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Hi, I recently bought a Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze, which is always oversize if I am correct, with a F nib. After writing one fill of ink with it I thought the amount of pages written was quite small, so I inked it again, and started to test it. It wrote exactly 5 A4 pages. Just to make a comparison David vs. Goliath I inked a Kawecosport vintage piston filler with a OM nib, which writes similarly wet, but with a slightly thicker line, and wrote the same text again. To my suprise, I wrote also 5 pages with this small pen. So the ink capacity of the Visconti appears laughable. How I ink it - I pull out plunger, then submerge ink in nib, push plunger, wait 15 secs, rotate knob back in, and that's it. I tried even with pulling out plunger, pushing it back in, wait 15 secs, then do the whole thing again, same results. Am I doing something wrong or is the ink capacity so puny?

The (Japanese) Elephant in the Room Pilot Custom Urushi I won’t bore you with the specifications, basic descriptions, or construction components of this pen, because they have been covered in other reviews of this pen. Instead, I’d like to tell you how I feel about owning this pen, which I received about a month ago... Long enough for the honeymoon to be over and to be able to take a critical look at this pen. Some background: I have been using fountain pens since I was about ten years old. I have a small collection of top-drawer pens, including Montblanc 146 & 149, Pelikan M800 & M1000, Visconti Homo Sapiens Dark Age Maxi, Nakaya Neo Standard, Parker 51’s and the ubiquitous Lamy 2000. I’ve always loved thick pens, and at my age, arthritis is starting to develop so I love them even more. I began searching for a new pen because while I was happy with the width of the grip on my 149, I was unhappy with its length. Likewise, I liked the length of the grip on the M1000, but not the width. I purchased the Nakaya six months ago and love the urushi finish, so I focused my search on Japanese pens. With some advice, I zeroed in on the Pilot Custom Urushi. I purchased my pen from nibs.com and was shocked when the card was personally signed by John Mottishaw, indicating that he set up this pen. (The other two pens I ordered from them were adjusted by his team and I’ve heard through forums that he is reducing his work. I feel lucky. Thanks, John!) NIB: The pen has a huge and wonderful medium nib, which writes very similarly in width to the Pelikan M1000’s fine nib. It has a touch of bounce, which is much less pronounced than my M1000 and Visconti Dream Touch nibs. I find that I have to pay very close attention to the latter two nibs because they require very precise pressure, which can be fatiguing in long writing sessions. I do not discern any feedback with this nib, which is slightly disappointing when compared to my Nakaya, but something I can live without. GRIP: The most important part of this pen for me and its main selling point. For me, it is utter perfection. It is slightly longer than the M1000, very similar to the width of the 149, and fits my hand like it was custom made for me. (Maybe that’s the “Custom” in the name.) The slight taper is very comfortable as well. I was worried that the gold band embedded in the grip could be felt, but I was pleasantly surprised that it feels seamless. I am able to write for hours without my fingers cramping or my knuckles burning. I couldn’t be happier with the grip on this pen! Here, the pens are aligned by the threads so you can really compare the grips: FIT & FINISH: This pen feels like it was made under a microscope. The build quality and tolerances are quite literally amazing and much better than any of the other pens that I own. When I unscrew the barrel to access the converter, I can feel absolutely no feedback. (I had to look to make sure it was coming apart as it was that smooth.) The metal bands feel cool to the hand and not plasticky like on the M1000. Under a loupe, the black filling in the lettering on the cap band appears to have been perfectly applied and the contrast with the gold looks really great. However, the black lettering makes the clip on the cap look cheap and out of place because PILOT is merely stamped into the metal and not filled with black paint like on the band. I would have greatly preferred the clip and band to match. Also not matching are the end cap on the barrel and the finial on the cap. The cap finial has a gold band while the body’s does not, and to me, it makes the barrel look unfinished and overlooked. URUSHI: If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that this pen was made of high quality plastic. I cannot easily discern what is urushi and what is plastic. It feels very highly polished and is one of the most reflective pens that I own. I ordered mine in black instead of vermillion because my brain has a hard time filling a red pen with blue ink (I know, I’m strange), so the vermillion pens may have a more pronounced urushi look. This also may be a testament to the quality and finishing of the plastic as well (no seams or manufacturing marks). I would have been quite happy to pay a lot less for this pen sans urushi, but do appreciate the amount of labor that went into creating this writing instrument. CAP: This is the most ridiculously, comically large cap ever. It is so big that I can’t store this pen in any of my pen cases, including my Montblanc single pen case made for the 149. (The case microscratched the cap while pulling it in and out.) It fits into my Nakaya pen kimono, but that parking spot is reserved for the Neo Standard. I found a folding pen case at Montblanc that it fits into, but because of the size of the cap and necessary storage case, I do not see myself taking this pen with me when I travel. A shame, really. FINAL THOUGHTS: If I had to buy this pen over again, I’d absolutely do it. While I have some quibbles about the pen overall, the wonderful feel in my hand and fantastic nib are what makes a great pen great… At least for me.

