Pilot Custom FK-700-R

September 1, 2008

Pilot Custom FK-700-R

As part of the Pilot Custom range the FK-700R has a marked Size 4, 14 Karat gold nib that comes in Extra Fine to Broad sizes. The length of the barrel measures approximately 134mm (uncapped) and 12mm in width. The neck or grip at it's broadest measures 10mm but gradually reduces in thickness to about 7mm, before widening to 8mm. The FK-700R accepts either the Pilot Con-20 Converter or their proprietary cartridges (included).

Impressions 3/5

Initial Impression is that the medium sized fountain pen is extremely light, weighing only thirteen grams due to the body's resin construction. Aesthetically the pen suffers as the black plastic resinous body and gold coloured trim makes the barrel appear comparatively cheap. Further economising can be seen with the minimal amount of alloy and the plain design used in the nib’s manufacture.

Nib Design / Performance 4/5

The FK-700R fountain pen with it's Extra Fine 14 Karat gold nib writes very smoothly leaving a consistent ultra-thin (XX-Fine) line with Cross or Sailor Jentle ink on HP heavy duty Inkjet paper. The fine nib also has a slight tendency to flex when used.

Price 4/5

The FK-700R Fountain Pen is the cheapest of the Pilot Custom Range costing 7000 yen and is available from Ujuku website for $66.50 excluding postage.

Overall 4/5

As an entry level in the customisable market, the fountain pen suffers certain drawbacks but the FK-700R has many positive characteristics to recommend the pen. Overall delighted and satisfied with the purchase and would heartily recommend the Custom Pilot FK-700R to users who prefer an ultra light pen. Although if you can afford another $30 it might be advisable to look at the Pilot Grance, Custom 98 or Sailor Profit Standard (1911M) fountain pen.

Left - Pilot Grance and right Custom FK-700R

A close up of the two pens.

Edited September 1, 2008 by nemesiz

March 17, 2009

Great review! Thanks for sharing! Not sure why nobody ever commented on this.

March 17, 2009

My guesstimate is that the FK700 is comparable to the Sailor Yang Profit/Somiko. Someone at the Dallas Pen Club breakfast a this month had an FK700, and I compared it to my Yang Profit, and they seemed very comparable, sort of like the Custom 74 Pilot and the 1911M Sailor. Price point is very similar on the FK700 and the Yang Profit, as is apparent quality, given the short time I had to compare the two pens. I got my Yang Profit for considerably less than the retail price, so the small additional sum to upgrade to the 1911M would be more than the retail price of the FK700 for me.

Donnie

March 17, 2009

Just got one of these from Blackranger63 and it's a sweet pen.

Amazingly smooth semi-flexible fine nib.

March 17, 2009

Thank you for your comments. As the two photographs comparing the Pilot Grance and Custom FK-700-R were removed, I have uploaded three new images for reference.

A comparison of the Pilot Custom FK-700-R (Far Left), Pilot Grance (Centre) and Sailor 1911M Profit (Right).

A closer examination of the barrel and nib of each fountain pen.

A detailed view of the three nibs.

February 13, 2013

Excellent review! Just wondering if anyone has a written example of this pen's line variation. Always curious about modern 14k nibs.

November 12, 2014

Ah, thank you so much for this! I received this pen as a gift a couple of months ago, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what version of the Pilot Custom it was.

As for line variation, I'm not sure you could say that there was any...