Aurora Optima O’ Sole Mio Fountain Pen Review

How do you review a product you have already reviewed, and already love? How do you keep it fresh? How do you say something new? I’m not sure I have all of the answers to those questions, but let’s find out. One thing I do know: I love the Aurora Optima.

I knew I loved it from the first time I picked one up, which ended up in the purchase of my first, the Optima Red Demonstrator. And yes, I still think just as highly of it now, even though I had to send it to the shoptima. It’s a pen that fits me perfectly.

Until this week, I wasn’t sure why it was so perfect for me. Then I read a review of the Aurora Optima 365 on Hand Over That Pen. Pam, Queen of Tiny Handwriting, First of Her Name, said this about the Optima:

“ I really love the Optima’s shape and size. Why you ask? Because, to me, the Aurora Optima 365 is a gaudier Sailor Progear with the use of a wider, more ostentatious cap band.”

That explains a lot about me and my likes, doesn’t it?

Aurora Optima (Top), Sailor Pro Gear Bungubox 5th Anniversary Edition

Looking at pictures of the Optima and Pro Gear side-by-side the comparison is inevitable. Why didn’t I think of this before! I guess that makes the Aurora 88 and the Sailor 1911 cousins as well.

One area where they do not compare is in price. The Aurora is twice as much as the Pro Gear, but I feel it is priced correctly for what it brings to the table. You can feel the difference in your hand before even getting into the technical aspects.

First off, the Optima is a piston filler, while the Pro Gear uses a cartridge/converter filling system. And this is no normal piston either. It’s easily the most substantial I have felt in a pen, and even has a small, stealth, ink reservoir to get those last drops out until you can get it filled up again.

The Optima has a large ebonite feed, too. Does it make the ink flow better than a standard plastic feed? I’d be lying if I told you I could tell the difference. But the sheer size of it, which is mostly hidden in the section, is impressive.

The materials of this pen - in the case of the O’ Sole Mio black acrylic and marbled orange auroloide - are substantial, and beautiful. The Pro Gear acrylic barrel is lightweight in comparison. The walls of the Optima barrel are thick, and you can feel it in your hand.

Aurora has some of the best gold nibs on the market. So does Sailor. And they are completely different. Aurora’s nibs are thick, and on the firmer side for a gold nib. The medium nib in this Optima is smooth with a little give when writing, but with no bounce or variation when you push it. Sailor’s nibs are obviously finer in comparison, and do have a different feel when writing. Both offer some of the best nibs in the business.

And finally, as Pam says above, the Optima has a gaudier cap band. And it’s a good-looking gaudy! While the Pro Gear offers sleek, refined hardware, Aurora steps up the hardware game in comparison, both in size and style. I think it looks great.

So, if you like the Sailor Pro Gear, will you like the Aurora Optima? I say undoubtedly yes. It does come at a cost though, and in the case of these two pens, it is worth it to me.

(Kenro Inc. provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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KACO SKY II Fountain Pen Review

(This is a guest post by Frank Dong. You can read more from Frank at his blog Frank Underwater)

What is KACO SKY II?

KACO is a stationery company in Shanghai, China. Established 8 years ago, the company has been delivering stationeries with award-winning industrial designs. While the gel-ink pens are their primary focus, they do keep offering fountain pens over the years. Recently the company has been partnering with the Pen World Magazine to promote its fountain pens lines.

The SKY fountain pens started in early 2016, priced at 39RMB ($6) on launch. Though KACO’s premium offerings have been largely neglected by Chinese pen lovers, the SKY did gain some traction within the community. Last May, the SKY II was launched, which shares the same design as the SKY but deployed some upgrades. Currently, you can have a SKY II from the Pen World magazine’s booth for free during a pen show if you get a subscription on-site.

