I ordered a Fine nib and was extremely happy with this pen.
I was surprised to find that the Pilot Custom 823 competes with pens like the Pelikan M800 in terms of quality for price.
The overall build quality is excellent, with great feeling material for the body - I have written with other more expensive Japanese pens which have significantly lower quality material for the body.
The nib is wonderful. Perfectly tuned, very smooth and with a lovely Fine nib which does seem to write a touch finer than some of my Western Fine nibs.
The only minor irritation is in cleaning the pen, but it is a vacuum filling mechanism, so it is to be expected.
In 1 woord fantastisch, dit model en deze penpunt zijn met afstand mijn favorieten. De balans en grip zijn voor mijn handen precies goed, en samen met de Iroshizuku Shin Kai inkt is het helemaal super. Als ik wil schrijven met een mooie kleur zonder glitter kies ik deze combinatie. Want dat is het enige 'minpunt', ik zou er zelf niet voor kiezen hier shimmer inkt in te gebruiken omdat de barrel niet geopend kan/mag worden ivm garantie.
I ordered the Pilot Custom 823 in a medium nib a few weeks ago. With the tuning and smooth service. I love this pen, my first holy grail! And it didn’t disappoint me at all. The pen writes smooth and has a little feedback which I don’t mind. It came beautifully wrapped as always! Thank you so much!!
I really enjoy writing with my Pilot 823 fountain pen fitted with a fine nib.
The main assets of this fountain pen are a pleasant nib, huge ink capacity, good size, and classic design. (The fine nib is softer than the Platinum 3776 fine nib) (the design is classic, less shiny than a Montblanc 146 but more affordable). A safe bet. Appelboom is a trusted fountain pens seller, and the invoicing and shipping process went well.
The Pilot Custom 823 has been a grail pen for me ever since I got into the fountain pen hobby.
I got the smoke version M nib. The nib was smoothed and tuned by Appelboom which was the reason I got it here in the first place. I wanted to make sure to get the best service. Appelboom did not disappoint (free nib tuning, good communication, fast delivery). I am very satisfied with my purchase.
The nib writes smoothly and is quite wet. I was expecting the "Pilot smoothness" but was still amazed at how the nib glided across the paper. I love the gold trim on black, making it a very classy and professional-looking pen. You can see the ink level even on this black version. The balance of the pen is exceptional, be it posted or unposted.
I can't seem to part with my pen since I first inked it up. As soon as I wrote with it, I had that feeling that 'This is it: this is THE pen I was looking for!'
Pen is extremely well constructed with high quality materials and excellent finishing details. The writing experience is great, as expected from Pilot pens. Highly recommended.,
I had my eye on this pen for some time having heard a lot of great things and preferring a larger pen and the cigar form factor. I finally pulled the trigger and wish I had done it years ago. It feels great in the hand - well balanced and feels 'substantial' with a great weight. But the nib it just amazing to write with. I opted for tune and smooth and can't say how much this may have changed the writing experience but I'm really blown away with this pen. I have heard people refer to the 823 as a 'one pen collection's and now can understand why. I'm now saving for a fine...
Highly recommended: Pilot Custom 823 smoke version - M nib.
Review Add on: 14-11-2022
Average Rating:
(4)
The many reviews read on the Custom 823 finally convinced me to order one, obviously from Appelboom. I went for the M nib and the option “tune and smooth” (highly recommended: only Appelboom offers this service, free of charge).
As always, Appelboom delivers. The pen writes smoothly -as butter, draws a wet medium line, more European M nib like than Japanese.
It is an expensive fountain pen, but the golden nib alone is reason enough to go for this pen. Surely you could buy a Chinese surrogate of this pen for 1/10th of the price, but don't expect to get the same quality and the same writing experience. The latter is astronomically far from being comparable.
Also the vacuum filler mechanism is a different experience.
I will eventually buy the Custom 823 amber version with F nib, maybe on Fountain Pen Day 2023.
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