Posts filed under Fountain Pens

Kaweco Liliput - A little look

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I am a fan of pocket pens, and especially the Kaweco Sport and AL Sport. But I never really wanted to get a Liliput before. Maybe it was the diminutive size, maybe it was the very rounded ends (I have a preference for #teamflattop), I don’t know, but I was never really eager to get my hands on one. Until now. When Kaweco announced their new Spring releases, I finally saw a Liliput I had to have … or at least try out!

Earlier this year, along with the Iridescent Pearl Sport and Turquoise cartridge holder, Kaweco released a new color for the Liliput, Green (this is the most creative name they could come up with?). It comes in a Kaweco metal tin with a bright, spring green sleeve, labeled “Kaweco Collection”. The top of the Liliput cap also has “Kaweco Collection” written in white.

True to its name, the Liliput is a very small pen. The body is shorter than its Sport counterpart, the cap is also shorter, and the whole pen, but the grip section in particular, is also narrower. When posted, it is closer in length to the capped Sport, and even to a Schon Dsgn Pocket 6. The latter’s Jowo 6 nib makes it feel noticeably longer/bigger during writing. The Liliput’s cap screws to the end of the barrel for posting, as does the Pocket 6.

Kaweco Liliput — *I was surprised how similar in size the Liliput was to the Pocket 6 when uncapped.*

I’m one of those crazy people who uses their Kaweco Sports unposted but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do so with the Liliput. Turns out, I can, but it does feel weird after a while, like I’m writing with a golf pencil.

The Liliput is meant to be used with cartridges only but I thought I’d see if the mini piston converter was usable. As you can see, more than half of the piston is pushed in as soon as you screw the barrel all the way down. This was about the perfect amount to prime the feed with, so that’s what I ended up doing.

Like the AL Sport, the nib unit is screwed in, making nib unit swaps easy. The Liliput uses the same nib units as the AL Sport and the same nib/feed as the plastic Sports. As such, I’m not going to spend any time talking about the nib/feed/etc as that has been covered in past reviews. I have a broad nib and it wrote perfectly out of the box when inked up with Papier Plume Marina Green ink, from the 2019 SF Pen Show.

The Kaweco Liliput is a very convenient pen due to its small size, but its very slim grip may be uncomfortable for folks who prefer a larger section. It’s great for taking short notes, but screwing/unscrewing the cap for posting makes it a bit less convenient for frequent capping. Would I buy another? Probably not, unless it came in a must-have color (anyone know where I can get my hands on the purple one that came out years ago??). With a retail price of $60, it’s not too pricey for a metal pen and I’m glad I now have one, but I would much rather reach for my acrylic and AL Sports, and Pocket 6s.

(Disclaimer: All of the pens in this review were purchased by me. No compensation was given by any vendor or brand for inclusion in this review.)

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Posted on April 1, 2022 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Kaweco, Liliput, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Monteverde Invincia Nebula with Omniflex Nib Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

I first wrote about the Monteverde Invincia way back in 2016 (!), and today I'm talking about the same pen. The Monteverde Invincia with Nebula finish and Omniflex nib is a recent addition to the line, and I wanted to try out a new one to see how it compares to my well-worn orange and carbon fiber variant.

What I've enjoyed about my original Invincia is the dependability and all-round good and reliable performance and easy maintenance. It's certainly not the best pen I own, and it's not even close to being my favorite. I like trying inks in lots of pens, and I definitely go through phases of favorite ink/pen combos. When it comes time to test out a new ink, I don't always want to clean out a favorite pen to try out the new ink. And that's where the Invincia has never let me down.

The Invincia is "good enough" of a writer to do a great job at testing inks. The 1.1mm stub nib shows off ink characteristics wonderfully, the ink flow is superb, and it just happens to be really easy to tear down and clean out. I've used and cleaned this pen so many times that almost half of the black coating on the nib has worn away. Some of the black coating on the grip section is also wearing away. I keep coming back to it because I know exactly how it behaves.

If you have more than a couple of fountain pens, then you're probably aware that some pens write dryer or wetter than others when using the same ink. It's the same phenomena as using the same ink and pen on different types of paper. They just feel and act differently! Using the same pen for testing affords a certain level of control to keep the testing grounds even. I stumbled into using the first Invincia as a go-to test pen by accident, but now I can't imagine testing a new ink or notebook without it being in the mix.

The Nebula variant caught my eye because of the beautiful coating. I'm a huge fan of anything with a nebula or galaxy color scheme, and this Invincia just did it for me. I love the gradient that goes from blue, black, purple, teal, and orange. That was enough to put this pen in the cart, but I had to pick a nib first. I saw the Omniflex option and realized I had no idea what that was. Touted as a steel nib with a good amount of flex, I was sold immediately.

Upon opening up the new Invincia, I was immediately 100% satisfied with the colors and finish. After inking it up and testing out the Omniflex nib, I was also pleasantly surprised with how it performed out of the box. It's an extremely smooth nib and feels similar to a car that rides on a super smooth suspension. It glides over the imperfections of the page and reacts to the various pressure levels from your hand with ease.

Being a steel nib, it doesn't have the same level of flex as a gold flex nib (like the Pilot Falcon), but it's pretty impressive considering the steel materials. It's easy to add a little flourish of line width with light pressure. When writing normally, the nib acts like a fine, and you can increase the line to a bold with enough pressure. That's a great amount of variation that means you can really affect your writing style with practice.

The Invincia comes with a cartridge converter and two international short cartridges (one black and one blue) to get you started.

The cap of the Invincia is a screw on cap, but it only takes a quarter turn to operate. It's really smooth and secure, and I've always enjoyed using it. There's a satisfying motion and click to let you know it's closed.

Posting the cap on the back of the pen extends the length quite a bit, but it's still a great overall length for writing. The pen is well-balanced without the cap, but the extra weight of the cap doesn't throw off the balance by much.

I mentioned that I'm a huge fan of the color scheme for this version of the pen, but there is a downside. This finish is a fingerprint magnet! I find myself wiping it down pretty often, and it picks up new fingerprints instantly. I guess that's the price you pay for a shiny finish with bright colors. It won't keep from using it a lot, though.

Since this is my second Invincia, I knew what to expect with this pen (aside from the new nib type), and it's delivered flawlessly. The nib is smooth and consistent, provides a lovely amount of flex and variation, and flows perfectly. It's great seeing new types of nib options outside of the standard EF-B sizing. Monteverde has excellent stub options, but flex nibs offer a different experience and are uniquely interesting. It's great seeing this diversity and change in a pen that was already well-dialed.

The Monteverde Invincia isn't the best fountain pen out there, but it's a solid contender that is worth your attention. It's a work horse that just keeps delivering a great writing experience after plenty of use and abuse. I can whole-heartedly recommend the Invincia to anyone in the market for a unique and affordable fountain pen option. And if Nebula isn't your thing, there are plenty of other color options!

At $80 for the Nebula colorway, it hits the middle price point for the line, and I think it's a fair price for the quality, materials, and aesthetics that it provides. I think the Omniflex nib is definitely worth checking out, but you can also pick from more standard nib sizes as well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 23, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Monteverde, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Visconti Van Gogh Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Most of my experience with Visconti pens has been staring at them through the glass of a display case, thinking "no way" but feeling a little bummed about it. Because they're gorgeous, but overpriced. So having the chance to try one out at last is priceless.

The packaging certainly makes an impression. The box is textured like a paint canvas and has the image of a Van Gogh painting on top, presumably whichever painting inspired the color scheme for your pen.

My pen is the Orchard in Blossom, with a beautiful blue-grey sky base, with pops of delicate floral colors and splashes of green grass. The pens are meant to look like the painter's oil palette as he creates his masterpieces, and they've nailed that look beautifully.

It has rose gold trim, though other versions have different trim to correspond with their respective paintings. The pen body and cap are gently faceted and taper at each end. There is a wide cap band with "Visconti Italy" on one side and "Van Gogh" on the other. The bottom finial is plain, while the top has the Visconti V logo. It has the classic Visconti Ponte del Vecchio clip, made to look like the iconic bridge in Florence, Italy. It is a hinged clip, so the whole thing lifts easily and clips securely.

The cap has a magnetic closure with a very satisfying click. It does post securely, but you risk scratching that gorgeous finish. The grip section is smooth metal with a slight ridge at the end to keep your fingers from sliding.

The pen takes cartridges or a converter, and it comes with a converter and a bottle of ink, which was a lovely surprise. The ink is a rosy purple to match the blooms in the painting. It's a great ink with lots of character that shades in different purple tones.

The nib in my pen is a rose gold-plated steel nib. It is beautifully etched. But it has some mild QC issues, which is not unheard of for Visconti. This nib is meant to be a Fine, but whoa. The slit in this nib is very wide, a canyon compared to the average nib. It's enough to affect the capillary action and made it difficult to get ink flowing at first. But once it got started, it flowed like a fire hose in a very wet, broad line. It writes with a controlled dribble. It didn't take long to write the pen empty. It's smooth and pleasant to use--I don't dislike the way it writes, but it's definitely not performing as it's supposed to.

Given the nib issues and the price ($260 for a steel nib, yikes), it's not a pen that I can fully recommend, despite its other qualities. If you're fortunate enough to be in a place where you can try one or peek at the nib, or purchasing from a vendor that does nib checks, then I'd say it's definitely worth looking into. I still really like this pen. If money was no object, there are three other colors I'd get! But it's not perfect, and at its price point, it really should be.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!