Cross Aventura Review

[ThirdeYe]

Since when did converters become available for the Aventura? Which Cross converter does it use?

 

Not that I'm bothered much. I've just discovered through brute-force experimentation that Aurora ink cartridges fit nicely into mine. I haven't used it in a while, mostly because I'm not all that fond of Cross's cartridges. With an Aurora Black in, it's made a quick return to my daily writing arsenal, and I'm even starting to like the M nib on it. (At least, I think it's an M.)

 

You can use the green converter with the Aventura. On my example however, I had to remove the spring inside the barrel to get it to fit and close properly.

[gwilliams]

I got one for my birthday last year and it must have been a fluke for it has written 100% since the day I got it. I have gone thru about 4 of the six cartridge packs since then and have no problems what so ever. it is a little scratchy on parchment paper but love that sound late at night when everything is quiet. I recently got a esterbrook from my dad's estate and I look forward to getting it repaired and putting it to use on the parchment paper that I use for my journal.

[Griff5w]

I picked one up over the Holiday's on sale for a bit under $20.

1. 
    
   
2. It looks very nice, until you pick it up and realize that it is all plastic. My Hero 329 feels about the same weight, maybe even a tidge heavier.
   
3. The nib is fairly smooth and, to my eye, is visually attractive. (I am thinking about ripping this pen apart once the ink is gone and making a Franken-pen using this nib with a different body.)
   
4. The Cross ink cartridge is not all that great. It feathers and bleeds through just about all paper I have tried it on (Moleskines, index cards, Arc Notebook paper, cheap 20lb copy paper).
   

 

I am glad I purchased it while it was marked down. I don't believe this to be worth the $40 price it is normally. For $10 more, I would go with a TWSBI 540.

[forstadt]

I live near the Cross Company Store. A technician there told me to use use the orange converter, and it has been working perfectly for me. Even though the orange is a "screw in" type, you just push it on the Aventura and it holds fine. The fit is very snug, but I recommend it highly, since I am not a big fan of the Cross ink or the cartridges.

[lovemy51]

hello. just bought the white one for $20 at Staples. nice pen!

 

is the section metal or plastic with chrome over it? I can't tell...

[MadamePendemonia]

I like my blue Aventura for the nib and the look---but I get so frustrated with the CAP that will NOT stay posted! In the middle of a sentence, it just slips off the pen and sometimes just flies onto my desk! I push it in tightly, but it's not staying.

 

I have another Cross pen which does the same thing....I don't remember the style/name but it didn't have the "slanted" edge of the Aventura cap so that design is not causing the problem.

 

Both pens were reasonably priced, but I don't like the un-posted pen feel so I get pretty frustrated with it. :-(

 

Any ideas how to fix this?

