OPUS88 Demo- the new king of $150 segment

[TheDutchGuy]

On 4/26/2021 at 1:15 AM, A Smug Dill said:

... I don't think there would be any problem doing it on an eyedropper-filled Fine Writing International Planets series pen, which is (advertised by the manufacturer as being) designed to accommodate that mode of operation and has a screw-in nib assembly unit, either; so I don't see the necessity (or cause-and-effect) of having a shut-off valve in that regard ...

 

 

As you say, any eye-dropper with a screw-in collar is fit for swapping nibs on the fly. Personally I just happen to appreciate the extra possibilities of having a shut-off valve in pens like that...

...because I don’t have to keep the barrel section-up during the swap, freeing up another hand;

...because there is no risk of spillage;

...because I can clean the inside of the section before screwing in the collar (clean threads - yes!) without having to empty the barrel...

...because it allows me to actually write the pen empty without any risk of burping, no matter how much air is in there;

...because I can keep the pen on my body during hikes, flights, road trips etc without any risk of ink getting in the cap or on my clothes;

...because it allows me to regulate the flow, changing it as needed to suit my mood, the paper, the ink, the climate; 

Whether or not all this matters to you is of course up to you. The need for any feature of any pen seems rather personal, except that it writes (and possibly not even that for some collectors who merely display their pens).

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, TheDutchGuy said:

The need for any feature of any pen seems rather personal, except that it writes (and possibly not even that for some collectors who merely display their pens).

 

I certainly wasn't trying to invalidate your personal preferences, or your ‘need’ to satisfy them through product features. I was merely pointing out there is no logical or physical necessity for the feature in order for someone (not with extraordinary abilities or even uncommon dexterity) to accomplish the task as outlined.

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

I was merely pointing out there is no logical or physical necessity for the feature in order for someone (not with extraordinary abilities or even uncommon dexterity) to accomplish the task as outlined.

 

In your subjective opinion.

[Detman101]

5 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

 

 

As you say, any eye-dropper with a screw-in collar is fit for swapping nibs on the fly. Personally I just happen to appreciate the extra possibilities of having a shut-off valve in pens like that...

...because I don’t have to keep the barrel section-up during the swap, freeing up another hand;

...because there is no risk of spillage;

...because I can clean the inside of the section before screwing in the collar (clean threads - yes!) without having to empty the barrel...

...because it allows me to actually write the pen empty without any risk of burping, no matter how much air is in there;

...because I can keep the pen on my body during hikes, flights, road trips etc without any risk of ink getting in the cap or on my clothes;

...because it allows me to regulate the flow, changing it as needed to suit my mood, the paper, the ink, the climate; 

Whether or not all this matters to you is of course up to you. The need for any feature of any pen seems rather personal, except that it writes (and possibly not even that for some collectors who merely display their pens).

All of these points are sooo valid and wonderful...but I'm loving the bolded point!
With my "Secretary of De Flex" nib unit,in my Opus-88, I can regulate how much saturation and performance I get when flexing....JUST by adjusting the shutoff valve!!!!

If I just want to take regular notes with minimal flexing and lots of shading, I open the valve 1mm.
If I want to write with regular flex and nice shading, I open the valve 2mm.
If I want to get smooth saturation and flex every letter of every word for paragraphs on end, I open the valve between halfway and wide open.

This pen is sooooo technical and precise with how it uses the ink flow to do what you need it to do.
Amazing...just, amazing!!!

[collectorofmanythings]

Great review! 👍

[Honeybadgers]

Yeah, it's a nice pen, but not exactly budget. in the $150 range, competition is STEEP. You can have a 3776, a pilot ch74/91/92, a lamy 2000.

 

Also, it doesn't post. And i absolutely HATE that.

 

But if you want to try something fun, you can pull the section from it and insert the nib/feed unit from a pilot parallel into that pen. I saw Peter Draws do it and had to try it in my own eyedropper, the moonman mini.

[TheDutchGuy]

8 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

Yeah, it's a nice pen, but not exactly budget. in the $150 range, competition is STEEP. You can have a 3776, a pilot ch74/91/92, a lamy 2000.

