Aurora $600 Pen Review

[Amory]

I recently came across the review below posted by an artist who was sent the pen to review.

 

 

makes me wonder why they sent a sample without testing it first.

[LuckyKate]

I saw this--Peter Draws is absolutely hilarious, but not really knowledgeable about pens. His video of his first pen show is delightful.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho1rTio4ZEo

[penzel_washinkton]

The video really summarizes what I have in my mind regarding fountain pens really well and if anyone can give an opinion please do.

 

- I truly think that for the price, you will get the full functionality of a fountain pen as a writing instrument stops at around $200-$300. Here you can find the complete package of gold nibs for minimal line variation, huge ink capacity in piston fillers and no technical issues.

 

- Above the price point above, it is only a matter of aesthetics

 

- For pens above the price mentioned above to having hard starts like the video above out of the box is just unacceptable. I know that there are several factors accounting to it and there are several exceptions to this condition (poor shipping handling etc.)

Edited July 22, 2018 by penzel_washinkton

[flipper_gv]

The video really summarizes what I have in my mind regarding fountain pens really well and if anyone can give an opinion please do.

 

- I truly think that for the price, you will get the full functionality of a fountain pen as a writing instrument stops at around $200-$300. Here you can find the complete package of gold nibs for minimal line variation, huge ink capacity in piston fillers and no technical issues.

 

- Above the price point above, it is only a matter of aesthetics

 

- For pens above the price mentioned above to having hard starts like the video above out of the box is just unacceptable. I know that there are several factors accounting to it and there are several exceptions to this condition (poor shipping handling etc.)

 

About #3: Could it be manufacturing oil residue on the nib? It is extremely common on brand new pens and usually just need a good flush. A friend of mine just bought an Atelier Dupont and even that pen needed a good flush to take out the residue. It's my theory since baby's bottom are rather rare with Aurora AFAIK.

[Amory]

That pen is in a similar price bracket to a smartphone. If they were supplied with manufacturing defects there would be uproar. I fail to see why should pen manufacturers get away with shoddy defective products.

 

Whats the alphabet soup flipper?

Edited July 22, 2018 by Amory

[penzel_washinkton]

 

About #3: Could it be manufacturing oil residue on the nib? It is extremely common on brand new pens and usually just need a good flush. A friend of mine just bought an Atelier Dupont and even that pen needed a good flush to take out the residue. It's my theory since baby's bottom are rather rare with Aurora AFAIK.

 

I don't understand why can't the manufacturers themselves do this at this price point?

It is supposed to be a premium pen with premium price

 

That pen is in a similar price bracket to a smartphone. If they were supplied with manufacturing defects there would be uproar. I fail to see why should pen manufacturers get away with shoddy defective products.

 

Whats the alphabet soup flipper?

If it were a cheap $2 pens then I don't see the problem with issues like this, most of them don't even come in boxes.

[KellyMcJ]

Many of my $2 pens haven't needed flushing first. It does seem strange that making sure the pieces are clean of oil etc before assembly/ shipping would not be that hard.

[flipper_gv]

 

I don't understand why can't the manufacturers themselves do this at this price point?

It is supposed to be a premium pen with premium price

 

If it were a cheap $2 pens then I don't see the problem with issues like this, most of them don't even come in boxes.

 

I agree with you. But, the pen isn't defective and doesn't need to be returned to the factory. It just wasn't cleaned properly before being shipped, which is still a con, but not as bad as baby's bottom.

[iruciperi]

I don't see any reason to say the video is a pen review rather than an artist's drawing demo, and I don't think the single skipping just after filling the ink is not a serious issue. However I totally agree with his thoughts on what a pen in whatever price range must do.

 

My brand-new Pilot Custom Urushi had a severe ink dry issue out of the box, and I have seen a lot of folks who do not care for the skippings as a defect of a pen when I buy pre-owned ones. Most of my Visconti nibs were not in good-to-go condition out of the box neither.

