Some Questions About Pilot Capless

[Ileach]

Hello everybody,

 

I have some questions about Pilot Capless. I found quite a lot of topics but my specific questions were not answered yet. So I am sure some of you can help me :-) Unfortunately I can not get one here for a test drive.

 

- About the nib: It looks a bit short to me, although I've read that it works quite well. All my pens had pretty large nibs so far maybe except when I started school with a Pelikan, but that's long ago. So is the short nib worth a word or is it simply working as it should? I think I'd go for a M nib.

 

- Upside down: The clip means you transport the pen with its nib up. In planes that's the way you store your pen but how is it in daily life, at work, on the road? Any danger that the pen is losing some ink if stored flat, carried around, sometimes nib down?

 

- The clip: I saw some videos, read many reviews but I am still not sure if the clip bothers me when writing. I even made a dry test with a ballpoint pen upside down and it seems it won't bother me. Any experience?

 

- The CON-20 converter, right?

 

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!

[Algester]

CON-20 is no longer in "mainstream" production it was superseded by the newly introduced CON-40 but it will still fit

if you don't like the clip you can probably try a decimo, it doesnt hurt that you may want to physically hold 1just to let you feel it would be hard if your buying blindly

the "nib" or whats protruding from the hatch is longer than the nib of a L2K (when in use but not naked) but shorter than your standard nibs

 

as for performance YMMV, I'm not really particular about the capless series though

[Dr.Grace]

I normally like larger nibs too, but honestly, the VP is such a fascinating pen in other ways that I still love mine. The only way to tell if you're bothered by the clip is to buy one and use it for a while. As for me, it doesn't bother me in the least. I have no problem with keeping the pen upright or horizontal, in a case. The ink capacity in the converter is not high, but that's a necessary design tradeoff.

[Ileach]

Ok, thank you both for your input so far. The question if it will leak if not stored upright is yet to be answered.

[Dr.Grace]

I did answer that.

[Ileach]

I did answer that.

 

Yeah, and I did not read it the part "or horizontal" :-)

Thank you.

[MYU]

It won't leak any more than other pens. It's technically a semi-hooded nib, like a Lamy 2000, Lamy 27, Aurora 88 (vintage), etc. Performs great with adequate ink flow. But what's so terrific is that it's a "nib assembly unit," which means you can easily replace it with a different nib. Much easier than something like a Pelikan, where the nib unit is separated from the ink supply, requiring a cleaning. If you want to switch fairly often, you can use small tubes to hold each assembly while one is inserted and in use.

 

If you don't mind the eye dropper method, you can use a cartridge in your VP and you'll get a little more ink out of it (about a 15% larger capacity than a converter).

[Ileach]

Thank you! So I will maybe order one :-)

[Ileach]

So it has arrived, my Pilot Capless in matte black fitted with a B nib. It was also available in a local store but with the price tag of 269 euro I decided to have it delivered from England. I love it already. The nib is perfect. I performed a test drive before I ordered it and found the M nib too scratchy for my writing, the B is just fine. I inked it up with Diamine Midnight and everything goes smooth. My new office pen.

 

And the clip does not bother me. I did not feel too comfortable when I did the test drive but afterwards I was sure that this was because I was only focussing on the clip all the time. Now after a day I can say that this was the case, the clip does not bother me at all. Good choice :-)

 

Thank you all for your input!

[Dr.Grace]

Glad it worked out well!