Got it with a fine nib, which is just right for taking notes for work. Was a little concerned how such a large pen would fit my smallish hands but turns out it fits much better than some smaller pens.
Excellent, excellent pen. Got it with a medium nib, which is not scratchy at all. The looks are just gorgeous. The materials feel (and are) premium quality. The pen was backordered and thus the shipment a bit delayed, but I was maintained well informed of the package whereabouts. No complaints there. In summary, I couldn't be happier with the purchase.
The first time I took it to write I thought it was too big for my hands! The barrel is 15mm in diameter, although close to the tip it has a more normal value of 12 to 11mm. But after the first experiments I got used to it and it feels wonderful to write with.
The medium nib I chose has a slight calligraphic touch which make my writing to look better than with other pens.
I like the transparency so the pen gets the color of the ink.
The eyedropper filling system is excellent and allows to use the ink from the ink bottle until the last drop.
Not a cheap pen but very worthy of its cost. I love it!
I'm quite enjoying the Opus 88 Demo! It's lived up to its reputation as a pleasantly big pen (very nice to grip) while still remaining fairly light. It initially squeaked when opening/closing the valve, but a bit of silicone grease on the rod and upper threads solved that. I've found that Noodler's X-Feather doesn't cling to the inner walls much, and I enjoy the rivulet patterns it forms. I don't like to post my pens, so it's inability to post isn't an issue for me.
Thank you, Appelboom, for you well done job. Everything's very well packed. By the way, thanks for the biscuits ;). The fountain pen is very special with the eyedropper filling system and shut off valve. Mine wears a Jowo flex fine nib. The good points are that it writes smoothly, flexes a bit, not a full flex, of course, but a semiflex and if you turn the nib upside down, you get an extra fine point (not very smooth but by no means scratchy).
Beside that, the ink capacity is huge.
If you close the shut off valve the reservoir writes more than two complete pages. I've tried one experiment with good results; if you don't wanna fill the fountain with the eyedropper or a syringe (and you don't want a lot of ink) you can pull up the shut off valve directly from the inkwell and you get a bit of ink (half a ml approx.). I'm very satisfied with the fountain pen and with Appelboom. Thanks a lot and best regards to everybody.
Take care.
This big boy is a very good writer! If you like big pens whith nice, modern and transparent look this opus 88 is may be for you.
I like to look at the ink moving inside the pen.
STUB nib is nicely tuned and writes well with a lot of line variations (vertical vs horizontal)
Good quality and feel in the hand, for a reasonable price.
Cheers,
Olivier
A really really big fountain pen. But feels well in the writing hand (size of gloves 10). Good quality of the resin and machining, no lack recognizable. Nice nib, write very well. In my case the stub 1.5, the nib #6 is large and long and has a good flow, gives good feedback from paper while writing. Clear version: used ink diamine, inks are very dark from producer side, In this case the color of ink can be seen when filling is lower and pen is hold against light.
Overall look and feel:
- It is a BIG pen: half of centimeter longer than a TWSBI 700R Vac or Visconti HS Oversize and way thicker, but it is very light and well balanced. It can't be capped.
- The nib (Broad in my case) it is very stiff (no flex at all) and writes wet and very smoothly, no adjustments needed.
- The clear demonstrator look is very nice and the build quality is very good.
- As every good eyedropper, it holds a lot of ink.
- it doesn't feel pricy for what it offers.
Cons: not really, but if I want to be veeery picky;
- the cap has a LOT of threads (as to be expected) and unscrewing takes 2 more turns (4 and a half instead of regular 2 and a half).
- occasionally, the nib smears with ink the inside of the clear cap and for me is a kind of annoyance.
Overall: a great pen and a very good every day writer, totally worth it!
The pen writes well and it's really good for my big hands. I love the design and everyone asked me where I got this beautiful pen from. I think I'll buy another one.
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