Monday, May 30, 2016

Visconti Homo Sapiens Review

This weekend I finally had the opportunity to obtain one of my "grail" pens. I have had my eye on the Visconti Homo Sapiens for quite some time and now it is in my collection. I figured it would be fitting to review this pen as I am experiencing it for the first time.



The Visconti Homo Sapiens is quite unique as it is made from a very unusual material and that is Basaltic Lava. Yup, volcanic rock from Mount Etna in Italy. Visconti found a way to take this hard material and make it into a resin for pen creation. The material itself is hefty, slightly warm to the touch and it is a bit absorbant as it will wick the sweat or oil from the hand.


This model is a midi size which is the smaller of the 2 sizes and uncapped is 4.8" long and it still fits my large hands nicely. This is a piston filling pen with steel accents and these accents make this pen the "Steel Age". There is a "Bronze Age" and a new "Dark Age" version. The bronze only comes in the Maxi size model and the "Dark Age" pen is all black. The main drawback here is the capacity on the piston as it can only hold 1ml of ink. The piston cap is nicely accented and muted, which I like.



The best part of the pen, aside from the material itself is the nib. This pen features what Visconti calls the "Dreamtouch" nib and it is aptly named. It is 23kt Palladium and it is quite soft and springy. The writing experience is very enjoyable as the nib glides upon the paper. The ornamentation on the nib is also what one would expect from a Visconti pen.



This nib is quite a wet writer so I went with a medium sized nib. I normally like a thicker line and this medium fits the bill. I wrote with the broad nib first and i feared I would drown.



With the Visconti "My Pen" system, a magnet can be used to remove the finial of the pen and you can replace it with a myriad of options. I chose my initials to really make it mine. A nice touch.



Overall I love the pen, which is good as my previous experiences with Visconti have been less than stellar. Great pen, smooth writer and one of my new daily carries.

Pros:

  • Heavy Pen at 37g (if you like heavy pens)
  • Piston filler
  • 23kt Palladium "Dreamtouch" nib
  • Made of Basaltic Lava
  • Wet writer
Cons:
  • Rather pricey
  • Only holds 1ml of ink per fill


This review is based off of my opinion and experience. I am not being compensated in any way by Visconti nor do I represent Visconti.

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