Pilot Petit

[J-san]

Here's a look at a neat little pocket pen from Pilot called the Petit.

 

- Design, Fit & Finish -

 

The Petit is an all-plastic pen, save for the nib. The pen comes in a variety of colours like apple green, apricot orange, and Takoizu green to name a few. The body and clip are tinted to whatever colour you bought, while the cap remains clear. The "Petit 1" logo is printed on the pen's midsection and is the only marking on the body. The Petit is a stout little pen at 14.3mm at its thickest diameter and a scant 10.3cm long capped and just under 13cm posted. The fit of the parts is superb and capping produces a nice, hearty snap. The cap is held in place by friction when posted and has a fairly solid grip - no worries about losing the cap while signing a receipt.

 

I give Pilot points for designing sucha cute little pod of refill ink cartridges. It even has a little lanyard hole so you can clip it to your bookbag, purse, what have you.

 

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/j3-san/P3292010.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/j3-san/P3292009.jpg

 

- Nib and writing -

 

The fine nib is a simple sheet of metal with a smooth, round tip. On my piece, I noticed the nib lacked a breather hole, but had a circular stamping in its place. Perhaps it is supposed to have an actual hole there and my pen was the unlucky duck that didn't get a fully formed breather. But, as it is, the pen writes just fine. The nib is slightly flexible, but does not give much line width variation (if any at all). Increasing pressure only serves to flex the nib as a whole unit without spreading the tines at all. Perhaps that is a result of my pen lacking a true breather hole.

 

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/j3-san/P3292008.jpg

 

The Petit came loaded with an ink cart and immediately put down a wet line when I put the nib to paper. The included ink seems to feather a bit on standard printer paper and newsprint, but not at all (or very little) on higher quality paper like resume paper and Moleskine paper. The ink is somewhat water resistant and will smudge if a drop of water falls on it, but the majority of the line remains and is still readable. I swapped out the factory ink for Noodler's black and the pen put down a darker line without feathering. I like my ink to be permanent, so I'll leave the Noodler's in there.

 

The ink cart is readily visible through the translucent body, making it easy to know when a refill is needed. Unfortunately, the ink capacity is small compared to larger pens, but the Petit was intended for use as a stowaway writing instrument and not as a daily writer.

 

- Final Thoughts -

 

Pilot has put together a very nice little pen, perfect for the purse or pocket. I carried my Petit around for a day in a variety of ways: clipped to my shirt pocket, in my pants pocket, and clipped to the hem of my pants pocket. It was easy to tote around and barely noticeable, thanks to its all-plastic construction making it very light weight. The pen served as a quick conversation piece after I got a few compliments on it being so cute. I guess it is a "cute" pen and in my world, all the cute things eventually get requisitioned by my girlfriend sooner or later. So now the Petit has a new home, happily nestled in the pen pouch of her purse. I do hope it will get along nicely with the Vanishing Point that already resides there...

[jhazelwood]

The pilot varsity pens have the same indention on the Nib in place of the breather hole. I have been wanting one of these for a while but I haven't seen one.

[deitic_nib]

You can get one at Jetpens.com

[Ann Finley]

QUOTE (jhazelwood @ Mar 29 2007, 08:26 PM)

The pilot varsity pens have the same indention on the Nib in place of the breather hole. I have been wanting one of these for a while but I haven't seen one.

Here's a link to the Jet Pens Pilot Petit page where you can see all of the colors.

 

J-san, nice review!

 

Best, Ann

[born t]

The indentation should help distributed the pressure at the end of the tine, and so minimise the chance of the nib buckling. If air is supplied to the ink source by other means, then a breather hole is unecessary. You pen is cute, and I hope you enjoy it.

[prasinos]

J-San, nice review. I have also a Petit1 and I like it, although the nib is a bit scratchy.

 

How did you manage to put Noodler's ink in there?

 

[cmeisenzahl]

Wonderful review and pics, thanks!

[J-san]

QUOTE (prasinos @ Mar 31 2007, 11:08 AM)

J-San, nice review. I have also a Petit1 and I like it, although the nib is a bit scratchy. How did you manage to put Noodler's ink in there?

I emptied out the factory ink and refilled the cartridge with Noodler's via a syringe.

[Ashland]

More information on the Pilot Petite1 can be found at

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...Petit1&st=0

 

Not long after receiving my first ones, the black one had a little accident.

 

Pilot Petite1 Survives Hit & Run

 

I had the pen in my pants pocket & went to a nearby town with my husband. We did a bit of shopping & drove down the street. We then noticed an old office supply store. The proprietoress had some Esterbrook nibs, but she wasn't willing to part with them. I went to pull out my Petit1 to show her and discovered it was missing. We walked back to our original parking space, and my husband found the pen. We believe we ran over it when we backed out of the space. The barrel had been ground into the asphalt and sustained a few deep scratches, but nothing was cracked; even the cap was fine. The clips on these pens do not have the gripping power of something like a Parker Vector. I still take these pens on outings with me from time to time, but I'm very careful about frequently checking my pocket.

 

Ashland

 

 

[dcande01]

I got my first Pilot Petit 1 as a way to get my order up to $25 at jetpens.com. Nothing like their free shipping. Anyhow, this little pen is a delight. I'm planning to get more in different colors. I used Pilot gel pens all through law school for underlining. The particular kind of metallic gels don't seem to be made anymore, and I'm happy to replace them with these great little fountain pens. Lots cheaper than buying a Pelikan 620 whenever I want a new ink color.

[andy1m]

I have three of this but I think they write too wet so I just keep them in my drawer. I live in Indonesia with high humidity which may explain why they feather a bit too much.

[nathanpaulo]

Is it safe to ink this up with Noodler's 54th Mass? since the feed is some kind of felt material, i think