Pilot Custom 845 = Pilot's Sad Flagship ?

[Patrick L]

...Concerning regular editions , the Pilot Custom 845 is the most expensive fountain pen produced by Pilot. You would therefore expect this pen to outshine all other Pilot's models but :

 

1- The Pilot Custom 845 is filled by converter , and converters are not the usual deal for the best fountain pens. However, some Pilot pens are self-fillers and many fountain pen fans prefer self-fillers to cartridge/converters.

 

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

3- I read the 3 reviews and users like it. But I observed that none of the reviewers called it "best ever pen" , whereas as least two members consider the Pilot Custom 823 as their best pen.

 

http://cdn-ak.f.st-hatena.com/images/fotolife/a/a_poor_player/20080903/20080903185908.jpg

http://ujuku1.ath.cx/Ujuku-Shop/statinary/Pilot/fountainpen/JpegCustom845/top.jpg

 

Patrick

Edited September 1, 2011 by Patrick L

[APHK]

Despite the convertor, I really want to buy this pen since I was so impressed with the 823's nib. Alas, with the yen so strong, I feel that USD500 for this pen is pushing it too close to MB146 territory.

[ko6]

Pilot Custom 845 presents Namiki/Pilot's idea of what a fountain pen should be. Lacquered body and well-developed feed and nib. As it has been already well-established, people usually give neither complaints nor compliments. In other words, it is not fancy, but rather boring. Still, Custom 845s offer me the joy and satisfaction of fountain pen writing.

 

I attached the picture of Pilot Custom 845 limited edition sold by the Nagasawa Stationary Store in Kobe.

 

[rollerboy]

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

Are you serious? Of course there are more reviews for the less expensive pens.

 

... and I'll add that I don't think the 845 is as readily available outside of Japan. The VP is sold in the US and a lot of the FPN membership is American.

Edited September 1, 2011 by rollerboy

[Patrick L]

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

Are you serious? Of course there are more reviews for the less expensive pens.

 

... and I'll add that I don't think the 845 is as readily available outside of Japan. The VP is sold in the US and a lot of the FPN membership is American.

 

There are more reviews for the expensive Pelikan 800 than for the cheaper Pelikan models for example.

[rdh]

I disagree with your statement that converters are not the usual deal for the best fountain pens. Sailor, Nakaya, Platinum, Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, Bexley among others all use C/C on most or all of their pens.

 

Dave

[JLS1]

...Concerning regular editions , the Pilot Custom 845 is the most expensive fountain pen produced by Pilot. You would therefore expect this pen to outshine all other Pilot's models but :

 

1- The Pilot Custom 845 is filled by converter , and converters are not the usual deal for the best fountain pens. However, some Pilot pens are self-fillers and many fountain pen fans prefer self-fillers to cartridge/converters.

 

A C/C system is not the 'kiss of death' for a pen - you can just as easily have a piston filler that writes like (bleep). In addition, many of Sailor's high end pens (e.g., the 1911, Pro Gear, Sapporo) are C/C and Nakaya produces ONLY C/C pens. There are lots of fans of these C/C pen brands here.

 

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

I'd tend to agree with rollerboy here, at least vis-a-vis the availability part. In addition, if you are looking at more expensive pens, the high-end marques (MB, Pelikan, Sailor, Nakaya, Danitrio, Omas, et al) are probably the ones you will start with, simply because a) they don't sell products outside of this market and most (if not all) of their advertising budget is aimed at establishing themselves within this market. OTOH, Pilot sells products at all price levels and so their advertising budget has to be aimed at establishing themselves in all demographics, not just the high-end ones.

 

3- I read the 3 reviews and users like it. But I observed that none of the reviewers called it "best ever pen" , whereas as least two members consider the Pilot Custom 823 as their best pen.

 

While I admit that I do read the pen reviews, I don't necessarily believe that a "best ever pen" for one person is going to be the same for me. It might be good, even great, but "best ever"?

 

Out of curiosity, have you tried the Pilot 845, are you considering getting one, or did you buy one and are having 'buyer's remorse'?

[Patrick L]

...Now to make my opinion more explicit , I don't suggest that the Pilot 845 is a "bad" pen.I'm a genuine Pilot pen fan in fact. But I find it sad that the 845 has not received more reviews , more ecstatic ratings. It's the most expensive regular edition pen manufactured by Pilot , their flagship pen as some call it.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Patrick L

[Patrick L]

...Concerning regular editions , the Pilot Custom 845 is the most expensive fountain pen produced by Pilot. You would therefore expect this pen to outshine all other Pilot's models but :

 

1- The Pilot Custom 845 is filled by converter , and converters are not the usual deal for the best fountain pens. However, some Pilot pens are self-fillers and many fountain pen fans prefer self-fillers to cartridge/converters.

 

A C/C system is not the 'kiss of death' for a pen - you can just as easily have a piston filler that writes like (bleep). In addition, many of Sailor's high end pens (e.g., the 1911, Pro Gear, Sapporo) are C/C and Nakaya produces ONLY C/C pens. There are lots of fans of these C/C pen brands here.

