Posts filed under Visconti

Visconti Van Gogh Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Most of my experience with Visconti pens has been staring at them through the glass of a display case, thinking "no way" but feeling a little bummed about it. Because they're gorgeous, but overpriced. So having the chance to try one out at last is priceless.

The packaging certainly makes an impression. The box is textured like a paint canvas and has the image of a Van Gogh painting on top, presumably whichever painting inspired the color scheme for your pen.

My pen is the Orchard in Blossom, with a beautiful blue-grey sky base, with pops of delicate floral colors and splashes of green grass. The pens are meant to look like the painter's oil palette as he creates his masterpieces, and they've nailed that look beautifully.

It has rose gold trim, though other versions have different trim to correspond with their respective paintings. The pen body and cap are gently faceted and taper at each end. There is a wide cap band with "Visconti Italy" on one side and "Van Gogh" on the other. The bottom finial is plain, while the top has the Visconti V logo. It has the classic Visconti Ponte del Vecchio clip, made to look like the iconic bridge in Florence, Italy. It is a hinged clip, so the whole thing lifts easily and clips securely.

The cap has a magnetic closure with a very satisfying click. It does post securely, but you risk scratching that gorgeous finish. The grip section is smooth metal with a slight ridge at the end to keep your fingers from sliding.

The pen takes cartridges or a converter, and it comes with a converter and a bottle of ink, which was a lovely surprise. The ink is a rosy purple to match the blooms in the painting. It's a great ink with lots of character that shades in different purple tones.

The nib in my pen is a rose gold-plated steel nib. It is beautifully etched. But it has some mild QC issues, which is not unheard of for Visconti. This nib is meant to be a Fine, but whoa. The slit in this nib is very wide, a canyon compared to the average nib. It's enough to affect the capillary action and made it difficult to get ink flowing at first. But once it got started, it flowed like a fire hose in a very wet, broad line. It writes with a controlled dribble. It didn't take long to write the pen empty. It's smooth and pleasant to use--I don't dislike the way it writes, but it's definitely not performing as it's supposed to.

Given the nib issues and the price ($260 for a steel nib, yikes), it's not a pen that I can fully recommend, despite its other qualities. If you're fortunate enough to be in a place where you can try one or peek at the nib, or purchasing from a vendor that does nib checks, then I'd say it's definitely worth looking into. I still really like this pen. If money was no object, there are three other colors I'd get! But it's not perfect, and at its price point, it really should be.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 10, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Visconti, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Visconti Breeze Lime Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

Visconti has added another reasonably priced pen to their lineup and it's another winner. I've always been hesitant to invest in their more expensive pens (no matter how much I want the Homo Sapiens) because their price didn't quite seem to match their performance. And while these new models, like the Breeze and the Mirage, are still expensive, they're much closer to a good, fair value purchase.

This Breeze pen in Lime isn't actually made of raw uranium and I'm 99% sure there's nothing radioactive about it. It just looks that way. It's actually made of vegital resin, this color in swirls of neon yellow, green, and pearlescent white. It's fun and wild. This model also comes in plum, mandarin, lemon, cherry, and blueberry that are all less eye-searing.

It has a chrome body band with "BreezeBreeze" engraved in it in wavy letters. The cap has no accents other than the signature Visconti clip, which is nicely spring-loaded. The cap itself closes with a magnetic click that is very satisfying and fun to fidget with. It's also effective--I never experienced any drying-out of the nib between writing sessions. The cap does post securely, though it makes the pen feel a little too long for my hand.

The grip is in the same resin as the body of the pen. It tapers slightly and I found it very comfortable to hold and write with, though it can be a bit slippery.

The nib is German steel, available in either Fine, Medium, or Broad. This one is a Fine, though it writes very wet and looks more like a Medium. This is the wettest fine nib I own, and I love it. It has all the control and subtle feedback of a fine nib, but puts down enough ink to show off fun characteristics like shading and sheen.

