Aurora 88: Feel Of Quality

[Ecriveur]

My Aurora Optima is first rate. I use it all the time.

[rogerico]

Well, my experience with this Aurora 88 was so awesome that now I have two Auroras. The second one doesnt love too many words...

[Intensity]

What a beautiful pen in the photo above. Hope to try an Aurora someday.

[mehandiratta]

Well, my experience with this Aurora 88 was so awesome that now I have two Auroras. The second one doesnt love too many words...

wow... this one is a stunner

[Tseg]

Resurrecting this wonderful Aurora 88 review as it and others like it pushed me to the edge in search of the best-next-to-perfect pen. I was able to locate a New Old Stock long tine 88 Medium from circa 1990 and can confirm it is likely my best writer in my collection (neck and neck with my Broad Sailor King of Pen) and definitely the best straight out of the box, despite the box being 30 years old. I was waiting for the infamous Aurora Feedback, but found little, to none. My nib is juicy silky smooth, not really glassy smooth, but with only one afternoon of use, perhaps the weather, paper or ink could change lots of things. I was expecting moderate ink flow, but with Sailor Blue Black, ink flow is very generous, just like I like. Even though I'm using a wet ink, the Medium line is closer to a European Fine I get out of many of my pens. Out of all my pens this is only the 2nd metal capped pen, the other being a P51. But this Aurora is magnitudes more elegant than my P51. I know its the honeymoon, but too many people claimed this 88 to be their all time favorite writer not to have some merit. I can now vouch it is worthy of such a reputation.

 

 

[langere]

I agree with you- one of my very favorite pens. It has its own character when writing, like few other pens.

 

Surprisingly, my Cross Peerless gave me a similar feeling of quality, though it is not a piston filler, so in that respect is lesser than the Aurora.

 

Erick

[LyaT]

I got inspired by this post and bought my first Italian pen, an Aurora 88 large, black with silver trim. The nib writes smoothly with a tiny feel of tooth. Really fun to write with it. The build quality is very good. Feels sturdy in my hand, and looks elegant. What a beautiful piece!

[rogerico]

Happy to hear all that. Enjoy your 88 pen!

[sansenri]

a great pen in fact, glad you got hold of a NOS long tines, Tseg. It's not going to be a short honeymoon, I assure you.

This is the (modern) pen I keep going back to, despite owning many others.

The problem is you may be tempted by the new wonderfully coloured LEs, the nib won't be the same though.

Unless you go for one of the new flex; the new flex nib behaves similarly to the old long tines (with some discrepancies nib to nib, or so has been reported, very mildly flex to slightly more flex.)

 

btw, lovely Anniversario, rogerico.

Edited February 26, 2020 by sansenri

[Tseg]

a great pen in fact, glad you got hold of a NOS long tines, Tseg. It's not going to be a short honeymoon, I assure you.

This is the (modern) pen I keep going back to, despite owning many others.

The problem is you may be tempted by the new wonderfully coloured LEs, the nib won't be the same though.

Unless you go for one of the new flex; the new flex nib behaves similarly to the old long tines (with some discrepancies nib to nib, or so has been reported, very mildly flex to slightly more flex.)

 

btw, lovely Anniversario, rogerico.

 

sansenri, I think I am ruined by this exquisite pen/nib. To get another Aurora with character and a flex nib gets very pricey... the Optima Cento "Riflessi", for example. Lets see how long I can go without another pen. Other than Aurora, nothing is doing it for me at this point.

[cgreenberg19]

I love my aurora 88. It's one of the best flagship pens out there. Great review!

[Orval]

My Aurora Optima (88 with a flat tops) is one of my most reliable and ergonomic writers. I think this is partly because of the longer and not concave section, wich suits my grip particularly well . It untroned my Pelikan M800 with a similar girth of the section.

[Tseg]

My Aurora Optima (88 with a flat tops) is one of my most reliable and ergonomic writers. I think this is partly because of the longer and not concave section, wich suits my grip particularly well . It untroned my Pelikan M800 with a similar girth of the section.

 

There is a lot about the 88 that reminds me of the Pilot Custom 823, which I find ideal for long writing sessions. Interestingly the 88 is about 1cm shorter than the 823 when closed, but uncapped you can see they are very similar... but that long 88 section makes it even that much more comfortable, as you point out.

 

[sansenri]

yes, I have both pens, but my preference still goes to the 88 due to the long section!

The threads on the 88 are also very unobtrusive. Ergonomically it is really a pen to like, the long tinned nib makes it special.

I own other 88s and Optima, the shape of the pens is the same so they are all extremely comfortable in my hand.

The modern nibs are nailish though (not too stiff, but not comparable to the long tines), in fact on the modern 88s and Optima I enjoy the broader nibs (where flex is not a big issue). I'm still missing a stub or CI, which I need to remedy (the cost has put me off somewhat so far though...)

Edited March 25, 2020 by sansenri

[IndigoBOB]

What size nib on the Aurora 88 compares to a lamy safari extra fine steel nib?
I use the Lamy gold nib on a vista but that can be a bit thick sometimes.