I have been fascinated with the Visconti Homo Sapiens. I can't really afford it, but my wife accidentally threw away my Pilot Falcon, and I'm infuriated. Because the pen costs a fortune, I want to get everything right the first time (wow, I sound like a Wells Fargo employee). Here is my breakdown ... MIDI vs. Oversized: It doesn't seem that much different in weight, and I can save quite a bit of money by getting the MIDI. Ultimately I decided, however, to get the Oversized, because of the Vacuum fill, which gives about .5 more mg of ink. At first, I felt the smaller pen would be just fine, because I don't write all that often, so all I would have to do is fill it more. However, I didn't take into account that this FP saturates the page. Also, I may end up getting a medium nib. Extra Fine vs Fine vs Medium: Naturally, I would choose an extra fine. I write on all kinds of papers, being an English teacher, so I thought I would get more use out of it by getting an extra fine nib that won't leak through to the other side. However, I have an extra fine Pilot Decimo that does the same thing, and finer. It also has a vanishing point feature, to idealize it for everyday use. Since this Visconti will be used with great pride, I probably should push this pen for everything that it stands for. It writes pretty wet, so I figured I should encourage that direction a bit more with the largest nib that I can tolerate, which I thought would be a fine. However, I've been reading a lot of interviews, and it seems that the Extra Fine and Fine have a load of quality control issues. All the negative reviews on Goulet, for example, seems to be about the Extra Fine. Other video reviews have complained about defective Fine nibs, so it seems that at the medium nib level, the complaints begin to melt away. So, ultimately, I've decided to embrace the medium nib. A Goulet representative also said you can't really detect a change in smoothness from Extra Fine to Fine, so it's probably better just to go with the medium, which she admits there is some difference in smoothness. Might as well go for the ideal experience writing with the "holy grail" of fountain pens. Bronze Age vs Dark Age This was a hard one. I do like the oxidized bronze and rock look. It has a classic Italian / Roman look. Just wish the makers chose another Latin name, like Pompeii -- a city covered in lava from Mt. Vesuvius. The Dark Age seems to match with the stone more. It seems very subtle, and I especially like the dark nib (pretty bad ass all way around), but ultimately, won't be as worn in as the oxidized bronze look. I also hear the Dark Age came out after the Bronze and the Silver, so I'm wondering if I'm getting a refinement compared to the older pens. Probably not. My question to everyone out there is, which do you prefer -- the bronze or dark age? One is newer than the other, as I said, so I feel like it's unfair to merely count reviews from each one on Goulet to see which is the winner. These are my main three considerations. Please give me your thoughts on anything to help me make that final decision.

