August Sponsor Spotlight

The Montegrappa Fortuna Space, via Goldspot

Sponsor support is very important to me here at The Pen Addict. My sidebar advertisers put their faith in me to deliver good value for them month in and month out, and I want to shine the light on the best of the best for you. If you are shopping for pens, paper, inks, and more, please check out these great companies and see what they have to offer. Some recent highlights:

Pen Chalet received the latest from Esterbrook, the stunning Honeycomb with your choice of gold or silver furniture.

Goldspot has the new, exclusive Montegrappa Fortuna Space fountain pen and ballpoint, featuring a beautiful starry blue resin.

Vanness Pens stocks the full lineup of new Retro 51 pens, including the ultra-cool Space Shuttle Discovery model.

JetPens is loading up for 2020 planner season, with new models and colors from Leuchtturm1917 leading the way.

Visconti Breeze Lime 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 first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

Visconti has added another reasonably priced pen to their lineup and it's another winner. I've always been hesitant to invest in their more expensive pens (no matter how much I want the Homo Sapiens) because their price didn't quite seem to match their performance. And while these new models, like the Breeze and the Mirage, are still expensive, they're much closer to a good, fair value purchase.

This Breeze pen in Lime isn't actually made of raw uranium and I'm 99% sure there's nothing radioactive about it. It just looks that way. It's actually made of vegital resin, this color in swirls of neon yellow, green, and pearlescent white. It's fun and wild. This model also comes in plum, mandarin, lemon, cherry, and blueberry that are all less eye-searing.

It has a chrome body band with "BreezeBreeze" engraved in it in wavy letters. The cap has no accents other than the signature Visconti clip, which is nicely spring-loaded. The cap itself closes with a magnetic click that is very satisfying and fun to fidget with. It's also effective--I never experienced any drying-out of the nib between writing sessions. The cap does post securely, though it makes the pen feel a little too long for my hand.

The grip is in the same resin as the body of the pen. It tapers slightly and I found it very comfortable to hold and write with, though it can be a bit slippery.

The nib is German steel, available in either Fine, Medium, or Broad. This one is a Fine, though it writes very wet and looks more like a Medium. This is the wettest fine nib I own, and I love it. It has all the control and subtle feedback of a fine nib, but puts down enough ink to show off fun characteristics like shading and sheen.

The pen comes with a converter, which I easily burned through in one pleasant weekend.

I've really enjoyed writing with this pen, and its bright bold look attracted a lot of attention on my business trip this past week. I think a few new Pen Addicts were born as I passed it around for folks to try. The price runs from around $95 to $120 depending on sales, and I think that's fair. I'm even tempted by some of the other colors. I think this is another good move for Visconti. Easing people into the brand is a good way to inspire them to scale the barriers to the higher end models. I can already feel my resistance weakening.

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

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Platinum Plaisir Black Mist 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.)

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Platinum Procyon — a mid-tier fountain pen that had a very similar nib to the Platinum Preppy. At over $50, it can be a tough sell if you include the fact that it doesn't include a converter or any ink cartridges. On the other hand, the Platinum Preppy line is much cheaper, but they also look the part. Fortunately, the Platinum Plaisir is an upgrade to the thin plastic Preppy in the form of a sleek aluminum body and cap.

The Plaisir is a much more affordable alternative to the Procyon (and other higher end Platinums) that combines the best of the Preppy with higher quality materials in the body and cap. In short, it's a Preppy that doesn't look like a disposable pen. It's less than $20 and comes in a variety of colors, so you can probably find one that suits your tastes as long as you can get on board with the general aesthetic.

The outside of the pen features a thin aluminum material that has a nice texture that makes it grippy and fingerprint-resistant. The shape is pleasant and it feels great in the hand due to how light it is. The cap is a snap fit that works beautifully. Platinum call this the "Slip and Seal" system (same system they use on the Preppy), meaning the cap makes a great seal with the grip section so that the nib doesn't dry out between uses. I've let this pen sit for 6 weeks (on purpose) to test this feature out, and I was amazed at how it performed. It started writing immediately with no skips or fuss.

Moving on the cap of the pen, it is made of the same aluminum material and finish, but features a somewhat cheap looking band. I'm really not a fan of the band, and I think Platinum could fix this by subduing the shine a tad. It just screams chrome and detracts from the overall value of the pen. It's also quite tall, which could also be corrected. At first glance, it looks like a part that wasn't quite designed for the pen, but it happened to fit as a kludge. I've toyed with the idea of altering the band, but it's just not worth it for me.

On the plus side, the clip is exceptionally strong, which is a huge improvement over the Preppy's weak, plastic clip. Once you secure this pen to something, it's not going to budge.

Moving to the inside, you'll notice that the grip section looks an awful lot like the Preppy. That's because it's the same component! This is great because you can easily swap out the nib/grip assembly for another nib size. Surprisingly, the plastic section and nib don't look out of place next to the aluminum body. In fact, they dress up quite nicely.

Writing with this pen is exactly as you'd expect coming from a Preppy. The nib is smooth and reliable, and the grip is easy to hold and maneuver. I prefer the feel of the aluminum on my hand instead of the plastic of the Preppy since the plastic tends to get slightly slippery with natural oils over time.

Along with the pen, you get one single black ink cartridge. It's not much, but it's also a $15-$18 pen, so you can't expect much. Of course, you can pick up other cartridges or a converter to customize your writing experience.

The Plaisir is a good value as long as you can get over the aesthetic (I'm still struggling) and you're already a big fan of the Preppy nib and grip assembly. At the sub-$20 price point, any manufacturer has an enormous challenge when selling against the venerable Pilot Metropolitan. It's almost impossible to compete with the level of quality and writing experience for the price. If it's my 20 bucks, I'm going to pick the Metropolitan every time.

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

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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!