Pilot's flagship Custom 845 in vermilion urushi.

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I recently added a Pilot 845 to my accumulation since I had sold off a bunch of pens and although it was slightly more expensive, the Vermilion Pilot Custom 845 with a BB nib called out to me. I was a little hesitant since the Pilot Namiki pens I did own never quite seemed to live up to expectations but since this was a higher end Pilot and also one custom built for only one dealer I figured I'd take a flyer.

The good folk at Tokyo Pen Shop Quill sent me an email to say that the vermilion model was finally back in stock and sure enough, about six days later a package showed up. As always everything was very well packed and there was even lagniappe (they must be from the Far Eastern Creole community); an advertising ballpoint stylus and an origami stork.

So first about the pen itself. It's a flat top in red and black. The nib is the largest on Pilots family of pens (#15 which is also used on the 743 and 823) with the body made from ebonite with an urushi coating. Pilot claims that only a very high quality Japanese origin urushi is used for the pen and the red parts certainly feel like urushi.

Some pictures:











The nib stamping shows an April 2015 manufacture code.






In size the pens is about Pelikan M800 class but slightly larger both capped and uncapped.




Long long ago and in a land far far away, in the year I graduated from High School, Mad magazine introduced "Spy vs Spy". In the series, two spies, one all in white, one all in black, hatch elaborate plans to get the other one, but they never succeed and in each case the plan actually ends up harming the originator. It was a continuing thread of great ideas that never quite work out and end in minor disaster, never so great as to stop the series but also never fully successful. The other thing was that throughout the series it was never quite clear who was good or who was bad.

Unfortunately, this pen is kind like the series. It shows fantastic promise of success but then blows up in my face. Never a total failure but never a real success.

First:

There is no doubt that the urushi is superbly done, the ebonite body is light but...

there just is not the depth found in the urushi finishes from Nakaya and Platinum, the section and end caps are just plastic and not urushi coated and the overall feeling is of a very nice mass produced object where the Platinum Izumo and Nakaya pens are definitely individual hand made objects.




The nib is a big 18K "BB" but it is a European BB instead of a Japanese BB, wider even then the "C" nib I have on a Platinum President and that is the base for my Nakaya Mottishaw stub.



I like wet nibs and but this one may be too wet even for me. I ran through a full Pilot cartridge during the first day testing. Switching to the Con-70 converter and Pelikan 4001 turned it from a gusher to just the wettest pen I own.

Speaking of the Con-70 converter, while it is easy to use and hold lots of ink in this pen there is also a rattle I don't find when using a Con-70 in my other Pilot/Namiki pens. If you happen to tap the pen you hear and feel what I though was the converter hitting against the inside of the barrel. Taking it apart though reveals a converter that feels rock solid with no play at all.

You can tell the designers were thinking ahead, for example inside the cap lip is a felt band that will protect the body should the pen be used posted. BUT.. posting the pen really changes the balance and makes it very back heavy. Worse, the simple weight of the clip tend to try to rotate then to put the weight on the bottom. Posting with the clip on the down side places the clip right against the webbing of my hand. I have a Montegrappa Espressione Duetto with the heavy Sterling silver cap that naturally posts with the clip on the underside 180 degrees from the nib but it's long enough that the clip does not interfere with my hand and also heavy enough that the balance point does not change noticeably.

Other reviews mention seams on the section. I can say that is simply not the case with this pen. The section is totally seamless both visually and by feel.

In all, there is nothing truly bad about the pen, much that is really good and it is one I'll enjoy but it was so close to being a GREAT pen that the Spy vs Spy comparison hurts.

[Juantxo]

Solid review. Thank you. Evidently an effort to appeal to a lower price-point niche aspiring to urushi.

[Formulansx]

Great pics and review!! My days are numbered before I get sucked into the world of Urushi. It was nice knowing you guys!!

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On another forum I was asked to add a few more pen size comparisons, specifically with the Parker Duofold Centennial so I will include the images here as well.

From top to bottom: Montblanc 147, Waterman Man 100, Parker Duofold Centennial, Omas Paragon and the Pilot 845

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Well, I let the pen sit for five days capped but unused and it started up immediately. That's not unexpected and certainly a minimal requirement at best.

I would still rate this pen as a good but certainly not great pen, cheaper than almost all the other urushi on ebonite pens out there and so a reasonable entry level offering when in the plain black. The vermilion version though is so close in price to Nakaya pens that I don't think it is really justifiable unless you want one of the specialty nibs, a flat top and really really want the color.