Visconti Homo Sapiens With Ef Nib

[xuan87]

When i was in Florence last week, i was able to visit the Visconti Boutique. The old man in charge of the store was really nice and he lent me his personal Homo Sapien to write with. It was a F nib and I must say that the F nib has more spring and flex than the EF nib. I was able to clearly see the tines open up when i press down on the nib using my normal writing pressure. Perhaps this might be taken into your consideration when you decide on what nib to get. I found the F nib to write like a broad Fine, rather than a Medium nib.

[raging.dragon]

I like the bronze trim, but I'm not certain about the lava reinforced resin used for the body and cap.

 

I have a Divina Proportione with the same bayonet mounting mechanism for the cap. It's a nice mechanism, though it doesn't seal as well as a screw on cap, so ink will dry out in the pen faster. Whether or not this matters depends on how you use your pen.

 

I don't like the Visconti clip - I don't trust it to hold my pen in my pocket. Perhaps the spring is too weak in my pen.

 

Ps.. regarding the issue on your clip, Is this a part of the patinization the bronze is expected to achieve?

If not, since this pen must still be within warranty time period, you might discuss this with Visconti Reps servicing your locale.

 

Errors in painting the clip are fairly common on the Viscontis I've seen. My Divina Proportione has several such defects, all of which are worse than that on the original poster's Homo Sapiens.

 

One question: I don't quite get the Palladium nib thing. 23k, but palladium? Is the nib made entirely of palladium, or just the tipping? If the whole nib, is '23k' being used as a descriptor of the palladium alloy, as it is with gold?

 

The nib is made from palladium instead of gold or steel. The 23k and 950 (95%) describe the palladium content of the alloy. Presumably the nib uses the same tipping material as Visconti's gold nibs (most likely a platinum and/or ruthenium alloy).

[xuan87]

That's right: 23k palladium means that the nib body is an alloy that contains 95% palladium ( and probably 5% silver but i'm not sure on this). It does not indicate anything about the tipping material.

[SylvainP]

I've ordered the last bronze HS at a retail store chain here. Got an amazing deal that I couldn't pass on. I should get it in 2-3 days.

 

It's just an amazing pen to hold in hand and this review was part of my decision too. I could only test the special edition with the airbrushed laval on the barrel (not very nice).

 

I could not choose the nib size so I will get a F and they will send it back to visconti if I want to change the nib size. I tried a M on a HS limited edition in store and found it more on the B side but works very nicely.

 

This FP will be my daily pen that will always be with me so it need to works on different type of paper and I wonder if the F is the way to go or if a large nib will be less wet and more compliant of paper quality. Or it's the opposite ?

Edited February 1, 2012 by SylvainP

[olivier78860]

http://i.imgur.com/I57rl.jpg

 

The nib is nicely behaving. I tried a B one too, but it was too large for my taste before flexing. It was quite flexible too.

[breaker]

nice review and pics!

thanks!

[tlynch999]

Yes, I'm afraid this review has convinced me that this is to be jewel in the crown of my collection. Thus far I only have the more reasonable/everyday pens. The time may well have come.

[Earl Pitts]

I apologize for the poor photo quality but you can get much better photos elsewhere. My photos pertain more to what i wanted to show through my review.

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss324/xuan87/DSCF0458.jpg?t=1297581050

 

INTRODUCTION When this pen was first announced, I didn’t take much notice because the price tag ($595) was way out of my budget and I couldn’t see why I should pay so much just for a pen made from lava basalt rocks. Just a few months ago, I just happened to come across a thread on this pen and I saw that the nib is actually made of 23K Palladium! So after taking a closer look at the specs, I realized that if I can get this pen a little cheaper, I’m definitely buying it.

Appearance & Design (10/10) – The pen body is made from basaltic lava from the Etna Volcano. It’s supposedly unbreakable, flameproof and hygroscopic but I have no desire to test them out. It’s a dark matte gun metal gray with small white dots. . The pen may be made from rocks but for some reason, it feels like hard rubber to my hands. It comes with a bronze trim instead of the usual silver or gold trim. And to clarify, the trimmings are made from SOLID bronze From what I’ve seen, the bronze is supposed to tarnish over time to give a nice matt look but this hasn’t happened to my pen yet. More on this to come.

 

The top of the pen has Visconti’s My Pen system incorporated and I have my initials YX put in it. There’s a huge variety of tops you can change to and I feel that this is a nice touch.

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss324/xuan87/DSCF0460.jpg?t=1297581455

 

The clip is spring loaded and has a nice resistance. However, the bottom of the clip is flushed flat against the cap so you need to use a finger to lift the clip before clipping on the pen.

 

Visconti designed this pen with the Human civilization theme in mind (hence the bronze trim) and I have to say that they succeeded somewhat.

 

The pen has a twist cap but it’s not your normal twist cap. It has a cleverly designed thread that only requires a quarter of a turn to uncap the pen. For someone like me who frequently cap and uncap my pens to prevent the nib from drying out, this is a godsend.

 

1. Construction & Quality (9.5/10) – I have nothing bad to say about the quality and workmanship except for one small detail: One corner of the black background of the Visconti words on the clip is not colored in properly. This is only visible on very close inspection ( not sure if my camera can convey that properly ) but if I have to pay more than $300 for a pen, it better be perfect!

