I actually bought one 2nd hand off eBay, with the older 23k Pd nib. I only wanted the palladium nib. BUT..when I unboxed it, the nib tip/tines were bent a little. Luckily the seller did/does nib straightening. So I sent it back to him and now it's as good as new. A definite, 'must have' for any fountain pen enthusiast.
@@ichirofakename my most recent purchase, the Earth Origins Water was perfect out of the box but this is the first time that has happened to me. All my other HS purchases have had nib issues.
@ it seems that it’s luck of the draw with Visconti Homo Sapiens nibs. Strangely the Breeze and Van Gough nibs are better than the Homo Sapiens in my experience.
Team Aurora! I feel like they're very overlooked these days. That said, I do rec people try one out before they buy one because unlike Visconti, their nibs are kinda unusual on purpose instead of by accident.
I have the serialized one with the inkwell. I LOVE it and thankfully, it writes perfectly - and has right from day one. It is the most interesting pen in my collection and I feel very grateful to own it. It’s a very special grail pen! Thanks for your video - always love to see fellow lefty fountain pen users
Visconti has been plagued by QC issues for years and that's the single biggest reason I haven't added one to my collection, beautiful as they are. Given their often absurd price points, that's just unacceptable.
Thank you for posting this video! I already have a couple of pens in this price range, and I have way more pens than I should already so I am on a prolonged pen buying fast so I will not be buying one of these any time soon. Having said that, I have been drooling over the Homo Sapiens Bronze for quite a while. If I ever do succumb to the temptation I will certainly follow your advice to buy it from Atlas and ask that they closely check the nib! One of the things that is making my fast easier is that I am pretty tired of buying $100-$200 pens that whose nibs are not as nice as they should be while I have almost always gotten wonderful nibs on $5-$25 Jinhaos, Hongdians, and Majohns from China! Even $6 Jinhao 82s have almost always been great writers.
Thanks for the video. Its on my list but only the white one (I think it looks nicer) and I would only buy it in a shop to make sure I like it how it writes. (like smoothness and wetness)
Really glad to see this video as this exact pen (almost) is on my grail pen list. However, I’m looking for one with the palladium nib, so it has to be used and hopefully with a properly adjusted nib. Thanks for your thoughts.
When you pay that much money for a pen, it should write perfectly out of box or send back to company for nib adjustments. That’s one reason for purchasing expensive pens at time u try them (at shop or pen show)
I've had one for several years now. Mine's a fine nib, which writes more like a medium. I thought your complaint was going to be that your medium wrote too fat/wet! Note that you need to open the vacuum feed to keep the ink flowing after you've used-up ink in the nib and lower reservoir from filling. This is common with vacuum fillers. Enjoy it!
Thanks for sharing. I had the exact same problem. With two Homo sapiens! I had the first one returned to the retailer, and the second one returned directly to Visconti. Visconti did not find anything wrong with the nib they said, but once returned it worked. So they must have done something! I am also considering having a nib maister look at the nib, but in general I refuse to pay more money to make such an expensive pen/nib really work the way it should.
The Homo sapiens earth origins write flawlessly out of the box. Thank you for the review. I’ve wanted the volcano version but the reviews keep me away.
The Homo Sapiens is a great grail pen for a reason but it is not perfect. I have a 75% nib failure rate straight out the box on the Homo Sapiens I’ve bought. My Bronze Age sat in a pen case for well over a year because it didn’t write properly. Mine was very dry, it wrote like a fine despite being a broad. It would also sing when writing. I had two nibmeisters tune it and now it works perfectly. I also had my Dark Age tuned as well. My fine nib was also incredibly dry. There are several retailers that will check and tune your nib before sending it to you once you purchase it. Atlas and Appelboom in The Netherlands are just two examples. Despite the nib QC issues, I absolutely adore my Homo Sapiens you just need to accept that you need to get the nib checked and tuned at purchase or go to a nibmeister to get it tuned perfectly for your specification. In my opinion, it’s worth it for such an amazing writing instrument.
