Diamine Vs. Pilot's Iroshizuku

[Sinistral1]

Chrissy: If you're planning a trip to the US and want to bring that bottle of Chiku-rin here for me to buy, let me know!

[FrElip]

In the Netherlands, Diamine is hard to get; Iroshizuku is even harder. (Read: not a lot of retailers.)

 

Diamine costs €7.85 for 80ml, Iroshizuku costs €39 for 50ml. You won't be surprised that my first choice would normally be Diamine.

 

You don't have to buy them exclusivly in physical stores.

If you buy them online, you can get Iroshizukus from Japan at $15 per bottle, plus VAT at customs, entering your country. Even with VAT, it will be 1/3 the price you mention (39€)

 

One just don't have Iroshizuku Inks if he don't want to.

[FloatingFountain]

 

You don't have to buy them exclusivly in physical stores.

If you buy them online, you can get Iroshizukus from Japan at $15 per bottle, plus VAT at customs, entering your country. Even with VAT, it will be 1/3 the price you mention (39€)

 

One just don't have Iroshizuku Inks if he don't want to.

 

Obviously. Still, shipping for one or two bottles will be $12, which is the cheapest I've found. On top of that, I'll get $18 customs declarations, and 21% VAT on top of everything. So, let's count:

 

($15 + $15 + $12 + $18) * 1.21 = $72,60 for two bottles.

 

That will come down to $36.30 per bottle, or €26,25

 

Even if I order just ONE bottle of Diamine, incurring €6.75 shipping, it'll end up being almost half the price of the Iroshizuku ink, and countain more than 50% more ink. For the price of one bottle of 50ml imported Iroshizuku, I can order three bottles of Diamine (240ml) or pick up four bottles (+/- 200ml) of Waterman, Sheaffer or Parker ink in a local store.

 

As I said, you won't be surprised if I pass up on the Iroshizuku in the Netherlands.

Edited April 29, 2014 by FloatingFountain

[colrehogan]

Here is a question.

 

You have no ink, but the knowledge you have now. And someone offers you 10 free bottles of ink, either Diamine/Iro/Noodlers. Cost/Bottle is not a factor. You cannot sell them on, they are just based on preference

 

What do you choose?

 

For me it would be:

 

Iro Fuyo-Syogun

Iro Yama Budo

Diamine Blue/Black

Diamine Deep Dark Red

Diamine Deep Dark Green

Diamine Deep Dark Blue

Diamine Racing Green

Diamine Ochre

Diamine Chocolate Brown

Diamine Sherwood Green

 

So the Score for me is Iro get 2, diamine gets 8 and Noodlers 0. I think i covered the palette pretty well.

 

Ren

I would have to say:

 

Noodler's Dark Matter

Iroshizuku Take-sumi

Diamine Onyx Black

Diamine Deep Dark Red

Diamine Deep Dark Blue

Diamine Deep Dark Green

Diamine Deep Dark Brown

Diamine Deep Dark Purple

Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun

Iroshizuku Kiri-same

 

I just love the Diamine deep dark series of inks! Note, there is a black one from each brand you mentioned.

My spectrum of colors seems to be quite limited. Lots of gray and black in my list.

[FrElip]

 

Obviously. Still, shipping for one or two bottles will be $12, which is the cheapest I've found. On top of that, I'll get $18 customs declarations, and 21% VAT on top of everything. So, let's count:

 

($15 + $15 + $12 + $18) * 1.21 = $72,60 for two bottles.

 

That will come down to $36.30 per bottle, or €26,25

 

Even if I order just ONE bottle of Diamine, incurring €6.75 shipping, it'll end up being almost half the price of the Iroshizuku ink, and countain more than 50% more ink. For the price of one bottle of 50ml imported Iroshizuku, I can order three bottles of Diamine (240ml) or pick up four bottles (+/- 200ml) of Waterman, Sheaffer or Parker ink in a local store.

 

As I said, you won't be surprised if I pass up on the Iroshizuku in the Netherlands.

 

When I want to make an Iroshizuku addition, it's always a good excuse to add one more special pen, so I can avoid shipping costs. (Engeika has it sometimes for $199 and others for $299).

Right now, i'm waiting for a Pilot Custom 823 ($234 - in Portugal it costs ~330€) plus 6 iroshizuku bottles ($15,5 - in Portugal they costs 35€ each). Total $327 (235€)

For this ammount, i'll get the free sipping.

 

At customs in Portugal, we pay 5 to 6€ of customs declarations, plus 23% VAT.

235 + 5 + 54 VAT

 

Total 295€

Here in Portugal at stores, would be 540€ (330 + 35*6). Lots of € saved.

Each bottle costed me exactly $15.5 + 23% = $19 (13.7 €) - i'm ignoring the 5€ customs declarations, once it will be dilluted by the 6 bottles and the pen.

 

Of course sipping 2 bottles from Japan won't worth it.