PILOT Kakuno Fountain Pen, Clear Barrel, Extra Fine Nib (10816)

1.) This is the pen to get for your first fountain pen. Only negative is that it's such a high bar, i'm not sure you will want to buy another pen. And if you do buy one, you will likely keep coming back to this. It's THAT GOOD!2.) The medium nib is what I ordered. It's a little wider than what I would want ideally and that's only cos of the ULTRA CHEAP paper i use. On normal/good paper, it's amazing. Also the best way to stop any bleed is to NOT use BayStateBlue from noodler - it has a lot of "feathering" and "bleed".Okay now for the only actual negative but I will NOT take a star off for it.There are 2 small holes at the top of the barrel which prevent this from being an eye-drop filler pen. So either you buy ink cartridges or else one of those ink convertor things.https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Fountain-Converter-Screw-Type/dp/B019W0PO68/I ignored advice and used epoxy (unfortunately put too much so the ink reservoir is smaller than it should be but it looks nicer - LOL.Overall 5/5 ==> Excellent pen. I think i will buy another just so i can epoxy it properly this time.Advice: BUY 2.

This is such a great little pen (and fun to write with too!) for the amazingly low Amazon price of approximately $10. So much to like here: this particular pen has a <M> medium nib, which is my favorite for this pen. It can use and ink cartridge or a converter and as you can see, this one has a converter; it’s almost out of ink but from the writing sample you can see I have use bottled ink with the converter (Diamine Emerald). The barrel and cap have angled sides, preventing it from rolling away like a round barrel can; the cap snaps off and seals tightly; the clear barrel shows the ink color and volume. It is extremely lightweight acrylic, which means I can write with it for long periods of time and not have hand fatigue. It feels good in my small hand posted or unposted, although I like the balance better when it is posted. This reliable little pen is a great way to jump into fountain pens for beginners, especially children. This is the second one I’ve purchased for myself, just because it’s fun, inexpensive and writes so well. Highly recommend.

It’s pretty good so far, it comes with an ink cartridge but I bought a con-70 because I’ve seen people say it’s better with this pen(and compatible). It’s pretty smooth and the ink flow is consistent. It dries fairly quick, I still recommend you be careful with smudging. The size is pretty compact and is great for on the go. Overall, pretty good fountain pen!

The pen is easier to hold than the slick metal top and plastic body pens: It writes better than I expected. Only downside is the lack of a pocket clip but I'll get over that.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:I just trust Pilot, and wanted another Kakuno because the first one I bought has been really great. Similarly to how I buy such things as kefir grains and sourdough starter, things that take constant use and recovery, I treat fountain pens. I use them for a while, then taper off and forget about them for too long ... Kakuno, though, seems to withstand my neglect better. Doesn't take much cleaning and clearing and re-filling to start over AGAIN.

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 using this for drawing, and all i can say is, wow. the ink is vivid and opaque, and it dries very quickly. so far, i can say it was definitely worth the buy.

Great replacement. I needed one as a backup for my “translucent violet” limited edition one (which is just a clear body with clear purple cap.) I prefer the medium nib. Works well. I think for the price of $10 it’s ok it doesn’t come with converter- some Kakuno fountain pens do, like the translucent purple one did, but was a few dollars more.I heard they’re discontinuing a couple colors- please Pilot, don’t ever discontinue the clear one!!!!