Noodler's Red

[Zapped]

I was surprised not to see a review of Noodler's plain red ink in the FPN Index of Ink Reviews, so I thought I'd try my hand at a quick review of a not-terribly-exciting color. Apologies in advance for my handwriting; I'm trying.

 

Click here for a full-sized scan.

 

[PenTieRun]

Uncertain of your meaning that it's not terribly exciting. It looks like a good quality standard red. A nice brightness, and no movement of the shade toward pink or orange. Thanks for the review....and your handwriting is fine.

[CharlieB]

If my monitor is accurately reproducing the color, then this is a very nice shade of true red (i.e., not orange red, blood red, red brown, or purple red). I'm surprised that we haven't heard from more members praising this ink.

[Goodwhiskers]

Thanks for the written-sample review!

 

Noodler's Red is my next-favorite red after Sheaffer Skrip Red (Slovenia), in both color and performance.

 

In the Hero 100 pen I used to have, N's Red started up better than Skrip Red after the pen stood upright and capped overnight. N's Red behaves almost as well as Skrip Red on the bad paper I have to use at work.

[Zapped]

I like the color, too, it just has a prosaic name - "red". A lot of the Noodler's have whimsical or poetic names, but this one just tells it like it is.

 

I think the scan is a pretty accurate rendering of the color. My idea of printing grey-shade squares at the bottom of the review sheet was that I was able to hit the center square as the neutral reference color when I color-balanced the image. Maybe that sounds a bit techie, but it's a pretty easy correction even in a simple tool like Google's free Picasa image viewer/editor.

 

btw, I wasn't going to do another review of Noodler's Gruene Cactus, but it surprised me how scratchy it was when I loaded it into an identical Lamy Safari "F" nibbed pen as I used for the Noodler's Red. When I had both pens loaded with my Waterman or Lamy inks I couldn't tell the difference in the nibs. With the Noodler's, the red glides while the cactus is really toothy.

[Tony the Tiger]

(Warning--pen & ink purchase justification to follow) Wanting to get into the Christmas spirit a little more this year, and send out the cards that I bought last year, but negelcted to send, I got in today a Waterman Phileas w/ a .9mm cursive italic nib. With it, I also ordered a bottle of Noodler's Empire Red and a bottle of Diamine Emerald Green. Have yet to use the green just yet, but I do like the red. Is it the same as the ink mentioned in this post? I have to say it's not exactly vibrant, but I suppose that's OK. It does look nice on paper, and both inks should add a festive flair to the cards I'll send out next week. That and the poinsettia wax seal applied to the flap.

[Goodwhiskers]

Zapped, that was a great job on the the color of the picture. On my monitor it looks exactly like what I see when I use N's Red.

 

I have the same experience with N's Red (smoother writing) versus N's Gruene Cactus (toothier writing).

[Zapped]

... I also ordered a bottle of Noodler's Empire Red and a bottle of Diamine Emerald Green. Have yet to use the green just yet, but I do like the red. Is it the same as the ink mentioned in this post? I have to say it's not exactly vibrant, but I suppose that's OK.

Looks like Empire Red is a UK color that's sold exlusively in the US thru pendemonium on their ink page. Their color samples make it look less saturated (a little washed-out) compared the the regular Red color, but it does have the benefit of being one of their bulletproof inks. You can safely address your cards with Empire Red, but I'll probably have to use my Luxury Blue for my address labels and keep my Red and Gruene Cactus relegated to the note inside.

Edited November 30, 2007 by Zapped

[Lucinda]

This is my favorite color of red, with Sheaffer Skrip coming in a close second. The Sheaffer Skrip seems to me to be the slightest bit more orange than Noodler's Standard Red, but both colors are lovely. I've loved some of the scans of Tiananmen, but for the pens I needed it for, it came out with too much of a brown tint. The Standard Red seems to settle into a solid, deep cardinal (the bird) red from a wet writer. Verra nice.

 

Thanks for this review. The ink deserves one, for sure.

[Geoff V]

If my monitor is accurately reproducing the color, then this is a very nice shade of true red (i.e., not orange red, blood red, red brown, or purple red). I'm surprised that we haven't heard from more members praising this ink.

 

 

I've just finished two of my red V-Pens on a proofreading job and will use this as the replacement ink!

[Doug Add]

As I mentioned in another discussion about red ink, I have tried several: Wateman, Pelikan, Private Reserve, Rotring, Conway Stewart, Delta, Omas, and probably others I have forgotten. Noodler's Red is equal to or beats them all in the various categories of brightness, saturation, flow properties, cost, and of course the very subjective category of "redness".

 

It is my standard red against which all others are now judged.

[HenryLouis]

Looks very nice!

[Kabe]

Me wantee

[HenryLouis]

Okay, I bought a bottle of this ink and put it into my just cleaned Lamy 2000... and the lubrication was bad. almost scratchy. So i flushed it out and I'm guessing it was because of not letting the pen dry for a day.

[MJ Vesuvius]

As I mentioned in another discussion about red ink, I have tried several: Wateman, Pelikan, Private Reserve, Rotring, Conway Stewart, Delta, Omas, and probably others I have forgotten. Noodler's Red is equal to or beats them all in the various categories of brightness, saturation, flow properties, cost, and of course the very subjective category of "redness".

 

It is my standard red against which all others are now judged.

 

THAT's what I'm looking for. THE red. Noodler's Red is on my short list.

 

Great review!

 

– MJ

[Pictrix]

I think the scan is a pretty accurate rendering of the color. My idea of printing grey-shade squares at the bottom of the review sheet was that I was able to hit the center square as the neutral reference color when I color-balanced the image. Maybe that sounds a bit techie, but it's a pretty easy correction even in a simple tool like Google's free Picasa image viewer/editor.

 

This looks like it might be a good idea! I have wondered if placing a little CMYK chip (cut from some product box or whathaveyou) on the scanner might help a bit in getting the colors to balance out better as well.

 

I know the CCD's in cameras can be awfully goofy, I wonder if scanners can behave weird as well? I had to change my background color where I do product photos, because the "neutral" I was using somehow caused the CCD to add colors that weren't there. As if it was trying to get the full spectrum in, even when it didn't exist in the frame. But that's a discussion for some other board, I'm sure!

 

I'll have to experiment with future scans and see if it helps make the task of color adjustments easier.

 

--Carol

[Jason Oliver]

Regarding reds....are there any out there that exhibit lot's of shading? My biggest gripe about red inks is that they look so uniform, not much character other than the bright color.

[inkcoffee]

Noodler's V-Mail Rabaul Red has shading, I noticed a fair amount in a Pilot 78G with a medium nib. It's not lots but it's the most I've ever seen in a red ink.