Love the Varsities. I’ve been refilling the same ones for the last 10-15 years and they still work well. They seem to write for an incredibly long time for having a reasonably wet nib. They are also fantastic about not evaporating when not used in a while. I just use a rubber pickle jar opener to pull out the nib and feed so it doesn’t scratch or damage it. Great vids!
This was super interesting! I'm surprised that you ONLY get 25 % more mileage out of a Varsity by filling it yourself. It's almost not worth the hassle, considering how finnicky it can be to pull out the nib and feed and reassemble the whole thing again. I think this also shows that Pilot aren't trying to rip off their customers by underfilling the pen. They probably put in exactly as much ink as technically possible, considering factors such as automated mass production, storage, shipping etc.
Great point. I wouldn’t want to fly with the overfilled one or even throw it in a back pack. Pilot might believe a little conservative but they aren’t ripping off anyone with the ink level!
Yes there needs to be proper pressure inside otherwise the ink can come out slowly when put on the desk for a while. Btw, you can use cheap Chinese inks so it is actually worth it in some countries to be refilled a few times before throwing it away. Also you can use vacuum to refill the ink, there are a few videos on RUclips about this.
Thanks a lot for the detailed distance testing of this pen! I don't believe anyone has done any precise distance testing of any of the popular pens unlike what you did. Will be eagerly waiting to see your tests with other pens as well, for example the Lamy Safari/Al-Star with a Z28 converter in it. By the way, at 10:31, I wish to point out that the ink provided from the factory in the pen isn't the standard Pilot ink that one finds in their bottles. It has a different chemistry compared to the standard Pilot Blue ink, because the latter likely isn't erasable using ink eraser pens because of its water resistance, unlike the factory-provided ink in the Pilot Varsity, which indeed can be erased with an ink eraser pen. Just for clarification.
@@unsharpenone small idea is if you could give a grade on line quality and kind of graph that against distance. Like Varsity is a A- on line quality but less distance then the G2. If you need help with that let me know
Wow awesome video! Hey I'll bet those varsities are broken in nicely from being used like that on the machine, I'll bet they're really smooth now. I sure would like to have a machine like that so cool thank you
Interesting video. I tend to find most of the lower-priced Japanese brand fountain pens are a little too fine for my liking. I found this when buying pens in Japan, plus in the UK, although I'm unsure if they change anything on their models for different markets. I think this would at least make them last longer if nothing else.
Can you test the Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V5/V7/V10 next? It would be interesting to know how the refillable would fair against the disposable. Maybe its worth leaving out the cartridge and just fill them with a dropper? I do appreciate the effort you put into these tests. Very helpful indeed.
Time to get a fisher space pen infinium and test it versus a standard fisher space pen refill. Lol i use fisher space pen refills almost exclusively as a heavy truck mechanic. I have a pen that takes D1 refills so i use fisher's universal refills that fit in a D1 pen. I bought 6 of the refills and it took about 5 years to go through them.
I’ve love to run this test but it would take over a week of full days I bet! Once the testing methods are improved I can go with longer running pens. Still working on the Jetstream.
Pilot also has a 0.5mm roller ball pen with liquid ink as you know. I would like to see a test of that. That's really a nice roller ball pen tbh. In my opinion better than expensive gel based pens while refillable like a precise series foundation pen with a cheap ink refill.
Wonder how this distance translates into pages of writing. I know that a Jinhao 82 Extra Fine Point can do about 21 & 3/32 pages of College Ruled on a disposable cartridge. Not quite sure how much ink that is since I don't have a great way to measure it, but if that is known, you would be able to convert distance to pages, thus pages to ml of ink used.
Yea this would be my ideal but it’s going to vary so much based on one’s individual writing I’m not sure it’s a good metric. It’s something I’ll definitely be looking into though.
@@unsharpen You're right that it depends on someone's writing style. A meter will always be a meter which is why distance is a better metric. Trouble is, someone might know how many letters they can write on a page, but has no idea how far they had to push the pen to do it. The easiest way to figure this out might be to write with a mechanical pencil since we know how long the pencil lead is, then see how many characters get written.
