26 Nov 2015

reviewing the pilot kakuno fountain pen in fine

Can you believe that I first blogged about the Kakuno earlier this year in May, comparing it with my Lamy Safari, and I never did a proper blog post solely dedicated to it? It's not like I have a great excuse either!

Anyway, I have three Pilot Kakuno fountain pens (all with a fine nib) and that kind of speaks volumes about how much I love this pen. And I'll explain why in this blog post...


As you can see, I chose two with a white barrel (one with a pink cap and the other with a blue one) and one with a grey barrel and hot pink cap. I'm on a mission to collect the purple and yellow capped ones too, just to complete the white barrel set. And with their low price and my want to try the medium nib out too, I think I can justify this after the new year. The main difference between the white and grey barrels is that the face on the nib is a wink and a smile respectively.


Design
Ok, so let's start with the fickle things - I'm very easy persuaded by a good-looking pen or notebook and the Pilot Kakuno is very easy on the eye. The colours used are cute and suit the more playful side of my personality to the tee (minimalistic with a little bit of cuteness!). It get a thumbs up from me!

Quality and Price
The Pilot Kakuno is made of hard plastic with a steel nib and so, it isn't the sturdiest pen on the planet. However, having had it for six months now (and with at least one constantly inked and in use), no cracks have appeared yet and it is great value for the price. You can get one for less than £10 including postage on Amazon or just over £10 from other UK retailers.

Grip 
The grip is also made of hard plastic but I've never had issues with it. It is six-sided but in a subtle non-hexagonic way (if that even makes sense!).

Nib
I opted for the fine nib and it writes perfectly. Smooth, no skipping and consistent, it is a dream to use. For such a cheap fountain pen, it writes like it is worth ten times more. The fine nib is a true fine - and it writes more than half as thin as my Lamy Safari Extra Fine nib!

Experience
Overall, I think the Kakuno adds an element of fun to note-taking and writing things by hand in general. It's always a pleasure to use and it's a pen I turn to when I want something different to my other, heavier, fountain pens as it is extremely light.

It definitely makes my list of 'top five pens ever' and I genuinely think for its price, it'd be foolish not to have at least one in your pen collection. It's not going to break the bank and is a reliable pen that will do what it says on the tin.

FYI, I've not been paid to write this review and I bought all three with my own hard-earned cash.

16 comments

  1. I love the Pilot Kakuno too, and I'm also on a mission to collect them all. (Like Pokemon. And the Rhodiarama notebooks...)

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    1. It's taken my all my willpower not to order the yellow and purple ones! I'm trying to restrain but it's so hard when they're not exactly expensive and they write so well! x

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  2. The Kakuno was the first fountain pen I bought after I saw it on your blog and fell in love with the cute design. You are definitely correct about it being one of the top pens ever, especially for the price.

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    1. Hehe, which one did you go for? I've had such good experiences with the Pilot fountain pen brand, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to any fountain pen newbie :) x

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    2. I went to one of my favourite local stores and they were a bit limited with their options, unfortunately. I ended up getting the black barrel, black cap (although I argue that it's grey) with a medium nib. Pilot is slowly becoming my favourite brand for sure. :)

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  3. I have one of these in orange and absolutely love it! It is my first (and only!) fountain pen, and it has been a dream to work with. While I was hoping that with a "fine" nib, my lines would be less thick, I think that's just a matter of my own expectations versus reality. The grip shape is awesome, and the smiley face helps me to remember how best to hold the darned thing (as, you know, it was intended, ha!). Fantastic pen, fantastic price, love it oh so much.

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    1. Great to hear that you're loving the Kakuno too! :) I've yet to read a bad review about it so that definitely speaks volumes x

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  4. I have been debating buying a Kakuno, because they are so adorable! I love my Pilot fountain pens, especially my Metropolitans, but the Kakuno might have to join my collection. :)

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    1. They are so affordable, there's no excuse not to have at least one ;) x

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  5. Hi Angela, can I ask what ink you use for these pens?

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    1. Hi, the ones seen in the image above are Diamine Denim and the Pilot cartridges :) x

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  6. Yes please, which ink do you use? I have a new Muji but it uses too much ink, do you know of something less wet?

    Jen

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    1. Hi Jen, I'm very new to the fountain pen ink world so not sure how helpful I would be at answering your question. Your best bet would probably be to have a look on Fountain Pen Network :) x

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    2. Wow! I've never seen that website before! Thank you. :) xx

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