Pilot Tiger 600: Full Review With Photos

[Bookman]

Pilot Tiger 600

 

 

 

 

OPENING STATEMENT

 

I am informed and believe and thereon allege that the Pilot Tiger 600 under consideration was made sometime in the 1980s. I bought it new-old-stock for $25.

 

Before I stumbled onto it while browsing Speerbob's "Buy It Now" items, I had never heard of the Pilot Tiger 600. When I saw the name in the blurb on the first page of listings, I had to inquire further. And so I clicked on the link …

 

That was when I saw the pen's head-to-ankle fluted finish. That was also when I knew I was going to buy that pen.

 

I ordered it early on a Friday, chose the free standard USPS First-Class shipping option, and three days later on the following Monday it arrived in my mailbox.

 

 

DISCOVERY PHASE: FIRST INSPECTION

 

First impression: Packaging for entry-level fountain pens has really gone into the toilet in the last 30-something years.

 

Second: I can't wait to get my hands on that pen.

 

 

DISCOVERY PHASE: SECOND INSPECTION

 

My excitement and joy came to a flying stop when I actually did get my hands on that pen.

 

All right, all right, sure, I had allowed myself the hope, perhaps the delusion, that the fluted finish on that plastic pen would feel a little like hard rubber. Instead, the plastic was so cheap-feeling, so thin, and so lightweight that right then and there the Pilot Tiger 600 redefined cheapness for me. Let me repeat that. (Consider it duly repeated.)

 

Visually, the fluted finish, set off by the jet black color and gold accents, was even more alluring than it had been in the web photos. But handling the Tiger 600 was a letdown.

 

 

 

CALLING APPEARANCE & DESIGN TO THE STAND

 

 

Except as briefly noted below, I will let my photos throughout this posting address the pen's Appearance & Design: res ipsa loquitor.

 

The fluted finish is groovy. There, I said it.

 

The friction cap is an all-around winner. It snaps closed and slides on to post. The end result of each operation leaves the cap snugly secure. When posting, the cap slides a luxurious 1½ inches (not a typo) down the barrel before it stops.

 

The gold-plated nib and furniture arrived looking dull and tarnished. A little pen polish and a soft cloth brought out the shine.

 

 

 

 

The pen was designed to use an aeromatic filling mechanism. Conveniently, the CON-20 fits the pen as well as standard Pilot ink cartridges. (But see also CALLING CONSTRUCTION & QUALITY TO THE STAND, infra.)

 

 

The clip is unbending and presumably unbendable. I dare not use more than minimal force to pry the clip away from its hard-and-fast position against the cap for fear that the cap might shatter. At this juncture, it is next to impossible to clip the pen to a shirt pocket and, thus far, absolutely impossible to clip it to anything else, like the inside breast pocket of a jacket or coat.

.

 

 

 

CALLING CONSTRUCTION & QUALITY TO THE STAND

 

The best thing I can say on this line of inquiry is that the Pilot Tiger 600 is astonishingly well-constructed considering it is mostly made from astonishingly cheap plastic. And 30-something years of lying about has not helped: cheap plastic does not get better with age, it gets brittle, brittle, and more brittle.

 

 

OYEZ, OYEZ, OYEZ: HANDLE WITH CARE

 

 

Ordinarily I would address "Weight & Dimensions" together but separated from the other elements of my case. But I cannot adequately address Quality without broaching the subject of Weight. The feather weight of this pen contributes inevitably to its cheap feel.

 

 

 

Just to clarify, a Pilot Tiger 600 with a full converter but unposted weighs 5.5 grams. A first-time-sharpened Blackwing pencil weighs 6.5 grams. An unposted Platinum Preppy with a full cartridge weighs 9.5 grams.

 

Fortunately, the inside of the pen all the way down to (but, of course, excluding) the nib is plastic, and therefore, the pen can be used as an eyedropper. Indeed this is how I use mine. I applied silicone grease and that was all. A full barrel of ink adds 3 grams of weight to the pen. Also note that the cap weighs more than the rest of the pen except in eyedropper mode. Plan to post the cap when you write: it helps with the heft as well as the balance.

 

 

 

 

CALLING THE DIMENSIONS TO THE STAND

 

CALLING NIB & PERFORMANCE TO THE STAND

 

 

 

 

The nib came with a wonderful surprise. I'll get to that in a minute.

 

My Tiger 600 is outfitted with a fine, gold-plated steel nib. It emerged from its pen coffin with perfectly-aligned tines, plenty of tipping material, no baby's bottom, not overly polished either, and with a slight amount of feedback, which I like.

 

Here's the surprise. I'm also noticing a bit of unadvertised springiness. I must confess I don't know much about nibs. But when I looked closely at this one I saw scoring shaped like a condor's wingspan in flight (or Jean Harlow's painted-on eyebrows) at the bases of the tines. I would expect this to contribute to, if not be outright responsible for, the spring in this nib.

