Pilot Metal Falcon Vs Pilot Resin Falcon

[Ed333]

I have a Black resin bodied Falcon, and am quite happy with it. I am considering another Falcon in red (if resin) or burgundy (if metal), with a Broad nib. The differences I see include:

• Price; the metal pen is appreciably more expensive; that is a real factor.
• Weight; I assume the additional weight of the metal pen would be noticeble. I do not post, and do not see that as a big factor.
• Converter; the metal body has the Con-70 (which I believe has more capacity?) and the resin body has the Con-50 converter.

I do not see any other differences. The nibs appear to be the same. Am I overlooking something? Is there any opinion that the metal body is well worth the extra money?

thanks, Ed

[MuddyWaters]

I would think you have highlighted the main factors. It would be most helpful to try one in your hand to see if the added heft is desirable.

[abstract49]

I think it might depend more on what you're comfortable with in terms of length. I have large hands and so will almost always be happier with a longer/larger pen; this might not be the case for you.

 

I keep a resin Falcon in my auto log book, and it is perfect for daily mileage entries, appointments, etc., but I find the metal falcons better for letter writing, journaling, or any longer time writing stints.

 

To each his own.

[A Smug Dill]

Is there any opinion that the metal body is well worth the extra money?

 

(Pre-emptively, just in case you or anyone else is wondering, I have two resin-bodied Pilot Namiki Falcon pens with a SF and a SEF nib respectively, and a metal-bodied Pilot Elabo with a SEF nib.)

 

Worth, much less "well worth", is not an objective assessment. You could base the assessment of worth on what you as the owner/user personally value, or take yourself out of the equation and judge it on what others in the market is prepared to pay as an item's (commercial) worth. Given Pilot's current (long-standing) pricing for the respective models, I daresay the manufacturer believes consumers in the fountain pen market regard the metal Elabo as being worth more, and sales figures have not caused or forced the company to rethink its position on that.

 

Personally, if I'm going to rid myself of one of the two SEF-nibbed Pilot pens, the metal-bodied Elabo will be first to go, because it isn't "worth" more to me than the resin-bodied Namiki Falcon, but can nevertheless fetch a higher price in the used pen market.

 

I won't be so obtuse as to pretend that being able to take any converter, including the CON-70, isn't an advantage the metal pen has. It is an advantage, simply by being more flexible (and obviously I'm not talking about the nib itself) in which ink converter I may want to fit in it from time to time; for example, if i already have a CON-70 filled with some particular ink in another Pilot pen, but want to do a quick comparison of writing output from that pen and an SEF-nibbed pen. What is no advantage from my perspective is a larger ink capacity that comes part and parcel with a converter that I find more difficult to fill completely or to clean thoroughly. I have plenty of old and new CON-70 converters lying around doing nothing, simply because I don't enjoy doing them; and I'm happy to fill my pens often when cleaning the converters and changing inks isn't an awful chore.

 

The extra weight of the metal pen body doesn't really matter to me. There are 12g pens that I enjoy writing with, and there are 36g pens that I enjoy writing with. I don't find the weight of the pen making that much of a perceivable difference to the amount of pressure I have to exert with my hand in order to get a particular degree of "flex" out of the SEF nib. I prefer to carry a lighter pen when I'm out, but since I don't carry pens in shirt pockets any more, the extra several grams won't really matter.

 

In spite of the sturdier metal body, the Elabo does not make for a better "tactical" pen to use in close-range combat at a pinch; the Pilot MR/Cocoon models are better for that, and much cheaper to boot.

 

I haven't run side-by-side testing to see whether the cap on the metal-bodied Elabo is more effective at sealing and preventing the pen from drying out if left unused for, say, three months. I don't think the difference will be huge in that regard between the two models, but I do know the resin-bodied Namiki Falcon is quite effective already.

One difference you haven't noted between the two models (or ranges) are the different colours available. If someone particularly wants a metallic blue pen because it's pleasing aesthetically, then it could add to the pen's subjective worth, irrespective of the actual writing performance, etc.

[aurore]

Whatever you like and whatever feels more comfortable and nicer. The nib/feed and the whole section actually is identical (=not metal in either case), but obviously a metal version feels different (which might be important).

[WLSpec]

I like my red resin falcon

 

I could not use it for everyday writing, though, as a lefty. It is incredibly scratchy for me. It is a factory nib, so I might get it altered or do something myself. We shall see.

