Jump to content

Aurora Optima Plain Green Resin - Ruthless Review!


TassoBarbasso

Recommended Posts

Here comes a new "ruthless review". These have a few peculiar features:

  • Concise;
  • Very strict. If a pen costs hundred of euros, no faults are allowed.
    - A good pen gets a 60/100,
    - A great pen an 80/100,
    - An almost perfect one a 90/100.
    - Only a divine pen can have above 90.
  • Don't care about the box,
  • Add a few peculiar criteria:
    • Nib appearance;
    • Usability in shirt pockets;
    • Out-of-the-boxness, meaning to what extent a nib was perfect right after leaving the seller.

Aurora Optima Plain Green Resin, gold trims

Super-classic design from Aurora, in plain green resin (not the marbled auroloide, but the deep forest green that was used some years ago). Like this one.

1. Appearance and design: 10/10
This is one of the designs. It's classy Italian style at its best, elegant, smooth, subdued. How can I not give it a 10?

2. Construction: 6/10
Almost perfectly assembled, but one of the o-rings rotates in its place. Unacceptable on a EUR 300 pen!

3. Quality of materials: 7/10
Everything is really high-quality, but the plastic sounds a bit cheap.

4. Weight and dimensions: 10/10
Absolutely perfect. Thick enough to be handled comfortably, but short enough not to be cumbersome. Great section shape, too!

5. Nib performance: not rated

I will not rate this because this is the typical Aurora "toothy" nib: I personally love it, but some people don't like this. If you're into nibs with a bit of feedback, this gets a 10/10. If you like "buttery smooth" stuff, stay the hell away from this.

6. Nib appearance: 10/10
Typical bit 14k Aurora nib. Some people don't like the design: barbarians! :D

7. "Out-of-the-boxness": 5/10

The pen couldn't write well before a thorough cleaning. Also, not acceptable, but easily fixable.

8. Filling system and maintenance: 10/10

Aurora's piston filling. Absolutely perfect in smoothness and capacity.

9. Clip and usability with shirts: 8/10

Perfect measure, fits in all shirt pockets. A bit too short for some jacket pockets, though.

10. Cost and value: 8/10

Minus 2 points for that o-ring issue and the out-of-the-boxness weakness, but overall, very good price-quality ratio.

Final mark:

- If you like nibs with feedback, this gets 84/100, which in my rating means really great.

- If you like smooth nibs, it's still a 74/100, which is very good. But then, you wouldn't buy it due to the toothy feeling, so...

My suggestion: get one even if you don't like toothy nibs. With time you'll start appreciating them as well :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 8
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • TassoBarbasso

    3

  • limt

    2

  • langere

    1

  • FountainPages

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

I like your brutally honest review. Italian pens are like that - beautiful, but some with a few issues here and there. But overall, really worth it.

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, although I have to say, this is very much of a stereotype: my German pens are as quirky and unreliable as my Italian pens... wait till I post the ruthless review of a Faber Castell ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting review, had couple aurora's 88 myself modern and vintage ones and I must say I think that nib gives this pen character - it's hard, toothy like something you don't experience usually, since most of the producers want their pens to fit to many people writting styles while aurora's have their own

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the proud owner of an Optima, mine, at least to me... I have to say the boxness factor would have been a 10 for 10. The construction of mine also, was top-notch. I suppose I got lucky., maybe not. The pen I recieved is one of the best I own. I would buy another in a minute, regardless the 550.00+USD cost.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

 

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

 

Mark Twain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quite ruthless......but quite enjoyable review too.....

 

:)

 

Thanks....

 

Mark

FP Addict & Pretty Nice Guy

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

will you be posting photos?

 

Sorry, I won't, as I don't have much time and I suck with photobucket and all the rest. Maybe I'll scan a writing sample, though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...