A lot has been said about the Dive. I have a few of them. Finally found a good deal on the Aurora Purple.
The paint is really something to behold. I opened the box and was looking at a blue Dive - a dark denim blue. Then I adjusted the lighting a bit and I was looking at a green Dive - brooding ocean water. Then I turned it around and could start to see purple - a deep luxurious magenta. A complete delight and a work of art. These shots are direct from my iPhone.
I had a very hard time trying to capture an all-purple image of it, but I decided that was my point with this post. They should have just called it Aurora Borealis.
Looks great. I have the orange the the color is ok, but I was in a rush to get one early out of excitement. I should have waited for the purple or blue (don’t know the exact color name so adding photo)
I have orange, green and purple. I don’t much care for the myriad blue options. If the Aurora is a purple/green/blue mix, then I hope they do fuchsia and canary yellow mix next. Something even more extravagant.
I’d really like to know how this MP feels and performs: many elements in all the shots and videos I’ve seen so far tend to make me think that the grip would not be as comfortable as I’d like, and that also the position of the fingers on the grip section might be sub-optimal for me.
At the same time, this really seems one of the pencils to have, even though just for the sake of telling other people «well, you know, I don’t really think it’s my cup of tea…»
Dive looks stupid, but that is about where its faults end. It is a very good MP. It looks uncomfortable but is not. It handles well and has nice weight. The mechanism performs very well, like magic. The detailing and the magnetic seating of the cap are really top notch.
It is often compared to the Pentel Kerry, and for good reason. It gives a similar impression that everything was masterminded meticulously and executed according to plan. It is the high-tech Kerry, 50 years later.
After monitoring the prices on Ebay for a while, I noticed a recent drop (we are still talking about a pricey specimen for a plastic pencil, but at least I managed to remain below the 90 EUR threshold, including VAT & shipping, and luckily without custom fees), so I looked for the cheapest one available and pulled the trigger. It happened also because my brain failed miserably, and got convinced that the pencil with most colour gradation was the blue one — Abyss Blue, which I got — while indeed it was the purple one.
At any rate, it arrived via FedEx a few minutes ago, so these are truly my first “first impressions”:
• It is light, much lighter than I expected, and this is good
• The cap, when placed on the tail end of the body to be posted, screws the balance for my taste, so I will only use the MP with the cap left apart; at any rate, the overall balance (“unposted”) is very nice
• The taper in the central section is just right where my palm would expect it, which is good
• All the internal contraptions to regulate the lead feed (MIN/MID/MAX) are funny gimmicks, but the game changer is the automatic lead feed, which reminds me of the “new” Automac by Pilot: we are not at the level of smoothness of the metal tip I can appreciate on an Alpha Matic, but boy this feels well-designed and well-made
• The plastic used for body and grip is pleasant to handle, and the magnetic cap is cool; I like the blue colour, it’s a great shade
• The diameter of the grip section is slightly bigger than I imagined, but in recent times I’ve rediscovered the pleasure to write with bigger diameters.
All in all, this seems to be a very, very good mechanical pencil; I’ll learn to love even more all its quirks, but the first impression is great.
Modern pencils cannot really compete with the most beautiful autos: Alpha and TK. However, the fact that the Dive advances lead without the metal tip ever touching the paper is an innovation I can really get behind.
In recent years, all my hopes for a buttery-smooth auto-feed rested on the “new” Pilot Automac, and on the Ohto No-Noc Auto Sharp.
I got an Automac when it was available for a reasonable price, quite some time ago, and I found it extremely nice; in my opinion, it has just a bit of tip wobble, but nothing I can’t live with, and the balance is spot-on. It’s not the lightest pencil, but it delivers, and I love having it around.
Much more recently, I also found an Ohto No-Noc: very unusual body, with peculiar form factor. I planned to use it extensively, but an attempt at disassembling the item for deeper inspection resulted in some breakage of the safety connection between the main body and the internal barrel, similar to an O-ring (I know: I’m an idiot). As it stands now, the pencil can write without any hassle, but as soon as I press the rear cap too hard, the overall writing element jumps forward, out of the containing dumbbell-shaped barrel. I’ll see what I can do to repair the damage.
Still, the Alpha and TK (and the Automac E500) remain almost impossible to beat.
