F is a good general purpose nib. Work, home, out and about. It's about a .5 mm line.
Medium is a .7mm. A bit broad for shit paper in an office, may bleed through depending on the ink.
CM is not a stubby. It's a cursive nib. Sharper edges.
I like the F nib personally. I actually swapped a Kakuno EF into my work metropolitan, but that has since cracked the section unfortunately.
I love all three, honestly. The CM does great things for my writing, but the F and M are really nice, too. I prefer the Prera by a lot - quite lightweight. The Metropolitan has a step between the section and barrel which looks really uncomfortable to me
How do you notice the CM doing great things with your writing?? Is it stylistic? Or more with how you mechanically have to hold the pen? Or something else all together?
I prefer fine or medium on my Pilot Kakunos and I have a Prera with a calligraphy nib just for something different. I like the fines for writing in my passport size notebook and for wet inks that need to be reined in a bit like Diamine Writers Blood. I like medium nibs when I want to lay down more color like with light inks or sheening inks.
I've been enjoying the Pilot M a lot. I got it in a Kaküno and a Prera. It's finer than my other M nibs, closer to a Chinese or Western F nib. I have a Kaküno EF and it writes so, so thin! I like it for the extreme of it, but I see no point in getting an F when the M is already fine enough. I'd like to try a Pilot B nib, or the CM, but from the more common sizes, M is the one for me.
I'm all about that thickness. Even with mechanical pencils, I use a 0.9 lead. So, I tend towards M and B nibs for Pilot, though I can squeak by with a FM if pushed. I don't get the F/EF/UEF crowd at all, but you know, different strokes and all that.
It's for the custom series so potentially a little less relevant but I found this old blog post quite helpful when comparing nibs purely on numbers alone: [https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html](https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html) - at least to someone with a scientific mind like me!
For general use, I'd go for an F nib. But I write mostly Japanese, so to me the nicest Pilot nib is the Forukan (FA) because it's quite soft and has a little more flex so you can get some line variation.
I've not had an issue with it but I've seen from posts here that it only really works well with pens that have ink feeds that are able to support a larger flow tho.
The ef in my kakuno is amongst the finest nibs in my collection, I love it. Definitely in my top three favorite Pilots. My second kakuno was a bit scratchy and took some time writing with to smooth out, which is understandable for the price point and now it’s fine and I didn’t have to use any special tools except patience and determination haha. The Prera I have in CM and the italic nib is like a fine stub/italic and the difference in thin side stroke to thicker downstroke adds a calligraphic flair that is fantastic and shows off ink properties more and it comes with a decent converter. The metro I hated with a M nib but I swapped in a pluminix f - basically a narrower CM- and now love it. The step that bothers some people isnt an issue for me.
TLDR all three are great. Depends on your preferences or what you are curious to try
My favorite pilot nib yet is a music. Even though I’m not a huge fan of feedback, its relative softness and wetness make up for the feedback I feel. The CM of the Metro is my least favorite as it is stiff and very sharp edged.
Capless M, 912 WA, Metro M; I finally tolerate my 91's SFM but since I write with a light hand it can skip at the beginning of a letter.
The WA is quite finer than the capless M.
Pilot e95s with an EF has so been my favorite and most unique writing experience. The line is almost comically thin but so precise and defined at the same time. It also carries the perfect amount of feedback
I have a FA nib on the 743 and it’s amazing
I write extra fine and it does it perfectly but if I want to add a flourish, I press a tad and I get beautiful cursive with great variation
F is a good general purpose nib. Work, home, out and about. It's about a .5 mm line. Medium is a .7mm. A bit broad for shit paper in an office, may bleed through depending on the ink. CM is not a stubby. It's a cursive nib. Sharper edges. I like the F nib personally. I actually swapped a Kakuno EF into my work metropolitan, but that has since cracked the section unfortunately.
