Pilot Kaküno: Quick Look
What is the Pilot Kaküno?
The Pilot Kaküno is a fun little fountain pen! It's definitely worth looking into if you want a low-priced workhorse fountain pen that writes well and has some personality to it.
The Kaküno is great for kids, new fountain pen enthusiasts, or anyone who just wants a playful pen. It's really lightweight, and is incredibly comfortable to hold. Check out the video for a quick feature on this fountain pen; below are some of the highlights.
Review
In hand, the grip is fairly thin and comfortable. It does have very slight triangular facets, similar to the LAMY safari grip, but is thicker. The step is subtle and there are no threads as it's a snap cap pen. Overall, it's a very comfortable pen to hold. It's also an incredibly light pen at 12g overall, and only 8.5g in the body. Because it's so light, it feels very balanced whether posted or unposted. It's a bit too short if you have larger hands, but should be fine for those with smaller hands.
The nib on the Pilot Kaküno is stainless steel and identical in size to the Pilot Metropolitan nibs. The nibs are actually friction fit and swappable with the Pilot Metropolitan, Prera, and Explorer. The flow is smooth and consistent. Both the fine and medium nibs are on the thin side which should work well for those who write on absorbent paper, like students.
The fun part about the Kaküno is the smiley face on the nibs! The white-barrel version features a winking face, the clear barrel version features a tongue sticking out, and the grey-barrel version is a traditional smiley face.
The Kaküno has a snap cap that's push to post and is very secure when posted. It doesn't have a clip but has a roll stop on the cap. It's also a hexagonal body, so it doesn't tend to roll anyways.
It fills with a Pilot/Namiki cartridge or converter. The converter is not included unfortunately, so if you want to use bottled ink, you'll need to purchase one separately. It fits all of the Pilot converters including the largest CON-70. It's not easily eyedropper convertible because the Kaküno has holes in the back.
This could be a great fountain pen for you if you want something fun, reliable, affordable, and very portable. You can also check out our other Pilot fountain pens.
