Look what showed up today! Endless Phantom capless demonstrators (EF). Initial impressions are decent, but time will tell on the sealing. It's made it a couple hours without any sign of a hard start at least.
I tested the mechanism a bunch on both and it seems fine, no sign of the silicone door thingy coming loose.
The one with green ink feels a little smoother than the one w/bronze ink, but it could be a difference in the inks, too.
A few early notes:
It's quite light (~20g) compared to a VP/A1/J10 (~30+g). Not a bad thing.
Mechanism is smooth and takes a little less force than VP to work.
Similar cap positioning to others.
Finish is smooth but not slippery.
Seems comfortable so far but still early.
Bundled converter is a slide converter but it didn't move *too* freely, so I'm not worried about making a mess with it.
Some play in the nib as you put pressure on to write. VPs do that too, just more on this one.
A couple more notes, re:Phantom pen
Still great today, seal-wise. Both had immediate full flow, no sign of slowing down. Though for some people it took a few days to dry out.
(I have had a J10 hard start the very next day, so it's already better than that.)
The play in the nib is even less of a concern the more I use it. It has good enough flow I can use less pressure when writing.
EF nib width is comparable to VP EF and A1 EF, 0.20-0.35mm ink lines depending on ink/paper & nib direction.
Used both Phantom pens off and on all day again today and they both have been great still. No sign of drying out.
It might be because I've been using them, so I should probably let one sit for a bit. I'll at least let them go over the weekend and see what happens.
The kickstarter comment section is full of people with problems, but so far I haven't had any of the issues people have described. Maybe I'm lucky or maybe they worked out some problems before they got to the demonstrator versions 🤞
@terri I've seen quite a few complaints like that, which is why I'll be keeping a close eye on mine. They claimed to have "fixed" some common issues from the first few batches before they got to mine so who knows how it will turn out.
Iro inks are great so probably one of the best tests there. These EA inks are hit and miss for that -- Candy Sea will dry even a decent sealing pen out fast.
@paradoxmo @terri Indeed. You'd think someone would have come up with something better than the VP by now, but people can't even clone that one right and it's been around for ages.
The silicone seals are interesting but still not great.
@alexa488 I will say the demonstrator body gives a nice view of how the mechanism works and so on, which is nice at least. Might make spotting issues even easier should they arise.
Here are some more quick and somewhat blurry photos and videos I hastily shot earlier when I was trying it out.
@jezlyn I spent way too long taking videos of the mechanisms the first day since I was fascinated by it.
I wish there were more capless demonstrators around. I keep threatening to buy a Curidas but people say that one falls apart/breaks and doesn't seal well, too.
Dedy MS
Jim P.
Terri K O 🍁
paradoxmo
alexa-488
Cheryl Lindo Jones