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This is the best blue ink (or even the best among all colors) I've used so far. Aurora and Waterman and Montblanc come in next on my list. I was wondering if there are blues from other brands that are at least as well behaved as this one. I'm not looking at PR or Noodler's because I haven't had pleasant experiences with their inks for the same reasons already discussed at length in other threads. My criteria for well behaved are: - wet - saturated, I absolutely loathe washed out inks. The color should stay the way it is or darker after drying. - very low feathering and bleed through - reasonable dry times - consistent flow till the last drop in a converter without having to prime the feed Asa Gao hits it out of the park for all of the above criteria and is currently my favorite ink. I haven't used Kon-Peki but I believe it is just as good. I hope there are inks from other brands that might be cheaper with similar or better characteristics.

I've long liked Asa Gao but thought it came out too dark in several pens I tried. I settled on a Pelikan m600 with an 18k F nib, which had the advantage of showing some shading, but still came out dark. Then came along Hisoku which needed a pen that made it come out with the same colour consistently, and Asa Gao lost its home, although I'm waiting for another Pelikan. http://i66.tinypic.com/2eygh7t.jpg In the meantime I remembered I had a busted Waterman Lauréat with a nice nib, which leaks all its ink onto its cap, rendering it useless; and a no name pen a friend gave me some time ago, which I never really used but whose nib I still managed to destroy and lose. I fished it out but its rubberized finish felt sticky, so I applied some alcohol to remove it, revealing a plastic layer. Unexpectedly the Waterman nib fits, and makes Asa Gao look like I've always thought it could. Of course it remains to be seen if this will be a reliable combination, but it's a nice surprise that I can finally use Asa Gao in all its glory and the old Lauréat nib is still as smooth as I remember it. http://i63.tinypic.com/2h6dohi.jpg Conclusion 1: for me its clearly ink first, nib second, pen third. This unknown pen is heavy as it's made of some metal, but comfortable and has an inner cap which always helps. Conclusion 2: don't give up on that ink, it might look boring in a pen, as good and expensive as that might be, and spectacular in another, even a lesser pen.

So I was quite content with my six blues: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Tsuyu Kusa, Asa Gao, Myosotis, Ajisai. I mean how could one fit more and tell them apart? Already Ama iro and Kon Peki could look too close for comfort in certain pens... But oh I had to keep reading FPN, didn't I? So while I was looking for other stuff online I sort of accidentally got Callifolio's Equinoxe 6 and Sailor's Souten, half expecting them to be close to what I already had. It's at night and I can only take a photo using my phone under a yellowish led lamp... But I think I may have scored, i.e gotten two good looking and different blues... Equinoxe 6 was a particularly crazy purchase, since it looks different on various online reviews. Also, notice how different Ama iro looks when coming out of a Muji F, after it's been there for a few days, and a freshly inked Waterman Lauréat... That's part of a salvage operation for another Laureat, so I'm not sure if this pen is going to explode, but as much as I like Ama Iro on a Muji, I'm not getting its true colour as on the right in this shot.

Another ink that required a specific pen to shine through: m600 old style, with an f nib; i.e. less wet than others, like Platinum Cool in M. Row 1 of the other colours: Chiku Rin, Vert Empire, Verde Muschiato, Ina Ho, Inti, Lie de Thé, Yama Guri, Perle Noire. Row 2: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Équinoxe 6, Souten, Tsuyu Kusa, Myosotis, Ajisai, Verdigris. Row 3: Mandarin, Fuyu Gaki, Orange Indien, Ancient Copper, Rouge Hematite, Diamine Poppy Red, Perle Noire. And just for fun: sheen from the flash.

I've long wanted to do a quick review of Myosotis, it's one of my oldest inks but it never looked quite how I thought it could, it came out pale and boring as in most reviews, close to Ajisai but without its vibrancy. I finally spread the tines a little, which usually ends in tears but this time worked: still dusky but looks a lot darker, a lighter, duskier cousin to Pelikan's Königsblau. The comparison with other purplish blues might be on interest: Asa Gao, Ajisai, Tsuyu Kusa; the latter doesn't look purplish at all until you put it in turn next to greenish blues... As a bonus this ink seems to make its Lamy Vista write smoother than most of its six other siblings.

If you ever wanted a slightly more serious looking Asa Gao with less shading and playful light blue highlights, this is probably what you're looking for. Will fit better in office/business use while still retaining the overall hue of Asa. I've included a scan of Asa with the same scanner parameters, you can save both images on your computer and quickly flip between them to get an idea of the differences. To me Maya looks like a less contrasty version of Asa (less difference between highlights and lowlights in the shading).

Hi everyone, I have been using fountain pen for a couple months, but this is the first time I run into this problem. I just bought the Pilot Asa-gao bottled ink a few days ago. This ink was absolutely gorgeous the first day I used it. But in the third day, the ink changes color when I write, it was not the same color as it was in the first day anymore, it's very dark and not vibrant anymore,which is very very disappointing. At first I thought maybe because of the light source or something wrong with my eye, but then I filled my other fountain pen(the same brand,same nib as the other pen) with this ink to compare. As it turned out, they look completely different. You guys can look at the picture below to see their differences. Can someone please explain this to me please ? Given that they are the same ink, but why after 3 days, the ink in the pen changes color ?( The picture is taken with iphone, I don't know if it can pick up the difference, but in person they're very noticeable) Thanks in advance!!

Staples is currently selling both inks for $24.39 (one can have it shipped for free to the local Staples store to avoid shipping charges). Other colours are in the $28 - $35 range. But it was my excuse to try Asa-gao. (No affiliation)

Just to give you an idea of the colors:

I have been looking for a certain blue (pilot Juice Aqua Blue)and decided to ask you all for some ideas. I am attempting to attach a copy of the color I found online, but this is my first attempt at posting here on FPN. I at one time had $80 worth of blue samples in my cart from gouletpens.com. The first blue I tried out turned out not to be as blue as the color swatch appeared to be, that was Noodler's Navajo Turquoise. Then I tried Chesterfield ink's Zircon ink from xfountainpens.com, it's a little darker and ever so slightly green leaning. While both colors are gorgeous they don't match what I'm looking for. I've decided I'm looking for a bright, saturated, pure medium blue. By pure I mean not leaning to far to purple or green. So I bit the bullet and have ordered a few samples from the Goulets. The list as follows: Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Asa-Gao and Tsuyu-Kusa(which is the one I'm hoping is the closest), Diamine Royal Blue and Washable Blue, Waterman Serenity Blue, Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, and Private Reserve Tropical Blue. I'm planning on doing a test page to compare them all, but I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas. I believe the Pilot inks should get the task done since it is after all a Pilot pen, but even within Pilot they have two different model pens (Juice and Hi-Tec-C) with two different colors both being called Aqua Blue, sooooooo... Any ideas? Oh, and ideas where to buy inks that the Goulet's don't carry. I know they don't have Montblanc for example and I either go to them or Amazon for purchasing ideas. Thank you in advance.