I'm glad you are happy with yours. I personally find it deal-breakingly inexcusable that they don't just hire their own nib meister to tune each nib on the way out, like Franklin-Christoph does on their $150 pens. But then again Visconti seems to be doing just fine without my unsolicited advice.
I bought a Ferrari straight from Italy. It didn't start so it stayed in my garage for a year. How silly to spend such money on an item that works poorly. Visconti seems not to care for QC. For shame. Since I never pay for shipping you can see I'll be buying such a costly poorly working item. I guess some have money to burn .
@@ichirofakename I agree but their pens are stunning and a lot of people are willing to put up with this inconvenience. However, Visconti has taken note of the QC issues and switched from the dreamtouch Palladium nibs to gold nibs for better consistency and quality out of the box.
@@LisaPottinger Some people lilke the outside, some like the inside. I'm an insider, focussed on the nib. That's why I have 19 Sailors, not one of which has had any nib issue. And I'll be the first to admit that as a result I have a LOT of boring black pens.
@@herrsteppenwolf I bought my Bronze Age used but in mint condition with over 50% off the retail price. Even adding £60 for two nibmeisters to tune the nib, this is still good value considering the cost of the pen. I love the design, unique materials, beauty and build quality of the Homo Sapiens so I’m prepared to go the extra mile. This approach may not be for everyone, especially considering the high cost of the pen but it works for me. Waiting a year to get the nib perfectly tuned wasn’t a hardship for me as I have hundreds of pens in my collection that I could use in the meantime. Now I have a perfectly tuned “Ferrari” at an amazing price that is an excellent writer that gives me joy and a pleasurable writing experience. You might say it’s silly, I’ll say to each his own.
I got a Homo Sapiens bronze with the updated gold nib. Everything was perfect except for the nib. Had to send it off to a nibmeister and got it back, now my favorite pen
Mine is ridiculously wet for a medium, and it puts down a very thick wet line. I was using it with Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki, but have recently bought a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue to see if it improves
Mine too! My medium gold nib writes smooth as silk with a beautiful bounce, with a very juicy line. It was bought at the Visconti shop in Florence and given to me as a gift. I’m using it with Visconti Sepia ink, which came with it. No pen in my collection feels like this one. Love it. I may get the nib tuned or ground in the future, but only to fit my writing style better.
this is my grail pen... but honestly quality matters too much. Specially for a pen, it should write. I am slowly gravitating to the sailor kop as a grail pen. It makes sense. Sailor has amazing writing experience and its a cartidge converter. It will not break and should work everyday.
And that is why I will never get a Visconti... As pretty as they are, for this amount of money each and every one needs to write perfectly out of the box. They don't care about the customer, so why should I care about them?
I'd spend my money on a Pelikan M800 or M1000. Tougher, more reliable, top notch engineering and a bit cheaper. I had a Visconti Homo Sapiens some time ago. I sold it after an unacceptable writing experience. No more Viscontis for me, I'm afraid.
I bought one after I received a bonus at work. It took two nibmeisters to even get it to the point where it writes "average" - it's not amazing, and it's definitely not "buy new price" amazing. I love touching it, I love playing with it while watching TH-cam videos or listening to lectures, and when the time comes to make notes, I'll put it down and get a reliable Japanese or German pen. It's overhyped, far too expensive and I won't be buying any more from Visconti even though their pens are beautiful. But I take a drab/boring looking 2nd-hand Montblanc or Pelikan (or any Pilot or Platinum) any time over the HS range. Hell, every single Esterbrook steel nib has written out of the box and been smoother and more fun than the HS Dark Age. I'm majorly annoyed.
