The Tom’s Studio Lumos Duo Pro ($121) is a refillable pen with eleven nib options and TWO different pens in one pen body. I got the Ivy color which is a lovely green color but there are other colors available.
Can I just say I hate this packaging? The pen does not stay in the box and the ink bottle that was included was tucked inside and fell out and broke on my hardwood floors. It made quite the mess.
And the “lift carefully” message — it’s like it was laughing at me.
The packaging is all paperboard so its 100% recyclable and that’s what I plan to do with the packaging.
The back of the box shows all the tip sizes included with the pen. The writing tips remind me a bit of the tip included with the Wren though I have not had the chance to try it yet.
When disassembled, you can see the cotton reservoirs and nib holders, the brass nib covers, the aluminum pen body barrels and a rubber cap that can be used to help remove the tips. The threads of the sections include rubber gaskets to create a tight seal.
I pulled out the BR (Brush) tip from the set.
Then the next step was to pick ink colors. I was hoping with the large brush tip a lighter color could be used and then the 0.3mm fiber tip could use a deep color that matched the pen barrel. I chose Colorverse Morning Star No.11 for the 0.3mm nib and the Sailor Manyo Hinoki for the brush tip.
The filling was quick, taking mere seconds to work up the capillary action and ready to use.
Once filled, these were ready to test. The step between the tip and the barrel is a bit server and a little awkward in the hand. The two half pens are too short to use by themselves but when the full length, with both barrels screwed together, is a bit too long (over 6″ long capped). Luckily, the aluminum barrel is light enough that its not too awkward to use the pen at its full length. It doesn’t fit in most of my pen cases though!
The brush tip is soft and the fiber tip I tested, the 0.3mm, seems consistent with other 0.3mm tips I’ve used.
Once filled, I was again surprised by how light the link colors looked in the Lumos Pro. I was hoping that some of the multichromatic qualities of the Sailor Hinoki but instead the color shifted completely.
On the Tomoe River paper, none of the purple hue was visible.
The Morning Star ink looked more turquoise/light aqua than the deep teal that shows on my swatch. It was a bit frustrating. The ink didn’t show its notable sheening qualities either.
I’m definitely going to have to try to fill the Lumos Duo Pro with much darker ink colors.
As I did with the Wren, I cleaned and refilled the Lumos with darker colors. I refilled them with Colorverse Vortex Motion and Pillars of Creation. I, once again, decided to test the Lumos against the Kuretake Karappo and used the same ink colors in both the Karappo and the Lumos Pro Duo.
In the Lumos brush pen, Vortex Motion looks distinctly purple while in the Karappo Brush, the color is more grey. I even tried to use a Colorverse Permanent Black ink in the Lumos Duo and Karappo and both look light like a grey rather than black. So frustrating.
I will be ordering more reservoirs ($3 for a pack of 5) and a couple packets of replacement tips ($3 per set of 3) in an effort to try some different inks and see if I could get a deeper, more accurate color.
Overall, as much as I want to love the Lumos Pro Duo, I was just ho-hum about it overall. The concept is wonderful and the colors of the aluminum barrels is excellent. Some of the details could use more refinement. The transition between the nib and the grip on the Wren is more aesthetic and comfortable for many writing styles while the step-down on the Lumos is a bit severe.
And, I don’t understand why the ink colors are so distinctly washed out with the felt tips.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
We just bought one of these at the Colorado Pen Show. We haven’t noticed the washed out colors, though. Did you wait 5s after the ink made it to the end of the reservoir? Dromgoole’s suggested that when we bought it.
I did. I think the ink colors I was choosing were just too pale.