No Luck With Pilot Fps...

[jakelogan]

I was wondering if anyone else felt this way but I didn't fall right in love with the Pilot fountain pens and in the end disliked them. My first Pilot was the Prera. I thought it was just the quality control and I got a bad one The medium nib with toothy, the cap was very insecure, and it wrote extremely dry (worse than my SS Lamy nibs!). My next were two Vanishing Points. I actually loved the position of the clip and it helped me hold the pen correctly. The first was solid black had a fine nib which was extremely toothy and just would not work on any paper. I love the looks, but the nib just didn't work with me. I sold it and got another one, this time in Blue Carbonesque with a medium nib (yes I thought broader nibs would be smoother). The nib, oh the nib, yet again the nib. It was EXTREMELY toothy on sidestrokes. The carbon was very nice and I loved the balanced shade of blue. But I couldn't use it without that grinding sound. Then here comes the Varsity. The scratchiest disposable ever, worse than the ink-bar.

 

Does anyone else have such bad luck with Pilot fountain pens? How does one break such curse like this?

[JHeels]

My only Pilot is a Legno 89s... and when I purchased it, the nib was very scratchy on horizontal strokes. I've since had it tweaked by Deb Kinney, however, and now it's among my top three favorite pens. So, I suppose the solution is to buy one below retail, then spend the $20 to have the nib smoothed... and by the time you've spent up to the MSRP, you have a really great pen.

[rogerb]

Get an 845 Custom Urushi That was my first and probably my last Pilot. I'd rather have that than a similar MB (146/9)

I couldn't take to the VP's tiny nib and ink-capacity.

I do like the look of the 823 demo, but it's the same nib as the 845, I think?

[Strang]

I love my Pilots. I currently have three, the VP, the Custom 743, and the Custom 845. I find them among my nicest writing pens. BUT, I don't have any fine nibs and I think, when it comes to any Japanese pen, you need to remember the nibs run about a size smaller than most western nibs. So, in effect, you have a fine and an extra fine, if you are used to North American or European nibs. I'm not sure you can expect those sizes not to have some tooth. I have a Pelikan extra fine (which actually writes more like a western fine) and it grabs a lot of paper. YMMV.

[Blade Runner]

I had a 743 Pilot with a medium 15 nib. Nib was smooth, but lacked any feedback and felt without character. The dimensions and shape were reminiscent of the 146,but if was noticeably lighter, which I didn't like. The 743 has a pump convertor which had a pretty good capacity, but it had a problem with ink getting hung up in the convertor due to surface tension. I often had to flick the barrel with my finger to try to dislodge the ink. Overall it was pretty good, but I had pens I liked more, and sold it.

[Maruk]

I have been up and down with Pilot before. I like their pen designs a lot, as well as their build quality - the nibs, not so much. The 3-pack Varsity's were mixed (one with a bent tine, another was perfect). My Myu 701 is dry and has major flow problems (I think it's clogged, but I can't find anything in the flush water to prove it). The M90 I recently received has a minor startup lag, but is otherwise perfect.

 

Once I get my decimo, I'll know for a fact if I want to continue to purchase them or not - it'll be the tiebreaker.

[Lloyd]

Pilot is my favorite pen manufacturer.

[jgrasty]

I love Pilot pens, especially the M90 (I'm lusting after it's older brother, the MYU 701), and the Decimo and Vanishing Point. I also have a Custom 742 with a music nib, but don't really like it that much. I'm thinking of trading it for something like a Fermo.

[sotto2]

Pilot is my favorite pen manufacturer.

 

+1

 

If Pilot had never made any pens, my collection would be cut in half. Well, OK by one-third then. I've never bought a Pilot pen I didn't like.

[watch_art]

i fixed a fine nib (more like extra fine) in a VP for an FPNer a few months back, and after I straightened the nib (he dropped it) I thought it was one of the smoothest most delightful fines i've EVER used. I still feel this way though i don't like a fine... maybe you've just had some bad luck? a little crocus paper or micromesh can help with that tooth, too, though...