I have a feeling that pilot fills the ink to a certain degree with a little less capacity than you can refill from home, due to shipping and air pressure if it travels by plane. This would keep it from expanding and leaking. Just a thought!
One thing i always wanted to ask pilot is WHY?!? Why make a disposable fountain pen? I just don't see the point. Its a great cheap pen, but you could make this a lot better with no additional material use by just making it refillable right away. I do however appreciate the fact they did not make it impossible to refill on purpose.
I don't think anybody conducted a proper writing length test with pilot gel and V pens like this. That is quite interesting. So, I guess we can say that 1 ml of ink is eqv to 600m of line in a M nib.
I’d love to draw more conclusions and rules of thumb but I will say that paper might play a big role as will. Can you stretch the ink with glossy ink-resistant paper like a rhodia? Will high absorption paper lower the writing distance? By how much?
Awesome for the comprehensive testing especially using standard fountain pen ink comparison as there is some reports of Varsity ink as distinct from standard fountain ink formulations. Varsity is even better when filled by syringe or bottle to reduce chances of cosmetic marring: ruclips.net/user/shortsbDIU5Kg8BkY
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Love the Varsities. I’ve been refilling the same ones for the last 10-15 years and they still work well. They seem to write for an incredibly long time for having a reasonably wet nib. They are also fantastic about not evaporating when not used in a while. I just use a rubber pickle jar opener to pull out the nib and feed so it doesn’t scratch or damage it. Great vids!
This was super interesting! I'm surprised that you ONLY get 25 % more mileage out of a Varsity by filling it yourself. It's almost not worth the hassle, considering how finnicky it can be to pull out the nib and feed and reassemble the whole thing again. I think this also shows that Pilot aren't trying to rip off their customers by underfilling the pen. They probably put in exactly as much ink as technically possible, considering factors such as automated mass production, storage, shipping etc.
Great point. I wouldn’t want to fly with the overfilled one or even throw it in a back pack. Pilot might believe a little conservative but they aren’t ripping off anyone with the ink level!
Yes there needs to be proper pressure inside otherwise the ink can come out slowly when put on the desk for a while.
Btw, you can use cheap Chinese inks so it is actually worth it in some countries to be refilled a few times before throwing it away. Also you can use vacuum to refill the ink, there are a few videos on RUclips about this.
Another excellent video .keep up the good work
Thanks a lot for the detailed distance testing of this pen! I don't believe anyone has done any precise distance testing of any of the popular pens unlike what you did. Will be eagerly waiting to see your tests with other pens as well, for example the Lamy Safari/Al-Star with a Z28 converter in it.
By the way, at 10:31, I wish to point out that the ink provided from the factory in the pen isn't the standard Pilot ink that one finds in their bottles. It has a different chemistry compared to the standard Pilot Blue ink, because the latter likely isn't erasable using ink eraser pens because of its water resistance, unlike the factory-provided ink in the Pilot Varsity, which indeed can be erased with an ink eraser pen. Just for clarification.
Great note on the ink! I wasn’t aware of differences between the varsity ink and standard pilot ink.
Great work, I respect the efforts you go to on all of your reviews, but this is other level.
Thank you!
They sure can write! I had one that sat idle for more than a decade and it started right up!
That’s incredible
The Varsity is a real workhorse. Thanks again for these tests and explanations!
Glad you like them!
@@unsharpenone small idea is if you could give a grade on line quality and kind of graph that against distance. Like Varsity is a A- on line quality but less distance then the G2. If you need help with that let me know
Thats quite nice! I just refilled my vpen today!
I've always been pleasantly surprised by the Pilot Varsity. A great pen-abling option, and I keep at least one in the collection.
i love my vpens. great video!
Very interesting and informative! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Wow awesome video! Hey I'll bet those varsities are broken in nicely from being used like that on the machine, I'll bet they're really smooth now. I sure would like to have a machine like that so cool thank you
Just got a few sharpie copper and I absolutely love it brother!
