Thursday, August 15, 2013

Pilot capless/ vanishing point fountain pen


Yes! I finally got a Vanishing point! Man, I was really lucky on this one: I saw it in a big box retailer called 'Club' (somewhat similar to Staples in the US) (which is a place where you normally wouldn't find good deals like this one!) So I was really surprised when I saw the price: only 55 Euros/ 70 USDollars, which is almost nothing for a pen like this, with an 18ct gold nib!



But as soon as I got home, I found out why this pen was so cheap: it has a severe scratch near the front of the clip! Which is a bit sad, but hey, it doesn't affect the way this thing writes!


One thing I didn't really like about it at first, was the blue colour. As I said before: I'm not a big colours fan. But I already got used to it. And it isn't that bad really, it's a fairly standard blue, it isn't too bright, and it contrasts nicely with the rhodium trims.


The clip is one thing I really like about the pen, it looks pretty, and it is a bit narrower near the front of the pen where you hold it, so when writing, you don't really notice the clip.

Being made out of metal (I'd guess the body of the pen is made out of brass with a blue laquer), it is actually surprisingly light (30grams), even though it feels rather heavy in the hand!



I was a bit skeptical about the retractable mechanism, but it works very well. Retracting the nib feels very solid, and the nib is sealed off very securely. It starts writing right away, no hard starts at all! However there is one flaw in the mechanism: when you extend the nib, it touches the interior of the pen, which gets a little inky after a while, so you might want to flush the barrel out as well when you change inks (on your own risk though, I accidentally pulled out the little spring that closes the 'sealing door' which gave me a hard time putting it back in! and you should dry it out very carefully!)


It has a rhodium plated 18ct gold nib. And it writes smooth! I can't say much more than that. It's the best nib I ever tried or owned!  It did need some 'breaking in' at first, but after writing a few lines with it, I fell in love with the butter-smooth writing nib, no skips, no hard starts! The nib itself is a bit springy (not flex though) which makes writing with  it even more comfortable. Surprisingly, it didn't really write very wet, but it's not dry either, it's just good!


Look at that shiny rhodium!
Overall, it's really a super-convenient pen, which also writes great and looks good, what could you possibly want more? The Price of this pen varies a lot, here in Europe, they are more than double the USA price. So I'd suggest checking it out for your own, because the prices seem to vary from country to country!
(Europe: around 200 Euros, USA: around 140 USDollars)

I forgot to mention, the ink I used in the written review is J.Herbin Bleu Nuit.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so jealous you got a vanishing point for $70! I started getting in to fountain pens a few years, right around the time that gold prices started skyrocketing. If i could only have 3 fountain pens in my collection one of them would have to be a vanishing point (and at least one would be a Pelikan). I don't think there is another fountain pen that's so "ready-to-go".

    Congrats on your purchase

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    1. Thanks! My dad is also jealous, he actually wanted one as well, but there Was only one for sale! :-)
      My top three would be a Pelikan m800, a Lamy 2000 stainless steel, and -for now- the vanishing point! You should search on ebay for a VP You can get them second hand for 80 dollars or so!

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