Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator Fountain Pen Review
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2018
- This pen was kindly sent to me by www.goldspot.com.
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Thank you. You’re the first person to explain the piston. We’re not born knowing how all these pens work.
Nice point about adjusting the ink flow by using the shut-off valve. Well done!
Thank you for supplying the pen!
You sold it to me; add Azizah’s observation that you can use pilot parallel nibs with this pen and you’ve got amazing value!
Love your reviews and your channel Dr. Brown!
Have this pen myself and love it. I did replace the nib with the Franklin Christoph Music 1.9 mm in Shadow and it's amazing!
Stephen, it seems that you truly had fun making this review!
I, too, have just purchased one of its brothers (the tan one) primarily to experience the shut-off valve in a very nice but still affordable pen. Unfortunately, it's sitting in a box on my doorstep while I'm out of town. Ah, well, your reviews have helped bridge the gap between having the pen and not being able to play with it yet. Thanks!
"...but once you start playing with it, it gets bigger" - classic SBRE Brown line :).
As to the pen - once they will make it with less then 100 turns to cap/uncap, I am going to buy it. This filling system + body of F-C Model 66 would be a dream pen.
One of the things that did attract me to the Opus 88 Koloro line was exactly the filling "technology". For the price and the "cool" factor it cannot be beat. Thanks for another great review Stephen.
Mr Brown i do like lot a sort of perfect pen large size, good ink capacity and very interesting mechanism and looks very well made as well. Thank you for another excellent review.
Can't wait to snag one of these and swap in a parallel 6.0mm nib! Thanks for the review.
I bought one of these today. In an Asian country, the price at a store was only $100 (plus $14 for an extra nib unit which includes a feed and housing)... I'm a bit worried about the size as I've had pens this large before and just didn't use them much. The build quality feels quite good and sturdy. The threads at the stopper, and screwing the section into body don't turn so easily, but I think that is because of the materials used, not because of bad threads.... It's not far from the price of a TWSBI Vac-700, but it feels significantly better in design, materials, and quality. I remember seeing these pens many years ago when they first came out, and I wanted one. It was cool to see them at a store
Firstly, love your reviews. Definitely an authority. I bought this pen last night and very eager to receive it. Gift to myself for defending my dissertation proposal. Now I am wondering what ink to fill it with..I love a great demonstrator! Cheers. Thanks for your work.
Leuke review Stephen, dank je .
Thank u for the review... i expect that u will comment for the 4.5 turns to cap/uncap ... 👍
Now this is relaxing. Thank you Stephen (:
I h ave recently bough5 three Omar Opus 88 pens and I love the filling mechanism. I find with pens that fill via the nib I have to leave them overnight to allow the feed to dry a bit. With these I can write immediately.
Thank You!! For the Review!!!! Cheers from Argentina
Just purchased mine from Goulet! Thanks for the review!
Purchased an Opus Demonstrator several weeks ago, based on your review. I have been using it daily at work and love the pen. I really like the nib, which is a fine on my particular pen. The number of turns required to unscrew the cap is a little annoying (as you pointed out) however; I find in a meeting when not in use I simply place the cap on with a half turn whilst placed on the desk. I have not suffered any ink flow issues when I resume writing. The capacity is also fabulous as is the eye dropper filling system. Your reviews are very informative, and for a buyer provide great insight into a pen. When I have purchased pens based on reviews I have found no surprises thus far. Thanks Stephen, please keep the reviews flowing.
Great review!
Nice choice on the ink - beautiful pen...Thank you for the review! :-)
Thanks I was curious about Opus 88 pens.
Great review. According to Pelahale's review, the ink capacity is 3.45 mls!
Awesome fountain pen with really stylish look! And I think: "I fell in love" with the ink!!! :oD
I've enjoyed using my Koloro Demonstrator, and agree about the "hardness" of the grip. I, too, find it a bit uncomfortable, or maybe "unfriendly" to the touch. My theory is that the acrylic used in this pen is extremely dense. But I don't think the feel of the grip is in any way a dealbreaker. The huge ink capacity and beautiful construction plus unfailing "just works" overall experience more than makes up for the somewhat uncanny grip. And that same density of material provides a "bulletproof" kind of feeling of assurance!
Great review! Thank-you :)))
There is rumor, that it used to be the Opus 88 Demonstrator, and later, after the Koloro release became mixed into that line up.
Thank you, Stephen. I have been thinking seriously about this pen.
I have two and use them daily all day. One with blue ink and one with green. And for the price the quality is as you said fabulous. They are big but I prefer big pens. And I like that they don’t post. Keeps anyone who may wish to borrow it from walking away when I only give them the body and never the cap. Thanks for the great review..
I don't think the price is that unreasonable. I was tempted to pay $1300 for the Namiki Emperor just to get the one-way shutoff filling system. Now I have this pen and don't need the Emperor. You're right, though, it does take too long to uncap.
Dope review. Check out moon man pens. Jam a OBB from Knox and they’re really great.
