I gave away my new Pilot Capless!

[milo]

A couple of weeks a go I received my deep yellow capless from Japan. Wow....its like a mango/English mustard mix of a yellow and my most gorgeous writing instrument to date. I had handled a capless in a store once before, and not thought much of the fairly dry, fine line it provided. But being an engineer, I fell in love with the trap door mechanism and knew I will someday own this quirky pen.

 

Two days a go I filled the converter (CON-20 squeezy type) with Waterman black and laid down my first lines. I should mention the nib is gold in colour, but is one of those "special alloy" steel nibs provided for the Japanese home market. It is of medium thickness. The line produced was this disappointing fine, fairly dry line. But very very smooth too. Disappointing only because my Waterman Kultur and Hemisphere produce fairly wet thick medium lines which I had grown accustomed to.

 

I continued using the pen, making notes, doodling etc, and I've been very impressed indeed with the functionality. Click to expose the nib and it starts up right away. The line produced is consistent, the nib feels very smooth and its a very comfortable and convenient pen. And the colour, although not as formal as black, is a lot of fun and simply gorgeous.

 

So why did I give it away? Last night, my brother tried it out and he liked it. He particularly liked the fine line width and retractable mechanism. He said this is the kind of pen he wouldn't mind owning. So, in an attempt to convert him to our "obsession" for fine writing instruments and to convince him I wasn't a freak spending a lot of cash on little pens, I offered it to him. Reluctantly, he accepted it. Relectantly, because he knew I liked it a lot too. But I asked him to try it and see how he gets on with it. He said, okay, but only if I go an buy myself something to replace it.

 

But what??? The main criteria is something I wouldn't mind keeping in my jeans pocket, but more precious than my Kultur. The next criteria is its should be at least as thick (barrel thickness) as the Kultur. Oh and I'd probably limit myself to £100.

The Carene I like the look of, but was disappoointed with how it writes. The Charleston would be great, since its much smoother than the Carene (in my opinion) but dislike to disproportionately small nib. How about searching for a Man, Etalon, or Liaison? Lusting for a Pelikan or Visconti, and then of course I'm heading towards the fabulous Japanese pens available...I've heard too many good things about Sailors, Platinums and Pilots.

 

To all those capless fans, rest assured, I'll get me one of those babies again!

 

any opinions/comments are most welcome!

 

cheers,

Milo

 

p.s. sorry about the excess of words in this post.