I picked up the this Visconti Opera Blue Typhoon at last years Atlanta Pen Show. It wasn't on the shopping list - the Visconti Wall Street was the pen I was hunting for - but I couldn't pass up a good deal, especially on a pen as pretty as this.
When you see pictures of the Opera Typhoon online, the first thing you are likely to notice is what they call the mosquito filler. This is what blew my mind well before purchasing this pen. It is a long, skinny, syringe-like apparatus that slides over the nib and section of the pen to help you fill the pen with ink easier. I love this idea because it eliminates some of the mess involved with filling fountain pens, similar to a snorkel filler. That is, when it works.
I gave the mosquito filler a few tries, but it does a poor job of filling the pen to capacity. It performs much worse than the built-in power filler (Visconti's piston mechanism in this pen) does. That's why you won't even see the mosquito filler pictured in this review. Don't buy the Opera Typhoon for that feature alone.
That small downer aside, there are several great reasons to check this pen out. Fist of all, the blue swirl resin barrel is spectacular. Pictures barely do this pen justice - see this one in person if you can because the color variation and depth of the swirl is amazing. It feels great too. There is some heft to it, allowing you to feel the density of the barrel when writing, but it is well balanced so you don't tire out quickly when writing.
