using a Pilot Plumix with converter?

[Lithium466]

On 6/14/2024 at 6:04 PM, A Smug Dill said:

 

The JAN/barcode for the CON-70 is 4902505024160.

The JAN/barcode for the CON-70N is 4902505602801.

 

Fountain Pen Revolution, too, and equally without updating the product code or designation to CON-70N. There is no black CON-70N in Pilot Japan's current catalogue, however.

 

Maybe Pilot is treating the black CON-70N like the CON-W, as a spare part, and retailers can only order one at a time, or one per pen repaired.

I'm not too sure I'm getting the system, it sounds a bit like what Tesla is doing for their spare parts, except I don't know if Pilot pens that originally come with a black CON-70(N) have a serial number or not.

(that said I see a mention of the CON-W in the above linked catalog)

 

Edit: I see the black CON-70N is now sold by many retailers including Amazon, so disregard my above comment.

 

 

[Number99]

12 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

 

Maybe Pilot is treating the black CON-70N like the CON-W, as a spare part, and retailers can only order one at a time, or one per pen repaired.

I'm not too sure I'm getting the system, it sounds a bit like what Tesla is doing for their spare parts, except I don't know if Pilot pens that originally come with a black CON-70(N) have a serial number or not.

(that said I see a mention of the CON-W in the above linked catalog)

 

Edit: I see the black CON-70N is now sold by many retailers including Amazon, so disregard my above comment.

 

 

Thanks for the good picture documentation and information.

I see the same number 69901, which I believe is the product code for the black CON-70 in the Pilot Corporation of America catalog, on the black CON-70(N) package you show.

 

I don't see the model number (CON-70N) on the package, but I'm wondering if Pilot Corporation of America distinguishes between CON-70 and CON-70N for sale? 

I'm worried that the user will have to check to see if the converter has an agitator every time they place an order.

 

Edited June 16 by Number99
Change in wording.

[Lithium466]

10 minutes ago, Number99 said:

I don't see the model number (CON-70N) on the package, but I'm wondering if Pilot Corporation of America distinguishes between CON-70 and CON-70N for sale? 

I am concerned that users will have to check each time they order if it is an agitator or not.

If they treat it as a spare part, if we go by what's written on the sticker (but I don't know more than that sticker), and since it seems the product code 69901 wasn't changed (or that I wasn't able to find the old code? no mention of CON-70), then we can suppose Pilot simply exhausted the stocks of CON-70 on their side and that the spare part was replaced silently by CON-70Ns...meaning you could find old stocks of CON-70 and not know exactly what you'd get.

 

A lot of car manufacturers do that...parts are "updated" (or cheapened) but the reference isn't always updated, and depending on the batch you get, sometimes they even have several suppliers, etc.

[Number99]

12 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

 

Maybe Pilot is treating the black CON-70N like the CON-W, as a spare part, and retailers can only order one at a time, or one per pen repaired.

I'm not too sure I'm getting the system, it sounds a bit like what Tesla is doing for their spare parts, except I don't know if Pilot pens that originally come with a black CON-70(N) have a serial number or not.

(that said I see a mention of the CON-W in the above linked catalog)

 

Edit: I see the black CON-70N is now sold by many retailers including Amazon, so disregard my above comment.

 

 

PS.

Do you have any information on whether the converter in the image is an after-market item purchased separately or is it the converter that came with the pen?

[Lithium466]

2 minutes ago, Number99 said:

Do you have any information on whether the converter in the image is an after-market item purchased separately or is it the converter that came with the pen?

This one is a standalone purchase. The CON-70 I got with a pen always came already installed in the pen (so no packaging), but they were all of the standard silver model, in standard editions pens.

I don't know if the fancier Pilot / Namiki pen coming with a black CON-70 will have it already installed in the pen or in a separate plastic bag like shown above.

[A Smug Dill]

27 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

since it seems the product code 69901 wasn't changed (or that I wasn't able to find the old code? no mention of CON-70),

 

 

Source: https://pilotpen.us/PilotFineWriting

[Number99]

25 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

If they treat it as a spare part, if we go by what's written on the sticker (but I don't know more than that sticker), and since it seems the product code 69901 wasn't changed (or that I wasn't able to find the old code? no mention of CON-70),

If the Pilot Corporation of America catalog is not misstated, the manufacturer and seller can claim that 69901 is CON-70 without being CON-70N.

😅

 

26 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

meaning you could find old stocks of CON-70 and not know exactly what you'd get.

Wow...

Such a business practice must be established. If a manufacturer/distributor did that in Japan, some would complain...

I have read an article by someone who complains that another writing instrument manufacturer often does it.

