For the past several weeks, I was running my Pilot Lucina as my daily work pen. It was extremely light, it writes a slightly broader ‘fine’ line than any of my other Pilots, and it was inked with a extremely dark blue ink. However, the screw cap was very much not conducive to writing quick notes. So, the search began for a proper work pen.
I had a couple of caveats.
1) No screw caps.
2) Since my pen hangs from my lanyard instead of inside a shirt pocket, snap caps scare me. Partly (mostly) because I KNOW that I’ll eventually not fully seat/snap the pen to cap, and it will plummet to the floor when I thought it was firmly secured to the lanyard. My second Metropolitan met that exact fate.
3) A grip that I can actually use. I prefer smaller diameter grips, probably a residual from using ballpoints and disposable pens for my entire life before last October.
This kind of drops us down into the world of magnetic snap caps and retractable nibs. Most of the pens with magnetic caps were well outside what I was willing to pay, and a disconcerting number of them had polished metal grips that I KNOW would slip in my hand. Also, most were extremely weighty pens. So, back to retractable.
Left me with a couple of options on the retractable pen front.
The LAMY Dialog 3 was outside my price range. Also, chunky pens with a 13mm grip. Ugh.
The Platinum Curidas also has a very chunky grip (13mm +), and the removable clip kind of scared me. See the above thing about snap caps.
I’ve test driven the Vanishing Point from Pilot, and I wasn’t a big fan. Grip wasn’t as big, but it was just big enough and the clip kind of got to me and yeah. Also, CHONK. Weighty pen when inked!
The Fermo was intriguing, but I’m not certain about the twist to extend the nib. Also, import only - no real way to get it serviced under warranty. Also a weighty pen.
All of that, and what did I pick up?
Pilot Decimo in Navy Blue, with a fine nib.
But, wait you say, didn’t I try the Vanishing Point and come away feeling meh?! That’s just a smaller Vanishing Point!
And to that I say, you are 100% correct!
I am NOT a fan of the big VP. However, the Decimo? Holy shit.
I dry-wrote with it for a bit to determine if the clip was going to weird me out like it did on the big VP. It didn’t. Also, the lacquered metal doesn’t slip in my fingers like the polished metal grip on the Studio did. I inked it with Diamine Midnight, the next ink up in my quest to find the best blue/black ink for my daily work use (the Oxford Blue from Diamine is leading, but I’ve only tried 3 inks so far
). The result of a few days writing with it extensively at work?
I love this pen. It’s right up there with my Custom 74. It’s just a tiny bit more smooth to write with than the 74, but doesn’t get as much line variation. I’m pretty certain that’s down to the radical differences in nib design. It also means I have a fabulous daily writing experience both at work and at home that are just different enough to keep it from feeling monotonous. After several days of just bouncing back and forth between them, I wouldn’t be surprised if my other pens slowly don’t get re-inked. The Lucina has been cleaned and placed in my pen drawer without being inked, for example. I like having a wide variety of ink to choose from, but I can honestly see my Custom 74 bouncing between my Shin-Ryoku green and *other, with the Decimo getting the blue/black treatment for work. My Metropolitans, the Lucina, and my TWSBI 580 are all really nice writing experiences in their own right, but they just don’t really compare to the 74/Decimo combo.
This means that I may have bought a six-pen roll for nothing :facepalm: .
It also means that I’m done pen shopping for now. Unless something comes out that causes me to double take with
. Then there aren’t any promises.
