PILOT Vanishing Point Collection Refillable & Retractable Fountain Pen, Blue Carbonesque Barrel with Rhodium Accents, Blue Ink, Medium Nib (60249)

The pen is a bit weighty, but it writes very smoothly. It looks very sleek. I use it every day. A great addition to any fountain pen collection.

Mothers Day gift, This pilot retractable is incredible! I popped in the cartridge, waited 5 minutes and started writing. It’s gorgeous, the weight is perfectly proportional with the clip adding to the overall comfort. I LOVE IT!

I have taken a liking to retractable fountain pens. I purchased the Majohn A1 Press Fountain Pen (no clip). It was good enough to get me started, but I finally purchase the Pilot Vanishing Point. The Pilot is hands down the best even with the serious upcharge. The mechanism and ink flow is better, the nib is just smoother, and the fact that the Majohn has not clip, and the Pilot does, actually is a detriment for Majohn and a great feature for Pilot and it has nothing to do with clipping in your pocket. Putting the Pilot in your hand aligned with the clip automatically sets the nib in the proper angle and flow—with the Majohn I find myself looking and feeling my way towards that even flow. Both have nice heft, and both fill easily. Pilot for me.

Honestly what can I say. This is one of, if not the best everyday carry fountain pens on the market. This pen paired with a nice ink that doesn't feather or bleed on cheap paper(like Noodlers Black or Diamine Registrars) is perfect for daily use on any type of paper. No cap to loose track of, nib doesn't dry out, if you do drop it nothing gets damaged(as long as the nib is retracted). Perfect. The only real downside is that, as you have probably heard, the CON-40 is pretty much worthless. Not only does it have a very low capacity but you cant even get it to fill all the way up most the time. SO if you are going to use bottled ink, I would HIGHLY recommend just scooping up some blunt tip syringes for a couple bucks here on amazon and refilling the cartridges. One cartridge can be refilled MANY times, and then you get good ink capacity again(about 0.9ml). Which lasts a LONG time with a fine or extra fine nib.

The thought of having a clip in the way of my fingers made me discount this pen completely.A friend continually sales pitched me on a vanishing point and since he unfortunately lives in another state, I couldn't actually try his.After about a month of his pestering, I decided to go ahead and order one.As soon as I removed it from the box and picked it up, I was very impressed with the weight, balance, and overall feel. The color and pattern with the rhodium trim match really well.Not really having an ink that matches the pen, I decided to order some, but it wouldn't arrive until the following day so in the meantime I went ahead and inked it up with Pilot iroshizuku kon-peki since I have all the patience of a child on Christmas morning and wasn't going to wait until the following day.I ordered the medium since Japanese nibs tend to be a bit finer than western nibs and the line width I'd say is somewhere between a western fine and medium, perhaps even fine in some examples of western nibs.My biggest concern was whether or not the nib would have a ton of feedback, similar to a Sailor nib. I have a Sailor 1911L and while I do enjoy writing with it, I've learned that my preference is minimal feedback. This nib definitely has some feedback, but is basically exactly what I like.To a lesser extent my other concern is the nib drying out, but as I look down the end of the barrel of the pen and watch how the trap door works, I'm not as concerned.One of the other reasons I wanted this pen was for a small field notes notebook I carry around. I have a Galen Leather cover for it, and most of my fountain pens are much too large to carry around, and typically if I'm jotting a note down, unscrewing a cap would take too long whereas this pen is quickly deployed to jot some fast notes down.If this pen starts giving me issues, I'll make sure to come back to update this review, but I don't see that happening as this pen is well crafted.

I love how practical this fountain pen is and enjoy taking it with me when I'm out and about. Especially to work and church. So quick and easy to activate and put away when not using so the nib doesn't dry out! Writes wonderful. I ordered some blue/black ink because the color that came with it is a bit lighter than I prefer.So glad I took a chance and ordered this pen. I believe I will end up using it a lot; it is so practical and convenient compared to messing with a cap.