 

IMO the reason why we are not concerning the manufacturing defects seriously is two-fold: it is not hard to fix it by ourselves, like flushing or adjusting tine alignments, and there are nibmeisters out there who do great jobs for much cheaper price compared with the (expensive) pens' price.

 

I think we, as customers, should speak louder to retailers and manufacturers when we find a manufacturing defect even if the defect can be easily fixed at home.

[penzel_washinkton]

I agree that the situation is probably not serious in this case, it's just that in my opinion small things like this is very avoidable if the manufacturer cares more for the product they sell

[Honeybadgers]

Also, bear in mind that some people are much more forgiving about the occasional tiny hard start. Me, I saw the first closeup of his second line and it was like someone took a cheese grater to my elbows. I HATE pens that don't start every time.

 

It looks like it was ground with a touch of baby's bottom. They are hand made after all. And one thing that sucks is that hand made nibs tend to be dip tested, and a dip test can hide baby's bottom due to the oversaturated feed.

 

I recommended to peter that he send it off to a nibmeister for a simple $40 tune.

 

Peter is a FP newbie, but it is funny watching the pens grow on him. I think the thing that really pushed him into the hobby wasn't the twsbi eco, the noodlers ahab or the kaweco sport he was given, but the vintage venus president with a semiflex nib. After that, he went to a pen show, has picked up several others, and has been getting more "into it"

I also told him that I'd send him a sheaffer statesman snorkel if he keeps posting drawings done with FP's.

[A Smug Dill]

I'm late to the party and/or to respond:

The video really summarizes what I have in my mind regarding fountain pens really well and if anyone can give an opinion please do.

- I truly think that for the price, you will get the full functionality of a fountain pen as a writing instrument stops at around $200-$300. Here you can find the complete package of gold nibs for minimal line variation, huge ink capacity in piston fillers and no technical issues.

Nothing about what makes (or in the definition of) a fountain pen requires huge ink capacity in its internal ink reservoir, or a filling mechanism that is inseparable from the complete pen; thus having an ink reservoir with a small capacity, or being either an eye-droppered pen or one that uses a removable, "consumable" and replaceable cartridge does not make the pen any less than "the complete package" for a pen.

Whether a "huge" ink capacity is necessary is a question of the user's applications (or "use cases") and habits. There is no universal or implied requirement for such, and a huge ink capacity may not even be considered desirable, especially if other aspects of the pen's size or design have to be compromised to achieve it.

Some buyers may feel they get more value for money — in a physical "teardown" and let's-add-up-the-cost-of-manufacture-of-each-identifiable-component kinda way — from piston-fillers, but again that view and/or sentiment is not universal.

A gold nib is not a universal requirement, either.

So, you could argue you were only describing one particular "complete" package, but the specifications of that particular package do not define what every fountain pen purchaser in the global community wants, or ought to value, in a fountain pen.

I, for one, am much happier with my steel-nibbed Diplomat Aero (c/c-filled) fountain pen than I am with my Pelikan M815 Metal-Striped piston-filler with an 18K gold nib.

- Above the price point above, it is only a matter of aesthetics

I disagree. While the requirement for a Nagahara togi nib, Nagahara Concord nib or Nagahara Fude de Mannen nib is also far from being universal, either among users or for different applications, I'd happily challenge you to buy a new (basic 1911 Large with a plain black resin barrel and gold trim, if you like) Sailor pen with one of those nibs. It's a matter of functional capability, and perhaps of rarity and prestige, but not of aesthetics that drive up the price.

And then, a gold-plated pen cap could be aesthetically indistinguishable from a pen cap made from solid gold, but from a physical "teardown" perspective, the pen with the solid gold cap has more inherent value.

[Honeybadgers]

Man you resurrected a thread to nitpick semantics. Again.

 

We get it. You occasionally have a different opinion. Penzel was voicing his opinion. You do not need to automatically assume that he was attempting to invalidate yours or others'.