The pen comes with a converter, which I easily burned through in one pleasant weekend.

I've really enjoyed writing with this pen, and its bright bold look attracted a lot of attention on my business trip this past week. I think a few new Pen Addicts were born as I passed it around for folks to try. The price runs from around $95 to $120 depending on sales, and I think that's fair. I'm even tempted by some of the other colors. I think this is another good move for Visconti. Easing people into the brand is a good way to inspire them to scale the barriers to the higher end models. I can already feel my resistance weakening.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on August 29, 2019 by Sarah Read and filed under Visconti, Fountain Pens.

Visconti Mirage Fountain Pen Review

I'm usually pretty well behaved, so it's no surprise when Santa brings me stationery. I must have been REALLY good last year, though, because Santa did surprise me with my very first Visconti pen—the Mirage, in a lovely Evergreen color.

I've admired Viscontis before, but their high price points mixed with rumors of dodgy quality control have always put me off. I was very excited to finally get a chance to try one.

The Mirage is a new entry-level Visconti pen to celebrate the company's 30th anniversary. Their previous entry-level offerings have often been priced higher than many folks' upper limits, so adding a new tier was, I think, a great idea. I did worry, though, that if the quality of their expensive pens varied so much, what sort of pen would be on offer for 1/5 the price?

Well, apart from an introductory hiccup, I think they've offered a very decent pen. The hiccup, though, required some resources that many new pen buyers won't have.

My first impression of the pen was good--it's beautiful. The body is a rich, shimmery, swirly vegetal resin that catches the light like magic. The body has fluted grooves and a decorative palladium-plated cap band that give the piece a very Art Deco look. It has the signature arched clip with the Visconti name engraved in it. The bottom finial has a metal Visconti logo that can be removed with a magnet and replaced with your initials or a gemstone. The grip section is smooth and round, in the same material as the body. The nib is a new steel design, with more Art Deco-styled etching.

Maybe it's because I associate that clip with high prices, but this pen looks more expensive than it is. With the lower price, as one might expect, it doesn't have a lot of the fancy Visconti features, but it does have a few. That magnetic finial is one, another is the spring-loaded clip, and there's also the self-aligning magnetic cap. The cap holds securely and closes with a satisfying self-propelled click. It's almost too fun, and between that and the springy clip, the cap is a meeting-fidgeter's delight.

The steel nib writes smoothly and with the perfect amount of wetness. It's very pleasant to write with.

My hiccup with the pen had to do with the converter. The converter included with the pen does not actually fit in the pen. It kind of, almost, sort of fits--just well enough that you can tell something is wrong. You can use it, but it doesn't get a good seal, so it's difficult to fill and tends to leak. The metal band at the neck of the section is too narrow for the plastic body of the converter, so you have to wrestle it in place. Mine did not stay in place.

The good news is, Visconti does make a converter that fits. You need to get the threaded piston converter. But that's not the one they included, because--well, because Visconti. Fortunately, I (I mean Santa!) purchased the pen from Anderson Pens, so I was able to bring the pen in, show them the issue, they swapped the converters, and I walked out a few minutes later with a pen that functions beautifully.

Most customers, though, would be purchasing the pen online and having it shipped to a pen-store desert. If you're doing this, be sure to request that the shop swap the converters for you. My worry is more for the casual shopper or inexperienced pen buyer who may pick one of these up, thanks to the accessible price. They're going to struggle to assemble and fill the pen, then get a lot of ink on their hands. If they're not tenacious enough to contact the shop, they may decide that fountain pens are fiddly and messy and nope right out of the hobby.

So, mostly bravo to Visconti for creating a new port of entry into their brand and fountain pens in general, but I hope they'll note this converter issue and start packing them with the proper accessories. If you're going to launch a product priced to attract new customers, you've got to make that first impression perfect. Especially when the product is otherwise so excellent.

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