If there was an award for the most anticipated stationery product of 2020, the Platinum Curidas would be the runaway winner.
In development for years prior to release, the Curidas hype train officially pulled out of the station at the beginning of the year. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited for a reasonably priced, good quality, retractable fountain pen? I know I was.
That hype continued through its early release. Yes, there was pricing confusion brought on by Platinum themselves, pulling back from their standard retail pricing of 20% off MSRP to full MSRP, but I don’t think that snafu lowered anticipation in the least. It just gave us as a community something to talk about.
What we really wanted to discuss was the pen itself, and the initial reviews were positive. The only hang up early on was with the bump located on the back side of the barrel that affected the grip area for some users. A bump that many of us, myself included, never noticed in Platinum’s early marketing photos. Good job by them for hiding it well, I guess?
As these early looks at the pen trickled in, a new issue cropped up with the wide release of the Curidas, as delivery was pushed back from February to April - at least in the US market. There was some early availability, like in the UK at special release events, but most of us were still waiting. Again, not really a big deal, but another “thing” to discuss surrounding this pen.
By the time I received mine in early April, I was nearing Curidas-hype burnout. But as with most new products, once it actually got in my hands I was excited to test it out.
My initial thoughts about it were tempered. I felt it was an ok pen, with a just-too-wide barrel and a bump that gets in they way of my low grip. But I liked the idea of it, and kept using it to see if my thoughts would change with continued use.
Then crack-gate hit.
What started as the discovery of a few cracked feeds where the nib clamps onto it, turned into a widespread, high rate of failure, issue. Once news started to spread I gave mine the once-over. I didn't see anything glaring at first, but upon closer inspection, it stood out like a sore thumb: A crack running nearly the full-length of the right side of the feed.
Platinum responded to the issue quickly, and offered replacements through the original point of purchase. I haven’t gone that route with mine yet because it doesn’t affect the performance of my Curidas. It will eventually, and I’ll have it replaced.
At this point, I began to wonder if the Curidas was cursed. What started as a hype train lead into a derailment. Yet, I couldn’t put it down.
Pilot Vanishing Point, bottom.
The more I used it, the more I enjoyed it. My main holdup, as I mentioned above, is the barrel diameter. This is a wide pen. I have a place for wide pens in my arsenal, but I prefer if they have some sort of taper, or concave area, in the grip section. The retractable Pilot Vanishing Point tapers toward the grip. The retractable Lamy Dialog 3 doesn’t. Having a straight-sided, wide-barrel causes more tension in my grip, leading to shorter writing sessions due to my hand getting tired.
What I have found with the Curidas is that it thrives in shorter writing sessions. This is a note-taking pen for me, not a journaling for page after page pen. And the retractable nature of it is perfect for that - at my desk.
I want the Curidas to be a more portable EDC-type pen, but it is too large for that. The Vanishing Point is better for that use case, and is a better pen overall.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for the Curidas in the market. Platinum invested in this idea for a reason: There is no other retractable fountain pen close to this price point. My gut tells me that this is just the beginning of the Curidas. If they can make a few tweaks here and there, and tighten up the QC, it will no longer be just a curiosity. It will be a solid choice for users wanting a good retractable fountain pen experience.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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