Undeniably, Dylan, this range of pens are aesthetically pleasing; that said, the most obvious aspect of a decent fountain pen is that it performs straight out of the box. I've crunched the numbers on nib failure with the 'Sapiens - eighty per cent are not even close to being engineered to write properly - & bear in mind, if you're spending that sort of money on an apparently high-end scribe, the last thing you want to be doing is refining it yourself. Most of my pen collection are vintage models, so they've taking a bit of a beating over, say, fofty years plus - that's an acceptable period of time to refurbish. My local FP club have several members who have bought the Homo Sapiens & immediately regretted it - numerous returns to factory et al; now, either they, as a family-run business, cannot be bothered to improve their quality control - or they're implacably arrogant - whichever it is, I wouldn't touch any of their pens with a bargepole..but hey, each to their own. Thank you for the candid overview !
Somehow this makes me want to boycott Visconti, even though I adore the design... when do they learn that quality controls are important? Literally everybody complains about their quality control.
Over.Rated.Pen. Any Sailor, or Pilot fountain pen will sweep that pen right under the rug. Ask me how I know. $800.00 down the drain, waste of money for a pen made out of >>> coal 😅
I actually bought one 2nd hand off eBay, with the older 23k Pd nib. I only wanted the palladium nib. BUT..when I unboxed it, the nib tip/tines were bent a little. Luckily the seller did/does nib straightening. So I sent it back to him and now it's as good as new. A definite, 'must have' for any fountain pen enthusiast.
And here I heard a rumor that Visconti had finally learned how to make nibs that worked out of the box.
Bought one 2 years ago and as of 2 years ago, they really haven't.
@@ichirofakename my most recent purchase, the Earth Origins Water was perfect out of the box but this is the first time that has happened to me. All my other HS purchases have had nib issues.
I have 4 Visconti, 2 Homosapiens, and 2 Breeze, and they all write well. They are all newer versions.
@ it seems that it’s luck of the draw with Visconti Homo Sapiens nibs. Strangely the Breeze and Van Gough nibs are better than the Homo Sapiens in my experience.
@@LisaPottinger How weird is that?
I purged my Homosapiens. Honestly, I was very underwhelmed. My nib was very imperfect. My vote for an Italian pen is Aurora. Cheers!
Team Aurora! I feel like they're very overlooked these days. That said, I do rec people try one out before they buy one because unlike Visconti, their nibs are kinda unusual on purpose instead of by accident.
@@1mrgoodman I love my Auroras too. The ones I have (88, Talentum and Duocart) are great writers.
How is Leonardo in this Italian race??
@@dostoevsky90 They started using Jowo nibs in 2021 so, however you feel about those is your answer.
I have the serialized one with the inkwell. I LOVE it and thankfully, it writes perfectly - and has right from day one. It is the most interesting pen in my collection and I feel very grateful to own it. It’s a very special grail pen! Thanks for your video - always love to see fellow lefty fountain pen users
Visconti has been plagued by QC issues for years and that's the single biggest reason I haven't added one to my collection, beautiful as they are. Given their often absurd price points, that's just unacceptable.
They really make attractive pens, but I'm with you. I think the QC is disrespectful. They clearly think they don't have to impress anyone.
Thank you for posting this video! I already have a couple of pens in this price range, and I have way more pens than I should already so I am on a prolonged pen buying fast so I will not be buying one of these any time soon. Having said that, I have been drooling over the Homo Sapiens Bronze for quite a while. If I ever do succumb to the temptation I will certainly follow your advice to buy it from Atlas and ask that they closely check the nib! One of the things that is making my fast easier is that I am pretty tired of buying $100-$200 pens that whose nibs are not as nice as they should be while I have almost always gotten wonderful nibs on $5-$25 Jinhaos, Hongdians, and Majohns from China! Even $6 Jinhao 82s have almost always been great writers.
Thanks for the video. Its on my list but only the white one (I think it looks nicer) and I would only buy it in a shop to make sure I like it how it writes. (like smoothness and wetness)
I love the white one, but quite concerned about staining which is probably unavoidable
Really glad to see this video as this exact pen (almost) is on my grail pen list. However, I’m looking for one with the palladium nib, so it has to be used and hopefully with a properly adjusted nib. Thanks for your thoughts.