 

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

I'd tend to agree with rollerboy here, at least vis-a-vis the availability part. In addition, if you are looking at more expensive pens, the high-end marques (MB, Pelikan, Sailor, Nakaya, Danitrio, Omas, et al) are probably the ones you will start with, simply because a) they don't sell products outside of this market and most (if not all) of their advertising budget is aimed at establishing themselves within this market. OTOH, Pilot sells products at all price levels and so their advertising budget has to be aimed at establishing themselves in all demographics, not just the high-end ones.

 

3- I read the 3 reviews and users like it. But I observed that none of the reviewers called it "best ever pen" , whereas as least two members consider the Pilot Custom 823 as their best pen.

 

While I admit that I do read the pen reviews, I don't necessarily believe that a "best ever pen" for one person is going to be the same for me. It might be good, even great, but "best ever"?

 

Out of curiosity, have you tried the Pilot 845, are you considering getting one, or did you buy one and are having 'buyer's remorse'?

 

No, I don't have one , but might buy one later.

[rollerboy]

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

Are you serious? Of course there are more reviews for the less expensive pens.

 

... and I'll add that I don't think the 845 is as readily available outside of Japan. The VP is sold in the US and a lot of the FPN membership is American.

 

There are more reviews for the expensive Pelikan 800 than for the cheaper Pelikan models for example.

 

Well by my count there are 22 reviews of the M800/805 vs 30 reviews of the M200/205 vs 44 reviews of the Safari/AlStar/Vista. Regardless, I would agree with you that based on review count there are relatively few owners of the 845. I just don't think it's unfavourable word of mouth. I think it's because it is a premium priced pen that's not as widely distributed as other pens.

 

I also think the 845's claim to fame is Urushi and that Nakaya seems to have the FPN mindshare when it comes to Urushi. It could very well be buyers think: large nib, large pen, with novel filling system = Pilot 823, luxury pen = Nakaya, and the 845 is left out in the cold. A good pen, but in some sort of no-man's land market wise.

[torstar]

2- There's only 3 reviews of the Pilot 845 on this website whereas you get more , sometimes much more, reviews for other Pilot models.( 6 reviews for the Prera,11 for the Falcon, 35 for the Vanishing point , etc). Could it possibly mean that the world of mouth was not very positive and people are not interested to buy it ?

 

Are you serious? Of course there are more reviews for the less expensive pens.

 

... and I'll add that I don't think the 845 is as readily available outside of Japan. The VP is sold in the US and a lot of the FPN membership is American.

 

There are more reviews for the expensive Pelikan 800 than for the cheaper Pelikan models for example.

 

 

 

The M800 is an old warhorse in the FP collecting world.

 

The Pilot 845, not so much, by a long shot.

[Strang]

I've owned several Pilot pens and none better than the 845. I gave my 743 and 823 away after getting the 845, it's that much better in my opinion. Truly a flagship pen.

[torstar]

I've owned several Pilot pens and none better than the 845. I gave my 743 and 823 away after getting the 845, it's that much better in my opinion. Truly a flagship pen.

 

 

Thank you, it's on the short list for the next acquisition.

[Patrick L]

I've owned several Pilot pens and none better than the 845. I gave my 743 and 823 away after getting the 845, it's that much better in my opinion. Truly a flagship pen.

 

[Apotheosis]

I suppose its all a matter of personal preference and if you own one and think it's great..why not do a review of it and share with us ?

[chochimbv]

I totally agree with Strang's opinion.

 

Being a proud owner of a 845, I find it better than Sailor Shima Kuwa, Sailor Kuji Kohaku and MB149.

[kazoolaw]

The 823 had a number of things going for it here on FPN:

-It's a demonstrator.

-It's a piston filler. Combine this with being a demonstrator and you can see the, for some, very novel filling system in operation.

-The first two give the 823 a "flash" factor. The 845 is so understated as to be nearly invisible. Which is why I would love an 845.

-It was not available here at first, but then was marketed in the US. The relative scarcity of the pen, and the word of mouth built demand, which was then met by it becoming available here in the States. I've not seen the 845 widely available in the US.

-It's relatively cheap compared to the 845.

 

 

Nakaya pens are c/c fillers to no ill effect. So is the Sailor KOP Pro Gear, which is no loss leader.

 

The 823's characteristics created a buzz. People bought, people talked, more people bought. The door is open for you to be the 845's champion. Until then, it will remain a classic pen, with Pilot's reputation for quality, in an impeccable urushi suit. For those who know...

 

gary

[shl]

that red urushi 845 is beautiful. I've never seen that before. wish that was a regular edition

[zenshrink]

I have a black BB 845 and it is one of my best writers. It writes with a very expressive line and like all Pilots is extremely smooth. As some posters mentioned, it is hard to come by in the US and I had to order mine from Japan. It is an expensive pen but I would say it is worth it, and I am the owner of several MB149s, a Pelikan 1000 and some other flagship pens.

[dizzypen]

I LOVE pilot pens. The quality for the money is simply unsurpassed. I LOVE the Custom 823, but if I could afford it I would definitely have an 845. Urushi + pilot nib = Winning combination. I think it is quite deservedly the Pilot flagship pen. I also agree that if it were easier to get in the US it would have much more buzz and many more reviews.