I've
always had a soft spot in my heart for the Namiki VP. Not a big soft spot,
in the sense of a pen collector, because I've never been able to justify
replacing a Parker 51 with the VP. But it's always seemed to me to be
a pretty neat design, with a lot of potential as a daily user pen. I mean
one of the reasons I like pens like the 51 is that the slip on cap is
relatively fast when you want to write quickly. How much faster to just
click a button...
Well, when they asked me to try out the new color VP, I was interested. Having tried it, I'm maybe even more interested! It wasn't the design that turned up my level of interest, though. It's the color! Bright, "in your face" yellow. I've heard it described as "Mandarin" yellow, but I don't know if that's official or not. As far as I know, Namiki just considers it the "Yellow VP". It is a limited edition, with only 1500 being sold in the US. I'm not sure about the worldwide production numbers.
This
is what is generally referred to as the "new style" VP, it's
a bit wider through the barrel than the "classic" VP which was
produced up until a couple of years ago. I like the gently rounded shape
of this style, it also seems a bit heavier than the older model, if that
is important to you. It's not such a big deal to me, I can live with a
lighter pen, but some folks like the feel of a heavier pen. Makes it seem
more "solid", I guess!
The trim is a bright chrome, which goes well with the barrel color, a very vivid yellow. This is a color that comes quite close to the same shade used on the Parker Mandarin yellow Duofold. In other words, it's not a soft pastel yellow. Pull this pen out of your pocket and folks will know it! It practically lights up the room.
So, the new VP isn't a subtle pen. But it is a very practical one, no doubt about that. The ability to go from a closed pen to one ready to write in a split second is almost too good to be true. Push the button on the end of the barrel, and the nib slides out.
Push
it again, and the nib is retracted. Safe from drying out. Click, write.
Click, don't write. Click, click, click. It gets hypnotic! If you often
find yourself fidgeting with stuff as you sit in meetings, the VP is the
perfect pen for you. Of course, your fellow meeting attendees may end
up beating you over the head and prying the thing from your fingers...
But that's about it, as far as a down side. The mechanism seems to be very well made, you don't get a "cheap" or plasticy feel from this pen at all. I was worried that it wouldn't have the same feel of "luxury" that I get from most of my fountain pens. After all, it's about as far from a traditional fountain pen as you can get and still be on the same planet... But those fears turned out to be groundless, it's a very nicely made pen. The quality shows through all over.
The
nib is small, of course. So if you're into huge chunks of flashy gold,
the VP will disappoint. But if you're simply into a smooth, reliable writing
experience, the VP should prove to be very satisfying. The one we got
to test out had a medium nib, which looked a lot more like maybe a wide
fine to me, but I'm told this is normal for the VP, the nibs run a bit
finer than the markings would indicate.
Filling is via a cartridge converter, and the supplied converter should hold a fair supply of ink, given the dry line these pens tend to put down. Unscrewing the barrel at the center allows the entire nib/feed unit to come out, and it can then be filled from a bottle with the squeeze type converter.
The new style VP is a great pen. It's already proven this over the last couple of years. It had big shoes to fill, since the original VP design was a real classic among modern pens. The new Yellow version just offers another shade in which the VP can shine!