Taccia Nightlife Review

March 20, 2009

This is our first foray into doing reviews for our pens, so be kind and feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

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Last autumn, the California-based pen company Taccia released the Nightlife collection, which is inspired by the bright lights of some of the world's most exciting cities. The aptly-named finishes are : NYC Blue, Vegas Sage, Paris Lilca and Golden Gate Copper. The first striking feature of this pen is the glittering barrel. One of the astounding specs of the pen is that it is layered with sixty coats of sparkling lacquer, a process that takes twenty days to complete. The painstaking effort is certainly rewarded with a gorgeous finish.

The size and heft are fairly significant, as is the same with most Taccia full-sized writing instruments.

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The presentation is very sleek. The pen arrives in a navy blue leatherette box with Taccia stamped in gold on the top. The insides, instead of the usual white plush interior most manufacturers use, is a black, ruffled, satin-like fabric. The use of black in the box and the design of the pen amplify the color of the lacquered guilloche barrel.

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The Nightlife fountain pen is sold with a stainless steel, iridium-tipped nib in medium point (standard) but is also available in fine or broad sizes (special request, no extra charge) in stainless steel or 18ct solid gold (additional $140 cost). For the purposes of this review, I chose to test the standard stainless steel nib.

I loaded the pen with some Levenger Blue Bahama ink via the converter that is included with the Nightlife pen. I know some people will disagree with me, but my natural inclination is to post the cap while writing. The cap screws on to the back of the pen and one of my aesthetic points that I look for is if the cap screws on so that the clip runs parallel with the nib point. It certainly does in this case (refer to picture on right). However, when the cap is screwed on, this pen is a behemoth to hold in my averaged-sized mitts. This pen is by far much more comfortable to write with the cap unposted. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I let it slide.

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As far as the nib and the writing experience, the medium width offers a wet and generous amount of ink flow on your standard notebook paper or copier paper. I don't have any of the nicer papers to use here (*wink *wink) but our company is going to be looking into distributing some notebooks and paper in the future. The nib is a tiny bit scratchy, but offers good stroke coverage and doesn't have any issues starting or skipping.

We will be grading based upon four criteria : Writing Quality, Aesthetic Quality, Utility and Price.

And here it goes:

Writing Quality : Medium Stainless Steel nib flows nicely, but is a bit scratchy. Pen is bit too large and back heavy with the cap posted. (grade B - )

Aesthetic Quality : The lacquered guilloche barrel is definitely a dazzling sight. The black and silver combination with the lustrous lacquer is elegant, sleek and unisex. (grade A )

Utility : Cap posts perfectly with the screw threads. Clips on to shirt pockets very nicely. Weight and girth may be an issue for portability and fitting into said shirt pocket. (grade B+ )

Price : A bit pricey for a stainless steel nib, but you know you will be paying for all the time it took to apply the sixty coats of lacquer. In my honest opinion, if you love the look of it, it is worth it. (grade B )

Final Grade : B+

Overall, the Taccia Nightlife is a beauty to stare at, but not quite the daily writer that I could imagine scribbling dozens of pages of notes with. My hand was already tired after writing the review. Maybe I need to get a squeeze ball or something.

March 23, 2009

I enjoyed reading your review, and the writing sample. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it.

I think the guilloche finshes on the Nightlife are exquisite. If the majority of the pen were engraved, I would be unable to resist buying a Paris version. When I see something as gorgeous as that lacquered engraving, I want to see it on as much surface area as possible.

Keep writing reivews. More people appreciate them than respond.

Cheers,

Joe

March 23, 2009

I enjoyed reading your review, and the writing sample. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it.

I think the guilloche finshes on the Nightlife are exquisite. If the majority of the pen were engraved, I would be unable to resist buying a Paris version. When I see something as gorgeous as that lacquered engraving, I want to see it on as much surface area as possible.

Keep writing reivews. More people appreciate them than respond.

Cheers,
Joe

Thanks for the comment, Joe. I appreciate the feedback. I will certainly keep writing.

As for the Nightlife, I think if they also had the lacquered engraving on the cap it would be almost unbearably heavy. And it would be too similar to the Conklin Herringbone. I think the black areas provide a great contrast to make the colors POP even more. Not saying I disagree with you. I would have liked to see a bit more as well. Maybe a hint of it in the cap somewhere.

Thank you for the encouragement as well.

Regards,

Tom

March 23, 2009

Very nice review. I've been looking at that pen in that color since it's release. One of my daily carrys is a Levenger Plumpster so I think the Nightlife will fit in nicely.

June 12, 2009

I too own a Plumpster and the size and weight fit my hands perfectly, even when posted I feel it just "fits" me.

The Taccia Nightlife fountain pens, if anything like the size and weight of the Plumpster, would also fit me to a tee.

I don't often see terms of decoration such as "guilloche" used on fountain pens, normally a term and finish seen on very high-end, very expensive quality watches and their movements.

While I'm very fond of the NYC blue color, I really like the Golden Gate Copper as it almost looks like a fine American Black Walnut from a distance instead of a lacquered finish, giving it a warm nearly organic appearance.

Sixty coats of lacquer and twenty days to complete??? That's incredible; more coats of paint than some of the multi-thousand dollar custom paint jobs I've seen on classic cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles!

I'm just now catching this review, a bit late to the party I am but it's very nicely done, even the pictures of the box add to the overall attractiveness of the pen and package.

May I suggest possibly adding shots of the satiny black gift box, maybe also adding the ability to zoom in on the pen textures and nib, to the Goldspot Website [hint-hint to the boss or company CEO]?

Even with my huge 24" widescreen monitor I'm feeling lacking of the details that you must be seeing first-hand, yourself having viewed this pen in person must know it looks better in person, feel I'm missing some gorgeous details.

Very nicely reviewed and I like you letter-grading scale too, numbered scales often getting inverted or confusing, not so possible with letter grade scale as an A+ is obviously a perfect grade.

Thanks and well done!

June 13, 2009

Even with my huge 24" widescreen monitor I'm feeling lacking of the details that you must be seeing first-hand, yourself having viewed this pen in person must know it looks better in person, feel I'm missing some gorgeous details.
Very nicely reviewed and I like you letter-grading scale too, numbered scales often getting inverted or confusing, not so possible with letter grade scale as an A+ is obviously a perfect grade.
Thanks and well done!

Thanks for the comment and compliment. I am addressing that issue with the next review I do of the Parker Sonnet Golden Chiseled. I've got some really beautiful close up pics of the nib and the engraved body of the pen that are outstanding to look at. I know the letter system is against the guidelines they suggest for reviewing pens here on FPN, but I think it is more suitable for rating pens.