 

$150 is steep because of the generic steel nib. They seem to be more affordable elsewhere. Appelboom retails them for €99 and I bought mine from them at the last pre-covid pen show for €80. In terms of materials and workmanship, this pen punches above its weight. Material feels wonderful in the hand, not slippery at all, resistant to microscratches, very smooth threads, easy to disassemble and clean... Put a really good nib in it and it’s a killer pen.

 

[A Smug Dill]

43 minutes ago, TheDutchGuy said:

$150 is steep because of the generic steel nib. They seem to be more affordable elsewhere. Appelboom retails them for €99 and I bought mine from them at the last pre-covid pen show for €80. In terms of materials and workmanship, this pen punches above its weight.

 

But the O.P.'s claim (or statement, or ‘boast’ in the sense of puffery in marketing) is that this pen model is “the new king of $150 segment”, and I think that should be given separate treatment from the (technical) review of the pen which I'm confident we all appreciate. I just ordered one this week for the effective price of €65.78, which translates to just under US$80 at today's exchange rates, for the hell of it, but with low expectations in terms of whether it dazzles me either for a pen that I bought for around that price point when discounted, or for what can be acquired for US$150 or less at MSRP (but then, of course, for Japanese pens the MSRP for a particular model would be what its manufacturer priced it at for the Japanese domestic market, and so on).

 

I see two ways of approaching the claim as a reader. Firstly, as a peer and fellow fountain pen user, who do not necessarily share the same tastes, preferences, or views of what counts as virtue or merit in a fountain pen as the O.P., since there is no universal standard or set of requirements. I don't personally see cartridge/converter-fill as an inferior filling mechanism, I don't need a pen to have a comparatively large ink capacity or see an ink cartridge's capacity as unduly limiting, and I certainly don't count being able to take ‘Western’ #6 nibs interchangeably as a virtue. So, taking what the O.P. presented in his/her review technically as accurate on face value, the reader could reassess the pen as described using a different set of values and preferences, to see whether the claim that it is “the (new) king” of the segment holds true.

 

The other way is to see whether there are other pen models that has MSRP of less than the equivalent of US$150 that surpass this one, using specifically the values and/or assessment framework the O.P. espoused (but ignoring anything that is unspecified, unwritten or unspoken), irrespective of the availability and/or accessibility in any given regional market (and the US would be a regional market for Opus 88, which is a Taiwanese/Chinese brand).

 

If the Opus 88 Demonstrator stands up to scrutiny with both of those approaches, then obviously the reader must agree with and support the O.P.'s claim, having given it due consideration (and implicitly due respect to the O.P.).

[Detman101]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

But the O.P.'s claim (or statement, or ‘boast’ in the sense of puffery in marketing) is that this pen model is “the new king of $150 segment”, and I think that should be given separate treatment from the (technical) review of the pen which I'm confident we all appreciate. I just ordered one this week for the effective price of €65.78, which translates to just under US$80 at today's exchange rates, for the hell of it, but with low expectations in terms of whether it dazzles me either for a pen that I bought for around that price point when discounted, or for what can be acquired for US$150 or less at MSRP (but then, of course, for Japanese pens the MSRP for a particular model would be what its manufacturer priced it at for the Japanese domestic market, and so on).

 

I see two ways of approaching the claim as a reader. Firstly, as a peer and fellow fountain pen user, who do not necessarily share the same tastes, preferences, or views of what counts as virtue or merit in a fountain pen as the O.P., since there is no universal standard or set of requirements. I don't personally see cartridge/converter-fill as an inferior filling mechanism, I don't need a pen to have a comparatively large ink capacity or see an ink cartridge's capacity as unduly limiting, and I certainly don't count being able to take ‘Western’ #6 nibs interchangeably as a virtue. So, taking what the O.P. presented in his/her review technically as accurate on face value, the reader could reassess the pen as described using a different set of values and preferences, to see whether the claim that it is “the (new) king” of the segment holds true.

 

The other way is to see whether there are other pen models that has MSRP of less than the equivalent of US$150 that surpass this one, using specifically the values and/or assessment framework the O.P. espoused (but ignoring anything that is unspecified, unwritten or unspoken), irrespective of the availability and/or accessibility in any given regional market (and the US would be a regional market for Opus 88, which is a Taiwanese/Chinese brand).

