PILOTKakuno Fountain Pen, Clear Barrel, Extra Fine Nib (10816)

I purchased this because it was inexpensive and I'm trying to find just the right fountain pen to use for line work over watercolor. For the price, I figured I'd give this pen (in clear with an extra fine nib) a try. I prefer using a converter so I also purchased the Pilot Con-70 fountain pen converter to use with it. This pen writes well from the get-go and I have yet to experience any issue with ink flow. I find it comfortable to use for longer periods of time; it's lightweight but feels balanced in the hand. I'm glad I took a chance on this pen as I find it writes just as well, if not better than some of my much more expensive fountain pens. Honestly, this will probably get more use than my more expensive pens because I could easily replace it if it happens to get lost, which means I won't be worried about taking it out and about with me.

I have a number of fountain pens (8? 9?), though no really expensive ones. That's because I decided not to mess with what's working. The Kakuno is more comfortable to use than any other pen, and the EF nib is REALLY fine (Japanese nibs are finer, I guess). I had carpal tunnel surgery and have some arthritis in my hands and need an ergonomic pen. Used to use a Dr. Grip ballpoint for the same reason. I like the clear Demonstrator Kakuno because I can fill the pens with different inks and see which is which at a glance. Easy to use, easy to clean, don't dry up if the lid is off for a few minutes, and LIGHT, which I need.I also prefer plastic to metal pens, I've found. The metal is too cold and often heavy. So, yeah, nobody will gasp in astonishment at my fabulous $10 fountain pen, but hey--it writes great and feels great and I can tell what ink is in it. What's not to like?

If you're an artist, this is the BEST, SMOOTHEST nib I've ever used! I have a range of pens from Jinhao with fude nibs (love these) up to a couple of Mont Blancs ( also good), but my favorite for pen and ink artwork is now the Pilot Kakuno Fine and XF nibs. They are as smooth as butter! Line quality excellent...no skipping. These Kakuno pens, which are the most comfortable to hold, are now replacing my other fountain pens as my "go to" and I've even put away my 005 and 01 micron pens...the Kakunos are better. Just for reference, I'm using Platinum Carbon ink in both Kakuno pens which is waterproof if you like to paint with watercolor or diluted inks over your artwork.

Great pen especially when combined with a con70 converter. I purchased the extra fine which I found too fine and scratchy for my daily writing but is superb for detailed sketching and fine linework. The octagonal grip is ergonomic and comfortable, and the pen feels balanced both uncapped and capped. The pen has a small plastic protrusion on the cap to prevent rolling - I wish it had a pocket clip, but for the price point I can't really complain.

