Fountain Pen Shootout Kyuseido Kakari vs CONID Kingsize 

I have a Conid Regular in red acrylic "Antwerppen" - which I love. It is just an epitome of perfection - quality, reliability, balance in my hand. The main difference for me was an option for nib grind - M-Stub tuned so perfectly as if the person doing it has been reading my mind. Thus any other pen with no option for special grinds loses before the competition starts. I know it is expensive, but it is a rare case where I see where the money went. Kyuseido filling system looks suspiciously similar to the one from PenBBS 355, but I do not own one so cannot confirm 100%. If there is option for other materials - I am not a big fan of metal sections - it seems to be a great pen.

I got the Kyuseido, and i generated my all time favourite pen by putting the incredible felxnib of a Magna Carta M600 into my Kyuseido. A advantage of the Jowo Nr.6 Nib.

Wow, both really neat filling systems, very fascinating and I do appreciate you showing them.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I think it's important to mention that the Conid Kingsize is €995 WITHOUT a nib. It's €1,230 with the cheapest nib option. The price has gone up astronomically since they started selling exclusively. I paid less than 500 for the regular conid just before they stopped selling directly. Also it's worth noting that the Conid has a proprietary feed.

The Penbbs 355 has the same filling system as the Conid and I made quite a mess, getting it inked. I'm pretty sure they used the Kakari type system originally, but there were some issues with malfunctioning of the locking pins, so now Penbbs has the 'improved' editions of this filling system. I don't need either the Conid or Kakari as I have an Asvine V200 which is an outstanding pen that looks, and functions like a much more expensive pen. I enjoyed your review; especially your honesty in showing that occasionally fountain pens are messy despite your expertise.

Love this shootout! Wish you had filmed the filling of the pens - who cares if there's some mess? We're fountain pen users, we're used to messy coloured stuff and inky hands 😅

Great comparison! I have only the Kyuseido Kakari and I absolutely love it. It displaces my desire for a Conid, and thankfully so because of Conids' much higher price and scarcity. Maybe one day, but for now I'm happy with my Kakari. Was surprised to hear a Monk's Blend shout out. It's one of my favorites but hardly meet anyone else who knows about it. Should've known you'd have great taste!

Thanks for the shoot out! Guess I am not the only person getting their hands colored while playing with a Conid (fidgeting with the rod is such a bad idea). I occasionally do a partial fill on my Conid by simply taking it out of the ink jar when it is half way through and then suck in some air until the plunger gets to the bottom of the pen.

Thankyou for the comparison. Just a suggestion, perhaps have everything clean and presentable for the video.

I don't have either of these pens, but I do have a different bulkfiller. It's a pleasant filling mechanism. The biggest thing I've experienced with it is that the piston gets stuck in the top and requires some muscle to loosen it. But it does hold a lot of ink, and I think it just looks cool!

Lovely pens. Great shootout. Thanks!

Great review - Thank you.

For me the Kyuseido’s ability to limit the ink amount is a compelling feature. I frequently want to limit the ink fill on larger ink chambers because I simply doubt I will use a full chamber’s worth in a short period of time or I may want to rotate in other inks more frequently. This feature enables these options a bit more easily.

Ignoring the question of why you would buy a glorified Asvine for the price of a higher end Montegrappa from the 2000s or an oversized pre-war Sailor/Omas...I guess the biggest issue is: if both systems are overengineered enough that you somewhat struggle to use them in a demonstrator, how is a less fp-savy person supposed to use them in a non-transparent ebonite/celluloid body? Because obviously Conid already does those, and CY isn't just going to make a single model for 20 years, assuming he actually stays in business.

I enjoy Monteverde Garnet as well - I have seldom seen it mentioned among enthusiasts. Glad to see you like it too.

Another fine shoot out.

Dear Stephen's friend with the Kyuseido, Hello! My name is.... ;-)

Thank you for the very interesting shoot out! I own a Kingsize, the one that will remain when I’d have to get rid of all my pens but one. I tried a Kyuseido. It looks nice, but to me it looks a lot ‘cheaper’ because of the model and not having a clip. A real bummer imo. I completely agree on your judgement on the filling system. This was exactly my (very short) experience with the Kyuseido. Both are the reasons I’m not tempted to purchase a Kyuseido and prefer my Conid(s). A comparison with the Minimalistica and Regular would be fair, by the way, because they both have #6 nibs, like Kyuseido. And pricewize they are more comparable as well. I also prefer my Regular and Minimalistica over the Kyuseido. Because of looks, clip and filling system.

Those fine pens look like cousins. But on the expensive side...

I would love a Conid or a Kakari, though the latter pleases me more aesthetically.

Would love to see smaller fountain pens with this type of syringe-like filling system. As someone with small hands, it'd be interesting to see the same with a lighter weight metal too.

Monk's Blend - a gentle infusion of 4-day worn cassock, hair trimmings and apple...

€995 😂 I'd rather have 20 ASVINE P36

I am so tired of having to pray that I am lucky enough to pay a bunch of money to get some limited run of X, Y or Z. Conid = pain to obtain, and about 2x the price of Kyuseido. Hard Pass.