PILOTFountain Pen Converter (CON-70)

For me, the Pilot Custom 743 just may be the perfect pen. Substantially the same design and the same nib of the much-vaunted Custom 823, but with a converter instead of the vacuum fill. I don't want a converter so small that I have to fill it after practically every writing session. Still, to paraphrase a 16th Century Italian playwright, 'One should do with lovers exactly as one does with ink colours*: Have many, enjoy them one at a time, and change often.'The CON-70 strikes the perfect balance between ink capacity and change frequency. It fills just fine through the nib and the button, but I find it less messy and more efficient to fill from an ink syringe (easily found on Amazon; I use a 1" needle). Filling from a syringe can lead to dry starts with cheaper pens or different converters, but with the CON-70 and No. 15 nib of the Custom 743 the ink flows immediately and it always writes like a dream without issue.I've seen some people recommend a different converter for each ink colour to avoid transfer issues. I simply use a longer syringe (3-4" needle that can extend to the very back of the converter, pictured) and completely flush out the nib and converter with water between fills. That can leave small water droplets in the CON-70 that could (in theory) dilute the ink in your next fill; you can either blow it out with compressed air or I just leave it to dry overnight. If you want to refill right away, it will likely be just fine a bit wet, or just have a spare CON-70 in reserve (hence why you are here!)The Pilot Custom 743, paired with the CON-70, more than live up to the hype. Happy writing!*the original quote says 'clothes' here. But it holds true for fountain pens, so Guarini will forgive me.

Got this for my Pilot Kakuno and it fits perfectly. It holds a lot of ink and is the easiest to fill.

This is a great converter for your pilot fountain pens. If your pen can fit it, then go with this over the con 40. The agitator is great

By far the better of the two pilot options! I absolutely love the button fill feature and get the best fill with it compared to the terrible con 40 converter. I’ve purchased multiple of these for my pilot pens and currently have it in my Kakuno.

It fit in the pen well. There was some leakage. However, it could've just been my pen's quality. The converter kept up with my writing speed. I don't think the value is great for the money I paid though.

The CON-70 converter is the most ink you can put into your Pilot fountain pen (except for piston filler or vacuum filler pens).CON-70 = 1.06 mlCartridge = 0.90 mlCON-B = 0.62 mlCON-40 = 0.61 mlThe CON-70 converter works similarly to a vacuum filler. Pushing the button down pushes the diaphragm down towards the mouth of the converter, and creates a vacuum behind the diaphragm. Near the end of the stroke, the diaphragm breaks contact with the interior walls of the converter tube, causing whatever in front of the diaphragm to get sucked back behind the diaphragm. When it's installed in the pen, and the nib is submerged in the ink bottle, it will cause some of the ink to get drawn up behind the diaphragm. Pushing the button down quickly (and then releasing it) three to five times will get you a nearly completely full filling. A little bit of air will always be there, but it should be less than a 5th of the total volume.I use mine in my Pilot Silvern pen; that pen comes with a CON-40, but you CAN put a CON-70 in it...as long as you remember to point the nib up before screwing the back of the pen back on. It's a little bit too long for that pen, and the button gets pushed in just a little bit. But since air rises to the top of a liquid, only air and some bubbles will come out of the nib. Just wipe it off, and write on.

Product did not work right out of the box. I purchased a PILOT "CUSTOM 743 / Black" (nib : Falcon), last year. It's a quality pen and works as advertised, but I was never able to get a full measure of ink into the converter. After a year of this, I decided to order a new CON-70 converter and was sorely disappointed. It was worse than the original. One blogger advised to push the plunger down and let it snap back on its own. That didn't work either. The ink just shuffled back and forth. Finally ended up using the CON-50 from my Namiki Elabo. It has less capacity but more than I ever got out of the CON-70. With all the quality assurance that Pilot/Namiki builds into the making of their products, I could not believe that they released such a poorly designed converter. Recommend that you use the CON-50 (with less capacity) and not the CON-70 ((with no capacity).

I've had a couple of these over the years as I have three pens that use them. The oldest one I have froze up over time (like 10 years), the replacement worked great. Another started freezing up so I replaced it with a new style con-70. These don't come apart, so you can't repair or service them. They're put together with the metal ring snapping over instead of screwing on. Small changes.Problem is, they leak. In short order, the last new style I had just leaked all over the place after less than a year in the pen. I opened it up to see how much ink I had left and got absolutely soaked from the ink in the barrel.Well, the second one, again, less than a year, just did the same thing. The third is still going strong.I like Con 70. They're a weird filling mechanism, but they hold a large quantity of ink and work great when they don't leak. Just not as happy with the new style as with the old, so I hate to do it, but gotta knock a couple stars off the rating.