Makrolon and black Schmidt nib, that’s the key differentiators marketed by the company, and they make this pen the first KACO pen that I want to own. After two weeks with the pen, I am in love. Forget the cliché designs from legacy brands, this is the best entry level fountain pens that have ever been made in China. But the SKY II is also imperfect or even annoying if you want to pull it out from a student’s pen cup and make it part of your EDC since the company clearly neglects the need of having a functional clip.

Let’s start with the bright side. For 69RMB ($11) you will get a metallic-looking pen instead of one in banal solid color, along with a stainless-steel nib with extra black coating, and both of these two upgrades worth the money.

The metallic red barrel makes this review unit pops up easily in my pen collection and resonates with certain electronic gadgets. According to the KACO, the barrels of the SKY II models are made from Makrolon polycarbonate, a name that deeply rooted in the success of LAMY 2000. For the 2000, LAMY put glass fibers into the material and brushed the surface, resulting in a pen that feels like a piece of warm wood (I learned this expression from Myke). While in the case of this SKY II, KACO finished it by applying a metallic paint to the red Makrolon base, creating a texture feels like a piece of warm aluminum. The metallic coating is thick and scratch-resistant, and I only managed to see the red base material from the outside by scraping it off with a knife. I don’t know too much about the properties of the specific grade of Makrolon used in the SKY II, but the material did survive several chest-height drops along with the rubbing with keys in my pocket. Most importantly, it just feels smooth, light and warm in hand.

With SKY II’s black Schmidt nib, the KACO joins the bandwagon of high-quality stainless-steel nibs moving beyond the basic looks of being in either silver or gold. That delivers a striking look which transforms the feeling of this pen—no lights could hit the black nib and bounce back to your face during your writing, and when the pen is rest on the desk, the black nib gives it an understated existence. Another reason for me to love a black German nib is that I can enjoy any ink without caring too much about cleaning the nib, making the whole experience more focused on the writing part rather than the pen I am writing with.

Even the physical performance of the nib could change a little bit. The company reminds its buyer that the extra black coating around the tipping material would result in more friction in certain writing angle, which is true in my experience. Thankfully (or not?) this extra friction from the tip disappeared after days of use.

Regarding other basics, the pen is a cartridge/converter filler, and its black nib is of size 5, made by Schmidt and branded in KACO’s logo. Unlike the black nibs from Kaweco Perkeo, it is a firm writer. It is noteworthy that although the nib and feed look the same as every other pen with a #5 Schmidt nib, they can’t be easily screwed out, due to a unique design at the end of the nib housing. I am fine with this move since in reality, this is not a pen built for pen addict who has a dozen of spare nibs.

Besides the nib and the barrel, the remaining of the pen is basically the same as the first generation of SKY, which is still an acceptable design two years later. The cylinder shape is simple and minimalistic, if not as nuanced as design from LAMY Aion or Pilot Kakuno. The clip still features a KG stamp, representing the KacoGreen branding the company uses for its writing instrument, and at the end of the barrel you may still be perplexed by an F (it's an EF-nib pen!), which means Fountain pen in the company’s explanation. All of these legacy designs are not ideal, but I can live with them. Nonetheless, I am rather glad to see the original design of SKY’s ergonomic nib section stays. That’s a really nice-looking grip, making the inside of the pen visible but not too distracting. The section also feels clear and crispy in hand, thanks to the unique surface pattern and large triangular construct.

(Photo Credit: KACO)

But by this point, I must look on the dark side of the SKY’s design, which I really hate—the clip is more of a decoration than a real clip. The clip on this SKY II is still an injection-molded one, integrated seamlessly into the top finial, and it is just bad. Since the clip is of the same material as the plastic part, itself is loose and lifeless. To render it even more useless, the clutch of the clip was moved from the clip to the body of the cap. That’s a confusing design, and I can barely clip the pen to my shirt, my pen loop, or sometimes even a hardcover notebook. There is no way to deny this clip is more functional when acting as a rotating stopper. If you happen to be a pen user who loves to clip your pen, this is a deal-breaker

However, I still remember comments from Paul G, one of the Pen Addict readers, under the Kaweco Perkeo review—be alert about the target audience of the pen when we are reviewing it from a power user’s perspective. At a price around $11, the SKY II is super affordable and looks totally different from other entry level Chinese pens, and that’s enough to get it noticed. Comparing with clipless student pens like Perkeo and Kakuno, the KACO SKY II is fine to have a sofe clip, since students usually don't clip pens and keep a big pencil case for their pens. Oh, did I mention the matte finish plastic package of this pen? It is a high-quality MUJI style pen case in nature!

