Pilot Volex

January 20, 2007

Today I received a Pilot Volex in full matte black w/ a fine nib. I've always liked the idea of the Japanese 'pocket pen,' a pen that is quite short when capped, normal in size when posted. This is achieved by having a long-normous cap. They look a little bit peculiar when capped, but utterly normal when posted. A current production example would be the Ohto Tasche.

The Volex seems to be mostly plastic construction. The wee butt end certainly is all plastic - the cap & extended section could be plastic over metal. At first when I picked it up I thought it felt kinda cheap. At the same time, it felt very warm, soft, comfortable to hold. It's excruciatingly light. I don't generally like light pens myself, but this pen is very well balanced, and I feel right at home writing with it, just as much as I do with any heftier pen.

Capped, the pen comes in at 27.5 pica... Err.. 4.625 inches long. Posted, it's more along the lines of 5.75 inches long - longer than a VP with its nib extended. As I said, the balance is spot on when the pen is posted. Unposted... Well, you could jot a note with it but I'd hate to do a term paper that way.

Since the idea behind the pocket pen necessitates posting every time, such a pen should be designed to accommodate that. The cap on the Volex is of the slip variety. These make me nervous, but not on this sort of pen. Why? Well, the cap & section are so long that there's a lot of area making contact when you cap the pen. This one feels very secure. Since overall the thing is so light, I don't believe it to be likely that the pen would find a way to separate itself either. I have already noticed some minor scuffs on the matte black surface. I'm not sure if these are from me posting, from moving around in the mail (I love the USPS. There was a nice puncture through the package, right through the 'FRAGILE' stamp.), from the previous owner handling it (had never been inked, still stickered as well), or what... But the matte finish is going to scuff and smooth out a bit over time. I'm okay with that, but you'd think maybe they'd try harder to avoid this on a pen that is inherently going to want to be posted. I still love the look and feel of the finish, and I come from the camp that sees scuffs &c. as signs of love.

The nib is shiny white metal! I'd assume stainless steel, but I have no real knowledge. It's not hallmarked anything blatantly obvious to me (H180 - mean anything?) but material doesn't really matter. What matters is how it writes, and how it looks. Both are great. The white metal matches the trim really well, and the whole piece just comes together at the tip! The nib itself is understated and squared off, a favorite quality of mine.

Getting the pen to write was kind of a bear, and I don't know why. I loaded it up with a Parallel black cartridge, and squeezed it several times to get the ink through the nib. Could not get it to write! Squeezed more, got ink to drip out the feed, shook it, got ink to launch out the feed, dipped it in the puddles of ink I had just created, wrote a few words, then died... The process went on until I got frustrated enough to start coming up with new plans. I dunked the nib into a bottle of Quink Black (regardless of the experiences of many, this was definitely the most free-flowing ink I had around). I held it there for a few moments, 'swaddled' off the excess ink, and set out to write. I knew there'd be ink leftover in the feed, but I hoped this would've set off a chain reaction to get the ink wicked to the end of the nib. I wrote and wrote and wrote and I think I wrote enough to drain whatever Quink would've been in the feed. So my little plan worked. And now that I've coaxed the Volex into submission, it writes like... Well like how it should feel to write on your lover with liquid chocolate. Yeah, it's that good.

How does the pen look, overall? It's understated and elegant. All matte black, with the white metal trim interrupted occasionally by slight black rings. Oh, it's pretty. But it doesn't call attention to itself. The clip is basic, not the spring loaded type, and just a straight down sort of thing, with no curves, &c. This part feels a bit cheap to me, but it'll get the job done. The top of the cap tapers off with a small, flat, black plastic 'jewel.' It all looks quite nice.

Score? Aesthetics, gets a 5 for being the perfect blend of understatement and elegance. Fit/finish, gets a 3 for overall feeling pretty solid, but with a somewhat cheap feeling clip and a finish that will be marred easily. Writability, gets a 4 because it was a pain to get working, but now that it does it's... wonderful. 12/15

Pictures show VP, Volex, and an Eze-Lap knife sharpener whose design seems clearly influenced by the Japanese pocket pen movement. And a little close-up of the business end of this writin' stick. Sorry for the shoddy photos, I'm used to a 35mm SLR... These digital point-and-shoots aren't kind to me. And I had to use on-camera flash and blah blah...

(Side note, I got this pen from member <cmenice> who was very responsive and accommodating. I believe (s)he was just slimming down his collection, and may not be selling anything further in the future - but if (s)he does, I have nothing but praise.)

-brian

January 20, 2007

Platinum makes an almost exact match, 18 Kt is the only difference I see. Even your review is right on.

January 20, 2007

Nice review and glad you like the pen. I'm a "he" by the way. Odd about the ink not flowing at first, but I'm glad it does now. The "H180" on the nib is the date code of when it was produced. I'm not sure what "H1" is, but the "80" is 1980.

USPS :bonk: :bonk:

January 20, 2007

Great post and pics, thanks!

