: unless you put red ink in it or something like that, it will become a cigar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That will have to wait two of three weeks. I ordered the pen from Japan today. Now I will have to exercise patience (not my strongest point).

Mine either — I feel your pain! Been waiting on an Edison Menlo I ordered in March - Brian Gray said it would be 17 weeks, so still another 6-7 weeks to go. :(

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I found out long ago.

~C.S. Lewis

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

Current Rotation:

Edison Menlo <m italic>, Lamy 2000 <EF>, Wing Sung 601 <F>

Pilot VP <F>, Pilot Metropolitan <F>, Pilot Penmanship <EF>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have both. I tend to keep my 823 M-nib at home and "baby" it somewhat with treatment and what inks I put in it.

 

I have a Metropolitan F-nib that I travel more with due to not being as bummed about something bad happening to a $15 pen.

 

Both are nice, but wheres my Metro is my "it works quite well and I don't feel bad if something bad happens" pen, the 823 is one of my absolute favorites, with only my Sailor Pro Gear B-nib in its ballpark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine either — I feel your pain! Been waiting on an Edison Menlo I ordered in March - Brian Gray said it would be 17 weeks, so still another 6-7 weeks to go. :(

 

I'm in the same boat with my Namiki Urushi No. 20 ordered around the same time and was told I may have it by the 4th of July.

 

I remember ordering my 824 and it arrived on the 1st day of the big deliver window and thought Japan orders are not bad at all... and then my Sailor KoP arrived a week after the last day of a long delivery window. That wait really killed me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^---I'm assuming that's because of the 743's PO nib and not because of its C/C design. Intriguing. What is it about the PO nib that makes you favour it over the F...?

It's a unique nib and it's not like any other nib that I have. I have many of Pilot's pens with different nibs but the PO is something I like the best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a unique nib and it's not like any other nib that I have. I have many of Pilot's pens with different nibs but the PO is something I like the best.

 

 

Thanks! I've considered getting the PO, based your input, but in the end I chickened out and ordered a F. Mainly because many people said something like "my PO writes even finer than an EF". I'm still intrigued by the PO but I want to try it before I buy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't imagine that you won't love the F. It's my favorite nib. (Although I share your curiosity about the PO.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The line width with pilot gold (or bigger?) nibs vs. the Prera/78G/Metro nibs is definitely different. I find the 823 F to be finer than most 78G Fs (though I've had some 78s that were extremely fine and dry and probably adjusted too tight but sometimes I like dry and fine). The 823M is definitely wider than the average cheaper M nibs.

 

I got a smoke 823 F and an amber M maybe 5 years ago, when it wasn't so popular. Not sure what happened. Everyone is talking about it now. Anyway, the F nib is my favorite. I'm hesitant to say it is "better" than the metro F; I might just feel that way because it's softer, prettier, and I paid a lot for the pen (even with a good deal). I can't really separate all the non-performance aspects from the writing in terms of it being more "deluxe" or whatever.

 

It is softer/springier and has a _completely_ different feel to it that I really like as a special thing. Day to day, I like the metro nib's writing better. It's not smoother (the M is, though), so that's not what's nice. It's not really the same spring as, say, a Parker Sonnet, either. I think it takes less pressure to feel some give.

 

I could say a lot about the other aspects of the pen but I'll just go with: the vacuum system is neat, but I generally prefer to pipette-fill a CON40 since I hate to dip a nib in a bottle, and vac-filling out of a sample vial is something I've gotten good at with practice (just did a CON70 - little easier) but not ideal. I _have_ pulled the nib and feed from 823s and pipette/syringe filled them. Do at your own risk but it feels OK. I use my 78G pens more often, but am glad to have an 823 for when I want something less everyday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The wait is over!

 

post-141326-0-29932500-1528222070_thumb.jpeg

 

The journey from Japan to Holland took a mere three days. Then it took nine more days to travel the last 40 miles to my home. Odd. I picked it up at the post office today and after paying a substantial import tax fee, I can finally call it my own.

 

I'm not going to review a pen that has already been reviewed by so many others. I will share some personal first impressions, which I'm sure I will change over time as I get to know this pen better. Cosmetically and ergonomically, I love it. It looks great and fits my hand like a glove.

 

The vac filler mechanism is something I'll have to get used to. I know that many people swear by it, but I'm a firm believer in keeping stuff as simple as can be. I have no problems with cartridges, nor with converters. If a converter fails, too bad, five bucks will get me a new one. If the piston seal in my MB 146 leaks, I have a problem. The mechanism of the 823 seems to be just that, a mechanism. Time will tell how well it performs. I struggled to get the pen filled for the first time. It was impossible with the 50 mL Sailor Souten bottle, I had to transfer the ink into another bottle before I succeeded.

 

post-141326-0-50169200-1528222082_thumb.jpeg

 

^---Beautiful nib! Difficult to clean after filling the pen. Definitely the finest nib (in terms of line width) of my 11 pens. A very fine, wet line. The nib is smooth but not sterile, there's definitely a "connected-ness" to the paper that I like (not butter on hot glass). It's also a nail, without any hint of bounce or give. It feels like a perfectly executed steel nib to me. In comparison, my H-M nibbed Sailors are significantly wider, have more pleasant feedback, offer more control over my writing and have much more bounce and give. Does this mean my first impression is not favourable? Not at all. The F nib on my 823 is clearly top-notch quality and I like it a lot. I'll need to spend a few hours with it, to grow into it (I had to grow into my Sailors as well and now I love them like nothing else).

 

post-141326-0-71570900-1528222093_thumb.jpeg

 

^----Writing comparison of a few pens. Note that the EF nib on the MB is not your typical EF; it's an old nib with the 14C label and MB made these EF's with a slight architect grind. On paper it looks nothing like an EF, which is even more enhanced by the pen's wetness.

 

I look forward to getting to know this pen! :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad you're enjoying it! Look forward to hearing your thoughts after the newness wears off. :)

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I found out long ago.

~C.S. Lewis

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

Current Rotation:

Edison Menlo <m italic>, Lamy 2000 <EF>, Wing Sung 601 <F>

Pilot VP <F>, Pilot Metropolitan <F>, Pilot Penmanship <EF>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33474
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26573
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...