Pilot 78G

[MikeLip]

Just for laughs, I would also try one of the fines. I am amazed at just how smooth it is, and how extremely fine. Awesome little pen! Check it out compared to a number of other fines.

[His Nibs]

It never seems like I can have all of the Pilot 78Gs fully in stock at one time (although the F and M nibs are coming within a week), but I do now have the famous 'B' nibs again. No black this shipment, but for the first time....green, red and teal!

 

Here's the direct link.

[Terri]

I bought these pens at isellpens.com for $17.99. It's really a nice pen for the money.

[artaddict]

I got my Pilot 78G at HisNibs. Norman of HisNibs was very helpful with all my newbie concerns. Great to deal with!

[mstelz]

A week ago I got a green 78G with the -B- nib, which is that italic/stub nib.

 

I baught it on ebay from "mizukushi" located in Hong Kong for US $29,74 (Including US $9,75 Shipping to Austria)

He in the moment offers several of them in different colours and nib sizes.

See http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmizukushi

He wrote me some nice mails, and added a funny black nicely writing disposable fountain pen as gift. (He sells them also in boxes of 10 starting with $0.99)

 

Now to my oppinion about the 78G:

Design is a little "baroque", like those early japanese cars, but plesant for me - I like green, specially that with a blueish touch!

 

It is VERY light, which I find to be very comfortable.

The Clip is strong, and holds the pen secure, even in the trouser pocket.

 

It fills easily with it's squeecer and holds quite a lot of ink.

 

Now the NIB:

I like the stub/italic nibs, that's why I baught the pen.

BUT unlike described in several other postings as "very smooth" mine was/is VERY scratchy. After the first page of writing there was even a little "ball" of scratched off paper fibers on the nib.

As I didn't have any fine abrasive paper at hand to polish the nib, I took a box of matches, and scribbled around on it.

The nib became feelable smoother, and after several repeatings of the procedure it now is quite ok.

 

It writes really nice, from the first touch on the paper, rather dry (even with my Quink mixture), VERY italic, and also reacts very fine on changes of the pressure during writing.

As it's now getting smoother and smoother the more I write with it the more I like writing with it.

In fact I'm beginning to get really fond of this little cheapy.

And definitely I prefer it already to my several months old Pelikan Level 5, which is a pretty fine pen, but writes bone-hard, and has no way of changing inks.(You can't even rinse it!).

 

[Ray-Vigo]

My girlfriend has used one of these for a number of months now, and it's a great pen. It's a no-frills pen with a Pilot Fine point. It's actually close to a Western Extra Fine. Despite being so fine, it's still surprisingly smooth. She uses it with the squeeze converter and it's been quite good. It does seem to have the habit of forcing out extra drops when the converter is full- even when she bleeds off 2 or 3 full drops at filling. Other than that, a great daily pen.

[chibimie]

I purchased a 78G from Hisnibs recently, and it arrived two days after I ordered it! It's a lovely teal colored 'F' point, and good for marginalia (Morgana). I've compared it with my Prera 'F', and found the latter to be just a hair finer still.

 

There's something about the (low) price of these two pens that makes holding them in your hands just a little more precious.

[His Nibs]

Has anyone (in another thread), or can anyone, post a picture comparing writing samples from 'B' and the 'BB' nibs?

 

Thanks!

[mucephei]

I gave my black 78G to my dad. He's been dead since 1995 but he always appreciated nice pens. Though I'm an atheist and I do not believe in an afterlife I still felt the need to give him a nice pen.

 

 

Take what you will from that.....

[nemesiz]

Ordered a Red Pilot 78G with the fine nib from a Hong Kong ebay seller, with the turnaround just over a week for the package to arrive from Hong Kong. In the package was a simple cheap converter similar to the con-20, a single cartridge, instruction manual, and the Pilot 78G fountain pen sealed in plastic wrapper.