January 20, 2007

Nice review and glad you like the pen. I'm a "he" by the way. Odd about the ink not flowing at first, but I'm glad it does now. The "H180" on the nib is the date code of when it was produced. I'm not sure what "H1" is, but the "80" is 1980.

USPS :bonk: :bonk:

Thanks for the info! I was a bit surprised about the ink being trouble at first too... Not something I expect out of a Pilot! But now that I've got it going, it starts every time, never hesitates or skips, writes just like I expect a Pilot to write. Nice to be able to put a date on the pen, though, so thanks. Re: USPS... The puncture was pretty far away from where the pen was, and your packaging inside seemed untouched, fortunately.. It was just one of those total smack-in-the-head moments to see a big hole right in the middle of the 'FRAGILE' stamp.

-brian

PS, liking that Platinum, jd50ae!

January 21, 2007

I had nearly the same problem with a Pilot I got on ebay. The thing didn't want to write. I finally dipped the nib in a mild soap solution and rinsed it thoroughly, and viola! it wrote. Good review. I enjoyed it

Andrew

January 22, 2007

Great review!

I bought the full stainless version of the Volex (the nib section is the only black plastic part). It's also a fine nib. At first, I found it wrote rather "dry" and scratchy. But after letting the pen sit lying down with ink in it for a few days, it went to writing more properly from that point on.

It's a great little pen--the same form factor as the MYU full stainless.

I also agree that the clip is not very desirable. It's very stiff, and since there's no spring mechanism as on the larger Pilots, this makes for a difficult pocket attach/detach. The MYU also features a fixed clip, but it has more flex to it.

My only major gripe with the stainless version is that it does not post well. You really have to shove the cap onto the barrel with strong force to get it all the way into position. And naturally, this causes surface scratches to the brushed aluminum finish. When I use the pen, I push the cap on just far enough until it feels like it's holding well. In some ways it's an advantage, because it makes the pen a little longer.

The nib started out somewhat scratchy, but smoothed out beautifully after a short session of paper bag sketching. It's got a nice amount of flex to it. Originally I was going to sell it back on Fleabay, but after the ink flow resolved itself and the nib was easily smoothed, I'm keeping it.

January 23, 2007

I haven't seen one in person, but based on online photos, I don't like the stainless one as much... not sure why, just looks less sleek - probably because the section is so long, the change in materials makes it look as different as it really is... The black/black disguises the peculiar form factor a little bit better, I suppose.

Your other comments are interesting too... Sad that your nib was a bit scratchy, I wonder if they just had some QC issues with the nibs on these pens in general. Fortunately, mine wrote buttery smooth as soon as it actually started writing, I think it may even take the Smoothest-Nib-In-My-Collection award.

Capping/posting on my black/black is also smooth, don't feel like I need to force at all. Wonder if there were just some QC issues with these all around!

The clip is a weird phenomenon.. super-stiff, yet flimsy. Aesthetically, I'm down with it though. I never really use clips myself, either, except on my VP which gets clipped to my messenger bag daily. So it's a non-issue to me, but could be annoying for others.

Now, a few days have passed, and I still smile when I pick it up and write with it. It'll also make for a good size-comparison when I review the Rotring Mini Esprit one of these days...

-brian

January 24, 2007

I see what you mean, Brian. The all black version does appear to blend the cap and body a bit more, so that it doesn't look as 'unbalanced' when capped. The cap lip diameter is larger than the barrel, so it sticks out a bit (unlike the MYU, which is almost perfectly flush.

About the nib, it wasn't 'super' scratchy... I probably should have said 'toothy'. It's a fine point, which is extra fine in Japanese. All it took was a short paper bag session and it's to my liking.

I don't think there's a quality issue with the pen cap posting--I think it's more of a design issue. It feels like Pilot didn't quite get the black plastic nib section diameter to match the turned aluminum barrel diameter, so the cap fits on the nib section perfectly with undue pressure but is a bit too snug for the barrel. Since the all black version has similar material all around, I guess they were a bit more precise in the sizing. Anyway, when I post the cap it leaves about 1/3" of the barrel exposed--cap is held just fine and the pen ends up extended a little extra (which is nice for my medium/large hand).

I don't understand what you mean by the clip being flimsy, when it's super stiff. Or do you mean it looks flimsy, rather than feels that way? Mine is on super solid. But you can see how it's fastened to the cap when looked at closely--a little cheap looking.

Overall, a great value when compared to the MYU. I got mine for $46, compared to $155 for the MYU.

~Gary

Edited January 24, 2007 by MYU

January 24, 2007

Point well taken about the materials impacting the design and how the pen posts. On a similar note, I wonder how much of a difference there is in balance between our two versions. I would doubt that the extra weight itself would be too noticeable, but any change in balance would be much more noticeable.

About the clip... It's very stiff, until it gets pulled out to a certain point, where it has a different, 'flimsy' sort of feel to it. I don't know, I think I was just playing with it too much. It does look a bit flimsy too, but that works out, in my opinion, because it's such a small pen.

But yes, I agree, overall it's a great value. A fun pen, for sure.

Still gotta get me one of them MYUs...

-brian