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Visconti Van Gogh Maxi - Ruthless Review!


TassoBarbasso

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Hi All!

 

Here comes a new "ruthless review" :) For those of you who missed something, my ruthless reviews have a few peculiar features:

 

  • Must be concise,
  • Must be strict, very strict. If a pen costs hundred of euros, faults cannot be overlooked.
    - A good pen gets a 60/100,
    - A great pen an 80/100,
    - An almost perfect one a 90/100.
    - Only a divine pen can have above 90 :)
  • Do not take into account the box, only the pen,
  • Add a few peculiar criteria:

- Nib appearance,

- Usability in shirt pockets (very useful for people like me who use pens in the office)

- "Out-of-the-boxness", meaning to what extent the nib was perfect right after leaving the seller.

 

So here comes the new one!

 

Visconti Van Gogh Maxi - Starry Night (old series) with 14k M nib

 

1. Appearance and design: 8/10

Beautiful !!!! Elegant, modern-looking but also original design, with some very finely elaborated details. People sometimes hate metal sections because they're slippery but this one has decorations that prevent fingers from slipping. Only issue: ink accumulates in the decoration when you fill it, making it annoying to clean :(

 

2. Construction: 10/10

Ok, this has to be a ruthless review, so I searched for construction problems... and didn't find any! :mellow: the pen is simply flawless. Italian design with otherwordly quality!

 

3. Quality of materials: 9/10

Again, it's really hard to be strict on this pen. Materials are very good and the acrylic has beautiful, understated shades that blossom under sunlight!

 

4. Weight and dimensions: 10/10

Hefty, sturdy cap and section, but ultra-light barrel: the pen beautifully gravitates towards the point. No way to get tired writing with this!

 

5. Nib performance: 9/10

Again, Visconti does a terrific job. This nib is smooth enough to please people who love butter over glass, but has a bit of feedback to make you feel the paper's grain. I absolutely LOVE it!

 

6. Nib appearance: 8/10

I personally like the "art nouveau" look of the huge nib, but for some people it might look a bit "Lord of the Rings" rather than art nouveau, so I can't give 10/10.

 

7. "Out-of-the-boxness": 8/10

This nib wrote almost perfectly out of the box. I only had to clean it from some manufacturing residues and it was good to start.

 

8. Filling system and maintenance: 9/10

Normally for converter pens I remove 5 points. So why 9/10? Because this is a screw-in converter, and ... it's customized! With a really nice, small, neat decoration at the end! :) Amazing attention to details!

 

9. Clip and usability with shirts: 9/10

Good, very good! Length of the pen allows it to fit in most shirt pockets and the cap locks tightly, so you can carry it in your jacket's pocket. -1 because the spring clip requires some time to get used to.

 

10. Cost and value: 10/10

Only 150 euros for a flawlessly manufactured, BIG pen, with a huge nib and customized converter and such beautiful resin colours. My suggestion is: forget the new ones, grab an old-series Visconti Van Gogh until there are still a few around!!!

 

Final mark: 90/100

Yes! This pen made it really difficult to do a "ruthless" review and fully qualifies as "almost perfect" :) Kudos to Visconti for a terrific job.

 

Now some pictures:

 

Nib:

http://s1309.photobu...5eb927.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/ViscontinibII_zpsd45eb927.jpg

Nib (2):

http://s1309.photobu...7fdb79.jpg.html

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Viscontinib_zps067fdb79.jpg

 

Pen:

http://s1309.photobu...a20a40.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Viscontiwholepen_zps92a20a40.jpg

Neatly assembled screw behind the clip:

http://s1309.photobu...a247b4.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Viscontiscrew_zps4ba247b4.jpg

Trim details:

http://s1309.photobu...8e560e.jpg.html

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Viscontidetail_zps4e8e560e.jpg

Colour shading (impossible to capture with camera :()

http://s1309.photobu...27271e.jpg.html

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Visconticolour_zps4627271e.jpg

DA clip!

http://s1309.photobu...860147.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Visconticlip_zps52860147.jpg

Cap band:

http://s1309.photobu...87d6aa.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Visconticapband_zps3187d6aa.jpg

Custom converter:

http://s1309.photobu...e5be9d.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Visconticonverter_zps55e5be9d.jpg

Lovely detail in the converter:

http://s1309.photobu...b1ed8c.jpg.html

 

http://mob1309.photobucket.com/albums/s633/Tasso-Barbasso/Visconticonverterend_zps8cb1ed8c.jpg

Edited by watch_art
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Guys, please let me know if you can open the links :)

 

thanks!

Fabio

 

Yep.

"The Great Roe is a mythological beast with the head of a lion and the body of a lion, but not the same lion."

My Personal Blog | My Creative Writing Blog | My Heraldry Designs

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I can open the photos, but they're rather small.

 

The Van Gogh Maxi is a great pen, and an even better value considering it's price. I recently bought one in vanilla white and it's been riding in my pocket for the last few weeks. I'd suggest that anybody who prefers dry nibs stay away from this pen - like all Viscontis the nib is tuned wet and (especially when using wet inks) may be too wet for some. I wouldn't call it flex or even semi-flex; however, the big 14K Visconti nib is soft, springy, and a joy to write with.

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I can open the photos, but they're rather small.

 

The Van Gogh Maxi is a great pen, and an even better value considering it's price. I recently bought one in vanilla white and it's been riding in my pocket for the last few weeks. I'd suggest that anybody who prefers dry nibs stay away from this pen - like all Viscontis the nib is tuned wet and (especially when using wet inks) may be too wet for some. I wouldn't call it flex or even semi-flex; however, the big 14K Visconti nib is soft, springy, and a joy to write with.

