I didn't mention it on the original giveaway post, but I am comitting to 52 weeks of giveaways here on The Pen Addict in 2018. It could be logistically challenging, but I'm game if you are! The Kokuyo Jibun Techo was the first, and look for a new giveaway every week throughout the year.
This week's winner is:
Congrats Leonardo! I'll be sending you an email to get your shipping information this weekend.
Thanks to all who entered, and stay tuned for next week's giveaway!
(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
The Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance is an over-sized pen made of black resin with silver trim. It is meant as a less-expensive option for those who like the Visconti Homo Sapiens style. Thus, the pen is made of resin instead of lava or special acriloid and it utilizes a screw-in converter rather than Visconti’s high-capacity power filler.
The Homo Sapiens Elegance comes in a standard Visconti clamshell box with cream interior.
The pen is trimmed with shiny silver rings on the cap and barrel, a silver Visconti finial, and Visconti’s signature arched clip.
However, the large ring on the barrel sports a matte look with “Homo Sapiens” engraved in shiny silver.
The cap uses Visconti’s hook safe lock system which makes it easy to get on and off and makes the cap secure.
Over-sized means that this is an extra large pen, measuring 145mm capped, 170mm posted, and 132mm unposted. At 43 grams, the Elegance is just as heavy as the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age which surprised me considering that one pen is made of lava and the other of resin.
The converter is a nice screw-in model with metal trim. It holds 1.03 ml of ink and is much easier to clean than the power filler pens.
My loaner pen came with the 1.3mm 23k Palladium stub nib. It’s a beautiful nib with Visconti’s classic scroll work.
Unfortunately, this nib is not a smooth writer. There’s a small sweet spot, but even when you’ve got the pen positioned correctly, you can hear it scratch the paper as you write (and not in a pleasant way). I found myself having to hold the pen at an awkward angle in order to maintain some semblance of consistent writing.
My experience with Visconti nibs is not positive. Out of all the Viscontis I’ve owned (and I’ve owned at least eight), only two wrote well out of the box. My Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a 1.3mm stub had to go to two different nibmeisters before it started writing reasonably well.
The nib on this pen is inconsistent and skips often. As I wrote with it over the past three weeks, I had hard starts that required pushing ink into the nib using the converter. For my handwritten review, I refilled the converter and started fresh. Even with that, I experienced lots of skipping and rough writing.
Although I like the resin version of the Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance, I think it is still priced too high at $595.00 retail. And, at this price you should get a perfect nib right out of the box. Honestly, if you want a Visconti, I’d suggest saving up for a Bronze Age (which is $200 more) or one of the more colorful versions. And I would make sure that your retailer tests the nib before shipping it to you.
Left to right: Visconti London Fog, Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, Homo Sapiens Elegance, and Divina Elegance
You can purchase the Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance from Goldspot Pens. Their retail price is $595, but if you log in and add the pen to your cart you’ll see a significantly reduced price.
Pros
Cons
(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
(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.)
Fineliners are usually fairly standard in build and purpose, but every now and then, one with a unique feature comes along. The Stabilo Sensor boasts a cushioned felt tip that retracts into the metal casing. It's not a feature I've encountered on other fineliners I've tried. I can't decide if I like it or not, but I do think it has its uses.
The body is plastic, the same color as the ink, which is always nice. There's an angular cap with a sturdy clip. It clicks securely in place and posts well. The grip section is comfortable to hold and not too slick. The ridges provide enough grip that your fingers don't slip when applying pressure to the tip. I do think it would have been better with a cushioned grip, but I didn't experience any trouble during short writing sessions. It does take a fair amount of pressure to retract the tip all the way, but I don't think it's intended to be written with that way. That would cause some serious hand fatigue.
The retractable tip is meant to help with writing comfort. It's also meant to enhance the pen's use with rulers and stencils, and to allow for a consistent line when applying different levels of pressure. It also helps preserve the integrity of the tip. I can see how the springiness would help with the life of the tip, where pressure will retract it instead of flattening it. Those with heavy writing hands may find that this fineliner lasts much longer than the standard ones. But I didn't get good line consistency with different levels of pressure. Writing with pressure created a much broader line--which isn't the intent of the feature, but was kind of a cool feature by itself. There aren't many fineliners that offer any line variation. It could be a fun thing to experiment with, though experiment may wear out the feature if abused, I suspect. Still--it could be a fun thing to use for a few bullet journal headers.
This pen has been available for some time in standard colors, and now the new sets include a fun variety--though the sets have three of the same colors (teal, purple, and pink)--and then the Bright set has a lime green and the Colortangle has black. The groupings seem a little odd to me, but they're also available as open stock. The ink is well behaved and the colors are saturated and bright. I could see this being a popular pen for coloring books, if they released a better variety of colors.
Overall, I think the Sensor is very useful and the unique feature makes it a bit fun and interesting. It's perfect for drafters or doodlers, and it's priced well to be good for office or student use.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