[farseer911]

I love to pilot Custom line, and was on the fence about the Prera line, but love it when I placed the plumix medium Italic nib in it. but never liked the VP line, flow issues and the pen just irritated me. Try a Custom 74 with a medium fine (MF) nib it may change you mind about the Pilot line.

[79spitfire]

I have a bunch of Pilot Fountain pens and as a whole I like the way they write. The only ones I have issues with are some of the Korean built pens that use brittle plastic. My 2As developed hairline cracks in the nib section and ooze ink and my Crystal quickly developed big cracks and drooled ink, however the nibs were great!

 

I also have a Knight, (love it) an Ecrino (love it too), a 78G (great writer) and a Plumix (very fun)

[Soot]

I have a metal Falcon (Elabo) in SF and a Custom 743 FA.

 

The Falcon does feel a bit toothy, if not scratchy, and I am not sure if it's my problem or the nib's. :ltcapd:

The 743 FA on the other hand, has great feedback and writes very smooth, it does not grab the paper like the Falcon does.

 

Both of these are stock, and have not been modified. I can only guess Pilot nibs are either hit or miss depending on the models, or bad quality control. But I don't think that applies to flagship Custom 845, because I've saw nothing but good reviews on that pen.

 

I'll get to the 845 one of these days, that #15 medium nib is just calling my name...

[Nikolaos]

Pilot is my favorite pen manufacturer. The range in my collection is very broad. I must have around 25-30 Pilot pens from pre-war eyedroppers, all the way to Emperor vermilion. They are all very well made with smoooth nibs true to their size.

 

I will be picking up an oversize pre-war Pilot eyedropper with a rare #8 nib on Friday. Pretty excited about this. I will try to post photos over the weekend.

 

Nikolaos

[The Grim Sheaffer]

Pilot does make the nicest pens but they don't write well out of the box. All the modern pilots I have bought new have had issues that needed to be fixed first. I would have thought that this is an unsustainable business model. It may be that I have just been unlucky or that the man on the street does not mind a dry scratchy nib.

 

Why do I keep buying Pilots? After the ruffles have been smoothed they are pretty amazing pens.

[nemesiz]

Pilot does make the nicest pens but they don't write well out of the box. All the modern pilots I have bought new have had issues that needed to be fixed first. I would have thought that this is an unsustainable business model. It may be that I have just been unlucky or that the man on the street does not mind a dry scratchy nib.

 

Like many others on this board I would state that Pilot Fountain Pens have an excellent reputation for writing marvellously straight out of the box without requiring further adjustment or smoothing. The problem is many of the Pilot Fountain Pen models are very dry, finer writers compared to other Japanese manufacturers and a small minority of users find this causes unwanted feedback, scratchiness or proneness to drying out. Usually swapping ink, flushing or continual useage solves the problem. If you did compare quality control of Pilot (Japan) to any of the Japanese, Chinese or Westernized nib manufacturers, myself and many other pen enthusiasts would categorically say it's one of the best in the industry.

[Pengrump]

I've had good luck with Pilot pens, just not so much with those whose nibs that fine and semi-flexible. Those have been a bit scratchy and the ink flow has not kept up with the nibs. I'm sure a bit of time with a nibmeister could change that, but so far I haven't bothered. My Pilots with firm nibs, however, have been excellent writers from the get-go. The only thing I have to do is to make sure the con-70 is flushed with water and dish washing liquid to keep ink from hanging up inside.

[holgalee]

I love my Pilot fountain pens. If I can only keep 10 pens, 8 will be Pilots.

 

None of the brands can create perfect pens all the time, based on my admittedly limited experience.

 

I once got a Pilot Custom 74 that had irregular inkflow, that even upon exchange didn't work any better. The rest of my Pilots, especially the Custom Heritage 91 and Decimo are lovely writers.