 

No idea how to make the photos bigger... anyone who's expert with photobucket? I signed up only few days ago to upload photos :)

 

I totally agree with the assessment about the nib!

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I can open the photos, but they're rather small.

 

The Van Gogh Maxi is a great pen, and an even better value considering it's price. I recently bought one in vanilla white and it's been riding in my pocket for the last few weeks. I'd suggest that anybody who prefers dry nibs stay away from this pen - like all Viscontis the nib is tuned wet and (especially when using wet inks) may be too wet for some. I wouldn't call it flex or even semi-flex; however, the big 14K Visconti nib is soft, springy, and a joy to write with.

 

No idea how to make the photos bigger... anyone who's expert with photobucket? I signed up only few days ago to upload photos :)

 

I totally agree with the assessment about the nib!

 

I can't help with photobucket. I use FPN's own upload tab for photos I want to post here.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/ihost

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Thanks for the review. I have the same pen. It is the only Visconti fountain pen that I really like. Fantastic pen. Had no idea there were some left. Might have to pick some up!

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What is the going rate for one of these guys? I'm very interested but am not seeing what is being said as an attractive price point (maybe I'm missing something)

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What is the going rate for one of these guys? I'm very interested but am not seeing what is being said as an attractive price point (maybe I'm missing something)

 

I've seen them for about $300 locally, which is an OK but not great price. However, the 150 euros (about $200) the original poster paid looks like a pretty good price to me for a well built and stylish pen with a large 14K gold nib. Most comparable pens I'm aware of (for example: Edison) come with steel nibs, with a gold nib pushing the price higher than that of these Van Goghs. The Pilot 743 is fairly close, but only comes in black with gold trim; whereas the Van Gogh Maxi is available in several distinctive resins.

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1363822118[/url]' post='2634861']

Own 8 of 'em and have to agree they're awesome. :notworthy1:

 

Oh wow! I have 1, the brown with yellow gold nib & trims in Broad. It was my only fountain pen until 3 years ago and I used it everyday, taking it everywhere. I'm ashamed to say it's had rough treatmentembarrassed_smile.gif but it still looks and works perfectly. It's definitely wet and chews through the ink but it's so smooth and the shading effects are awesome. thumbup.gif

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All mine are Bs and I'll put those big nibs up against my 149s any day. Awesome performance. :thumbup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Forgot to mention one more positive thing: you also get a free bottle of black Visconti ink! What else would you want? :)

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Excellent review - I have two of these, and I love them.

 

I also like the fancy screw-in converter, but therein lies a flaw: when writing with the converter installed, the nice, ornate metal end vibrates againse the inner wall of the pen - I find this rattling annoying, so I substitute a large Waterman's cartridge (which has a larger ink capacity than the converter, anyway).

 

I love these pens.

"... et eritis odio omnibus propter nomen meum..."

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Gosh and I was already on the fence. Appears I'm falling off... :rolleyes:

 

Thank you for another excellent and useful review!

~April

 

 

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem,

see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

 

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Excellent review - I have two of these, and I love them.

 

I also like the fancy screw-in converter, but therein lies a flaw: when writing with the converter installed, the nice, ornate metal end vibrates againse the inner wall of the pen - I find this rattling annoying, so I substitute a large Waterman's cartridge (which has a larger ink capacity than the converter, anyway).

 

I love these pens.

 

I don't get the annoying converter rattle with Van Gogh Maxi, but I do get it with my Aida (another Visconti that uses the same converter design).

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In the past few months I've acquired a Rembrandt, a vG Midi, and a new vG Starry Night. And I love each of them. But after reading this review I couldn't get over the idea of one of these Maxis. So after keeping watch over on ebay, I found one. A new, uninked Maxi in Evergreen, with the 14k nib and all the packaging (which frankly is a little fancy for my taste). Including shipping I won the auction for less than $120.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Visconti-fountain-pen-MAXI-size-Van-Gogh-Evergreen-resin-Gold-trim-/00/s/NjgyWDEwMjQ=/z/W7AAAMXQCtlRTcdU/$T2eC16FHJGwE9n%29ySdSDBRTcdTj86Q~~60_57.JPG

After playing with it for a few minutes I have 2 complaints, both of which seem easy to solve after reading this thread.

1) I have the converter rattle.

2) I'm having flow inconsistencies. But in my excitement I didn't do a proper flush, before filling.

 

That said, this pen is a joy to hold in my hand. And it's so smooth on the page, that I have to concentrate to feel the feedback.

"The Great Roe is a mythological beast with the head of a lion and the body of a lion, but not the same lion."

My Personal Blog | My Creative Writing Blog | My Heraldry Designs

http://dcroe05.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/crestdr.png?w=100

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1365116840[/url]' post='2650580']

In the past few months I've acquired a Rembrandt, a vG Midi, and a new vG Starry Night. And I love each of them. But after reading this review I couldn't get over the idea of one of these Maxis. So after keeping watch over on ebay, I found one. A new, uninked Maxi in Evergreen, with the 14k nib and all the packaging (which frankly is a little fancy for my taste). Including shipping I won the auction for less than $120.

After playing with it for a few minutes I have 2 complaints, both of which seem easy to solve after reading this thread.

1) I have the converter rattle.

2) I'm having flow inconsistencies. But in my excitement I didn't do a proper flush, before filling.

 

That said, this pen is a joy to hold in my hand. And it's so smooth on the page, that I have to concentrate to feel the feedback.

 

Wow, you got a bargain! I don't have "converter rattle" nor have I ever had flow issues. It's an awesome pen. thumbup.gif

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