Pilot/Namiki Vanishing Point black carbonesque

[Shelley]

Well when I first heard of this pen my initial reaction was the same as towards the Lamy 2000 and the P51 - yuck!

Seriously the engagment bit looked far too long, the clip looked like it would get in the way, and I felt that a fountain pen should unscrew, and if I wanted a 'click'pen the a bic would do the trick. Mmm words tate nice don't they.

Well I must admit it was the Stipula Da Vinci that made me relook at the idea of a non cap FP, howver the Da Vinci price tag put me off, that and the advice of people like Richard Binder saying useful thigs like VPVPVP when I statrted asking questions.

So I perceivered (sorry if I am rambling-it was avery beery lunch). rerad all the reviews, asked lots of questions, looked at lots of pictures. But at the end of the day I was undecided. the problem was I decided that this would either be a love it or hate it type of pen, and knowone in NZ has them for me to look at.

I had made some decisions though-if I got one I wanted a Black carbonesque with ideally a medium nib-normally I go for fine but I have heard that the japenese nibs run narrow so I thought medium would work for me.

I was still undeided, and so did a post requesting help and got the best help yoo can imagine, someone had a spare one in the dimensions I wanted and would post it to me, if I liked it I could buy it if not I could repost it.

Well I leaped at the opportunity I gave them my address and eagerly awaited delivery.

Well when the pen finally arrived I was both relived and disapointed. The dimensions and the weight was good, the click bit while long did not bother me, the clip whilst at first noticable quickly faded into the background. the only problem was that I could not get it to work-well two minutes later I had pulled it apart, reassembled it and got it working.

Since then I have fallen in love with it to the point where it is now drained and sitting empty in its leather case.

When I got it it came with box, converter, cartridges and original stickers, I filled the coverter with my new Lamy blue, wipped the deilicate gold M nib with one of the rip off blotters on the Lamy bottle, and applied nib to paper, straight away a beatutiful, wet line was placed down on the paper, no feathering, dried nicely to a wonderful colour and the smooth nib just kept on rolling.

Subsequently I had to take the pen off of my wife who has decided she wants one as well.

The pen is a good weight, the click works smoothly, it has a real founatin pen nib and feel, it is made in japan, not taiwan or china, which means quality, and the ease of access is wonderful, no more prepping a pen to write, if the phone goes, or I am in the middle of a file I do not need to unscrew a cap, stop put everything down and rearrange myself, I just pick up, click and write away, smooth lovely writing, the Japanese M is like a lamy 2000 EF or a Van Gogh F.

Only problem is that the converter does not hold a lot of ink, so you will have to keep a bottle of ink handy at all times-but I like that, and with the Lamy you have blotters built in!

So if you are thinking then I say go for it, you will either love it or hate it-word of advice though-do not leave it where your better half might find it or you may lose your new pen forever.

I have seen these range from $83.98 on Pam Brauns site, to $80 + $25 for a Richard Binder breatherd on Nib and body, to more elsewhere, they do many colours and finishes and a variety of gold nibs. All in all a great pen.