Pilot Custom Series Acrylic / Resin ?

[Stephen Lee Ogden]

I own a Pilot Custom 823.

 

Does anyone know if the demonstrators in the C74 and CH92 line are the same acrylic/resin or a slightly inferior/different quality material to the 823?

 

Love the 823 but for more clarity ... to compare it's material to say the Sailor 1911 Large demonstrator ... the Sailor is harder and more crystal like while the 823 feels almost soft in the hand ... forgiving and confidently durable. I'd love that same feel in a CH92.

 

Thanks community.

[ChadRiggsbee]

I have owned (and since traded) a Custom 74 blue demonstrator, and currently own a Custom 823, and the materials do have a different feel to me. I am not sure how they differ chemically and structurally (is the 823 made out of a completely different polymer/compound/material, is it the same material only thicker, etc.?), but the material of the 823 certainly feels much more "substantial" to me. That may ultimately be due simply to the size differences of the pens, but the material feels different to me in and of itself. The plastic of the Custom 74 felt fairly thin and somewhat "brittle." In fact, the person to whom I traded the pen contacted me shortly after he received it and said he noticed a couple of tiny cracks toward the section end of the barrel (I had never noticed them myself and am trying to figure out a way to help him get the barrel replaced, etc., but that's another topic -- I simply mention just to note that the plastic of the 74 did crack, even though I never dropped it or had it suffer a similar mishap that would likely damage it, at least to my knowledge).

 

It makes sense that the plastic / resin of the 823 would need to be thicker and have better structural inegrity than the 74, because of the 823's vacuum filling system. I would be interested to know how the feel of the Custom Heritage 92's material compares to the 823, since it also has an integrated filling system and it seems logical to me that the 92's material would need to be pretty robust and sturdy as well.

 

More subjectively, the material of the 823 and 743 feels "nicer" to me than the material of less expensive Pilot pens, and the material of some smaller Sailor and Platinum pens (1911 M, 3776 Century). The 823 and 743's material has a somewhat "soft" feel to me too, like you mentioned. Another side note, but I actually think the 743's material feels a bit "nicer" than the 823's but that is a completely subjective opinion based only on the two pens I personally own, so that may not be true across the board -- the pens may both be made of the exact same material, and maybe my 743 was just polished a bit better than my 823, etc.

 

In conclusion of this rambly post, I definitely notice a difference a difference in the feeling of the plastic of the Custom 74 demonstrator model and the Pilot Custom 823, and the 823's material feels like a higher quality material to me.

[Stephen Lee Ogden]

This is exactly the sorta ramble I'm looking for. I too suspect the CH92 would be a better material than the C74 but have not been able to determine if the CH92 is of equal material to the 823. They may well all be unique formula's up the line.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Stephen Lee Ogden

[JunkyardSam]

I have a fair number of Pilots: Four Custom 91s, a 912, Clear 92, two 742s, a 743, Amber 823, resin Falcon, metal Falcon... (Plus various Metropolitans, Preras, Penmanships and a Lucina.) I REALLY don't think there's a big quality difference between (most of) the plastics. The demonstrator models obviously have some difference in order to be transparent/translucent... but I think it's all about the same quality.

 

I have my 823, 743, and a 91 at my desk right now and they all seem about the same to me. If there's a difference it's subtle. I don't think we should kid ourselves into thinking the plastic going into these pens is particularly expensive:

 

If you look real close you'll see lines on your sections where it's two parts glued together. Pilot goes a better job than Platinum of obscuring this - but it's true.

 

How about those gold bands? It's plastic underneath! Gold plated plastic. I learned this here at this forum and I was disheartened... but it didn't stop me from loving these pens because the performance is outstanding.

 

But it's critical as pen fans that we don't cloud ourselves into thinking pens are any nicer just because they are more expensive. For example -- about half my Custom & Custom Heritage pens have holes punched out of the top of the nibs to save gold!!! And I don't want to be overly critical of Pilot -- Mont Blanc, Pelikan and other brands do it too apparently... but I do feel the price point of these pens warrants NOT punching holes out of them to save pennies in manufacturing costs.

 

Seriously. I can't tell a difference between the plastic in my solid color Pilot Prera and my Pilot Custom 743. It's the same. They might scale up the thickness according to increased pen size -- that makes sense. But I think it's the same plastic.

 

I don't mean this post to be negative - I LOVE Pilot, Platinum, and I just ordered my first Sailor. But seriously -- we're spending hundreds of dollars on pens with gold plated plastic. We should at least be aware of this in our purchase madness! =)

Edited January 16, 2017 by JunkyardSam

[Stephen Lee Ogden]

Thanks Junkyardsam.

 

Sacred plastic.

[rutherfordr]

Seriously. I can't tell a difference between the plastic in my solid color Pilot Prera and my Pilot Custom 743. It's the same. They might scale up the thickness according to increased pen size -- that makes sense. But I think it's the same plastic.

 

 

I agree -- the plastic in the Custom 74 demonstrator, Custom Heritage 92, and Custom 823 pens look and feel exactly the same to me.