(NAMIKI) FP "Capless / VANISHING POINT" Pearl White FINE-NIB

This purchase is my second Pilot Capless, my first is a Vanishing Point with rhodium gold nib in Medium. I managed to damage (drop) and repair (clumsily) my original Medium nib in my first pen and I wanted to get a "backup" pen with a "special alloy" nib in the event that I screw up my Vanishing Point again. The Capless is packaged less ornately than the Vanishing Point and with different accessories, but otherwise is functionally the same. The Capless comes with a plastic case, a black ink cartridge, and an empty cartridge that can be filled with a syringe. The Vanishing Point comes with an awful converter, so I find the empty cartridge a win in my book. The Capless I received came with a Fine nib but it is gold colored. It feel like it's just gold plated but it has a little bit of feedback and slight scratchiness that I expect from a stiffer nib. The Fine nib was excessively fine for my liking and actually wouldn't flow ink well until I ran a razor blade through the tines. It opened up a tiny bit and produces nice fine lines now. Some people may find the pocket clip weird and difficult to adjust to, but it honestly took me less than 10 minutes to find a way to hold it that created the perfect grip everytime. It's easy to grab, retract the nib, get writing, retract it back and toss it in a pocket. It's nearly as convenient as a retractable ballpoint with the coolness of a fountain pen. If I had a choice of buying this Capless versus a Vanishing Point I'd get the Capless. It presents a better value if you don't deeply care about a gold nib.

The perfect jotter for the fountain pen lover. Solidly made and well finished. Nib is fairly smooth out of the box.

3e capless de Pilot acheté, dont un pour ma femme. Super pratique, écrivent comme un charme et m'accompagnent partout. J'utilise également un superbe Sheaffer Valor depuis plus de 14 ans pour l'écriture régulière. Le Capless de Pilot remplit ses promesses: idéal pour la prise de note, on peut aussi s'en servir pour l'écriture régulière, même si sa pointe fine mais étroite n'est pas idéale pour les pleins et les déliés (j'ai d'autres stylos pour ça). Je recommande fortement!

I prefer 0.38 ballpoint and rollerball since they most closely resemble 0.5 mechanical pencil writing. I'm picky with my pens cause i have to many, and a seasoned pen purchaser including Mont Blanc, ST Dupont, Dunhill, Parker and now the usual suspects fountain pen brands. Although I have 3 Sailors (EF & F), 2 Pelikans (EF), and Platinum (UEF), I gravitate towards Pilot fountain pens for their fine line width, the right amount of feedback, and their lack of ghosting/ bleeding with different inks & paper. This F nib even tames my most troublesome ink from ghosting/ bleeding. I enjoy writing with this pen. The knocker mechanism is smooth and satisfying, not to mention convenient. I don’t like the look of the pen profile and girth compared to my Decimo and Fermo, but the pen is still plenty attractive. You quickly get used to the clip placement. What's interesting is the nib's writing experience. The "Special alloy" nib is definately stiff compared to the bouncy Vanishing Point 18k EF & F nibs, but slightly bouncy compared to my Prera and Kakuno steel nibs. The line width falls right between my VP F and Prera F. Ink is less saturated then my 18k VP and steel Prera, but that's probably why there's no ghosting. This is a nice upgrade to my Prera without having to spend $150 on a Vanishing Point. I bought it to test out, and I'm keeping it.

I'm a fountain-pen enthusiast, but one with a tight budget. I really like carrying a fountain pen for note taking, but they have one major drawback--if you take two long between notes with the nib exposed, they tend to dry out and have a skip or a hard start. Putting the cap back on is cumbersome even if it is click on, and way too much work if it is screw on. I wanted a capless pen to solve this problem so I could use a fountain pen as my dedicated notetaker. Pilot solved this design problem years and years ago. The problem is that American-sold pilot "vanishing point" and "decimo" models are typically $200 or more. And other companies that make similar models are no cheaper. I don't know how I found these "capless (special allow nib)" Pilot pens. But there are a couple of nib size options and several colors available on Amazon. If you watch closely with camelcamelcamel or the like, they eventually go on sale. I believe I got this pen for about $60, which is an amazing deal compared to the domestic pilot pens. My understanding is that these are the same pen as the "vanishing point," but without the 14k gold nib. And supposedly these are released to the Japanese market, but not typically in the US. Those are the explanations for the price discount. I can live without the 14k nib. Everything else does, indeed, seem to be the same. And the pen works amazingly well--just as well as I'd expect a high-quality pilot to work. This has become my daily carry and note-taking fountain pen!