Whilst the Eco and Diamond 580 lines are both piston fillers, this demonstrator uses a vacuum-based filling system. Its body is longer and, in places, thicker than its cousins’, and while the section is clear, it feels rubberised and provides a more secure grip than both the Eco and those 580s that do not have an aluminium section.
The Iris is a limited edition with a rainbow effect on its metal parts. This effect is not a result of a painting process; it is created using heat. As such, it should be resistant to any sort of chipping or wearing off. Apart from scratches—and scratching this pen visibly doesn’t seem easy—the Iris’s appearance looks to be durable and resistant to wear and tear.
To fill the Vac700R, one unscrews the back and pulls out the mechanism. Once submerged, moving the plunger down fills the pen. For longer writing sessions, it’s suggested to unscrew the back, therefore automatically moving the piston back a couple of millimetres so it doesn’t impede the flow of the ink. Earlier models (Vac700 without the R) required writers to manually pull the plunger back. With the R, they only need to unscrew the mechanism.
Even with the plunger down, my Iris—equipped with an M-nib—writes wet and juicy. Par for the course for TWSBI, I have not run into any hard-starting or skipping issues. If anything, the writing experience might be a little too wet for my tastes.
For this special edition, supply is quite limited. I managed to find a model right after my vendor restocked; they’ve since run out of stock again. If one finds an opportunity to purchase the Vac700R in retail (as opposed to resellers), the price fluctuates somewhere around the € 100.- mark. Slightly more affordable than the Diamond 580 S&RG II, the Iris is arguably more of an eye-catcher. Rose gold adornments have been popular for a while, but the rainbow (or iris) trend has only just begun.
Suggested ink: Diamine Imperial Blue