 

 

I have to apply at least a middling amount of downward pressure to achieve line variation, much more pressure than that to which I'm accustomed and more than I'm inclined to apply at this point. Still, this unexpected potential, along with its associated springiness, are welcome additions.

 

 

 

THE CONFOUNDING CASE OF PRICE v. VALUE

 

All things considered I'm ambivalent about whether this pen is worth the $25 I paid for it. More durable pens abound that cost less than $25, most notably the Pilot Metropolitan and a slew of Chinese pens. And yet if I could climb into the Wayback Machine and go back to the day before my purchase, even knowing what I know now, I would almost certainly buy my very first Pilot Tiger 600 all over again. The fluted finish and the nib would probably tip the balance in that direction.

 

 

 

CLOSING ARGUMENT

 

I like my NOS Pilot Tiger 600. But potential buyers: Caveat emptor. You are advised to consider that this pen's largest components were of a low grade plastic when it was made 30-something years ago; and now after all this elapsed time the plastic must be so brittle, I have no doubt whatever that this pen would not survive a fall onto my desktop while I was sitting down, nor a drop on the bathroom counter or in the sink, never mind a solid bare floor.

 

Having said all that, I'm considering buying another one.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Bookman

[visvamitra]

Spectacular review. Excellent job. I feel tempted to say your review is much better and more interesting than the pen itself

[Bookman]

Spectacular review. Excellent job. I feel tempted to say your review is much better and more interesting than the pen itself

 

Thank you.

[KellyMcJ]

This is so cool. I'm watching a few vintage pilots on Ebay, I think I'll take the plunge...

[senzen]

Awesome review, good looking pen!

[tamiya]

Interesting artefact, I cannot imagine an FP lighter than a pencil

 

Is "600" really part of the name? I'd suspect it could be its RRP in Yen.

[otw]

Speerbob sells a lot of Korean-made Pilots. Perhaps this is one of them?

[Bookman]

Interesting artefact, I cannot imagine an FP lighter than a pencil

 

Is "600" really part of the name? I'd suspect it could be its RRP in Yen.

"Pilot Tiger 600" was how Speerbob listed it, and that's what the sticker says. But I'm not sure I'm any better at reading transliterated Korean/Japanese/Chinese than I am at reading plain English.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Bookman

[Bookman]

Speerbob sells a lot of Korean-made Pilots. Perhaps this is one of them?

 

He prides himself on being accurate and honest with his listings, especially concerning where the pens are made. He lists this as having been made in Japan.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Bookman

[Freddy]

Bookman:

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your review {well-crafted argument}.

 

Thanks.

 

Fred

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Bookman,

 

This was a very entertaining read.

 

I've often thought about getting one of Speerbob's Korean Pilots, but always hesitate... figuring, why spend $25 on one of them, (their real attraction to me are some of the designs and color schemes - like you mentioned here), when I can get the same "budget quality" type of pen from China at a fifth of the price.

 

I'm intrigued by the fact you said you'd buy this pen again.

 

- Anthony

[ParkerDuofold]

 

He prides himself on being accurate and honest with his listings, especially concerning where the pens are made. He lists this as having been made in Japan.

I stand corrected, Bookman... I was suffering the same delusion as some others here... I thought this was one of his Korean-made Pilots... I didn't know this 600 was made in Japan.

 

- Anthony

[Sagarb]

Superb review.. Excellent job..

[rudyhou]

interesting . never came across this Pilot product before.

[Bookman]

Bookman:

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your review {well-crafted argument}.

 

Thanks.

 

Fred

 

I appreciate that. Believe it or not, I originally handwrote my review with my new Tiger 600. The system protocols here wouldn't allow that many photos in one post, so I reverted to the keyboard.

[Bookman]

Thank you everyone for your generous words. Glad you liked the review.

[Bookman]

Hi Bookman,

 

This was a very entertaining read.

 

…

 

I'm intrigued by the fact you said you'd buy this pen again.

 

- Anthony

 

Glad you enjoyed the review. As to my weighing a repeat purchase, I can't explain it. Totally irrational. Just asking for trouble. It should arrive on Saturday.

[rwilsonedn]

Speerbob may have misspoken on this one. According to another thread that's currently active on Korean pens, the Tiger 600 is in fact a Korean Pilot. In any case, it's a great-looking pen, and the OP has for my taste done a fine and insightful review. Plus admitting to a case of serial purchase syndrome--that takes courage.

ron

[Bookman]

Speerbob may have misspoken on this one. According to another thread that's currently active on Korean pens, the Tiger 600 is in fact a Korean Pilot. In any case, it's a great-looking pen, and the OP has for my taste done a fine and insightful review. Plus admitting to a case of serial purchase syndrome--that takes courage.

ron

 

When they were handing out syndromes the woman ahead of me in the queue got Munchausen syndrome by proxy. So I dodged a bullet there.