The Pilot Capless fountain pens have such a long history and are so beloved by the fountain pen community, that I became aware of them very early in my fountain pen journey. But to be honest, at first glance they didn’t really appeal to me at all. 

To me, they looked very ‘businessman-like’, which isn’t my style at all, and the retractable factor baffled me. Surely if I wanted to use a clicky pen, I’d just use a ballpoint or a gel pen? 

Obviously as I’ve got further along on this journey I’ve come to realise that the true selling point of fountain pens isn’t that they look cool (although they do!): it’s the enhanced writing experience. And to get that better writing experience in an easy-to-use retractable form? I guess that’s the appeal of the Pilot Capless pens. 

I still wasn’t 100% sold though, because of the weird placement of the clip on these pens. A lot of people don’t love the clip placement on the Pilot Capless pens, and so I decided to try out some cheaper alternatives before I dropped any big money on a Pilot pen. I tried out a couple of Pilot Vanishing Point clones – the Majohn A1 and A2 – and found I actually really liked them, and found them comfortable to write with. The clip placement actually reminded me of writing with a pen with a moulded grip, like the Lamy Safari, as it forces you to hold the pen in a standard, tripod grip. But since I tend to hold my pens like that anyway, it wasn’t a problem, and I loved the convenience of having a retractable fountain pen. 

And so I finally decided it was time to invest, especially when the Pure Pens birthday sale cropped up, and all the Pilot Capless pens were reduced. I dithered a little over whether to get the regular Vanishing Point or the Decimo, which is a smaller, slimmer version. Ultimately I decided that the smaller one would likely be more comfortable for me to write with, and so I picked the Decimo in Violet.

When it came, it arrived in a nice, sturdy plastic box that had a much more modern feel than I’m used to fountain pen packaging having. It also came with the famously annoying CON-40 converter, which I haven’t yet had too much trouble with, but it’s definitely a bit fiddly and temperamental to use, and doesn’t hold much ink. 

The pen itself is incredibly sleek, with a light metallic purple finish to the body, and silver hardware. This is definitely a more modern and business-like pen than anything else in my collection, but the pop of purple still gives it a fun vibe. I’ve actually found myself liking the appearance of this pen more than I expected, considering my lukewarm feelings I had towards it when I first found out about the Pilot Capless pens. 

The thing I was most excited about when it came to this pen though, was the writing experience. I’d heard so much about how Pilot’s 18k gold nibs were incredibly smooth, and so I was really eager to try it out for myself. 

I purchased the Decimo with a fine nib, as that’s my preference, so I wasn’t sure exactly how smooth it would write. But once I inked it up (with Diamine Lavender) and started to use it, I was immediately impressed. 

I think it can be easy to end up disappointed when a lot of people have raved about something, and then you try it for yourself. But in this case I could see exactly what people meant. This pen is easily the smoothest writer in my whole collection, and the nib just seems to glide across the page. Whilst the line it writes is nice and fine, as you’d expect from a Japanese fine nib, it seems like quite a wet writer, and I’ve had no problems with consistency. And unlike some of the other retractable fountain pens I’ve tried, I’ve had no trouble with it drying out, or the ink colour darkening over time. 

It’s also nice and light, and as with the Majohn A1 and A2, I’ve found it comfortable to hold, even for long writing sessions. My only problem with this pen has been one that I tend to find with a lot of metal pens: it can be a little slippery in the hand. Occasionally I’ve had to adjust my grip after writing with it for a while, as my fingers have slipped out of position. But on the whole, it’s not a huge problem. 

Overall I like this pen so much that I think I’m officially a member of the Pilot Decimo fan club from here on out! The Decimo Violet might not be the most interesting looking pen in my collection, but it’s certainly the nicest writer, and almost as soon as I started writing with it I was already thinking that maybe I should get more of them, so I can have the other nib sizes. So it seems like I might have fallen down another rabbit hole!

So do you have any of the Pilot Capless fountain pens? What do you think of them? Are you a fan of retractable fountain pens in general?