 

Initial impressions of the Pilot 78G is the fountain pen is short, light weight writing impliment, slightly smaller in dimensions to a Sailor 1911M. Thus perfect for users with little hands or a pen required to be transported in a handbag or jeans pocket. The pen comes with a standard 22K gold plated Japanese nib, and a plastic body, grip section, constructed using the heat injection process as indicated by a large hole found at the base of the body.

 

As with any Pilot fountain pen it writes smoothly and very dry at first, leaving a line equal to Japanese Fine or Westernized Extra-Fine nib (Cross ink). Unlike pens from the same manufacturer, and similar to Sailor Fountain pens when the nib was reversed, it felt horribly scratchy and nasty to use. Fortunately being a cheap pen, this was the first attempt to tune the nib. After the revered nib was re-worked, the pen wrote very smoothly, with a small amount of feedback leaving a finer line equal to a Pilot extra-fine nib.

 

Initially dissatisfied with the overall performance and result of the pen, but after taking time to tune the fountain pen, I'm satisfied with the fine line left by the pen. Infact this is the first time i've enjoyed using a fountain pen for a long time, as I have no worries over losing the pen. Simply it's durable for everyday use.

[JerryVK]

I have given several 78G's away as gifts. I have not surrendered my 78G fine nib. It is perfect for my checkbook! I also use it for writing in my pocket planner and in the margins of books. You can't beat the smooth nib.

[hcsk8ter]

Guess I just got a stinker because mine stinks!

[grox]

Guess I just got a stinker because mine stinks!

 

Me too. Out of the packet it looks nice - a bit cheap but still nice for the price point. The converter works nicely but unfortunately this thing writes a scratchy dry line that starts poorly and peters out very quickly. It also has terrible nib creep.

Edited September 25, 2009 by grox

[Bentley]

I picked up a 78G from ebay with an extra fine nib and I like the pen very much. Nice style, very light, and seems well made for such an inexpensive pen.

 

I would agree that the nib tends to writer dryer than I would care for and, with an extra fine point, it could feel a bit scratchy and the lines were a bit too faded. I recently refilled it with some Parker ink and this seems to have helped; I find the Parker ink tends to be a bit more runny/watery than other brands and, in this case, it seems to have helped address the dry writing issue.

[Roberto_Notecardo]

"Now the NIB:

I like the stub/italic nibs, that's why I baught the pen.

BUT unlike described in several other postings as "very smooth" mine was/is VERY scratchy. After the first page of writing there was even a little "ball" of scratched off paper fibers on the nib.

As I didn't have any fine abrasive paper at hand to polish the nib, I took a box of matches, and scribbled around on it.

The nib became feelable smoother, and after several repeatings of the procedure it now is quite ok."

 

What a great idea! I also have the broad/stub, and it is very scratchy. I have a box of matches at home, and am going to try to smooth out my catchy nib corners. I've been tolerating the scratchiness because the nib lays down such a crisp line. But if I can smooth it out, this pen will soar to the top of my rotation.

 

Bob

[kwpalzang]

Try the Kraft paper trick, maybe even make a couple little + signs and maybe a few o's (no figure eights!) on sand paper and see if that helps it any.

[Black Rose]

My 78G F nib was scratchy right away. I did the brown paper bag trick and it writes great now.

 

My M and B nib 78Gs are fantastic writers and didn't need any work.

[amyx231]

whats so special about broad?

[Black Rose]

whats so special about broad?

It's hard to explain. I thought the same thing until I had the chance to try an italic nib.

 

Basically, it gives you a wide line, but also allows for a lot of line variation from a single nib.

 

To give you an idea, here's a scan of a page from my Rhodia #11 pad using italic/broad nibs (except for the Hero 616 line):

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/Pilot_B_Nib.jpg

 

The top line was written with Halden's Lamy 1.5 italic.

 

The last 4 are done with the Pilot 78G B.

[inkspot]

I have a 78G broad and I love it! In fact, I just ordered two more so I can have more colours on the go. They are so smooth, and the line variation allows my favourite shading inks to really shine! I bought a bottle of CdA Saffron just for this pen!