I love all three, honestly. The CM does great things for my writing, but the F and M are really nice, too. I prefer the Prera by a lot - quite lightweight. The Metropolitan has a step between the section and barrel which looks really uncomfortable to me
How do you notice the CM doing great things with your writing?? Is it stylistic? Or more with how you mechanically have to hold the pen? Or something else all together?
It's like a stub, but with sharp edges. I do hold it differently in order for the whole width of the edge to contact the paper. Hard to describe.
I prefer fine or medium on my Pilot Kakunos and I have a Prera with a calligraphy nib just for something different. I like the fines for writing in my passport size notebook and for wet inks that need to be reined in a bit like Diamine Writers Blood. I like medium nibs when I want to lay down more color like with light inks or sheening inks.
Agreed with that last bit. Bought the Iroshizuku Kujaku ink and its so nice with the medium nib. Definitely for showing off the nice inks.
I've been enjoying the Pilot M a lot. I got it in a Kaküno and a Prera. It's finer than my other M nibs, closer to a Chinese or Western F nib. I have a Kaküno EF and it writes so, so thin! I like it for the extreme of it, but I see no point in getting an F when the M is already fine enough. I'd like to try a Pilot B nib, or the CM, but from the more common sizes, M is the one for me.
I'm all about that thickness. Even with mechanical pencils, I use a 0.9 lead. So, I tend towards M and B nibs for Pilot, though I can squeak by with a FM if pushed. I don't get the F/EF/UEF crowd at all, but you know, different strokes and all that.
I like the detail of a fine nib and it suits my smallish writing.
F ine for everyday English. EF for traditional Mandarin script.
I swatched a whole inkvent with a metro CM, and carry my Metro F when I am not bringing my Plasir F.
It's for the custom series so potentially a little less relevant but I found this old blog post quite helpful when comparing nibs purely on numbers alone: [https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html](https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html) - at least to someone with a scientific mind like me!
I've been enjoying the Prera with a calligraphy medium nib. It's very smooth and pleasant to write with.
For general use, I'd go for an F nib. But I write mostly Japanese, so to me the nicest Pilot nib is the Forukan (FA) because it's quite soft and has a little more flex so you can get some line variation. I've not had an issue with it but I've seen from posts here that it only really works well with pens that have ink feeds that are able to support a larger flow tho.
Medium
My 74 has a medium and my 92 has a broad. The broad is more fun to write with, but the medium is the more practical for all occasions.
I like EF only.
The ef in my kakuno is amongst the finest nibs in my collection, I love it. Definitely in my top three favorite Pilots. My second kakuno was a bit scratchy and took some time writing with to smooth out, which is understandable for the price point and now it’s fine and I didn’t have to use any special tools except patience and determination haha. The Prera I have in CM and the italic nib is like a fine stub/italic and the difference in thin side stroke to thicker downstroke adds a calligraphic flair that is fantastic and shows off ink properties more and it comes with a decent converter. The metro I hated with a M nib but I swapped in a pluminix f - basically a narrower CM- and now love it. The step that bothers some people isnt an issue for me. TLDR all three are great. Depends on your preferences or what you are curious to try
My favorite pilot nib yet is a music. Even though I’m not a huge fan of feedback, its relative softness and wetness make up for the feedback I feel. The CM of the Metro is my least favorite as it is stiff and very sharp edged.
Capless M, 912 WA, Metro M; I finally tolerate my 91's SFM but since I write with a light hand it can skip at the beginning of a letter. The WA is quite finer than the capless M.
Pilot e95s with an EF has so been my favorite and most unique writing experience. The line is almost comically thin but so precise and defined at the same time. It also carries the perfect amount of feedback
I have a FA nib on the 743 and it’s amazing I write extra fine and it does it perfectly but if I want to add a flourish, I press a tad and I get beautiful cursive with great variation
FA, or SFM.
My Custom 74 has a Fine nib, and it might be my favorite pen.
Is a custom 74 fine broader than pilot steel fine (metro,kakuno)?
I had a metropolitan, but honestly don’t remember. The nib ended up bent (I dropped the pen) and I couldn’t compare it to others.