[Pen/Pencil Review] The Pilot Petit 1 Re-Review
Today’s pen review starts out with an apology to Pilot Pens. I reviewed the Pilot Petit 1 Green in December. I have it a less than stellar review, but in fairness, I ordered a second one – this one in classic Black -to see if I’d made a mistake, or maybe ended up with a faulty pen… and the fault is mine.
So the recap on the Petit 1 fountain pens. It is small – only 4″ capped and ~ 5.25″ with the cap posted. It is long enough to be useful and comfortable. It’s even a decent diameter. It’s a good size to stick in a purse or pocket without taking up a lot of space. It’s pretty solid for the size. And they do come in fine and medium point nibs – I (as always) opt for the fine point
The system is designed to be pretty easy, I guess. But first, there’s the proprietary ink cartridge. There’s nothing wrong with it, except for the fact you have to buy THEIR ink for this. That’s the same. Where the apology comes in is the little yellow cap I mentioned last time. It’s just that. A CAP. You don’t fit the nib around the yellow bit. The yellow bit comes out, then the nib and filler tube fits securely on the cartridge. This is where the user error occurred. I’m going to claim part of it is the fact that the instruction sticker is in Japanese, and I don’t always get pictograms on the first try. Apparently.
Once I figured out my “User Error”, I’ve found this pen does have excellent ink flow. The ink is richly pigmented – even the initial green was darker and richer than I expected for the color. The black ink flows well from the stainless steel nib and dries quickly for a liquid fountain pen ink and doesn’t skip much. It is quite affordable through JetPens.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 – Once I figured out where I went wrong, it works really well. The pen fills quickly with ink and stays pretty smooth
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – For what it is, it has a surprisingly nice grip and feel. It’s short, but well-balanced and has a comfortable diameter. There are a couple of edges leading to the nib, but avoidable. Now that I can use it, it gets tiring after long periods of time, but it’s still good.
3. Material – 1 – It’s plastic and stainless steel. It is what it is. Refillable, but inexpensive.
4. Overall Design – 0.5 – It’s a good design with issues. Once you know how it works, it’s cool. The fact that it’s not as intuitively “plug and play” like basic ink cartridges make this a knock. And that I obviously don’t do as well with pictograms as words, too.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – It’s just under $4 on JetPens. It is refillable, but takes proprietary cartridges. It’s a fun pen that comes in lots of colors. So it’s not horrible. It’s a fun little thing.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 Bronze Pencils
