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Swillyums
45
Aug 3, 2018
This is a pretty pen, but it's pretty garbage. Found one at a local shop with the wrong price tag, and they were willing to honour it at a steep discount. I went through a total of 8 that wouldn't write before giving up. Stood there with the owner of the store trying to get them to work. I think 2 did work, but felt like someone dropped their metropolitan on a concrete floor. I eventually gave up and went with a cheaper Pelikan, which felt great out of the box.
I highly suggest giving this a pass. I don't think a company that is willing to put out pens that often won't even work for these prices should be supported. My bet is that all the youtube and pro reviewers get cherry picked samples. Additionally, I bought a Rembrandt from them a few years ago, and it has stopping problems even after getting a replacement. I want to sell it and buy something good, but I would feel bad about offloading it on someone that may not know the horrors of Visconti.
If you absolutely must have one, send it to a nibsmith before you even open the box. Otherwise you may be spoiled by the fact that it performs far worse than any cheap Chinese $10 pen. Alternatively, just buy a Sailor, Pilot, Pelikan, etc. that will actually feel great.
p.s. the cap's locking system sucks. It basically just pops off, yet is a bit of a pain to remove the correct way. Compare that to the Pilot prera which feels like a pen orgasm to cap and uncap.
Hrharrell
181
Oct 23, 2018
Swillyumsare You sure they weren’t counterfeits? This hasn’t been my experience at all with the one my friend has. Most reviews I’ve read say it’s a great writer.
Swillyums
45
Oct 23, 2018
HrharrellThat's a good question, but no. It was from an authorized dealer. Further, it's quite well known in the fountain pen community that Visconti has awful quality control. This is discussed on places like reddit and the Pen Addict podcast.
Also, I purchased a lower end model from them that I've sent in for repair twice (ink stops flowing after half a page), and they just can't make it write.
These aren't issues with Sailor, Pelikan, Pilot, Lamy, or many of the smaller brands.
SwillyumsCould they possibly be using fakes?
Hrharrell
181
Oct 23, 2018
SwillyumsThat’s disappointin, sounds like you just have to get lucky to get a good quality one or just keep sending them back until you do.
A note on pilot, my falcon (got one of the namiki ones before pilot rebranded the model) is my favorite writer by far and I’m thinking about picking up a pilot custom 912 with the notched soft fine falcon nib too Because of it.
Swillyums
45
Oct 23, 2018
Pierce_Everett_NostrandI find that extremely unlikely. This is a large high end store that's an authorized retailer of many pen brands, including Visconti. The other one I have that also has problems is from a different store, also an authorized retailer.
Much more likely, there was a bad batch from a company with famously bad qc. As Brad from the Pen Addict put it: if you're buying a Visconti, you might as well send it straight to a nibsmith before you even open it.
I on the other hand say: if you're buying a Visconti, stop. Buy a better pen for 1/5th the money.
Swillyums
45
Oct 23, 2018
HrharrellIf you absolutely must have one then yes. Or send it to a nibmeister for them to fix. There are many brands with consistent quality for far less, so I really just recommend getting one of them. The best Visconti I've ever used wasn't noticibly smoother than my Lamy 2000 or Sailor Pro Gear. They do have some flex, but not as much as a flex pen. So when you're paying big bucks for a pen that's pretty smooth, sort of flexy, and probably won't work... then what are you doing?
SwillyumsWow that sucks... What do you think about a steel nib Visconti? Should I just not buy it, because I was planning on buying one but now that you say that I might think different?
Swillyums
45
Oct 23, 2018
Pierce_Everett_NostrandI certainly wouldn't. I bought the Van Gogh Pollard Willows, and I hate it. It stops writing after half a page despite being sent to Visconti for repair. It's not super smooth or exceptional, and Van Gogh is written in Comic Sans.
For the same price there are a lot of amazing pens that will perform better and have fewer issues. If this had been my first pen, I'd likely have stopped being interested in fountain pens.
SwillyumsHmmm, I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the advice, appreciate it.
Swillyums
45
Oct 24, 2018
Pierce_Everett_NostrandEither way best of luck! I hope you like whatever pen you decide to get.
SwillyumsThanks!
Emiliovillegas
19
Feb 13, 2019
SwillyumsIf you want a pretty pen buy Italian, if you want it to write buy german.
EmiliovillegasOr buy an Aurora with aurolide body, and get the best of both worlds – both pretty and functional.
freshmaker
28
Feb 14, 2019
charlizeworshipperAgreed, Aurora is fantastic. Pelikan is good too (I own an M205/M605 x2/M805), but their design language is a bit too rigid for my taste (and of course we all have different unique tastes :) Also, two of the four Pelikans I own had nib issues out of the box that I've shipped off to Mike Masuyama to work his magic. One of the four Aurora pens had an issue out of the box, so Aurora is ahead on that front. "if you want it to write buy german" didn't hold true for me.
(Edited)
Swillyums
45
Feb 14, 2019
EmiliovillegasI've had great experiences with German and Japanese pens at every price point.
Muizz
1
Apr 9, 2019
SwillyumsI've had one for years and never had an issue, same with my friends who have it. I'm sorry you've had such a terrible experience; but as an owner of one, I definitely can't concur about any part of this. The cap is also the most satisfying cap design I've used to date. It took me all of 2-3 tries to figure out. Opening requires slight pressure and a tiny twist. It will then just come apart. I keep mine loose in a pocket of my bag and I've never had any issues with it opening on its own.