Just Received My Twsbi Vac 700

[dannzeman]

Other than the color, is it the same nib as the Micarta?

 

Yes. But in my experience, this one is much better than the two Micartas I bought. I ordered the 700 with a Fine nib and it's smooth and flows nicely, neither wet nor dry. One of my Micartas was an XF and was unusable out of the box. The other was a Bold and was pretty dry.

[evan]

For those who might interesting about the size of TWSBI VAC 700

 

TWSBI VAC 700

Capped: 148 mm (5.827")

Without cap: 133.5 mm (5.26")

Posted: 174.5 mm (6.87")

Edited April 29, 2012 by evan

[picautomaton]

Other than the color, is it the same nib as the Micarta?

 

Yes. But in my experience, this one is much better than the two Micartas I bought. I ordered the 700 with a Fine nib and it's smooth and flows nicely, neither wet nor dry. One of my Micartas was an XF and was unusable out of the box. The other was a Bold and was pretty dry.

 

Better quality control? Testing nibs during assembly?

[dannzeman]

540

capped: 142 mm / 5.59 in

w/o cap: 130 mm / 5.12 in

posted: 175 mm / 6.89 in

[dannzeman]

Other than the color, is it the same nib as the Micarta?

 

Yes. But in my experience, this one is much better than the two Micartas I bought. I ordered the 700 with a Fine nib and it's smooth and flows nicely, neither wet nor dry. One of my Micartas was an XF and was unusable out of the box. The other was a Bold and was pretty dry.

 

Better quality control? Testing nibs during assembly?

 

Well, they were supposed to be testing every nib for the past couple of months. Maybe the Micartas didn't get that treatment or maybe it was just mine. Who really knows. I hope all of the 700s got tested. We'll just have to wait and see what everyone else reports.

[picautomaton]

Other than the color, is it the same nib as the Micarta?

 

Yes. But in my experience, this one is much better than the two Micartas I bought. I ordered the 700 with a Fine nib and it's smooth and flows nicely, neither wet nor dry. One of my Micartas was an XF and was unusable out of the box. The other was a Bold and was pretty dry.

 

Better quality control? Testing nibs during assembly?

 

Well, they were supposed to be testing every nib for the past couple of months. Maybe the Micartas didn't get that treatment or maybe it was just mine. Who really knows. I hope all of the 700s got tested. We'll just have to wait and see what everyone else reports.

I can't wait to read the feedback and reviews on this one. If the nib is better than the Micarta then people are in for mega treat (my Micarta is super smooth and wet). Enjoy your 700's.

[SamCapote]

That's very nice looking. How does that nib write if you have the same size (F/M/B) in a 530/540 to compare it with? I'm asking because the larger shoulder size may give it a more flexible feedback feeling. Also can you show a photo of the ink volume when you do the normal filling? Interested in seeing where the ink ends relative to the piston cylinder....thinking about hand heating up a large air pocket.

 

Thank you sir! You Geeks get all the good stuff early.

Edited April 29, 2012 by SamCapote

[dannzeman]

That's very nice looking. How does that nib write if you have the same size (F/M/B) in a 530/540 to compare it with? I'm asking because the larger shoulder size may give it a more flexible feedback feeling. Also can you show a photo of the ink volume when you do the normal filling? Interested in seeing where the ink ends relative to the piston cylinder....thinking about hand heating up a large air pocket.

 

Thank you sir! You Geeks get all the good stuff early.

 

 

This nib is as hard as...well, a nail. The larger size doesn't make a difference, at least not any that I can feel.

 

Heating up a large air pocket is an interesting point, but I don't think it's going to make much of a difference since it has the shut-off valve thingy ( I know, super technical, right?!) I guess if you leave the valve open while you write then it might have an impact. I'll try to get a pic up.

Edited April 29, 2012 by dannzeman

[SamCapote]

Heating up a large air pocket is an interesting point, but I don't think it's going to make much of a difference since it has the shut-off valve thingy ( I know, super technical, right?!) I guess if you leave the valve open while you write then it might have an impact. I'll try to get a pic up.

 

Oh, so are you saying it has a screw-in stopper that prevents heat/air pressure expansion issues like the Pilot Custom 823? I like that feature of my 823. Dizzy has a great video of her technique for doing the double filling that may be like what you described earlier.

Edited April 29, 2012 by SamCapote

[Jimmy James]

Yes, I think we have all been expecting the mechanism is very much like the 823. In fact, I wonder if that's what prompted Pilot to pay homage to the TWSBI colors in its own release of another pen in the Custom line.

[Vshin]

I'm curious to see how easy it will be to clean the pen after using saturated inks that stain.

[ticoun]

I'm curious to see how easy it will be to clean the pen after using saturated inks that stain.

Vacuum fillers usually clean very easily, with the piston head gasket sweeping all the ink off the barrel wall. Plus the water rushing in quickly cleans the feed channels.

[AmateurAficionado]

How is the balance when the pen is posted?

[evan]

Found a little tiny crack on the feed as I taking photos for my new arrival TWSBI Vac 700.

 

But don't feel it affects the functionality of my Vac 700 so far.

 

Edited April 29, 2012 by evan

[watch_art]

Not sure that's a crack. I've seen that on lots of feeds in many pics on FPN. I wouldn't worry about it.

[requiescat]

May I ask the diameter of the pen body at the widest point?

[evan]

Not sure that's a crack. I've seen that on lots of feeds in many pics on FPN. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Thanks Watch_art, that's good to know.

 

As long as that won't affect the writing performance of this pen, I have no problem with that.

 

Actually, I'm writing with my Vac 700 now... I mean before I started typing this message, and I'm really happy with it so far.

[evan]

May I ask the diameter of the pen body at the widest point?

 

15.04 mm

[Koyote]

If this pen only fills 1/2 to 2/3 with ink, I am wondering if its capacity, in practice, is any greater than the Diamond 540s?

[requiescat]

May I ask the diameter of the pen body at the widest point?

 

15.04 mm

 

Huh, sadly too wide for my hand. Thank you so much!