It would not surprise me if you’ve never heard of Rohrer & Klingner before. I only first found out about them when I received the samples. Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig-Co. is a German company founded in Leipzig in 1907 by Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner. They have a long and well established history for creating inks and other products related to lithography. You can find out more about their history at their website: http://www.rohrer-klingner.de/en/sites/0.htm They currently produce 18 different colors available in 50ml glass bottles.

I just got back from the Pear Tree Co.‘s midwest office with a bottle of Solferino [sol-fuh-ree-noh] and a sample of Helianthus [hee-lee-an-thuhs]. I should note that R&K have redesigned the cap to the bottles and I like it much more than the older plastic cap. You can see to the left that they switched to an aluminum style cap, which to me is more visually appealing. Hopefully, this new cap will prevent a common problem associated with the older style cap where ink would find its way on the threads, dry out, and become crusty. This problem really bothers some people and it’s nice to see that R&K is paying attention to these little details. The only downside to this new cap design is some might think it will be harder to get the cap off because there’s not much to grip on to compared to the older plastic cap. But, I can assure that I haven’t had any problems getting a good grip on this cap.

Now, on to the review of the Helianthus ink. A good friend of mine likes to describe this ink as follows: “It’s like wringing out a school bus onto a piece of paper!” and I agree 100%. It’s a fantastic yellow ink that actually shows up well enough to be readable. If you’re using this in anything other than the driest of nibs you’ll get a saturated yellow with a slight hint of burnt orange, which contributes a lot to making the ink easy to read.  The performance of this ink is on par with the other R&K inks I’ve reviewed so if you’ve read those then you know what I’m talking about. If not, I’ll give a brief synopsis. All the R&K inks I’ve sampled so far have performed great. Very little to no bleeding on regular printer paper and only a tiny bit of feathering. On Rhodia comparable quality papers there’s absolutely no feathering or bleed-through. This ink, like the others, does take a while to dry but certainly not longer than anything else I’ve used.  Check the writing sample below:

I’m not sure if I’ll be buying a bottle or not, but that’s only because I don’t know how often I’ll use yellow ink. I can tell you that my Pelikan M200 will stay filled with it until I’ve emptied the sample. If you’re looking for a yellow ink or just a good ink in general be sure to check out Pear Tree’s supply. They have every color of R&K available so get ‘em while you can.

It would not surprise me if you’ve never heard of Rohrer & Klingner before. I only first found out about them when I received the samples. Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig-Co. is a German company founded in Leipzig in 1907 by Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner. They have a long and well established history for creating inks and other products related to lithography. You can find out more about their history at their website: http://www.rohrer-klingner.de/en/sites/0.htm They currently produce 18 different colors available in 50ml glass bottles.

Fernambuk was the last of the Rohrer & Klingner samples I tried. It is a nice, bright red color that really pulls your eye towards it. It has a hint of orange in it on my monitor that shouldn’t be there and I hope it appears closer to its actual color for your sake. This is probably one of those inks where you just need to get a sample of it for yourself so you can experience its true color.

As with all the other Rohrer & Klingner inks Fernambuk flows well, lubricates the nib nicely, and resist shading on printer paper very well. The Pelikan M200 is what I reach for if I want to see how much shading an ink has. Fernambuk has very little if any. So, if you’re looking for an ink that dries quickly with lots of shading then you’ll want to look for something else. But, if you want to try some new colors and need a high quality, dependable ink, then this ink is well worth your money.

It would not surprise me if you’ve never heard of Rohrer & Klingner before. I only first found out about them when I received the samples. Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig-Co. is a German company founded in Leipzig in 1907 by Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner. They have a long and well established history for creating inks and other products related to lithography. You can find out more about their history at their website: http://www.rohrer-klingner.de/en/sites/0.htm They currently produce 18 different colors available in 50ml glass bottles.

The ink I’m reviewing here is called Morinda and it is a color I’m having difficulty accurately representing. It is definitely a red with slight rust colored under-tones. It’s not a bright color but it is still saturated and very appealing. The sample written on the Rhodia paper is much closer to the actual color than the sample on the printer paper. This ink retains the qualities of the other R&K ink I’ve tried, even the slightly extended drying times when written with a wet nib.