Over the years I’ve found that the wetness of large ink capacity pens varies proportionally to the inverse of the ink level. I.e. They’re wetter, to the point of flooding, the closer they get to being empty. My Noodler’s Neoponset is a case in point when it’s 6ml barrel is anything less than half full it’s INK CITY especially as my hand warms up the barrel. Having a valve to stem the ink flow when there’s only a few tenths of a ml left in the tank means that the pen is fully usable right through from full to empty which is awesome. Great video as always, Stephen.
Ahh this will be a nice benefit. The other eyedropper and vacuum pens I've used, I've always kept them more than half or even 2/3 full to prevent any burping. But now I guess I can prevent burping with the stopper
@@JumpingWatermelons after writing my original post around 4 years ago I’ve since bought an Opus 88 Omar demonstrator (B nib) and I can confirm that the ink flow is stable and constant from full, all the way down to a fraction of a millilitre. It works beautifully…
What other Japanese pens have this dual filling mechanism? I'd like to look into that technology and see who else makes them etc.
Mr. Brown, excellent review! I was wondering if you could perhaps do a review of a PENBBS pen? Maybe 309, but any would be great!
Yes, there are a few PenBBS reviews coming up
Cool, my favourite future FP!!! ✍️🖋 Could you teach us how to disassemble the pen for cleaning purposes. Thanks!!! 👍
Erwin - I would appreciate a disassembly video on this one too. Stephen probably doesn't have one in-hand anymore though. Bummer, it would be a useful video.
Watched this review and the equally informative one on the Omar model. Just one question remains. Which one is the biggest overall?
Thank you for the review; as informative as always.
Do you have a recommendation for a UK/European supplier?
Cultpens now stocks it.
It might be a filling system found on very expensive pens, but it's hard to see why the system should be that expensive other than because it's rare.
Peregrine Slim preach
That’s a lot of ink to put in your pocket so based on the quality of this pen I honestly believe it’s worth it.
One other thing. What are the substantive differences (if you know) between the koloro and the Omar?
The shape is different
How is this filling system different from 'bulkfiller' of penbbs 355 or Conid bulkfillers? Is there a difference between 'eyedropper' filler and 'bulk filler'?
Yes, the Bulkfiller system is designed to maximize ink capacity by the way it operates.
Love the look of this pen. Who makes Opus pens? I can't find a website, save maybe Jingi?
I assumed Opus88
I had a question about the pen: Is the clip removable?
Simon - yes it is. Simply unscrew the "finial" and the clip slips off.
It's chunky, certainly - A stippled/textured section might resolve any slippage issues - but that's for their design team to amend (if at all). I'd (also) like to see a grey translucent body - so you'll still be able to view the mechanism - ink slosh. As far as the pen's length goes, perhaps another 10mm long would make the posting concern, redundant. I think too, that given the girth of this monster, a number 7 or 8 nib might be appropriate. I am very impressed with the shut-off valve system, & on that alone, $120.00 (US), it's a steal. It looks to be a pretty robust writing implement, but inexorably, being acrylic, it's going to pick up scratches, rapidly. The screw thread, I would concur, has more than its fair share of threads, but that's merely a production concern (& easily remedied at the factory). Finally, I like the black cap clip - nice contrast. If i didn't know better, I'd say that someone has made a higher-end TWSBI 580 ;D
Great stuff, Stephen :D
The TWSBI vac 700r seems very similar and is half the cost. Do you find this pen worth it compared to the TWSBI?
Yes, definitely: the pen feels way sturdier than any TWSBI I have ever used
sbrebrown Great thanks! I appreciate the quick reply.
The Vac 700 fills by vacuum. The Koloro is an eyedropper filled with a shutoff valve. They look similar, but the functioning is completely different.
Michael Whitesides Can you please explain difference? Seems like marketing to me. Vac 700 can also be filled by eye dropper and you also unscrew the back of it to make the pen write wetter. The only difference i can think of is maybe the Opus would not be able to fill by vacuum but they seem the same in principle to me. Any information to the contrary would ve appreciated. Thanks
Refined Edge
In the glory days fountain pens, different ways of getting ink from the bottle into the pen were one of the marketing points manufacturers used to sell their products, so, in that sense, yes, its marketing.
However, from a mechanical perspective, the two pens are quite different. It is true that many fps can be filled via eyedropper. Pelikans can be filled via eye dropper, but that is not how they were designed to be used. The Vac700 works by creating a vacuum which is then exposed to ink. The ink is pulled into the pen by that suction. The Opus is merely an empty tube that ink is poured into. The rod and seal in the Opus primarily function to shut off the flow of ink and to regulate the ink flow somewhat to help reduce burping, which is a potential problem in eyedroppers.
Hope this has helped.
great fat ink capacity but is it good for long writing? its made of plastic right? is it durable? is it light weight or heavy?
Almost all pens are made out of plastic, mate. Even Montblanc's and Pekikan's.
nib feels too small compare to the barrel size..
Are we going to talk about the 175 turns it takes to unscrew the cap? 😂
can you "CAP" it???
You have furious writing. Just an observation
Hellooooo this is chef John from food wishes . Com wiiiiith...
"You are, after all, the Bill Gates of your Opus 88."
Eh, best I could do at 12:30am