2021 Pilot Vanishing Point Decimo Capless Fountain Pen Unboxing and Review
Jun 12, 2021 14:00 · 2477 words · 12 minute read
hello there welcome to my channel my name is doug and i’m back with another fountain pen review and thank you in advance for liking and subscribing to my channel your support allows me to continue to do these reviews so thanks well i was finally able to spirit the pilot decimal off my wife’s desk to be able to write with it and to do this video review this will be brief because she wants it back pronto she has some meetings with her editor this week and needs her go-to tool no not me the pan the pen my pan my pen my pan the pen she does all her work with oh and by the way you fans of kids in the hall they’ve reunited to do a number of episodes for netflix keep an eye out for mark mckinney and your faces your faces okay david foley gnome he’s gay by the way well good for you well we try scott thompson i can make the word canadian found sexy bruce mccullough hi i’m bruce mccullough i’d like to tell you about the daves i know tommy webber but to the pen in hand this is my wife’s pilot decimo it’s her first gold nib fountain pen and i bought it for her i thought it was only fitting as she bought me my first gold nib fountain pen my beloved pilot e95s elite 14 karat gold fountain pen this was one of my top three fountain pens on my video for yoast applebaum and this pilot vanishing point decimo did not disappoint it’s every bit as silky and smooth as we’ve come to expect from pilot one of these days i’ll have to get a pilot 823 i know what wynn thinks of this fountain pen because she won’t let it out of her sight she adores it but let’s find out what doug thinks of the decimal because inquiring minds want to know right now i really think there is something to this pen gravity theory of mine i mentioned before that even though i order things at many different times separately they all seem to converge on my mailbox at once yesterday i opened this hongdae in 1841 which is a very interesting pen i haven’t even inked it up yet and today i gotta notice that more pens have arrived and i got to my mailbox i was expecting two and i got three packages and i even had to sort out the tracking numbers on them to figure out this is a hundian 6016 this package wasn’t even on my radar and it said that it hadn’t even arrived in canada yet but this is a wing sung 601a and we’ll open that but this package has come from our friends at goulet and this is a special arrival i was uh waiting for this one so let’s open it up and find out and i got a a splat sticker and a card from randall thank you very much randall and a tootsie pop let’s take a look at the pen yes it’s a pilot and it is a pilot capless decimal in burgundy a medium slides open with our typical pilot coffin case with the window and it opens up and here’s our pen shift it around a little bit in there and what’s underneath we have a pilot cartridge the sleeve that goes over the cartridge for the decimal and a use and care guide your product warranty and this pen is guaranteed for life and take a look at the pen now i’ve been told many many times by viewers that i simply must get a vanishing point fountain pen pilot and people keep commenting how wonderful they are well being retired i really don’t have a need for a pen that i’m going to carry to work and around in the office and so forth if i was this would be a perfect pen but if i was going to work every day and i had something in and out of my briefcase having this kind of a retractable pen would be really really useful but then i thought about getting a pen for win she’s the writer in the family she’s currently writing a novel that is going to be published she’s working with an editor outside the house on a regular basis so she packs up her books and her computer and she goes off to meetings and she tends to use a pencil a lot but also likes to use fountain pens and her kids got her a pencil for christmas that is like this it’s a carry mechanical pencil i’ve reviewed this um but they got her one in this beautiful burgundy red which is identical to this so i thought i’m going to get her this burgundy decimal and it’s not the full size vanishing point because she likes slimmer pens and i’ll be able to do a review of a vanishing point type pilot pen and she gets a pen out of it but i’ll be fascinated to give this pen a try and what i’d like to do today is go over the parts and features of this pen show some size comparisons some measurements and then provide a writing sample after the writing sample please stay tuned as i will talk about what i like and what i don’t like so much about this fountain pen overall this is a sleek looking very attractive pen i got her a decimal because it is slimmer than the vanishing point but if the pen were for my hand i’d have to have the vanishing point because this is even slightly slimmer than my e95 s this burgundy color is a perfect match for her pentel carrie mechanical pencil and i got her a really nice leather pouch to house both of them and i’ll link a review of my pentel carry mechanical pencil in the description from the top we see a little bat cave where the nib lives and there’s a cool little bat cave trapdoor that opens to protect the nib the engineering that goes into these little machines is really impressive the sleek bullet shaped chrome metal tip tapers up and incorporates the clip which says decimo stamped into it the clip is very springy and very usable it’s also very long and attached almost at the top so that allows the the pen to disappear nicely into a pocket there is a smooth seam transition from the chrome tip to what i’m going to call the section pilot calls this section the front shaft and the barrel the rear shaft that’s way too many shafts front and rear for one pg rated video so section and barrel it is this is covered in a really pretty sparkling metallic red lacquer and it tapers up slightly to a double chrome ring which separates the section from the barrel on the back pilot japan is silk screened in silver paint the smaller ring is actually part of the section and the larger ring is part of the barrel we’ll take it apart in a moment the barrel tapers away to another curved chrome ring and the chrome what pilot calls knob but they might have even called it the shaft thruster