To sum it up, the mark II version of the pen feels warmer, flashier, and way more confident in hand than its predecessor. Maturity and refinement are the keywords I always think about for this pen. Despite some lacks, it is still a legitimate upgrade and may lead a new direction for the KACO pens.

Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator is an over-sized fountain pen with an eyedropper filling system. It comes with a steel Jowo nib in fine or medium.

The pen arrives in a nice box with a brown outer sleeve. The box itself is black and has a magnetic closure. When you open the box, the pen and eyedropper are nestled in foam cut-outs. Well . . . they are supposed to be nestled. My pen was rolling around when I opened it; fortunately, no harm was done.

The pen is made of acrylic, but the cap and barrel have a frosted look that I really like. The clip is matte black, and it complements the frosted cap perfectly.

The only branding is on the cap band which is inscribed with “Opus 88” in black.

The finial on top and the piston knob are both thick, clear acrylic.

The pen is filled with a glass eyedropper (which comes with the pen). Simply unscrew the grip from the barrel and fill it with the ink of your choice.

The grip section has a rubber ring that seals when you screw it back on to the barrel. No silicone grease is necessary.

When you’re ready to write, you unscrew the piston knob a few turns to create flow.

The barrel holds an enormous amount of ink (at least 2.0 ml), and since the barrel is transparent, you’ll always know when you’re getting low.

The #6 Jowo steel nib is decorated with some scrollwork and Opus 88 branding. My fine nib writes flawlessly—it is smooth and wet. I experienced no hard starts or scratchiness with this nib.

As I said above, the Opus 88 is an over-sized pen. It measures a bit over 5.75 inches (146mm) in length capped and 5.39 inches (137mm) uncapped. It isn’t meant to be posted, and, really, it’s large enough that posting would throw off the balance anyway. Even though this is a large pen, it isn’t heavy. I find it to be perfectly balanced even with a barrel full of ink. I love how substantive it feels in the hand. This is a well-made pen.

The Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator reminds me (in some ways) of my Conid Minimalistica (review here), but the Opus is much easier to fill and clean, and it is much less expensive.

I am very impressed with my Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator. It looks fantastic, especially when it is filled with a beautiful ink color. The eyedropper system works well and the rubber ring keeps it from leaking. The nib is smooth and responsive. This is, simply put, an excellent pen.

You can purchase the Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator from Pen Chalet for $120.00. If you’ve ever wanted to try an eyedropper pen but have been put off by how expensive they can be, this is the perfect fountain pen for you. And, if you think the Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator might be too big for your hand, you can try the smaller versions (also eyedroppers) that come in various colors and cost $93.00 at Pen Chalet.

Pros

• The Opus 88 Koloro demonstrator is a well-made pen that feels substantive in your hand.
• Because it is an over-sized pen with an eyedropper filling system, it holds a huge amount of ink.
• The Jowo nib on my Opus 88 writes flawlessly.
• I really like the look of this pen with the frosted barrel, cap, and matte black clip. Because it is a demonstrator, it will show off whatever ink you fill it with.

Cons

• This over-sized pen might be too big for some people, but smaller Opus 88s are available (though not in the clear demonstrator version).
• One thing you have to remember with this pen is to unscrew the piston knob before you start writing. I don’t find this bothersome at all, but it is an extra step.

(This purchase was made with my own funds from Pen Chalet.)

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