Kaküno Demonstrator pen, Medium NIB.The pen arrived in a large cardboard display box instead of the typical loosely packed small air-bubble envelope. I had no idea what it could possibly be. The box looked as if the inner box slides out. It does not. The box has a magnetically hinged flap. Inside the gold embossed "goldspot" gift box were 5 Iroshizuku ink sample vials, the Kaküno pen in a foam cutout, a Pilot Black ink long cartridge, a Pilot CON-40 ink Converter, an instruction leaflet. I was pleasantly surprised, bordering on shock; Christmas arrived early this year.This is my second Kaküno fountain pen, so I am intimately familiar with it. My first was a dry writer that needed extensive tuning. Knowing what it had taken to get that pen to write wet, I threw all caution to the wind, and without first flushing the pen out as I would normally do, I syringe filled a spare Pilot cartridge with Robert Oster Aqua ink, waited a minute to let the ink saturate the Feed Follower fins, and put the pen to paper.It wrote perfectly right out of the box - it layed down a nicely defined Fine saturated dark line; the NIB had minimal feedback (the was no dragginess), was not scratchy, did not have "catchy" spots that would malform characters or cause lettering to bunch up. It wrote as well as my tuned Kaküno, meaning perfectly. There were no hard starts, no false starts, no skipping, no blobbing; dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s were perfect. The Kaküno is not a "Juicey" pen, though; it is moderately wet, bordering on the dry side, so moderate flow and wet bottled inks are suggested.A Japanese "Medium" NIB is about the same width as an European, or Western, "Fine".The pen is ergonomic, has no sharp edges. The Section has slight sloping facets that provide a natural fingertip hold; the barrel stepdown is not obtrusive, not objectionable, not irritating; the Section grip is over an inch long. The plastic is very high quality, it doesn't feel cheap, as if it could crack by just looking at it. The pen does not dry out in under 60 seconds when left laying on the desk uncapped, in fact it doesn't dry out even after 4 minutes. Excellent! Exceptional! You will not need to get into the habit of continually capping and uncapping the pen to prevent the pen from drying out. The air holes in the cap help to minimize NIB creep by minimizing the air vacuum that would suck ink onto the NIB as the pen is uncapped. Don't fill in the 3 cap holes. The NIB unit can be rotated to fine tune one's hold - very important for left handed writers, especially "lefties" that crane their hand at awkward angles to write "from above".If you are in the habit of storing your pens NIB pointing up, the two barrel end holes will need to be filled in to prevent the NIB from drying out overnight. A new user should not attempt doing so (and neither should they worry about it) as it will be beyond their expertise to do so without damaging the barrel. Do NOT store the pen NIB down as the ink WILL drain into the cap and make a big mess. Horizontal storing is suggested; buy a nice fountain pen case, or just use a rectangular eye glass case layered with soft cotton or foam. When picked up from horizontal storage the pen will write perfectly with the very first stroke.There is no metal clip to prevent the pen from rolling, but neither is there the irritating metal clanking sound a Lamy metal clip makes, for example. The hexagonal facets on the cap and barrel will prevent most rolling, the small Cap stub should bring it to a full stop. Capped, the centre of balance is exactly where the cap meets the barrel; uncapped, the centre of balance is exactly at the half way mark of the pen. The pen is neither too light nor too heavy. The cap weighs 4 grams, the body weighs 7 grams, slightly more when inked. Posting the cap is possible and is suggested; the cap edge isn't sharp and not likely to irritate the web of the hand; no pressure is needed to keep the cap firmly in place.A syringe refillable Pilot long ink cartridge holds ~0.9ml, Pilot Namiki IC100 cartridges hold ~0.8ml, the Con-70 holds ~1.0ml, the Pilot Petite short cartridge holds ~0.6ml, the supplied CON-40 converter holds ~0.4ml. The Cursive Italic NIB from the Pilot Plumix can be transplanted into the Kakuno, and while listed as being 1.0mm it is closer to an European Medium, ~0.7mm. To take full advantage of the 5 goldspot supplied ink vials you will need to get into syringe refilling, although I suppose you could dip the supplied converter into the ink vial to fill up, but you will need to be extremely careful when doing so. Always put a dab of Silicone GREASE on plastic threads to prevent cracking whenever you re-ink the pen.This an EXCEPTIONAL starting pen. I prefer it to my TWSBI Eco, Wingsung 698, Lamy Vista, Jinhao 992, and Jinhao X450. The Kaküno is the pen I most reach for, the one that is always "at the ready" on my desktop. Thank you, GoldSpot - you "hit it out of the Park." And thank you Amazon.The package arrived in perfect condition and in a timely manner. Merchant rating: 5 stars; great service.

I’ve been a fountain pen person for most of my life, on a quest for just the right one that combines a fine enough point for my very small handwriting without a great deal of drag or the tendency to rip the surface of the paper.This one is the closest ever! It shouldn’t have surprised me since I’ve been a fan of Pilot pens for a long time. It is very inexpensive but delivers a good, quality product. I highly recommend.Two small drawbacks…keep the pen capped when not in active use. Probably because of the superfine tip, the ink flow can dry up easily. I would have also liked to have a clip on the cap. But both of these are very minor considerations.It came with a cartridge of Pilot ink, which I found to be remarkably crisp, with minimal feathering on porous paper. I’ll be exploring it more, for sure!