Decimo thoughts?

[Rosendust]

Hello again everyone! Happy new year!

 

Now that I've been able to obtain one of my grail pens, I'm wondering which one is the next possible purchase? I've decided about the Decimo- but before I start saving up, I'd really appreciate to know your thoughts about the Decimo, it's positives, it's negatives, things like that.

 

Thank you for your insights!

💜💚

[inkstainedruth]

I like my Decimos a lot -- because they're smaller and are lighter in weight than the full-size Vanishing Points, they fit my hand better.  

The downside to them is that they don't come in nearly as many colors as VPs do, and not all of those are sold in the US (I had contacted Pilot-USA a few years ago to ask why and was told that it was "a marketing decision" -- which I found quite irritating because the two colors I liked and wanted -- the light grey and the dark blue -- were not sold outside of Japan at the time (they have since started selling the dark blue stateside, as well as I think the white and black pens, but still not the grey for some reason).  And of course the other downside is the fairly awful and hard to fill CON-40 converters.

I had gotten a grey one a few years ago from a vendor at the Ohio Pen Show who had contacts in Japan (so I didn't save any money and had to wait a couple of months to get it).  I got one with an EF nib assembly so I could swap that out for the F nib assembly in a used Vanishing Point I'd found in the wild but was too large a pen for me (my husband was given the pen but he didn't like the nib, and I figured it was cheaper in the long run to buy myself a Decimo and swap the nib assemblies out).  The problem was that the F nib assembly didn't QUITE fit right, and I had dry out issues until the shoulders got ground down a bit so the little trap door would close correctly -- and then almost immediately LOST the pen....   Ordered a replacement from an eBay seller in Japan, and that one is perfect.  Then for Christmas I got the other color I really wanted (the dark blue) and at the last minute sprang for a stub nib instead of a B nib, and love that pen as well.

There are a few LE colors floating around (a bright rose-pink that was only available at some pen show in Tokyo in 2019 is gorgeous!) -- but the prices on the Bay of Evil make me go "Uh, no, nope, don't think so...."

If you like smaller size pens, you'll probably like them.  If you don't (and the Decimos are similar in size to the average click ballpoint) then you'd probably be happier with a full-size VP instead.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Dimy]

VP are my to buy list pens and so...I don't have any but one issue I see common with VPs is that they tend to dry quicker then most pens due to trap door not being perfect.

Second is really a subjective issue, some find them uncomfortable in hand due to size being small, others love that fact, my recommendation on VP is always to give it  a try at least once before buying, for ergo issues.

Rest are best heard from owners so silence from me.

 

Regards.

[A Smug Dill]

19 hours ago, Rosendust said:

I've decided about the Decimo- but before I start saving up, I'd really appreciate to know your thoughts about the Decimo, it's positives, it's negatives, things like that.

 

My wife and I love our Pilot Capless pens, but (at least) I've decided I don't enjoy using the ones with smooth, glossy finishes; and the smaller girth and lighter weight of the Décimo just makes it worse kinaesthetically than the ‘classic’ Vanishing Point models for me, so as much as I rejoiced in scoring a couple of incredible bargains on the Décimo in-store a few years back, my wife ended up with everything from that haul. They have all the ‘negatives’ of the Capless VP — positioning of the clip, and relative ineffectiveness at preventing ink evaporation when (the nib is retracted and) unused — but, as far as I know, don't come with matt, textured or wooden bodies as options (nor the beauty of raden to offset the disadvantages).

[TitoThePencilPimp]

It is a nice pen. I was shocked that the stock 1.1 stub nib is really great. I prefer the vanishing point point. However, this is mostly due to the vanishing point being a perfect fit for my hand. If you do happen to get one, consider the stub nib option.

 

The only negative would be the ink capacity of the convertor. It is a syringe fill for me...

[A Smug Dill]

35 minutes ago, TitoThePencilPimp said:

The only negative would be the ink capacity of the convertor.

 

One could always go to the trouble and/or expense to secure a unit of the discontinued CON-20 converter.  

[SoulSamurai]

I own a few dozen pens but have only two that see regular use, and one of them is a Decimo. I consider it the best fountain pen for note-taking. I specifically bought it because I found that I was having to make lots of notes while standing up at work, and I was tired of having to cap and uncap my pen with my mouth. The Decimo solved that problem; the Capless pens are simply the easiest to engage and disengage, not only because of the click-button mechanism, but also because the way the clip sits between your fingers means you don't need to actually look at the pen to orient the nib properly. It's also not a bad "fidget pen", and I find it good for trying to work things out on paper when you might spend several minutes wrestling with a thought before you figure out what to write.

 

I believe my hands are on the slightly larger side of average (for an adult male), but I prefer the Decimo to the regular Vanishing Point in terms of size and weight. I had one with a Medium nib that I didn't like, but I'm happy with my current Fine nib. It puts down a fine line that's not too wet or too dry; it's not terribly smooth on regular paper, but that's not surprising for such a fine nib, and that feedback has some advantages.

 

Of course the big problem is that you have to hold them in a rather specific way: a Capless might just not fit your grip. One problem I had that took a while to resolve was the my grip is very slightly rotated so the nib in the ideal orientation is not quite right. My first nib was actually slightly rotated in a way that exacerbated the issue too. However I eventually came into possession of a nib that was rotated in the other direction that solved my problem.

 

Unfortunately I grip the pen a little too close to the nib and so my fingers rest on the metal nose piece, which is a little slippery - and I don't like slippery metal grips. I guess I got used to it though.

 

Also filling the converter (or syringe filling the cartridge) is slightly more involved than some pens. Not a big deal imho.

[ridiculopathy]

I wanted to like the Decimo because I think the design is more elegant compared to a VP. But it's too thin for me to use comfortably, so I'm sticking with the VP.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

13 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

One could always go to the trouble and/or expense to secure a unit of the discontinued CON-20 converter.  

Ahh. Thank you. They are very easily found on Amazon for a low price. I think I may already have a CON-20 converter in a Korean version Pilot Elite. However, I placed an order for two new CON-20 convertors. Hopefully, my distaste for squeeze convertors is no more. The Kaweco squeeze convertor is to blame!

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I've read bad things about Kaweco converters in general.  So you shouldn't let that be your benchmark (I got lucky in that my first experiences with squeeze converters were in Parker 45s).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth