Venvstas Carbon V Fountain Pen Review

[Pen_andy]

They look interesting. Looking forward to seeing the final version and the thicker V12.

[EclecticCollector]

if problems appear I'm there to look on what's wrong, I read the reviews and I keep the feedback, as again, there's a lot of room still for improvement.

 

Best,

 

Lucio Rossi

Hi Lucio,

 

I've been playing around with my Carbon V for a few days and overall I'm very happy to have invested in this project. This pen has a high potential, but it's clear that you were rushed to finish the pens. I can't blame you, people were certainly starting to feel frustration at the delays, but it's a shame. I really like the brushed texture on the brass piece in the pen itself, I wish the brass piece in the pen case had this texture also.

 

I have found the cause of two common issues I've seen reported, the leaking into the cap and the poor writing. The cause of the leaking is because the little metal retention clip can come into contact with the feed, this draws ink off the feed and drips into the cap until the cartridge is empty. I had to pull back the metal piece to stop the leaking. The cause of the poor writing is because there is a lot of manufacturing debris in the feed and between the feed and the nib. Once that is cleaned off the nib writes well, but you have to be brave enough to pull out the nib and feed.

 

I'm really looking forward to your future work, I hope you will take the time to make them perfect and not give in to the pressure of releasing something "now".

[rafapa]

Hi Lucio,

 

I've been playing around with my Carbon V for a few days and overall I'm very happy to have invested in this project. This pen has a high potential, but it's clear that you were rushed to finish the pens. I can't blame you, people were certainly starting to feel frustration at the delays, but it's a shame. I really like the brushed texture on the brass piece in the pen itself, I wish the brass piece in the pen case had this texture also.

 

I have found the cause of two common issues I've seen reported, the leaking into the cap and the poor writing. The cause of the leaking is because the little metal retention clip can come into contact with the feed, this draws ink off the feed and drips into the cap until the cartridge is empty. I had to pull back the metal piece to stop the leaking. The cause of the poor writing is because there is a lot of manufacturing debris in the feed and between the feed and the nib. Once that is cleaned off the nib writes well, but you have to be brave enough to pull out the nib and feed.

 

I'm really looking forward to your future work, I hope you will take the time to make them perfect and not give in to the pressure of releasing something "now".

Pulling back the metal piece does not make the cap loose?

Thanks,

Rafael

[Shubhranshu Das]

Hi, I'm still waiting for my pen to come and I'm glad that Lucio @venvestas is following the feedback about the pen.

 

This is not my first kickstarter ... most have been delayed due to various reasons, but have managed the communications so that the backers are not unduly concerned.

 

The packing is now a concern as I'm in India and the abuse the packages takes during shipment is at times unbelievable. Ive also lost three items in this process. The @gouletpens packing is the only one that seems to take the abuse and more and protects the contents really well... so hats off to them.

 

I hope that I can get some information about the despatch.

 

Irrespective of the outcome, I'll continue to back Kickstarter projects as they the innovation pump working and we can help new interesting ideas coming into the market.

[EclecticCollector]

Pulling back the metal piece does not make the cap loose?

Thanks,

Rafael

You must gently pull the metal piece away from the feed, so that they are no longer in contact. This should stop the leaking. By moving the metal piece further out, it actually makes the cap close more securely by applying more pressure on it. If you pull it too far out it will block the cap from closing.

[EclecticCollector]

One last thing if you are having trouble with ink flow: floss the nib slit! There was an amazing amount of "gunk" in mine (I suspect it is glue and carbon dust).

[VENVSTAS]

Hi Lucio,

 

I've been playing around with my Carbon V for a few days and overall I'm very happy to have invested in this project. This pen has a high potential, but it's clear that you were rushed to finish the pens. I can't blame you, people were certainly starting to feel frustration at the delays, but it's a shame. I really like the brushed texture on the brass piece in the pen itself, I wish the brass piece in the pen case had this texture also.

 

I have found the cause of two common issues I've seen reported, the leaking into the cap and the poor writing. The cause of the leaking is because the little metal retention clip can come into contact with the feed, this draws ink off the feed and drips into the cap until the cartridge is empty. I had to pull back the metal piece to stop the leaking. The cause of the poor writing is because there is a lot of manufacturing debris in the feed and between the feed and the nib. Once that is cleaned off the nib writes well, but you have to be brave enough to pull out the nib and feed.

 

I'm really looking forward to your future work, I hope you will take the time to make them perfect and not give in to the pressure of releasing something "now".

Hi Eclectic,

 

First of all, thank you for backing the project!

 

 

 

Well, your words are resuming well this pen, I have rushed but also there are some design things that I have to modify on this model, that's why its not available through the website anymore and Im putting more effort on developing other models like the Carbon T and the 77, which are very reliable pens; I think kickstarter is also about things, or products that are not perfect, they will be perfected, it's also a room to find things that you cannot find in a store, where a retailer will go for what its known that will work. I think that out there there's still room to make things different, even in something like a fountain pen, that's so much about nostalgia and tradition somehow, but, as a designer, architect everything can be different, and as a user of fountain pens, I still don't find a tool or type of pen different to a fountain pen that fits the way I like to draw.

As I have a lot of questions for the V, the V will be made again, I'll make a post if it's possible through this medium. I'll introduce some changes, specially in what you cannot see. The case of the feeder will be re-designed (I do the case in all models for that allows me to make narrower pens) and also the length of the section, that will fix most issues. The whole pen will be a different thing, as also metal parts will be fixed with screws and I'll introduce a new pen case model, plus a clip and a piston version of the V. The ink capacity of the piston version will be around 1.2-1.5ml for a 10mm thick pen, that's fair good. Going back to the words Im reading, feed back from people who are writing to me, blogs like this one, and my own use of a V, I have to say that there's still room for improving this pen and I just wanted to make a pen that's all carbon fiber, or at least as much as I could, not just a metal thing with some fiber to decorate.

 

 

For the indian friend, thank you ! Im shipping the last of them in the next two weeks, (I was ill for some time and had to make a break on things) I'll make sure it will be well packed. If ti was a ersion with the pen case, the pen case is very strong and will protect the pen not only during the trip, but always. If there's no pen case, I'll put special effort in placing it in a way it will arrive fine.

 

thank you for the backing. you can enter the site www.venvstas.com to check for new models, mechanical pencils, ink and accessories. some models are coming out soon,

Edited June 12, 2016 by VENVSTAS

[SpecTP]

Just saw the pen on Kickstarter.. I'm currently backing some other pen projects. These are damn sexy sleek looking pens.

[VENVSTAS]

Hi everybody, I'm writing here because I have no idea where I should write.

But I think those from the industry should write somewhere to make our products visible, specially things like what I have today. I think they fit the spirit of the pen collector and/or pen aficionado.

One is called the Magna, a 3.2ml oversize pen. Our first oversize pen. Still a fair slim pen.

The second is called the "Avance", advance in English, its I think the only pen ever that can be said it's 100% carbon fiber. another big pen, bur still streamlined.

I have many designs in carbon, but you always need some metal here and there, even the ink feeds are plastic, (not reinforced plastic with carbon fibers)

In this one, even the feed is not plastic or ebonite, its made of carbon. I have developed a design for a feed in carbon and well, after many versions trials and development it finally works. It's very similar to an ebonite feed. in fact you cannot tell the difference if you're not told. There's no metal in the pen except for 3 screws that are putting the whole thing together. The ink feeding mechanism is quite different to what's out there, and is what I think it's the best I have achieved in that field.It's very simple, you can really load and flush ink in a blink, again, up to 2.5ml which is enough...

Both are nice toys.

Nevertheless I want to present here two new models that are coming out. Both I think are more oriented to what could interest the pen enthusiast/hobbyist looking for something new.

Our models have been always more oriented to other public, but I see some discussions here about pens from me, and I have slowly moved into developing objects that are more to what I perceive this site more about.

Both pens are ranging from 2.5 to 3.2ml of ink, that's achieved because of the tolerances carbon fiber has. walls in the pen body are thinner keeping this pens between 11 to 12mm, you'll notice that similar capacity pens in any acrylic or celluloid are about 15mm or so.......they just have thicker walls because of the weakness of the material involved. Nibs are in steel as standard but they can be fitted with gold 14k/18k with nib customization (only for gold nibs) upon request.

check the site for more information on this and other pens.

www.venvstas.com

[VENVSTAS]

They look interesting. Looking forward to seeing the final version and the thicker V12.

