Originally Posted by
AdaByron
A gooey connector and/or corroded breather tube wouldn't really be good writing condition[snip]
In my experience that's not the case.
A "51" aero with a gooey connector tends to write fine, and a corroded breather tube only affects how much ink the pen can take up after it starts to crumble. It's hard to shop for an aerometric that has a connector that is not at all gooey and a breather tube that is not at all corroded because this information is not usually available. These problems go undetected for years, and most aerometrics are sold without anyone evaluating the condition of the breather tube or connector because you have to disassemble the pen to find out. I didn't know why you in particular wanted an aerometric, but I knew why
I did originally, and I was only thinking of practical, user reasons why
anyone, any user, might prefer an aerometric. The interests of collectors never crossed my mind. Usually it's about durability, reliability, or some such, and what I'm saying is that my
sense is that the population of aeros has aged to the point where many of them will require servicing within the normal lifespan of a vacumatic diaphragm. Now, if you replace a vac diaphragm, then you'll need to repeat the exercise several years later (10? 20?), but if you do a comprehensive overhaul of an aero, you might have another 70 years, maybe more. So that's still an advantage.
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