Got mine as well
Interesting video. I tend to find most of the lower-priced Japanese brand fountain pens are a little too fine for my liking. I found this when buying pens in Japan, plus in the UK, although I'm unsure if they change anything on their models for different markets. I think this would at least make them last longer if nothing else.
Really interesting, thank you! I might have to purchase a Varsity or three.
Can you test the Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V5/V7/V10 next? It would be interesting to know how the refillable would fair against the disposable. Maybe its worth leaving out the cartridge and just fill them with a dropper?
I do appreciate the effort you put into these tests. Very helpful indeed.
Did not expect the Varsity to be such a showstopper in terms of ink quality and durability.
Fucking fascinating! Varsity worked well for the test!
Time to get a fisher space pen infinium and test it versus a standard fisher space pen refill. Lol i use fisher space pen refills almost exclusively as a heavy truck mechanic. I have a pen that takes D1 refills so i use fisher's universal refills that fit in a D1 pen. I bought 6 of the refills and it took about 5 years to go through them.
I’ve love to run this test but it would take over a week of full days I bet! Once the testing methods are improved I can go with longer running pens. Still working on the Jetstream.
Pilot also has a 0.5mm roller ball pen with liquid ink as you know.
I would like to see a test of that. That's really a nice roller ball pen tbh. In my opinion better than expensive gel based pens while refillable like a precise series foundation pen with a cheap ink refill.
There may be an insurrection or mass exodus if I do another pilot precise or hi tec point video! But yes I’m curious as well!
These pens are great. Smooth, affordable and g9od quality
Totally agree!
Wonder how this distance translates into pages of writing. I know that a Jinhao 82 Extra Fine Point can do about 21 & 3/32 pages of College Ruled on a disposable cartridge. Not quite sure how much ink that is since I don't have a great way to measure it, but if that is known, you would be able to convert distance to pages, thus pages to ml of ink used.
Yea this would be my ideal but it’s going to vary so much based on one’s individual writing I’m not sure it’s a good metric. It’s something I’ll definitely be looking into though.
@@unsharpen You're right that it depends on someone's writing style. A meter will always be a meter which is why distance is a better metric. Trouble is, someone might know how many letters they can write on a page, but has no idea how far they had to push the pen to do it. The easiest way to figure this out might be to write with a mechanical pencil since we know how long the pencil lead is, then see how many characters get written.
try energel and vision elite and pilot hi techpoint refillable too!
Yes vision is one of the next pens
I have a feeling that pilot fills the ink to a certain degree with a little less capacity than you can refill from home, due to shipping and air pressure if it travels by plane. This would keep it from expanding and leaking. Just a thought!
Great point! I think you are right.
@@unsharpen Thanks, have a blessed day!
How long does br-kne and lrn5 last?
Might be time for my first fountain pen 🙂
It’s worth testing out
One thing i always wanted to ask pilot is WHY?!? Why make a disposable fountain pen? I just don't see the point. Its a great cheap pen, but you could make this a lot better with no additional material use by just making it refillable right away.
I do however appreciate the fact they did not make it impossible to refill on purpose.
I don't think anybody conducted a proper writing length test with pilot gel and V pens like this. That is quite interesting.
So, I guess we can say that 1 ml of ink is eqv to 600m of line in a M nib.
I’d love to draw more conclusions and rules of thumb but I will say that paper might play a big role as will. Can you stretch the ink with glossy ink-resistant paper like a rhodia? Will high absorption paper lower the writing distance? By how much?
🖋
Awesome for the comprehensive testing especially using standard fountain pen ink comparison as there is some reports of Varsity ink as distinct from standard fountain ink formulations. Varsity is even better when filled by syringe or bottle to reduce chances of cosmetic marring: ruclips.net/user/shortsbDIU5Kg8BkY
try writo meter its an indian pen and claims over 10 km of writting!
I need a faster testing machine first!