Quick Look – Pilots Vanishing Point and Decimo

The Traveling Decimo is a project by The Pen Addict to get a fairly unique pen into the hands of as many people as he can. Packaged in a Nock Co. Seed A6 with a Midori notebook, some Pilot (blue black?) ink cartridges, and a give-and-take bag of stickers, this sparkling blue Pilot Decimo has been traveling across the country for a few months. When my turn came up, I realized that I never got around to fully reviewing my own Vanishing Point, and that just cannot stand. So as I send the Traveling Decimo off to its next destination, here is my quick look at Pilot’s Capless pens, with a brief comparison to the Majohn clones.

Before we do, I want to give a quick shout-out and thanks to Brad, aka The Pen Addict. Not only has he inspired my content, but he uses his platform to pay forward his vast collection of stationery stuff through blog giveaways, stream giveaways, and unique initiatives like the one that inspired this post. Thanks, Brad!

The Pilot Vanishing Point is a pretty neat pen; very tactile clicker, well-built, good quality gold nibs. But the VP is not without its issues. The trap door that closes the nib off from the world is inherently imperfect. In order to be accessible, it has to be fairly easy to open and pass the nib unit through. While the nib doesn’t dry out immediately, it isn’t as shelf-stable as a traditionally-capped pen. The clip placement is another topic of much discussion for those who have tried it in person. The clip is located near the nose of the pen so that, when clipped to a pocket or pen pouch, it will sit nib-up to discourage unwanted ink flow. This means that the clip section is also the grip section, and that clip forces a certain “traditional” triangular grip style. This is fine for me, but it certainly isn’t universal. The final concern is the grip width. It’s a little wide for my tastes, but not overly so. This one boils down to personal preference.

The Decimo is a slimline version of the Vanishing Point. Functionally identical but in a slightly thinner package. Slightly more than one millimeter slimmer, in fact, which may not sound like much but it makes a world of difference.

Having now experienced both versions of Pilot’s Capless pen first hand, I’m even more surprised by how similar the clones are to the originals, as well as how interchangeable the nib units are between the four pens.

I’d like to once again thank The Pen Addict for trusting his community with one of his precious pens. At the time of writing this, I have sent the package off to its next recipient, and I hope they find it as insightful and inspiring as I did.

Check out Brad’s work at PenAddict.com, and tell him The Poor Penman sent ya!