 

~~~Thérèse

[Falconerguy]

My only real problem with this pen is how cheap it feels. The plastic is so insubstantial and scratches so easily. If that isn't something that bothers you, I'd recommend this pen 9 times out of 10 though, because it does write really well.

[Mopen]

I put a piece of rubber from an old gel pen, just pulled off the rubber tube and cut off a section and put it on the top of the Cross and then the cap will stay put.

[von Fraker]

Bought one of these today at a local Tuesday Morning store. It was black and chrome with gold accents. It is packaged with 5 cartridges. The suggested retail sticker on it is $50.00 but they have them for $19.99!

 

They also had a different model that the MSR was over $100.00 that was on sale for $49.99.

 

If you also like BP and RBs or looking for stocking stuffers they have the Roller Balls and Ball Points on sale for $9.99 for a single pen and the pen/pencil sets range from $14.99 to $19.99.

 

Good Deals on NOS pens!

 

(I noticed alot of these models poping up on ebay so I am sure folks are hitting the Tuesday Morning Stores then marking them up for resale- LOL)

[volkswagenfox21]

Unfortunately, my Aventura's nib isn't smooth at all. It's very scratchy. I tried realigning the tines (not that I'm any good at it or anything...) and smoothing, but it's just bad still. Must have been a dud, since I've seen a lot of praise about how well the nib writes. I don't like the slippery grip section either, and the plastic looks cheap and scratches easily. What I really like about this pen, though, is how the cap feels when you snap it on and off. It's so satisfying that I just pop the cap on and off for entertainment!

 

Also, I can leave it inked for months and it writes right away. Can't be said for many other pens!

Edited December 4, 2014 by volkswagenfox21

[WhoCares1537]

I just got one today from my girlfriend as an anniversary present. Funnily enough, she got it for me because it's a nice blue, but I really enjoy it. I like that the nib isn't a #6, I had those for about a year and got tired of them pretty quick (solely because of style and my desire to change things up every once and awhile). The only thing I would change is the cap; I wish it posted better is all, and the inner cap is plastic instead of a more durable metal which worries me a little. I've heard about Jinhao's plastic inner caps breaking after being posted too hard or something. I know they're different brands but I figure the same concept applies. I do enjoy the light weight of the pen though, weight doesn't really bother me unless it's really heavy then I tend to reserve it for journal writing or something along those lines.

 

Also, my nib was sort of bent downward at the tip. It still writes very well, but does anyone else have this same nib? I suppose it does matter if it writes well though, so it may just be pointless in asking.

[uemuraw]

The Cross Aventura is the first fountain pen I could actually get to write for me. I'm left-handed. As far as I know, I was already 32-years old when I saw my first fountain pen – probably a Mont Blanc. Knowing my uncle's penchant for the finer things in life, I figured it must've come from either the Civil War or even the American Revolution. A Thomas Jefferson fountain pen to go with his personally autographed copy of the Declaration of Independence. Prized almost as much as the thank you note William Paul "Bear" Bryant once sent him. I figured fountain pens probably hadn't been made since California statehood. So my uncle gave it to me to try. I couldn't get it to write. "That's crazy – it's the smoothest writing experience you can have." Well, I couldn't get it to write. He ended up giving me a Mont Blanc rollerball.

 

The price for the Aventura was too good to pass up – on sale for under $10 or some ridiculously low price like that. "Looks like fountain pens have been made in modern times – how strange." So I just had to try one. I couldn't get it to work. I got frustrated, so right before I was going to throw the pen away, I held it "backwards," and began to doodle – not expecting anything to happen. But there it was! Writing! And smooth as silk, too! I'll alway have my three Aventuras – black, blue, and red, and each with its own personality. The Aventuras love it when my boys and I come to visit and doodle every once in a a while.

[Starguard]

I got two at an Office Max, very reasonably priced, sold one to a friend (I would have given it to him but he insisted!) and gave the other one to my Mother, they both have medium nibs and came with a box of 5 cartridges . I'll hunt down the converters, I was just going to refill the cartridges but I'd rather have the converter! The nib was smooth and pleasant to write with. My mother likes the 'new way' of keeping ink in the pen, the first thing she wanted to know was where the lever was. She remembers vividly when ballpoints came along and how expensive they were at first. I'm going t find her some ink in her favorite colors.

[Brutusbiker]

I just recently bought a shiny black Aventura, but the section is black plastic, not chrome filled. To me, this looks even better. And yes, this little, light pen writes wonderfully. I am very positively surprised. The price range is above that of a Pilot Metropolitan or Lamy Safary, but the pen is smaller and classic looking.This pen is a very wet writer, and it causes feathering on rough copier paper, even with the original Cross black ink cartridge, so use better paper types. It does not come with a converter, but to save the 8 dollars that the converter costs, I refill my empty cartridges with a syringe, and reuse them. I reuse the cartridges indefinitely and never had a spill. I have done that for a long time, since my other Cross fountain pens are both Century Classics, which use the slim cartridge and for which there are no converters available, so refilling is the only way to use pretty colors.

[IllamaNati]

I've had the pleasure of purchasing one of these pens as my first own FP. My father was always very interested in pens and had a couple old Montblanc pens so i always had an interest.

 

It's a very good pen for the money, but if you're on a budget its something you would be able to buy and not worry about getting a few scratches in.

 

My question was what converter works in this pen and i'm happy to report that the orange screw-in cross converter works just fine, but there are no threads to hold it in there, it holds in only by friction.

 

Thanks for the review!

On the topic of the converter, my Aventura works well with the push- in version. It's hard to find out which converter it is designed for, as the Cross website doesn't say, but the majority says it is for the push- in converter (Green).

I guess it is the same shape as the the insert it comes packaged with.

[Peruvian]

I like my blue Aventura for the nib and the look---but I get so frustrated with the CAP that will NOT stay posted! In the middle of a sentence, it just slips off the pen and sometimes just flies onto my desk! I push it in tightly, but it's not staying.

 

I don't like the un-posted pen feel so I get pretty frustrated with it. :-(

 

Any ideas how to fix this?

 

~~~Thérèse

 

I can't believe no one else is complaining about this! It is really annoying how the cap will not stay posted; it almost makes me not want to use this pen; which otherwise, writes very well.

 

Were you able to fix the cap somehow? PLEASE let me know!!

 

Thank you

[Starguard]

My Aventura works well, but I would never condemn an entire brand on the basis of one discontinued pen that is one of their entry level pens. I knew when I bought it that it was a cartridge only pen, it was a bonus when I found that the push on version of the converter will work. I got mine for $3.98, I found out later that it was coded incorrectly, should have been $39.98, Staples has since fixed that though.

[uemuraw]

Ahhh... and there's a hack for getting a converter to fit. I think I even found it here on FPN. if I recall correctly, there's a spring in the barrel of the Aventura. I reached in there and pulled it out with something like a dental pick or some other similar tool with a hook. I discarded the spring. Been using converters in my Aventuras ever since.

[Abner C. Kemp]

I saw a bunch of these at my local Stapes the other day for $20. Got home today and received a $10 gift check via email so I'll probably head over and pick one of these up tomorrow. For $10, it is a nice enough looking pen. Hopefully I'll get lucky and draw a decent nib, if not I'll have to go to the micro mesh.

[uemuraw]

Let us know how it goes.