Leonardo Momento Zero Hawaii

[TSherbs]

...

If that's how you feel about a company's actions, which were decided upon and taken without you being in the picture at all at the time, when it doesn't know you are going to buy a pen it produces, much less your individual preferences and to what you'd take personal offence, then you're of course free to decide its products are not for you and/or you don't want to give such a company your custom, no matter what that means in terms of increasingly limiting your options in the market as a consumer....

 

 

My ability to purchase pens is limited by income much more than by my sense of standards about quality. But yes, I know my options. And we agree, the pen producers are making their choices. You agree with them; I don't. Again, the market tolerates only what the consumer tolerates.

[Karmachanic]

the market tolerates only what the consumer tolerates.

 

Good thing there's no monolithic consumer.

[TSherbs]

 

Good thing there's no monolithic consumer.

word

[DrDebG]

ssaini, thank you so much for your helpful comments! I am going to try the warm wash again and see if that helps. I really don't want to have to ask for two new nibs. I really want these to work for me.

 

Also, like you, I have noticed that they seem to write a bit better on paper that has some tooth and absorbency. I am not sure what that means. I use a variety of different papers - Tomoe River or Midori MD for my journaling, regular copy paper and engineers pads for work, etc. The Leonardos seemed to do better on the engineers pads and copy paper. So perhaps these will become "work" pens rather than "journaling" pens.

[DrDebG]

I was just re-reading the start of this thread and the others about the Leonardo Momento Zero pens. Many of us seem to be experiencing much of the same kind of issues - the nibs initially start out with difficulty but over time and with the right ink, they work out find. I think this is significant and something I think Leonardo should hear. I personally would like to see them succeed.

[ssaini]

ssaini, thank you so much for your helpful comments! I am going to try the warm wash again and see if that helps. I really don't want to have to ask for two new nibs. I really want these to work for me.

 

Also, like you, I have noticed that they seem to write a bit better on paper that has some tooth and absorbency. I am not sure what that means. I use a variety of different papers - Tomoe River or Midori MD for my journaling, regular copy paper and engineers pads for work, etc. The Leonardos seemed to do better on the engineers pads and copy paper. So perhaps these will become "work" pens rather than "journaling" pens.

 

Hi Debroah, thanks for your kind comment.

 

From what I understand and read, non smooth, low GSM paper will alleviate BB symptoms ( But I speak under correction). Also, the irony is that BB symptoms are more pronounced on papers like Rhodia and Calirefontaine, which are marketed as fountain pen friendly.

I sincerely believe that any fountain pen should work on any paper which can be used to ink. Of course, the pleasure of writing will vary with different kinds of papers.

[ssaini]

I was just re-reading the start of this thread and the others about the Leonardo Momento Zero pens. Many of us seem to be experiencing much of the same kind of issues - the nibs initially start out with difficulty but over time and with the right ink, they work out find. I think this is significant and something I think Leonardo should hear. I personally would like to see them succeed.

 

Momento Zero is altogether a beautiful pen, well balanced ( although I would have liked a bit more weight), section ergonomics is spot on ( for me at least) . It's really unfortunate that despite so many issues of Hard Start/Skipping and BB, the company has not yet paid attention to it.

When I ordered the pen, I knew about the issues so I requested the nib to be checked for BB and the issues that you mentioned. But still I got the one with a bad case of Hard Start/Skipping and presumably BB.

 

I am still waiting for a response from the Vendor regarding the posting of the new replacement nib, so that I can actually use the pen.

[Tseg]

They can get darn close. They just choose not to. An expensive pen that won't write properly is an insult to the consumer, often so googly-eyed over the luxury product that he/she will tolerate the insult.

 

Hah! Then I've been insulted by the best of them. Specific to Leonardo, my stub was one of my better writing nibs out of the box. As a matter of protocol, everyone should do a nib clean before first use. It frequently addresses many of these issues. My step 2 with a new pen is to draw the 4 lines up, to the right, down and to the left... and if I'm feeling really crazy, diagonally. It quickly identifies to me nib alignment/balance if I hear scratchiness with a particular stroke and not the others. The correction is a 5-10 second exercise. I can't tell you how many cars I've had that cost 10's of thousands of dollars that soon had to go to the shop for some annoying warranty work. If I were to drop all the car brands that were not perfection "out of the box" I would be driving a bicycle, or more likely, walking, as I would be the only one not insulting myself (and even that I cannot count on).