 

If the Opus 88 Demonstrator stands up to scrutiny with both of those approaches, then obviously the reader must agree with and support the O.P.'s claim, having given it due consideration (and implicitly due respect to the O.P.).

Just an aside...
I absolutely feel smarter EVERY TIME I read one of your postings.
I, literally, have not come across anyone that posts in such an intellectually expanding manner in all the time I spend online each day. I can only imagine what an intellectual boost talking to you in person must be like.

Okay...returning to our regularly scheduled programming.
😁

[TheDutchGuy]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

But the O.P.'s claim (or statement, or ‘boast’ in the sense of puffery in marketing) is that this pen model is “the new king of $150 segment”, and I think that should be given separate treatment from the (technical) review of the pen which I'm confident we all appreciate.

 

To be honest, I mostly perceive such statements as expressions of enthousiasm and usually don’t approach them from a factual perspective. Would I have bought mine at $150? I probably would not actively have sought one out, but if someone had put one in my hands to try then I might have. Would I replace my own pen at anything less than €120? Certainly. At €150, possibly.

 

 

I think of it as a high-quality nib platform as well as a great EDC.  (The moisture in the cap shows is due to my body heat evaporating some water from the ink in the feed, which then condensates on the cap. It just so happens that a demonstrator makes it visible.) 

[Detman101]

I will be ordering my next Opus-88 Demo with Stub nib next month.
I'll then upgrade it with a "Secretary of De Flex" Stub the following month.
(I need a companion for this pen to hold my brown inks...no more Penbbs in my stable)
 

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, Detman101 said:

I can only imagine what an intellectual boost talking to you in person must be like.

 

Thanks! My wife tells me often I'm a bore when I slip into fountain pen enthusiast mode, and I believe her. 😕 I think it also applies when I go into geek mode on any other subject, except when it's one she also happens to be interested in as well at that very point in time.

[Temenos]

I tried this in a store. I feel like this pen is a little expensive for what it is. Other than the huge ink capacity, it really has nothing much going for it. 

 

The only buyers I can see for this pen is for those who are still new to the FP game and don't really know the FP market yet.

 

I wouldn't pay more than 50 dollars for this pen.

[Detman101]

Different strokes for different folks...not everyone sees "Vintage" as the end-all-be-all of the fountain pen experience. 🤷‍♂️

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, Modus Ponens said:

 The only buyers I can see for this pen is for those who are still new to the FP game and don't really know the FP market yet.

 

Guess that makes me a know nothing, newbie, ignoramus then.

[Temenos]

10 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Guess that makes me a know nothing, newbie, ignoramus then.

There are people who play the piano for years and years and not make any improvement. So I guess I should replace the and with or in "The only buyers I can see for this pen is for those who are still new to the FP game and don't really know the FP market yet.".

[Detman101]

19 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Guess that makes me a know nothing, newbie, ignoramus then.

Glad to be a fellow with you instead of that "other" group of bourgeoisie know-it-alls...
🙄

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, Modus Ponens said:

The only buyers I can see for this pen is for those who are still new to the FP game and don't really know the FP market yet."

 

Thank you for insulting me, and many others, yet again. Please go to your room and don't come out until you know how to behave.

[mizgeorge]

55 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Guess that makes me a know nothing, newbie, ignoramus then.

I'm there with you Karmachanic - though between just us I reckon we've got about a century's worth of "FP market" experience, let alone all that earned by so many other nice (and even polite) people here. 

 

I wouldn't pay $150 for this particular pen, simply because I can get it for around $100, but that's my only argument with the original statement.

[Pensei]

I enjoyed your review, because I like the enthusiasm. May I ask you to help me be sure I understand one point? If the pen is used properly, is ink burping absolutely eliminated? And by absolutely, I mean from complete fill to empty. I have a pen I really like, but when eyedroppered, I am almost certain that eventually I'm going to get a big blob of ink on my page, and I hate that. It this pen eliminates that problem, then I'm interested.