[JunkyardSam]

Tough question. I own metal Falcons in SEF, SF, SM, and SB, and I have a spare red resin body.

 

The metal Falcons look and feel nicer to the touch. The extra ink capacity is much preferred as well.

 

However, the metal Falcon is heavy enough that I never forget the pen is in my hand when I am using it. That could be a good thing, but the pen is slightly back heavy which you can prove when you balance the pen on your finger.

 

The resin Falcon is featherweight, but perfectly balanced. Many don't like how light the resin Falcon is, but I find it's a pen I can write or draw for hours with and it sort of becomes a natural extension of my hand. There's no fatigue and I'm not contantly 'aware' of the pen in my hand.

 

I tend to post the metal Falcons and grip them further back in order to offset the weight issue. That's not bad - I'm a lefty, and that keeps my hand out of the ink which can be extra good for the SM and SB especially.

 

I don't like the smaller Pilot converters so I refill cartridges with the resin Falcon.

 

In the end you'll probably have to try both before you can know which you like more -- but you might just end up like me... Confused & conflicted, and swapping back and forth between them from time to time.

 

Sometimes when I use the resin body I miss the metal body -- and vice versa.

[Andrew_L]

I had a regular Pilot Namiki Falcon (Resin) that I love and recently bought a Pilot Metal Falcon for comparison. I like him too. I wrote my thoughts in the review: http://lenskiy.org/2021/04/modern-pilot-metal-falcon/

 

 

 

[Honeybadgers]

I got a metal falcon for $60 because it had bad photos and a weird listing on ebay, so nobody saw it.

 

It's noticeably heavier. Could be annoying to some.

 

Other than that, the sections are identical plastic. The metal body version can fit the CON-70 converter, plastic one cannot.

 

Personally, I think I'd prefer a resin falcon body, but one that can accept a CON-70.

 

Interestingly, the Falcon's section screws straight into the barrel on basically every PenBBS acrylic pen. I've been using my falcon section (reground to a needlepoint + flex spencerian) in a penbbs 355 lately.

[Andrew_L]

$60 is a very sweet price for this pen - congratulations. I use a section from resin Falcon with PenBBS 487. In this version, you can install the Con-70, but you can use also as a magnetic piston. When used as magnetic piston it can be filled about 3 ml of ink and it already annoys me, because I have to wait very long time for the next refueling

 

http://lenskiy.org/2020/11/modern-hybrid-pilot-namiki-falcon-with-penbbs-487/

[Hrevna]

On 5/5/2021 at 6:31 PM, Honeybadgers said:

I got a metal falcon for $60 because it had bad photos and a weird listing on ebay, so nobody saw it.

 

It's noticeably heavier. Could be annoying to some.

 

Other than that, the sections are identical plastic. The metal body version can fit the CON-70 converter, plastic one cannot.

 

Personally, I think I'd prefer a resin falcon body, but one that can accept a CON-70.

 

Interestingly, the Falcon's section screws straight into the barrel on basically every PenBBS acrylic pen. I've been using my falcon section (reground to a needlepoint + flex spencerian) in a penbbs 355 lately.

You wouldn't happen to know if the Namiki nib section fits the PENBBS 267 (or even a 308) would you? I currently own the Falcon SEF (I use it for drawing purposes), however I find the body of the pen very light/cheap feeling. Nib is great of course, but the body does not impress me. Not sure if I should just upgrade to the metal or find another body to fit the nib section. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Hrevna

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, Hrevna said:

You wouldn't happen to know if the Namiki nib section fits the PENBBS 267 (or even a 308) would you?

 

The gripping section from a resin-bodied Pilot Elabo (sold as a ’Pilot Namiki Falcon’ when I bought it on Amazon, but that's possibly a misnomer) will fit onto a PenBBS 308, or a PenBBS 309 if you want the extra ink capacity of its integrated piston-filling mechanism; and there is sufficient headroom for the nib when the pen is capped.

[Hrevna]

47 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

The gripping section from a resin-bodied Pilot Elabo (sold as a ’Pilot Namiki Falcon’ when I bought it on Amazon, but that's possibly a misnomer) will fit onto a PenBBS 308, or a PenBBS 309 if you want the extra ink capacity of its integrated piston-filling mechanism; and there is sufficient headroom for the nib when the pen is capped.

Music to my ears. Thank you for confirming it fits the 308.