[Karmachanic]

Expecting perfection in an imperfect world is ....... (insert appropriate adjective of your choosing)

[TSherbs]

Expecting perfection in an imperfect world is ....... (insert appropriate adjective of your choosing)

Expecting an expensive pen to write well is not asking for perfection. It is simply expecting value for the price. And value is not an impossible ideal. But you are of course right about seeking "perfection."

[1nkulus]

IMO, price is objective and value is subjective.

 

For a given price bracket, certain models set a sort of benchmark so a new entrant not offering something 'extra' will look overpriced.

Now when you add value to the mix, the new entrant maybe perceived as more palatable.

 

The Leonardo is not a VFM pen but the smaller production, nib and styling bring interesting aspects to the table.

[como]

Whenever I become a little bit unhappy about the nibs on modern pens, I go back to my vintage pens for a little while. The vintage nibs don't seem to have the problems often experienced in modern nibs: hard-start, skipping etc.

[Karmachanic]

Your modern nib will probably be the same after 30 years of use

[como]

Your modern nib will probably be the same after 30 years of use

 

I doubt it but it doesn't matter, as I probably won't be able to write properly by then anyway, hahaha.

[siddr90]

Glad to see so many conversations started by this review!

 

Its been a couple months now and I still think its an excellent pen. Although I am a bit distracted by my new Conid just now

[ssaini]

Hi guys I've got the replacement nib and the new nib is working fine now.

I also had to do the tine alignment a bit with the new nib.

 

I was sent the nib by Frank and I can't complain with the service. The only complaint is regarding the QC from Leonardo.

 

I'll be uploading another video of the same pen in action soon and then you guys can comment.

 

One thing I wanted to ask was what effect does inverted grand canyon have on nibs where the part of the tines touching the paper has wider gap. I also got belomo loupe delivered on the same day as the nib. And out of curiosity I checked the original nib. And I believe it has the inverted canyon effect.

[TheDutchGuy]

I also got belomo loupe delivered on the same day as the nib. And out of curiosity I checked the original nib. And I believe it has the inverted canyon effect.

That's not easy to correct. It's not an expensive nib, so you might want to give it a try. Either you rotate one (or both) of the tines by a fraction, or you use 12k grit to make the slit exactly right. The wetness of the nib is likely to be changed by both procedures, which might make further adjustments necessary. Again, not an easy thing to correct. When in doubt, don't.

[biancitwo]

My Leonardo story just had a wonderful ending. I bought the resin with broad steel me at the Atlanta Pen Show. It’s the Hawaii Blue. It wrote beautifully for the few minutes before I paid for it. It began skipping shortly thereafter. It skipped nonstop until I sent it to Pendleton Brown. It came back with a glorious cursive italic. It flows beautifully and writes wonderfully. The pen itself feels like part of my hand. I love my Leonardo. Even without the baby’s bottom, it would’ve ended up at PB‘s before long. I love line variation.

[mikey_abz]

I recently bought one of these in Broad from Roy @ Izods - Brilliant service and the pen is one of my favorites.

 

[DrDebG]

Hi guys I've got the replacement nib and the new nib is working fine now.

I also had to do the tine alignment a bit with the new nib.

 

I was sent the nib by Frank and I can't complain with the service. The only complaint is regarding the QC from Leonardo.

 

I'll be uploading another video of the same pen in action soon and then you guys can comment.

 

 

Congratulations! I should be receiving my new nibs/feeds soon. After I get them, I will be sending them off for replacement, and possibly also having the old nibs reground.

 

 

I recently bought one of these in Broad from Roy @ Izods - Brilliant service and the pen is one of my favorites.

 

 

 

Congratulations! They are really beautiful pens!