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Penbbs 494, A $4, Piston Filling Pseudo-Clone Of The Pilot 78G


Honeybadgers

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I just bought 5 more.

 

It's similar to the 322, the regular penbbs 78G clone (Well I say clone, but it's better made than the pilot ) but with a piston filler that is very smooth, a very gentle triangular grip (very gentle, those of you that hate a triangle grip probably won't notice) and it uses a penbbs marking on the pilot style nib.

 

First impressions were bummer until I realized that I was stupid and forgot to clean the nib, which had quite a bit of oil on it, likely from the piston assembly (which arrived well lubricated)

 

Once I cleaned the nib and feed, it writes perfectly.

 

The fit and finish on the plastic are superb, There is a small injection seam around the barrel and section, not on the cap or knob (though those were molded differently as the injection point is visible at the end, though it's a pointlessly minor gripe

 

As an aesthetic device, it's a DAMN good looking pen. the clip is lovely with a nice tension and slides over a shirt nicely without binding, almost nothing is loose (more on that in a sec) and the cap posts deeply and securely and it will not cross thread.

 

Its got a pretty great piston filler with a click at the end of the draw to ensure it won't unscrew and eject ink.

 

In the hand, it's perfect. It's thin, light, maneuverable, super comfortable unposted or posted, It has a beefy freaking O ring at the section that both secures the cap nicely and keeps it from drying out.

 

The plastic itself is solid and thick with superb clarity and feels very good.

 

The EF nib is smooth and consistent and wet and reliable, it reverse writes perfectly, and the clear feed and body with two silver accents on the clip band and end of the piston mechanism really pop.

 

 

My only gripes are twofold.

 

Firstly, and most annoying to some, the cap has too many threads. No, it's not that 11 turn monstrosity of the knockoff lecai, but three full turns to uncap is dumb. The threads are glassy smooth and it will NOT cross thread, so the feel of capping it is fine, but as a quick note taker, it is kind of annoying to uncap and cap repeatedly.

 

Second, and this is less important, is the cap knob kinda free-twists about 1/10th of a turn. Even when you've turned it to click, it just keeps rotating a bit back and forth if you play with it. It rattles a tiny bit if yo turn it upside down and shake it, but it's really not a deal breaker for me since this pen is so inexpensive.

 

Honestly though, I ordered five more as giveaway pens, picked them up for $2.99 each. At that price, they're a SCREAMING deal and light years ahead of the WS 3008. But if they made the knob a lockdown like the wing sung 698 or even just redesigned it so it doesn't wiggle, and changed it to be multistart threads (it's only a single start) it'd be basically perfect and without fault.

 

 

I think the $2.99 ones are kind of a goof right now, as the first one I bought was $9 (honestly, it's still great at that price) so if you're interested, look right now and buy one ASAP.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Where can I get them? Also, do you have any idea what size nib could be swapped in?

 

Everywhere on ebay.

 

They take any pilot steel nib. So an EF from a kakuno or penmanship, an F or M from a metro, or a stub from a plumix.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Everywhere on ebay.

 

They take any pilot steel nib. So an EF from a kakuno or penmanship, an F or M from a metro, or a stub from a plumix.

Thank you. I was only going to purchase one if it was viable for me to swap in a #5 or #6 BB nib.

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How fine runs the fine nib?

Im not used to pick between Chinese nib sizes and im a little confused as to wether pick F or EF if I want something akin to Heros hooded pens

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How fine runs the fine nib?

Im not used to pick between Chinese nib sizes and im a little confused as to wether pick F or EF if I want something akin to Heros hooded pens

I haven't used it, but you should expect it to be a size smaller at minimum.

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Thank you. I was only going to purchase one if it was viable for me to swap in a #5 or #6 BB nib.

 

You made me curious so I checked.

 

A knox #5 Oblique BB fits perfectly, doesn't wobble and mates well to the feed.

 

fpn_1564889575__20190803_203109.jpg

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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You made me curious so I checked.

 

A knox #5 Oblique BB fits perfectly, doesn't wobble and mates well to the feed.

 

fpn_1564889575__20190803_203109.jpg

Looks good. Thanks for showing us!

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There seem to be different pens being advertised on eBay under the name 'PenBBS 494'. Some are transparent only piston fillers, with a solid thin clip (pic shows a transparent pen with blue ink and blue/grey flower sketches on a pad), then there are others with a flat stamped clip with different coloured caps/back ends, but their descriptions confusingly include pictures of 'negative pressure pens' - vac fillers like the Wing Sung 3013/Paili 013, though when you select a colour the image changes to a piston filler something like a cross between a Wing Sung 3008 and a Lanbitou 3059. Confused? You will be.

 

Both are around $4. I'm assuming only the transparent only pens are ones like Honeybadgers bought. The sellers of these just advertise variants A or B, which I assume to be EF or F, but which is which?

 

Never has spending $4 been so difficult.

Edited by garyc
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yeah the wing sung 3013 seems to be listed as well under that name.

 

Honestly, that's an even better buy at $4 if you don't mind being unable to post.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Arrived yesterday. Surprisingly for a $5 Chinese pen - in a box. Not a great box but still a box.

 

Looks very good. The size is nice. It's long, but rather thin and looks much more proportional than Caliarts Ego and Wing Sung 698 - both of which use the same Pilot-ish type nib and it looks really small on them. Here it's much more in place. Posts reasonalby well.

 

I flushed it, filled it with Pelikan Dark Green - it writes well, very smooth, wetness average.

 

Bobby sells on eBay a model which seems almost identical, but branded Wing Sung, with a WingS nib and a clip more similiar to 78G's clip.

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  • 2 months later...

the 3008 is just weirdly proportioned to me and has the inner cap screw rust issue (which is only a minor cosmetic gripe for the demonstrator caps) but takes lamy nibs.

 

If the idea of a barely wobbly piston knob annoys you, I would recommend the 3003, but the 494 is made from slightly thicker, nicer plastic.

 

I've been using an EF one for a while now, and the O ring cap seals super well, no dryout, it writes every time, and hasn't cracked or shown any flaws apart from that little minor wobble in the piston knob (which is exactly the same as when I got it) so that tiny flaw really only seems to be the single problem with the pen.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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I've been using two of these for about 2 months. Loving both so far. No need for nib adjustment at all!

 

I'm using Waterman purple with one of them, and a custom ink mix (Noodler's black, Pelikan 4001 black, a little Chinese Zycc Ink and a little bit drop of soap, just for the sake of the experiment). Both work nicely. Loving the pen so far, currently my favorite Chinese pen.

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noticeably better. It's a piston fill, whereas the 3001A uses a converter. the plastic on it does feel quite nice and not cheap or flimsy.

 

It also uses an O ring to seal the cap and I can confirm that I've had one inked with pilot blue black since I wrote this review and only use it maybe once every 2 weeks and it starts up great every time.

 

The cap is a 2 1/2 turn to open affair though. That may annoy some people.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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:thumbup:

noticeably better. It's a piston fill, whereas the 3001A uses a converter. the plastic on it does feel quite nice and not cheap or flimsy.

 

It also uses an O ring to seal the cap and I can confirm that I've had one inked with pilot blue black since I wrote this review and only use it maybe once every 2 weeks and it starts up great every time.

 

The cap is a 2 1/2 turn to open affair though. That may annoy some people.

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I love this pen. I've been using this pen for months, and no problem at all.

Air seal is perfect. It never dries out, even when not used for a week.

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