Why are Pilot converters so trash

[tzinc]

None of the Pilot Converters fill simply. Custom 823 requires 2 fills the 2nd being awkard. I need syringes to fill up my Vanishing Points the Con-40s never fill up normally. Even the Con 70 doesn't just take one pump and gets air bubbles. My Montblanc 144 converter works fine. My Lamy Safari converter works fine. Even my tiny Kaweco converter works fine (twist/pull and full fill). It's weird because Pilots are my favourite pens I think they are excellent builds except for their converters.

[OCArt]

It's because of Daniel Pinkwater's Theory of Displaced Suffering. In brief Pinkwater says that every life has a certain amount of suffering. He elected to buy a French car as the troubles it would cause would displace all other suffering in his life. We have Pilot pens.

[tzinc]

Here's the thing bud a company can make something bad and say it is ok that doesn't mean it is not bad.

 

The proof is in fact there is another way to get it filled more so if they had built it properly in the first place it would get filled without having to resort to tricks and other devices.

 

The fact I have to use a syringe or the double dip method tells me there is something wrong in the way they built it now they can say they meant it that way but that's not what reality says.

 

All their converters do not work properly I do not have to use syringes or complex double dip techniques with my Montblanc nor my Lamy or my Kaweco.

 

That is the way Pilot should have done it 3 different manufacturers all work properly they fill it to the brim with 1 twist or pull.

 

I can say Pilot Pens are the best I am sure many would disagree. At the same time I can say their converters are trash and I am sure not many would disagree.

 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

25 minutes ago, tzinc said:

The fact I have to use a syringe or the double dip method

 

Do you really have to do either of those things, in order to draw 0.4ml of ink from the bottle up into the pen using a Pilot CON-40 converter?

[Paul-in-SF]

6 hours ago, tzinc said:

Custom 823 requires 2 fills the 2nd being awkard

 

Pilot's Custom 823 does not use a converter, it is a plunger filler (that's what I call them, anyway), which seems to me to be essentially the same as other plunger fillers like Sheaffer vac fillers or Visconti Homo Sapiens or Onotos or others, and they all take in additional ink if you plunge them twice. I don't know what's awkward about it, but in any case I thought it was unfair to lump this pen in with the ones that use converters.

 

Pilot also makes at least one piston filler, the Custom Heritage 92 (there may be others, but not generally available in the US, I think). 

[Lithium466]

9 hours ago, OCArt said:

It's because of Daniel Pinkwater's Theory of Displaced Suffering. In brief Pinkwater says that every life has a certain amount of suffering. He elected to buy a French car as the troubles it would cause would displace all other suffering in his life. We have Pilot pens.

That is a good one!

 

On the other hand, I haven't tried a CON-40 yet, as I'm satisfied with CON-50 I have, or the equivalent from Majohn (they have 2 different models, one bigger than the other).

Maybe some dissatisfaction coming from Pilot converters originate from their very wide opening, compared to others from other brands (Sailor converters also have a wide opening)?
The CON-40 is also limited due to its compatibility (dimensions) with smaller Pilot pens. I wish they'd do a bigger version, say a CON-60. But the CON-70 is nice in my opinion (refilled when vertical, and slowly).

[A Smug Dill]

29 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

The CON-40 is also limited due to its compatibility (dimensions) with smaller Pilot pens.

 

As you alluded to, it's exactly what the CON-40 was designed for — to fit every Pilot c/c-filled pen model, without having to worry about getting different models of converters for different pens according to a compatibility chart, or just be left SOL if you have a modern Elite 95S and must use cartridges. The CON-20 could have been the universal solution, too, but it didn't suit demonstrators such as the Prera iro-ai and some variants of the Custom 74 aesthetically, by being completely opaque.

[patta]

Well, I do not have problems with the CON-70, in fact, I like it a lot.

Pressing twice is not a problem either.

 

[Practice Writer]

I actually quite like the Pilot cartridge/converter system. The attachment is much more secured than the international system. While I do wish I can take apart converters such as the Con-70, I don't understand the constant complaints about it begin difficult to clean. 5 blunt syringe full of water squirted inside the converter and it's clean. I do admit that it's much easier to wipe dry the international converters. With the Con-70, I can't really get a rag in there so I have to wait for it to dry.

[SpecTP]

I don't think my Pilot converters are trash. I toss a keyboard spring into mine to agitate and get rid of the air bubble.

[XYZZY]

19 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

(上限量 means upper limit, or maximum, amount)

 

The CON-40 has a nominal ink capacity of 0.4ml (“インキ吸入量” literally translates to “the amount of ink it draws in”); so, if a single execution of the proper filling procedure draws 0.4ml of ink from the bottle into your Pilot fountain pen, then the converter has done its job as designed, never mind whether you think there is room for it to do more for you, or whether your seeing that unfilled space somehow triggers a negative emotional response.

