The giveaways have been coming fast and furious here at The Pen Addict, and this is another great one. My friends at Kenro Industries, distributor of Aurora Pens among others, were kind enough to send me the Aurora Duo Cart for review AND giveaway. How cool is that?
Read the terms and conditions below and get entered!
(Update: There is a typo in the T&C below. The contest ends on 7/15 and the winner will be posted 7/16.)
As a brand, I am mostly familiar with Aurora's modern offerings, but as a company with nearly 100 years in existence, they have quite a reputation and back catalog to pull from. The Aurora Duo Cart is a prime example of that.
First manufactured in the 1950's, the Duo Cart was created as a response the the world-famous Parker 51 from a design perspective. It was also created to be more portable as one of the early cartridge based pens. And yes, it held two small cartridges in the barrel in a special holder, hence the name Duo Cart.
There is no need to carry two cartridges in the barrel these days, especially with the converter that ships with the pen. I filled mine with Pilot Blue Black ink, and got to writing.
The Duo Cart is only available with a medium steel nib, and it writes wonderfully. If this were my pen, I would be grinding it down to something much finer or stubbier, but it is as nice of a medium writer as I could hope for. The ink flow is true and it is dead smooth out of the box.
I especially love the style of the Duo Cart. Aside from the flat ends, it is nearly identical to my Parker 51. In fact, when I had them sitting side by side on the desk, I had to double take to make sure I picked up the right one. Uncapped, the Duo Cart has much more of the hooded nib exposed than the 51.
One issue I noticed with the Duo Cart, and I read Matt experienced the same with his, is that the cap doesn't lock down in place as tight as I would like. It slides on, but there is no snap or firmness. This would be a perfect carry pen if it weren't for that.
That said, this is an excellent all-around pen. It's fun, functional, and beautiful. At around $150, it competes with popular gold nib pens in that range. Would I tell you to buy the Duo Cart over the Lamy 2000? No, but this is a pen nice enough to be competitive in this category.
(Kenro Industries provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
I don’t swoon often, if ever, but when I saw a photograph of the Aurora Nebulosa, I swooned . . . well, at least I gasped audibly. And I placed a pre-order immediately. Not many pens elicit such a strong reaction in me, but this one did. First, the deep purple auroloide was unlike any material I’d seen from Aurora. Second, the rose gold nib and trim had my mouth watering. I love rose gold, and it complements the purple auroloide perfectly.
I ordered my Nebulosa from Dan Smith who includes a free nib grind with any pen you buy from him. I requested a stubbish italic medium nib.
The pen comes in glorious packaging that almost makes you feel like your money was well spent. I mean, the pen is what matters. But there’s something wonderful about opening a pen that is presented so elegantly. The outer cardboard box protects a heavy black hinged box. When you open that, the pen is presented in all its glory on black satin-like material. There’s a red Aurora seal attached to the clip with a string.
Underneath you’ll fine a bottle of Aurora ink and paperwork.
The Aurora Nebulosa is the 88 model which is a cigar-shaped piston filler. It has a narrow ink window. The top of the cap, piston knob, and pen grip are all black resin.
The clip is Aurora’s elegant ball-tipped clip. The cap ring is engraved with the Aurora name but no other branding.
Because this is a limited edition pen, the cap itself is engraved with the limited edition number (out of 888 models) in pink gold.
The auroloide is absolutely gorgeous. It has flecks of lighter purple mixed with deep, dark purple. It literally glows in sunlight.
I love Aurora nibs, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s rose gold with beautiful Aurora scrollwork.
You can see how a medium Aurora nib looks ground into an italic with this juicy close up:
The Aurora 88 holds a good amount of ink (1.10 ml) and you can use the ink window to see when you’re getting low. Plus, Aurora boasts an ink reserve, so if you run out of ink, you can unscrew the piston knob and get about one page more. The piston mechanism is smooth as silk.
The Nebulosa is 5.4 inches in length closed, 6.20 inches posted, and 5.19 inches unposted. It weighs 21.6 grams. This is not a heavy pen. It feels great in the hand.
Aurora nibs are stiff and don’t have much give or bounce. But they are smooth and wet. My italic definitely has a sweet spot, and as long as I keep it there, the nib writes smoothly and offers a bit of line variation. I inked my Nebulosa with Lamy Dark Lilac. It’s a wonderful combination.
The Aurora Nebulosa is definitely a gasp-worthy fountain pen. You can purchase one from Vanness Pens with a stock nib. The models with EF, F, M, and B cost $805. If you want a BB or factory italic, you’ll pay $895. If you’d like a special grind, you can go to Dan Smith’s site and choose from a variety of nib sizes. The nib grind is included with the cost of the pen.
Pros
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