Please forgive my mistake of calling the pen I used the “Lamy M200″ in the sample. It should be the Pelikan M200. I chose to do the writing sample with this particular pen because if an ink has any shading to it at all this pen will bring it out. It is somewhat of a wet writer so that will contribute to the longer drying times. You can see below that this ink resist feathering on printer paper, even when with the heavy flow of the M200.

This particular color of ink doesn’t appeal to me as much as the Solferino, but it’s still a good ink in and of itself. Like I said in the Solferino review, if you’re looking for new colors then you must give this ink a try.

It would not surprise me if you’ve never heard of Rohrer & Klingner before. I only first found out about them when I received the samples. Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig-Co. is a German company founded in Leipzig in 1907 by Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner. They have a long and well established history for creating inks and other products related to lithography. You can find out more about their history at their website: http://www.rohrer-klingner.de/en/sites/0.htm They currently produce 18 different colors available in 50ml glass bottles.

If you’re looking for a black ink that doesn’t have to be the blackest of all blacks then you should give R&K Leipziger Shwarz a try. In addition to being a high quality ink it also has a slight bit of shading to make it more interesting. If used in a drier writing pen it would give a nice dark gray/charcoal color. Because of the quality of this ink and its’ shading I think it has the potential to stand with the best of the black inks available today, including Aurora Black.  The only thing holding it back is its delayed drying times when used in a wet writer.

Just like the other R&K inks this one does very well to resis feathering on printer paper. Where some inks are almost unusable because of how much they feather you will be able to rely on this ink to control itself.

It would not surprise me if you’ve never heard of Rohrer & Klingner before. I only first found out about them when I received the samples. Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig-Co. is a German company founded in Leipzig in 1907 by Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner. They have a long and well established history for creating inks and other products related to lithography. You can find out more about their history at their website: http://www.rohrer-klingner.de/en/sites/0.htm They currently produce 18 different colors available in 50ml glass bottles.

The ink I’m reviewing here is called Solferino, a beautiful purple that has found its way to the top of my lists for purples. The ink itself has great qualities, which is consistent among the 4 colors I’ve used. The ink has good saturation which contributes to a drying time on par with Noodlers or Private Reserve. If you’re looking for a quick drying ink this probably isn’t going to suffice. I’ve provided a writing sample below with drying times marked in seconds:

Please forgive my mistake of calling the pen I used the “Lamy M200″ in the sample. It should be the Pelikan M200. I chose to do the writing sample with this particular pen because if an ink has any shading to it at all this pen will bring it out. It is somewhat of a wet writer so that will contribute to the longer drying times. You can see that in the first half of the stroke it is dry with no smearing. Only in the second, much wetter half of the stroke was smearing an issue.

I also did a sample on printer paper to see how much it would feather. Due to the wetness of the nib I would say it did pretty good.

If you’re looking for a great ink and some new colors then don’t hesitate to get a hold of some R&K samplers. I can’t wait to get a bottle of Solferino for myself.

Hardware

The first thing I notice about the Moment when I hold it is its size. This thing is a brick. The actual dimensions aren’t that big but the squareness of it makes it feel bigger than it actually is, and it definitely has some weight to it. This gives a sense of quality that you just don’t get with lighter devices and this is certainly built very well. After a full week of use I’ve not noticed any creaking, or wobbling of the slider mechanism.

This is one of the first devices that has an AMOLED screen. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a new screen technology that everyone has been raving about but in reality is only slightly better than what we currently have. The colors are supposed to be more vibrant and its supposed to less energy. The best implementation of AMOLED I’ve seen is in the ZuneHD. The Moment’s screen is nice, but I can’t tell a difference between it or the screen on the HTC Touch Pro 2, or the Hero, or the Pre.