 

 

I find it a bit amusing that in that video they do not seem to have filled the real converter with as much ink as implied by the illustration 🙂  However, "the amount of ink it draws in" says to me that 0.4ml is how much ink I should expect to be in the pen: not just in the converter but in the feed and section, too.  So maybe that video worked showed it working as they expect.

 

It might help them if they molded a line into the barrel of the converter and put "max" and "上限量", instead of hiding that in documentation or a youtube video.  In other words, do a better job of setting expectations.

 

Yes, I also find the CON-40 small.  But sometimes I use that to my advantage.  I have an OCD-like need to want the converter filled, and prefer the CON-70.  A few times when testing a new ink I tell myself before filling "don't fill it all the way!" only to find multiple pumps later that I have filled the CON-70.  So now I just use a CON-40: by the time I realize I've twisted it back and forth too many time, there's still only a small amount of ink in it.🤦‍♂️  

[TgeekB]

19 hours ago, tzinc said:

Here's the thing bud a company can make something bad and say it is ok that doesn't mean it is not bad.

 

 

 

 

To me, calling someone “bud” is a condescending remark. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way. Ultimately, you were given the correct answer, it’s designed to hold a certain amount of ink and it does. That’s not difficult to understand or accept. It meets expectations. You are trying to push it beyond expectations and that’s on you, not them.

 

Pilot makes excellent fountain pens. They are well made and perform well. For the price, my Custom 743 is about as good as it gets. Writing, filling, design, etc. Maybe they’re just not for you and that’s fine. We all know there are tons of choices in this hobby. 

[AmandaW]

Does it make a difference to have the newer Con-70N over the original Con-70.? I have two of the early ones - neither will fill, just bubbles, and one of them gushes so wet it made my Falcon SF write like a B (with absolutely no pressure). I thought for years it was the Falcon's fault and bought another with a SEF before discovering it was the converter that was faulty. I use cartridges instead.

 

Miffed about the dodgy converters I got I haven't wanted to buy replacements without being certain the Con-70N really is better. So why did they change the model if not to solve a problem? Did it work?

 

 

[Penguincollector]

I only have the con-B converter, and I really like it. I like the cartridges as well.

[inkstainedruth]

I have Con-B converters in the Metropolitans, and Con-40 converters in my other Pilot pens.  While I wish the Con-40s held more ink than they do, they work okay.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Of course it may just be that I was spoiled early on by the capacity of the Parker twist converters.... 

[max dog]

Pilot converters are my least favourite converters.  It shouldn't be so complicated to fill or clean out.  Filling the CON70 be careful not to mash your nib on the bottom of the ink bottle as you try pumping it.  The smallish CON 40 and 50 have much to be desired too.  Why can't Pilot just provide a simple to fill high capacity piston converter like found on a Montblanc 145 or Sheaffer, or Parker, or Faber Castell or Visconti or.....

[Karmachanic]

6 hours ago, AmandaW said:

Does it make a difference to have the newer Con-70N over the original Con-70.? I have two of the early ones - neither will

 

How to fill a Con-70:

https://youtu.be/7lEQXAd5FFk

 

[Lithium466]

10 hours ago, AmandaW said:

Does it make a difference to have the newer Con-70N over the original Con-70.? I have two of the early ones - neither will fill, just bubbles, and one of them gushes so wet it made my Falcon SF write like a B (with absolutely no pressure). 

I'd be interested in investigating the reason they failed (not like I'd be able to find something conclusive, but I can try!). Would you trade them for something /sell them?

Let me know if you're interested!

[AmandaW]

5 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

I'd be interested in investigating the reason they failed (not like I'd be able to find something conclusive, but I can try!). Would you trade them for something /sell them?

Let me know if you're interested!

Sorry. I tossed them long time ago - have been refilling cartridges instead. Was not happy after paying so much for two Falcons, then finding the first one had nothing wrong with it. And that it had sat in a drawer unloved after waiting so long to get it in the first place. OK so I learned something about pen troubleshooting - if it doesn't write with the converter, try a cartridge. Didn't know that as a newbie all that time ago.

 

I still use and like the Con-40 in other Pilot pens. And pretty sure I have some Con-50s around too, no problem with those.

[Lithium466]

Oh no  I'm kidding, but that will force me to take out my own CON-70 and try.

Funny enough, the only pen where I'd want more ink capacity than the CON-50 can provide cannot accommodate the CON-70 (plastic Falcon).