Waterman Audacious Red

[musicman123]

I was intensely digging through my cabinet of inks on Saturday, when I came across an 8 pack of Waterman Audacious Red cartridges from who knows when, but they are all still brand new. Since I hadn't tried this color at all yet, so I went ahead and popped a cartridge into my pen.

 

This review will follow my normal standard format for reviews, with pictures following a small blurb. The pictures were taken with an iPhone 6, back camera, in artificial lighting. Effort has been made to show the true color, but your milage may vary depending on your monitor. If you would like to see all my ink images, you are free to go to http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews

 

Here is a preview of the ink. It is a nice and standard red color, with nothing too fancy to the eye. It is a very utilitarian color, that I find very good for marking up documents, and writing comments on student papers.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Ink.jpeg

 

This ink was written in my Nemosine Singularity Demonstrator, with an outstanding number of 3 nibs! I used the TWSBI B, which is a tad finer than a Nemosine B, but only my a hairline. I also used a Nemosine 0.6mm stub, which I did some smoothing and repairs myself that I am quite proud of. Lastly, I also used a TWSBI F nib, which writes more like an EF, which I'm not too fond of.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Nib.jpeg

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Nib%202.jpeg

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Nib%203.jpeg

 

The review was written on HP 32lb Premium Laser Paper, which can be found at Staples for the whooping price of $19.99, or on Amazon for $15.39. This is my new "standard" paper I will be using for all my reviews, writing, and comparisons. I still have a bit of HP 28lb, which is now discontinued, but I am going to be moving to this one now, as it is much better, IMO.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Paper.jpeg

 

Here is a swab of the ink. It was made with the back of my nib, as I didn't have my Q-tips handy (in school). Notice the shading.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Swab.jpeg

 

The ink has some very average characteristics, but is very utilitarian and idiot-proof. The ink has average flow, not gushing out, and not as dry as a saltine cracker. Also, it provides a good amount of lubrication on this paper. There is a bit of shading in writing, from a light red to a regular red. There is no feathering, bleed through, or show through on this paper, but some can be expected on cheap papers. No dry smear either. Like most other Waterman and Parker inks, I consider this ink to be vintage-pen safe, and can be definitely used with Parker 51's or older ones.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Characteristics.jpeg

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Characteristics%202.jpeg

 

The ink dries a bit slow on this paper, averaging about 18 seconds. However, I do not have a problem, as I am a true flat overwriter.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Dry%20Time.jpeg

 

Here is a comparison with other ink colors. Use this as a calibration for your monitors and the photos. I did not intend this to show similar colors.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Comparison.jpeg

 

Here is a water test. The top grid had drops of water placed for 10 seconds, then vigorously wiped downwards. The bottom text did not receive any drops of water and was only wiped with in the same motion as the grid. The ink is not waterproof at all. There is some major ink lifting on the water drops, rendering the grid portions almost invisible. There was also a medium amount of wet smear, but the text is still legible.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Water.jpeg

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Water%20After.jpeg

 

Here is a poorly drawn ghost to show how the ink looks with sketching, and coloring.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Ghost.jpeg

 

Lastly, here is a scan of the review. Use the scan to read the rest of the review. I did not intend for it to show color accuracy. The pictures are the most accurate representation of the color.

 

http://files.goviralforyou.com/Inks/Reviews/Waterman/Audacious%20Red/Scan.jpeg

 

That's all folks! I would give this ink an 8/10. If you liked this review, stay tuned for more to come!

Edited February 24, 2015 by musicman123

[visvamitra]

Great, detailed review as always. I believe Waterman inks are a little underrated. As you've mentioned they're utilarian and idiot-proof. They behave well in most pens and on most papers and the price is fair. Also you can buy at least some of them in almost every stationery shop. The colors are not that exciting, well, they're rather boring, but for most people green is green and red is red and nuances are not that important. Unless they subscribe here, of course. Then they start their way on road to perdition.

 

Anyway Waterman knows how to make well behaved inks, I believe it would be cool if decided to create some premium line (A la Edelstein) in fancier bottles and with more groovy colors. That would be definitely cool, but I guess that for Newell-Rubbermaid sales investing in inks is simply unprofitable. I may be wrong though. I would be interested to read some global statistics about inks sell (increasing/decreasding, trends etc).

[jmccarty3]

We really should rename FPN. RoadToPerdition.com would be much more accurate.