 

 

[Lithium466]

19 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

 

Source: https://pilotpen.us/PilotFineWriting

Interesting, thank you. I like how they show a CON-50 but it's not in the list, unless that's the reason of the typo (?) on the CON-40.

[A Smug Dill]

28 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

… the typo (?) on the CON-40.

 

Doesn't appear to be so, unless it was of the Find-and-Replace-All kind that someone in Pilot Corporation of America's Marketing department did on the entire document, and the company didn't want to admit or backpedal on it subsequently.

 

 

 

 

See also the Pilot (US) Fine Writing 2024 Catalog, specifically the page where all the converter products are listed. Pilot US has not completely walked away from “CNT40” in a way that communicates it was a mistake in the previous catalogue.

[Lithium466]

I saw that and wondered about a possible Ctrl-F / Ctrl-H mistake too...

 

[Number99]

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

I saw that and wondered about a possible Ctrl-F / Ctrl-H mistake too...

 

I may be speculating inappropriately, but it is possible that the typo was discovered after the product was printed and distributed to the point where the cost of recovery was substantial, so it was left in place...

(Note, this is a joke and not intended to be related to fact.😅)

 

If you show us an enlarged image of the catalog image.

By enlarging it further, you can clearly see that 1 and 2 are geometrically different variations.

 

Edited June 16 by Number99
Change in wording.

[Lithium466]

Yes, the black one is a CON-70 and the silver a 70N! 
 

(I have seen these typo stories things in companies much bigger than Pilot USA...and more than once)

[XYZZY]

I think some are reading too much into it regarding Pilot's motivation.  The simplest explanation usually works better:

 

* CON-70 has been replaced by CON-70N, regardless of sold individually or included with pen

* Pilot has done a "good enough" job of updating the documentation.  Some will consider "good enough" to be poor, but I interpret it as a sign of what they do/don't consider to be important, and as a sign that they consider the difference between the two models to be minor enough that getting the documentation right is not important.

 

[XYZZY]

On 6/15/2024 at 3:46 PM, Lithium466 said:

 

 

I'm not too sure I'm getting the system, it sounds a bit like what Tesla is doing for their spare parts, except I don't know if Pilot pens that originally come with a black CON-70(N) have a serial number or not.

 

 

 

I think the Tesla analogy is interesting, but perhaps only because I'm familiar with that situation.  The reality is that this is very common in all industries and people don't know or care.  Few people need to know, or are hobbyists who want to know.

 

Go a buy a computer part and you get the current rev or stepping of that part, and most people are oblivious to that.  And if the shop you buy from still has the previous iteration then that's what you get.  Probably the same if you buy an electric mixer for your kitchen.

[Lithium466]

5 hours ago, XYZZY said:

 

I think the Tesla analogy is interesting, but perhaps only because I'm familiar with that situation.  The reality is that this is very common in all industries and people don't know or care.  Few people need to know, or are hobbyists who want to know.

 

Go a buy a computer part and you get the current rev or stepping of that part, and most people are oblivious to that.  And if the shop you buy from still has the previous iteration then that's what you get.  Probably the same if you buy an electric mixer for your kitchen.

That isn't what I meant about Tesla (I was speaking about their parts ordering procedure), but what you say is true too. What processor stepping you'll get, what motherboard revision, what hard disk firmware (back when you couldn't update that easily)...I was there, I remember being upset at a D stepping processor instead of E1...

 

I have several CON-70 but only one is in regular rotation in a Custom 743. Fast and efficient filling, no leak so far. If you're motivated enough even the one whose the metallic collar isn't screwed in can be disassembled, cleaned and relubed.

(I don't think the CON-40 can be disassembled fully)

[Number99]

18 hours ago, XYZZY said:

I think some are reading too much into it regarding Pilot's motivation.  The simplest explanation usually works better:

 

* CON-70 has been replaced by CON-70N, regardless of sold individually or included with pen

* Pilot has done a "good enough" job of updating the documentation.  Some will consider "good enough" to be poor, but I interpret it as a sign of what they do/don't consider to be important, and as a sign that they consider the difference between the two models to be minor enough that getting the documentation right is not important.

 

There are also 'industrial espionage theories', 'conspiracy theories' or 'alien theories', but given the contextual setting of this thread as a joke, the alien theory is the most appropriate one.

I had hoped that the next writer would make such a delightful contribution.

😁

In fact it is an anomaly because it is clearly different from the way it is handled at the Tokyo headquarters. 70 and 70N are obviously different in form and function, and I don't think it can be called a minor change because at least three improvements have been made at the same time that involve a change in form.

However, I don't think this is a topic for serious critical discussion.

🤔