The V12 is out, just made a post from it, although it's called "magna" and has a 3.2ml ink capacity.

just check the site for more info

 

www.venvstas.com

[Pen_andy]

The V12 is out, just made a post from it, although it's called "magna" and has a 3.2ml ink capacity.

just check the site for more info

 

www.venvstas.com

Thanks. The Avance looks really interesting, but it seems there is a small gap between the cap and the barrel, is this supposed to be the case? Find it personally odd looking, unless it is a mistake in the model photographed or an optical illusion.

[Federalist Pens]

Looking forward to seeing these great looking new items Lucio!

 

Frank

[da vinci]

The V12 is out, just made a post from it, although it's called "magna" and has a 3.2ml ink capacity.

just check the site for more info

 

www.venvstas.com

It looks very interesting. Would be great to hear more about he nib, see a picture of the pen next to say a MB149, see some writing examples etc...

 

Edited to add are you intending to display your wares at the London or Madrid pen shows?

Edited August 13, 2016 by da vinci

[EclecticCollector]

Thanks. The Avance looks really interesting, but it seems there is a small gap between the cap and the barrel, is this supposed to be the case? Find it personally odd looking, unless it is a mistake in the model photographed or an optical illusion.

The Carbon V (and its case) have this too, I believe it's a design choice.

[Tojusi]

The Carbon V (and its case) have this too, I believe it's a design choice.

 

I haven't seen the pens other than in pictures, based on pictures of other pens this seems to be a design choice and the "gap" seems to reveal underlying brass component.

[trulylefty]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I also have the Carbon V (the deluxe, which has the shiny carbon fiber). I really love the pen, and it works well for me. There are a couple of minor items. As discussed previously, there was a lot of "gunk" so it took a while for me to get it working well. Also, the brass that holds in the cartridge is really tight, so I wouldn't want to actually use a converter. My cartridges get very, very scratched going in and out. Finally, I end up needing to pierce the cartridge itself, as the part of the pen that should do that when I push it into the section doesn't seem to work well enough.

 

Having said all of that, this pen makes me smile every time I pull it out. It is really sleek and minimalistic. I use it unposted.

[VENVSTAS]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I also have the Carbon V (the deluxe, which has the shiny carbon fiber). I really love the pen, and it works well for me. There are a couple of minor items. As discussed previously, there was a lot of "gunk" so it took a while for me to get it working well. Also, the brass that holds in the cartridge is really tight, so I wouldn't want to actually use a converter. My cartridges get very, very scratched going in and out. Finally, I end up needing to pierce the cartridge itself, as the part of the pen that should do that when I push it into the section doesn't seem to work well enough.

 

Having said all of that, this pen makes me smile every time I pull it out. It is really sleek and minimalistic. I use it unposted.

Very happy to know. Yes, Im aware of the problems mentioned and that's why the pen has been re-designed. This has made huge delays for this model. And still is making them to be delayed in many cases. I have changed the proportions of the pen, so the converter or the cartridge won't get scratched anymore and the action is much lower, so it is easier to close now. The brass has been changed to 316 stainless steel. I expect the pen to be better now, also some other issues have been solved now changing the internal construction of the pen and borrowing some solutions from the car industry, (i have designed cars in the past) but this was to solve some issues on very early models. I'll be sending discount coupons to all early customers so you'll be able to change for a new one. Also a "clip" version will be out, I dont like clips at all so that's why I dont make much models with clips or clips are rather not conventional in my designs, but people seem to like them, so the clip version will be out by the end of the year to celebrate the first year of the design.

I'm very happy you are enjoying the pen!

 

 

[VENVSTAS]

Thanks. The Avance looks really interesting, but it seems there is a small gap between the cap and the barrel, is this supposed to be the case? Find it personally odd looking, unless it is a mistake in the model photographed or an optical illusion.

I don't understand quite what you mean, but the cap of the Avance has a very non conventional solution also present in the carbon T and Allure series, but more exaggerated. There's a cap that fits into the barrel. I first did that in a series called 57. But the Avance is a very non conventional pen (so it may look odd to some), from the filling mechanism to the overall aspect. I consider it my best design, aesthetically and technically.

[Pen_andy]

I don't understand quite what you mean, but the cap of the Avance has a very non conventional solution also present in the carbon T and Allure series, but more exaggerated. There's a cap that fits into the barrel. I first did that in a series called 57. But the Avance is a very non conventional pen (so it may look odd to some), from the filling mechanism to the overall aspect. I consider it my best design, aesthetically and technically.

When capped there is a small gap between the barrel and the cap, but since figured it is a design feature (I think). The design is unconventional, that's what i find attractive.