I have been curious about the Sakura XS-305/3 for awhile now. From the product photos, it would seem to be yet another ‘round profile clone’ of the Rapidomatic / rOtring 500 archetype. I was particularly intrigued after ALVIN revived the Draftmatic with a blunted nose. The XS-305 came in champagne gold, silver and pink. I picked gold as a safe choice to go with my OHTO NBP-507R pen and Orenz Metal Grip 0.3.
When I received it, I was initially disappointed that the knurling appeared rather flat, like the Blick Premier, instead of the aggressively pointy machining of the classic ALVINs. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the Sakura: the grooves cut into the grip were actually pretty tactile and non-slip. Other good points: the clutch is still spring cushioned, and the lead degree window is quite stiff and will not easily change position, unlike the rOtrings.
Overall, quite pleased with the Sakura XS-305 and might consider getting the silver in 0.3 eventually.
Good color pick. I have just the Champagne Sakura as well. I’m still trying to get all bona-fide Rapidomatic/Alvin inspired designs that have the bushing tip. Platinum, Pyramid and Dong-A are elusive.
But I hate the knurling on the Sakura. To me it is just a slippery mess. Are you saying the etching on yours has an edge to it?
The grip on my Sakura was very tightly screwed onto the metal mid-section. When I tried unscrewing the grip, the whole mid section came off instead and made me think the internals could not be detached at all.
After some time I tried again and managed to unscrew the grip from the mid section, finally exposing the spring loaded clutch.
An interesting thing about the original Rapidomatic design is that the tip is detachable from the Grip. I haven’t seen this feature on any other model of similar style.
Yes. I like that the older design can be used in the same way that people use the P200 to make all sorts of custom pencils with a reliable mechanism and tip. It is a much nicer tip profile than P200 and has a competitively reliable mechanism.
Once I got more than a dozen OHTO NBP-507Rs in silver. That was back in 2015 or so. I dispatched them all as surprise gifts across the world, adding them in the packages when people bought any of the many Staedtlers 95 I had for $150 on Ebay…
Just like today, 90% of buyers wouldn’t even acknowledge it — probably very sure that somewhere back on the process they had been wronged somehow. Absolutely no feedback except for a few people in another dimension.