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss324/xuan87/DSCF0461.jpg?t=1297581557

 

2. Weight & Dimensions (9.5/10) – This is a pretty big pen and since it’s made from rocks, you can expect it to be heavy. Add to the fact that it can hold a lot of ink, this pen is pretty heavy when fully filled with ink. However, the pen is well-balanced so it felt more like a hefty pen rather than a heavy and unwieldy pen. It can’t be written posted as the cap itself is pretty heavy. However, I don’t post my pens at all so this doesn’t affect me.

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss324/xuan87/DSCF0462.jpg?t=1297581608

 

3. Nib & Performance (19/20) – The nib is the main reason why I got this pen. 23K Palladium, Visconti called it Dreamtouch, because the nib is supposed to write with almost no pressure. After trying it out, I can say that this is true. The Palladium material is also supposed to provide a bit of flex but to be honest, I’ve used more gold nibs that have more flex. However, this nib has a springy feel to it that I look for in the perfect nib. The nib has a small amount of feedback too which I love because it helps to control my handwriting.

 

The nib comes in the usual Fine, Medium and Broad, along with the less common Extra Fine as well as a 1.3mm Stub. I’m a huge fan of italic nibs and when italic nibs aren’t available, I will get a Fine nib. In this case, I read that the HS nib runs abit wide and is a wet writer so I bought the EF nib instead. I will say that the nib writes half a size wider, and if written on absorbent paper, the nib will write a full size wider. A point is taken off for the inaccurate size.

The nib looks gorgeous with the characteristic Visconti design and the crescent moon shaped vent hole. Three lines of texts are engraved at the bottom of the nib: 23k Pd 950, Firenze, EF, letting everyone knows that this is an EF nib made out of 95% Palladium. The nib is huge too, abit too long for the pen but to me, bigger is always better! The only qualm that I have is that Visconti should change the tones on the nib to differentiate the Palladium nib from the other gold nibs. Maybe instead of gold and silver, how about bronze and ruthenium to go with the black body and bronze trim on the pen body?

 

4. Filling System & Maintenance (9/10) – The pen is a power-filler, or a vacuum-filler as I prefer to call it. For those who have filled a power filler before, you’ll know that you won’t have a perfect fill on the 1st fill, probably about 30% to 50%. My other vacuum filler is a smoke-colored Pilot Custom 823 which is semi-transparent. I’ll need 2 or more fills to get about 80% to 90% fill. However, the basaltic rock pen body, despite its many wondrous properties, isn’t transparent so there’s no way to tell how filled the pen is. Just to be on the safe side, I do a couple of fillings to ensure that the pen is as filled as it possibly can. If you’re really anal about this, filling with a Visconti travelling inkwell might help.

 

5. Cost & Value (9/10) – The MSRP for this pen is $595 or you can get it from Italy for about $420 shipped. I bought this from italianpen on ebay where I won it in an auction for only $350. That’s almost 50% of the original price. To be honest, I have cheaper pens that perform just as well as this pen and cost less ( for example, my Pelikan M600 which comes closest), but this pen is unique in its own way. Where else are you going to find a pen made from lava basaltic rocks, or comes with solid bronze trimmings or fitted with a Palladium nib?

 

6. Conclusion (Final score, 66/70) – This pen is the most expensive pen in my entire collection but I feel that I paid a fair price for it. It’s a pen that can last long enough to be a heirloom and unique enough to be one too. I honestly cannot find any major flaw with one ( well the only one being no transparent window to view, but that will detract from the design of the pen ). If you ever come across the chance to try out the pen, please write a few lines with it to feel for yourself how extraordinary the Palladium nib is.

[el.Fakir]

Thank you for the review and pictures Xuan.

 

When I first saw this pen the idea of using volcanic material for the body immediately intrigued me and I really liked the look of it. However, I have a few reservations that have held me back from buying one so far.

 

• As I couldn’t see it in person and touch it I am not sure of the feel of volcanic material. Some, including you, say it feels as rubber and that’s not promising for me. How can you compare it with other materials you use?
   
  
• I’ve read a lot of complaint about leaking sections on these pens. How is yours doing so far?
   
  
• I’m also worried a little bit about that personalization system at the top of the cap as it contains magnets. Is that a powerful magnet? (Powerful enough to magnetize a mechanical watch, for instance?)
  

 

Thanks again for your detailed review.

[JohnEbach]

I have had my Homo Sapiens about two weeks and its a very nice pen. I got my bottle/container of Visconti Blue (I think made by someone other than Visconti). The F nib writes smoothly and has a thinner line than my Biscotti Van Gogh Medium. My biggest and only complaint is the amount of ink I get with a fill. I hate running out of the ink during the day at work. If they could have only worked In a view window somehow. The body material has a different feel for sure. It writes beautifully.

 

I was shopping for either an Aurora 88 or the Homo Sapiens. Guess the HS won out for now. My Quotes tastes will just have to wait. I was worried I wouldn't Be able to find the Bronze version in the future with the steel age version out. My store told me however that they had not heard that the bronze would be discontinued.

 

thanks

 

John