The camera on the Moment is a 3.2 mega-pixel with flash unit that does record video in the .3gp format at two different resolutions, 176 X 144 and 352 X 288, both at 15fps. The device does have a dedicated hardware key for the camera, which is nice, but it takes 6 seconds before the camera opens. Six seconds can seem like a lifetime when you’re trying to catch that expression on a baby’s face, an accident on the side of the road (assuming you’re the passenger), or that special someone you’re trying to capture to submit

to peopleofwalmart.com. One way to speed this up is to use  the app short as it only takes about half the time as using the hardware button. The flash is a very welcome feature but it’s strange that there’s not auto flash setting. You have to dig down into the settings to turn it on or off. Below are a few shots taken with the camera. The first is no flash in a room lit by incandescent bulb, the second is in a dark room with only flash, and the third is taken outside on a cloudy day.

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Besides this being an Android device, the keyboard is what initially got me excited about the Moment. Unfortunately, it leaves a lot to be desired. The layout is just strange. After a weeks worth of use I still can’t get used to it. The ‘space’ key divides the bottom row of letters and every time I want to switch to upper case I press the function key instead. I think the ‘fn’ key and the ‘shift’ key should switch positions. I also don’t like where the ‘return’ key is because that’s where I’m used to going for ‘delete’. But, I do like the number row and a key for searching. The back light is nice but it would be much nicer to be able to adjust the length of time it stays on. It turns off after only about 5 seconds. The keys are large enough and spaced out enough from one another that I don’t think anyone will have a problem typing on this keyboard. For those of you who can get used to the layout I think you’ll really like it. Its just not for me.

The optical trackball is a new feature I’ve never used before. I like its design and what it does for the look of the device but its actual operation isn’t as good as a real trackball. I noticed this the most when trying to replace the cursor while editing text. Moving up and down between lines of text is simple but moving just one or two characters is difficult because there’s no feel for how fast you move your thumb and the correlation to how many characters it moves the cursor.

One last thing I need to discuss is access to the microSD card. To get to it you have to take the back cover off and remove the battery. I hate this because when I put the card back in I have to wait for the phone to boot up. This won’t be a problem for most people because its not very often that you’ll have to remove the microSD card. But, when you do it is a pain.

Software

Cupcake runs very well with a 800MHz processor powering it. Switching between applications is a breeze and there’s absolutely no lag when opening or closing the notifications or applications slider. This device does include all the Sprint bloatware such as the NASCAR app, NFL Mobile Live, Sprint Navigation and SprintTV, which is to be expected. I would love to see this device get rooted so we can remove these apps. I’ve read the HTC Hero runs like a champ after these apps are removed and I assume the same would be true for the Moment as well.

There is a rather large bug with this device that has been mentioned on a lot of Android forums. Android 1.5 does not have support for aGPS built in. What this means is that the accuracy is poor and the refresh rate is slow. HTC managed to get this to work on the Hero with 1.5 and I wish Samsung would have done the same for the Moment. Using GPS is just frustrating on this device. Map locations are off by 30-100 meters at times and can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to update your location while driving, all this while being connected to 5+ satellites.

Anyone who has used Android before is probably used the voice search feature using the Google Search Widget. Well, I hope you weren’t too attached to it because the Moment doesn’t have it. It has a voice control button that uses software by Naunce but the accuracy isn’t that great, even after going through the 15 step adaptation process.

Conclusion

Once the Moment gets the update to 2.0, which should fix the aGPS problem, I could probably live with this device. I’m sure after a few more weeks of use I could get used to the keyboard and find third party apps to take care of any settings or customizing I’d want. This is especially true once the device gets root access. I just really wish it had an LED for notifications. I like being able to tell if I have emails, texts, or missed calls without having to unlock my device. The same goes for the battery charge status. The Moment is available for $179 on a 2 year contract. That’s not a bad price, but with the Pre at $150, the Pixi at $100, and the Hero at $179 as well, there’s lots of choices out there. Don’t be afraid to try out a couple before you make a decision.

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If you want a well constructed, durable, premium notebook with the best paper around then the Habana is for you. Quo Vadis has made a notebook so good that I probably won’t even consider using a different one, unless I get to try it for free. The Habana is a hard cover notebook with a leather look to it and great feel in the hand. The rounded corners are a nice feature that I tend to prefer because it helps keep the corners from curling to easily. The binding is actually very user friendly and allows the notebook to lay pretty flat on its own. With a little encouragement you can get it to lay perfectly flat.