nib thruster point ejector but i’ll just call it the clicker because we all know what nervous people do with their knobs they click them and here is the tiny 18 karat gold rhodium plated nib it’s easier to see when the pen is disassembled the rear shaft unscrews from the front shaft with about three and a quarter turns to reveal the inner nib feed and cartridge assembly which slides out easily so here is the entire 18 karat gold nib on display so we can see the markings where it says pilot 18k and 750 which is the gold content of the 18 karat gold and the letter m in brackets for medium then there is a p1019 i have no clue what that is that’s probably some kind of a part number for pilot and then there’s a hallmark stamp which i can’t quite make out there’s a pp in there and there’s some other symbols but i assume that’s another certification of gold content and on the other side we see the plastic feed and how the nib is affixed to that feed you can also see the small square filler hole right there used for filling it up when you’re using the converter to fill this pen the vanishing point and the decimal come with this really horrible con 40 converter or you can use pilots proprietary cartridges wind is elected to use the pilot blue cartridges for convenience i use these cartridges too in my e95s but i refilled the cartridge with a syringe so i can use my favorite inks the cartridge is covered in this chrome sleeve that comes off and the whole unit fits back into the section using this key to line it up the barrel part or the rear shaft has this knob and you can see from the end of it that it is made of nylon that would be for extended life wear from all those clickers very nice touch inside the front shaft you can see a collar that engages with this nib unit to actuate the shutter opening and closing both ends of the pen have seals to keep the nib wet and ink from evaporating make sure you don’t unscrew the two parts of the pen while the nib is extended as it makes it more difficult to reassemble in the hand the pen is very comfortable but as i said a bit slim for my hand but it’s perfect for wins hand the clip being part of the grip will cause some people issues depending on your grip style i have absolutely no problem with the clip being there the vanishing point actually has a slight narrowing of the clip right there because it’s a little bit wider and it helps your fingers fit into that point the decimal is slim enough that you don’t need that this was actually the first thing i checked out when i held this pen for the first time because it informs me immediately whether i would like a vanishing point or not i know the clip on the vanishing point would not be an issue for me if you grip closer to the nib this chrome bit is a bit slippery but back here on the enamel paint it is just fine i bought this pen from goulet pens for 144 u.
s with 13 u. s shipping and it arrived in just under two weeks now let’s look at some size comparisons and here is the pilot decimal with my pilot e95 s a pilot metropolitan a pilot explorer and a pilot falcon now let’s look at them posted and or extended and here they are posted and extended there’s no doubt that the decimal is a compact little pen now let’s look at some measurements and i’ll be back with a writing sample and we’re back with the writing portion of the review this is clairefontaine gsm paper and this is the pilot decimal and it has a medium 14g gold nib let’s check the wetness this isn’t a terribly wet pen but this ink is the pilot blue uh cartridge ink which is fairly dry actually the nib is ultra smooth it’s so smooth it’s almost like there’s no feedback at all that’s the line variation well there’s no line variation to be had this pen is 18 karat gold and it’s fairly soft and the pen and the nib actually flexes a little bit let me see if i can close up on that see how it’s bending but the tines aren’t splaying because it’s such a tiny nib but that does give you a good amount of bounce and i think that bounce adds to the super smooth feeling of this knit this line is 0.
6 millimeters in thickness which makes it a western medium or a japanese slightly thicker than medium and for our quote and reverse writing it really doesn’t work very nicely at all and some quick writing yeah it doesn’t have difficulty keeping up so what do i like and what do i not like about this fountain pen well there’s a lot to like about this pen the first and most important like for me is that wynn loves it that was the whole reason for purchasing the decimal in the first place i wanted something that was practical and matched her pentel carrie nicely something that she could throw in her bag and take with her to her meetings a pen that was ready all the time and was easy to keep inked up without worrying about messy bottles or drying out the decimal ticked all of those boxes plus it has a dreamy smooth buttery nib i doubt that there is anything about this pen that wind dislikes or would criticize that’s my job and here are some of my negatives for me this is not a pen i would use and that isn’t because it’s so slim i doubt that i’ll be getting a vanishing point either and that has to do with two things my lifestyle and the lack of character this line creates if i were still going to the office every day and in and out of meetings i have no doubt i’d own one of these if not several vanishing points but being retired i don’t do any of those things anymore thank the goddess so practically i have no need for it but also practically the line that this pen makes is so exquisitely boring that it holds no interest for me in addition the nib is so super smooth and the grip on this pen is so narrow that i find my handwriting sucks more than hoover corporate headquarters and nothing sucks i find the pen difficult to control but saying that i admire this pen immensely the engineering and fit and finish of this pen is just sheer genius no wonder they’re so popular is it worth 144 dollars u.
s plus shipping you bet you’re bippy it is every penny win is pleased and that’s priceless and there you have it if you like this video please like and subscribe and don’t forget to ring that bell to get instant notifications whenever a new video is posted and that just leaves it for me to say thank you for watching and that’s all she wrote i made this.