Visconti is releasing a new Homo Sapiens, hopefully next week. It's made in black polished resin, with palladium rings and trims. Visconti said it's a more practical model, for a daily use, because of the material and the filling system, that here is converter/cartridge, even for the Oversize model. It's a bit less expensive, though. http://www.giardino.it/pens/IMMAGINI/copHSelegance.jpg

First things first: mods, if this is in the wrong place, please pardon the mistake and move it as necessary. I'm writing to gush some praise at Dan Smith (of FP Geeks fame) and his nib services. About six months ago, I bought a Visconti Homo Sapiens 25th Anniversary (variant on the steel age oversize), with the 1.3mm stub nib, from somebody here on the forums. I got a great deal on one of my grails, and the pen was in beautiful condition when it arrived. This was a huge investment for me as a new hobbyist, far and away my most high-end pen. I was nervous about it given the legendarily unreliable Visconti QC, and boy, this nib sure was true to Visconti form. It was like ticking off a checklist of all the problems I'd read about with the Dreamtouch nibs. Hard starts, check; skipping, check; crazy flow issues, check. I mean I like a wet line, but this thing was pouring ink. None of the typical quick remedies helped (flushes, try a different ink, etc - not even good ol' Waterman Blue helped any). I could never use it for more than a few seconds without wanting to fling it across the room. Well, I finally decided to send it off to somebody who knew what they were doing. I chose Dan, and, wow, am I glad I did. I asked him to do what he could about the skips and starts, reverse a bit of tine spread (don't ask), try and get the flow under control if he could, and narrow it from a 1.3 to a 1.1mm. I got the pen back earlier today and all I can say is *wordless noise of delight*. I finally, finally get what all the fuss is about with these pens. I inked up some Iroshizuku kon-peki (an ink I know very well and trust to be a stellar performer), put nib to page, and hoooo boy. It's still a nice wet writer but the flow is dialed in to "manageable"; the slightly narrower line makes it much more versatile (to me anyway); the nib looks sensational and writes even better. This pen simply dances now. What a treat. Best of all, Dan was a pleasure to work with - great communication, super fast turnaround, excellent customer service all around. I could not be more pleased...and, for the first time ever, I actually have a Visconti Homo Sapiens to write with instead of just stare at glumly! Any nib work I need in the future, Dan's my man. You can find his nib services list and contact info here on FP Geeks. Highly highly highly recommended. (sorry for the mediocre photo quality; just a quick scribble-and-snap with my phone. Mulling doing a longer video review of my experiences with this pen - and Dan's repair job - so stay tuned!)

I have always thought the Visconti Homo Sapiens was one of the most beautiful pens ever, not to mention the lava material being so unique. I’ve always wanted one and finally got it. However, I knew I could have a problem with inconsistent ink flow and wetness, because so many others had. I ordered the pen and it was shipped to Mike Masuyama to grind a .9mm Cursive Italic from the broad. Mike does wonderful work, but when I got the pen it was so wet I couldn’t use it on anything but super ink proof papers. Plus, the ink had no character, it was just super dark lines the crinkled the pages. You could actually see the surface tension of the ink bowing up off of the page. Every now and then it would just start dripping ink. I sent it back to him and he tried his best to dry it out. He said the issue was the spacing between the feed and the nib, which sounded right. For a few months I barely used the pen. This was awful because the pen is so nice, doesn’t have to be babied, and fits my hand so well. Last night I took the nib and feed out and was amazed by how poorly the nib and feed fit together. You couldn’t even hold the feed centered on the nib. It was like they weren’t made for each other. So, I took the feed out of my Noodler’s Konrad and cut a slit in it, to match the slit in the barrel of my Visconti. Then I inserted the nib and ebonite feed into the pen. The feed pushed the tines of the nib apart a little bit. So, I boiled some water and dipped the nib and feed in for 30 seconds. I pulled the pen out and used a towel to squeeze the nib and feed and held it there until it cooled off. The tines were no longer pushed apart. I had successfully heat set an ebonite feed into my Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age Maxi! I have been using the pen for the last 24 hours regularly and it is awesome. The flow is perfect. I get shading, decent dry time, and super consistent flow. Another side benefit is I am able to control how soft the nib feels. I like soft nibs, but with my rather sharp italic, I always felt that the nib was a little too soft for anything but the best paper. I set the feed pretty close to the tip of the nib and it has added a little more support and stiffened it up a bit. For anyone disappointed with the extreme wetness and inconsistency of their Visconti Homo Sapiens, you may want to consider installing an ebonite feed which, in my opinion, should have always been there. Ebonite does not repel ink and cause it to bead up like plastic does, lending to consistent flow. If anyone has any questions or anything let me know. I am not a nibmeister or a professional, however I can grind my own nibs, but for special pens I still defer to the masters. In other words, I think that this is something most people can do. The hardest part is cutting out the slit so the ebonite feed fits, but a dremel really helps with that. If you mess it up, you haven’t hurt your pen. Also, I have not altered the original plastic feed, nib, or barrel of the pen, so I can return it to stock form if I need to. Thanks for reading!