You should be able to find one in a color that matches your personality. Orange if you like attention, red, blue, black for a semi-professional look, and taupe…if you’re into that sort of thing. The Habana features an elastic closure that matches the color of the notebook, which is very cool if you ask me. It has a pocket insert at the back and comes in two sizes: 6X9 and 4X6 inches. The best part about this notebook, though, is the paper!

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The Habana notebook has 80 sheets of lined, premium, extra-white, 90gr Clairefontaine paper. This is my favorite paper and is often in a battle with Rhodia as my choice depending on what fountain pen I’m using. Clairefontaine is incredibly smooth, some people even say its too smooth. Of course, I don’t say that. But, some do. It handles any ink in any fountain pen with ease. I’ve only had it feather a tiny bit when using super flex nibs that gush ink.

I really enjoy all of Quo Vadis’ products. One reason I’ll keep buying this notebook is because it’s made in the USA and they care about the environment. They manufacture their own paper from sustainable forest and offer nearly 100% recycled planners in their Equology line. They’re also reasonably priced, especially for the quality of product that you get in return. The small Habana is $15 and the large version is $20. The only thing I can think of that would make this notebook better is to offer one in a 120 page version.

The Minister is a compact weekly planner is part of the Equology line by Quo Vadis. The Equology line of planners consist of the cover and the planner itself. The Agenda contains 88% of recycled materials and 100% recycled paper. The Equology cover comes in several colors including black, red, orange, brown, and rose. The red is a true red, not one tainted by shades of pink or maroon. The cover has a great texture that feels both soft and tactile.

The Minister is a 13 month, December to December, planner made of extra white, 90g paper and is loaded with a ton of useful features. Notice the word “useful” in that previous sentence. This planner doesn’t contain a bunch of so called features that nobody uses and end up just getting in your way. One of the neatest features I like is that each page has a perforated bottom corner so that when you’re done with that day you just tear the corner off. This makes it incredibly easy to quickly open the planner get to the current day. The opening page contains a section for your Personal Notes and also and important section at the bottom: How To Use Your “Agenda Planning Diary”. The opposite page contains International Telephone Access Codes and how to dail them. The next page contains Minimum and Maximum Monthly Average Temperatures in the World and a Chart of International Holidays on the opposite page. Clearly, this is a planner for the frequent international traveler.

At the begging and end of the 13 month weekly planner is a two page spread called “Anno-Planning” The Organization Of Your Year At A Single Glance. I find this incredibly useful as I can see major events at a single glance and know whats happening right away. I can make notes about which football games I’m going to, where I’m spending my holidays and with who, and block off dates for my vacation.

The week view is where you’ll do all your planning. Notice how there is not a lot of room for notes and to do lists. There is space for those things, but that’s not what the MINISTER is about. It’s about organizing your week so you know what’s going on in an easy to see, efficient manner. In the top right corner on the right page is the dates from Monday to Saturday, the previous, current, and next month calendar views as well as what week in the year it is. The dates across the top displays holidays and your single most important activity for the day, whether it be a meeting, a phone call, or your child’s ball game.

At first I was having a hard time figuring out how I would use the Receipts and Payments section. But after thinking about it for a while I could use this section to keep track of all the fountian pens I buy and sell. I could take up a few lines to comment on the buyer or seller, the pen, where I bought or sold it, and of course the price. I’m sure others would use for much more important things…

The back of the Minister planner contains several maps. One for world times zones and eight more detailed maps of all the countries.  The last page containes calendar views for the years 2009-2010-2011. One thing I’m glad those smart folks at Quo Vadis thought of was the removable contact booklet. Here you can write down peoples’ info, where you met them, how to contact them, etc. and at the end of the year when you need to order a new planner you can easily take those contacts with you.

This is one heck of planner, regardless of whether or not it’s made from recycled materials. I usually shy away from recycled items because I don’t like the feel or the way fountain pens write on them. But this is a good planner that’s well worth the money. The cover feels great in the hand and the paper doesn’t have that real fibrous type feel to it. I did write a little note in the back for the winner with my Namiki Capless with a fine nib and Waterman Florida Blue ink. It did feather just enough to make the line edges a bit soft but far from making the text unreadable. Also, it wasn’t a smooth as I’d like, but then I’m coming from Clairefontaine and Rhodia paper.