I've only seen it in pictures, yet members here talk with such reverence for the Visconti, I just gotta know...what is the attraction? Better yet, what's it like to write with one?

Hello everyone, It seems that I have been on the struggle bus lately when it comes to fountain pens. I let a friend borrow a Visconti Homo Sapiens Steel (midi). He took it and noticed that it was semi-flex... he then went full-noodler's on it. What I mean by this is that he exerted the same pressure one would exert on a Noodler's flex pen. The result can be seen here: What can I do about this? Are there Nibmeisters that can fix it? Tom

I may not have been sent on my quest for new pens by God, but I will still purchase them anyway! A throwaway Monty Python reference is always a great way to start off a thread... At the beginning of the school year, I made myself a promise to not buy another pen until 2014 (excluding my birthday and Christmas, of course). Since then, I have saved up money in hopes of pampering myself once I finally reach that time. The pen I originally had in mind (and have been working towards being able to afford) is a Visconti Homo Sapiens. This pen has been on my wish list since I started lurking on FPN in mid-July. The price tag is a hefty $560 from Fountain Pen Hospital (NYC .875% Sales Tax included, since I will be purchasing my pen in person), and I cannot conjure up this money lightly. Therefore, I want to be very careful how I spend it. As I mentioned, I've wanted this pen for a long time. I would consider this a true Grail Pen, save a few Omas and Conway Stewart pens that I am by no means able of acquiring at this moment. If I were to purchase this pen, I would be purchasing something that would be with me for the rest of my life... but there are some issues with that. Around a week ago, I started looking on the Fountain Pen Hospital website for more pens to drool over, an activity that has become a regular pastime This trip down wow-I-want-that lane caused me to think of other ways I could spend that $560. It also stirred up a lot of doubts in my mind. Do I really want a nib spewing ink all over the page? As as student, I have to use crappy paper on a fairly consistent basis. Do I really want to spend all this money on one pen... when I could buy THREE PENS? My friends are d*cks (the missing vowel is not a u), and they take my pens all the time. What if it was damaged? Of course, these thoughts are combated by the Visconti fan-boy inside of me. You're a Junior in High School, you're going to be saving up scratch money for college from this summer on. Are you ever going to put together this much money for a pen in the next 5 years again? This is your only opportunity to buy this for a very long time. Do you really need more pens? They're in a more realistic price range and could be bought easily in the future. Your pen will be made of lava. LAVA! And it's a vacuum filler... and it will last until the sun explodes... and Visconti makes the best nibs you've ever written with... You get where I'm coming from here. And so, as my fingers weaken from typing this novella, and your eyes undoubtedly flutter and become heavy from making it through such an arduous tale (unless you didn't read it all, you cheater ), I must pose the ultimate question that could have easily been asked in 200 words or less... TL;DR VERSION Should I spend my money on my muse, flame, and Grail, the Visconti Homo Sapiens, a pen I will most likely never have the chance to purchase again (until several years from now )? Or should I take a different route and purchase three other pens that would be easily obtainable in the future, but somewhat arguably a better use of the cash? (Note: The other pens I have in mind are the Pelikan M600, the Namiki Falcon, and another Kaweco Sport Classic. These will be complemented nicely by a dash of ink. At the FPH discounted prices, these pens fit the allotted budget I have made for the Homo Sapiens)