I can’t really think of knocks against this planner, which is unusual for me. I can usually find at least one improvement in everything but this planner is top notch and very well thought out. Maybe after a few weeks or a month of using it I might be able to find something to complain about but I’m sure it would be pretty trivial. So if you’re an unorganized mess who wants to take that step towards being a little “greener” then don’t hesitate to pick up one of these Minister planners, or just leave a comment below to enter the free drawing. The winner will be selected on Monday, October 26th and be notified by email.

I used the ink on three different papers: Clairefontain, Rhodia, and Piccadilly.  I used the same pens as I did with the Orange Indien review except for the Parker 51.

Click the images for a supersized scan. Warning, they’re large (~6MB).

As with every ink I’ve used on my Clairefontaine paper, this ink performed exceptionally well.  I noticed it doesn’t feel watered down and provides a very smooth writing experience, even with the italic nib in my Faber Castell Ambition.  The only thing to watch out for if using this ink on this paper is the drying time.  If you’re a lefty it’ll be problematic and you should try it on Rhodia paper.  If you’re a righty I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it.

The differences in the writing experiences between Rhodia and Clairefontaine are barely noticeable.  They’re both incredibly smooth, hold ink very well, and don’t feather or allow bleed through.  I think the drying time for the Rhodia paper is slightly quicker, I’m talking like a second or two.  But as I mentioned above, that may be a very important factor for the left handed writer.  Other than that they’re so similar I usually don’t have a preference unless I’m using an italic or cursive italic nib, but those details should be saved for a paper review.

My final test was on my Piccadilly pad.

As to be expected the ink feathered and bled through the page, just like nearly every other ink I’ve used in the Piccadilly.  Go here to see my review of the Piccadilly pad and what inks I recommend for it.  In the written portion on the Piccadilly pad I did comment on the color depth of the ink when used in pens that flow more or less than “standard” (if there is a standard flow).  After writing several sentences the color difference between the pens become harder to notice.  It’s more pronounced when you start writing after a slight pause.  I don’t consider this feature positive or negative, just that it should be noted.

The more I use J. Herbin inks the more I like them.  I really like the colors and the way the ink performs.  The Vert Empire, along with all other J. Herbin inks I’ve used, flows well in all my pens and exhibit little to no nib creep.  If you have a chance to try a sample I highly suggest you do.

I’ve only used one other J. Herbin ink before, Lierre Sauvage.  It is a beautiful green, one which I’m quite fond of and is of high quality.  I was not sure what to expect from the Orange Indien but after using for a few days in several pens I can say I’m very pleased with its performance and especially its color. The only thing I’m not happy about with this ink is that unless you clean the pen out VERY well it will take on the tint of the previous ink in your pen. I flush my pens several times, until the water comes out clear, before I put in a new ink and Orange Indien still changed colors on me. If this happens to you I would suggest only using this ink in a brand new pen and reserving that pen just for orange and yellow inks.

One thing I need to make a comment on is the bottle.  Not that it has any influence on the review of the ink itself, but it’s just such a nifty design.  I really like the integrated pen holder but I think the execution is poor. The seem in the middle doesn’t provide a stable rest and is barely large enough to suit a Parker “51″.  The other downside is that the bottle is a little shallow.  Trying to fill my Vanishing Point nibs will start to become a problem once the ink level has dropped just from 2-3 fills.  There are ways around this problem, but none of them are very convenient.

The first writing sample I conducted was on Clairefontaine paper.

Next is a writing sample on Rhoida.

As was expected, the ink performed about the same on both papers, which is to say very well. And just for fun I decided to see how the ink performed on a Piccadilly pad, which can have a problem with feathering. Unfortunately, Orange Indien feathered too, which isn’t all that surprising as I’ve only been able to find one ink that didn’t feather on Piccadilly and I can’t remember what it was.

Click on any of the pics for very large resolution scans.