When you pay that much money for a pen, it should write perfectly out of box or send back to company for nib adjustments. That’s one reason for purchasing expensive pens at time u try them (at shop or pen show)
I've had one for several years now. Mine's a fine nib, which writes more like a medium. I thought your complaint was going to be that your medium wrote too fat/wet! Note that you need to open the vacuum feed to keep the ink flowing after you've used-up ink in the nib and lower reservoir from filling. This is common with vacuum fillers. Enjoy it!
Thanks for sharing. I had the exact same problem. With two Homo sapiens! I had the first one returned to the retailer, and the second one returned directly to Visconti. Visconti did not find anything wrong with the nib they said, but once returned it worked. So they must have done something! I am also considering having a nib maister look at the nib, but in general I refuse to pay more money to make such an expensive pen/nib really work the way it should.
The Homo sapiens earth origins write flawlessly out of the box. Thank you for the review. I’ve wanted the volcano version but the reviews keep me away.
Humm… I understand tunning a nib to your own personal style. A dry nib in such an expensive pen is unacceptable.
The Homo Sapiens is a great grail pen for a reason but it is not perfect. I have a 75% nib failure rate straight out the box on the Homo Sapiens I’ve bought. My Bronze Age sat in a pen case for well over a year because it didn’t write properly. Mine was very dry, it wrote like a fine despite being a broad. It would also sing when writing. I had two nibmeisters tune it and now it works perfectly. I also had my Dark Age tuned as well. My fine nib was also incredibly dry. There are several retailers that will check and tune your nib before sending it to you once you purchase it. Atlas and Appelboom in The Netherlands are just two examples. Despite the nib QC issues, I absolutely adore my Homo Sapiens you just need to accept that you need to get the nib checked and tuned at purchase or go to a nibmeister to get it tuned perfectly for your specification. In my opinion, it’s worth it for such an amazing writing instrument.
I'm glad you are happy with yours. I personally find it deal-breakingly inexcusable that they don't just hire their own nib meister to tune each nib on the way out, like Franklin-Christoph does on their $150 pens. But then again Visconti seems to be doing just fine without my unsolicited advice.
I bought a Ferrari straight from Italy. It didn't start so it stayed in my garage for a year. How silly to spend such money on an item that works poorly. Visconti seems not to care for QC. For shame. Since I never pay for shipping you can see I'll be buying such a costly poorly working item. I guess some have money to burn .
@@ichirofakename I agree but their pens are stunning and a lot of people are willing to put up with this inconvenience. However, Visconti has taken note of the QC issues and switched from the dreamtouch Palladium nibs to gold nibs for better consistency and quality out of the box.
@@LisaPottinger Some people lilke the outside, some like the inside. I'm an insider, focussed on the nib. That's why I have 19 Sailors, not one of which has had any nib issue. And I'll be the first to admit that as a result I have a LOT of boring black pens.
@@herrsteppenwolf I bought my Bronze Age used but in mint condition with over 50% off the retail price. Even adding £60 for two nibmeisters to tune the nib, this is still good value considering the cost of the pen. I love the design, unique materials, beauty and build quality of the Homo Sapiens so I’m prepared to go the extra mile. This approach may not be for everyone, especially considering the high cost of the pen but it works for me. Waiting a year to get the nib perfectly tuned wasn’t a hardship for me as I have hundreds of pens in my collection that I could use in the meantime. Now I have a perfectly tuned “Ferrari” at an amazing price that is an excellent writer that gives me joy and a pleasurable writing experience. You might say it’s silly, I’ll say to each his own.
I got a Homo Sapiens bronze with the updated gold nib. Everything was perfect except for the nib. Had to send it off to a nibmeister and got it back, now my favorite pen
Mine is ridiculously wet for a medium, and it puts down a very thick wet line. I was using it with Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki, but have recently bought a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue to see if it improves
Mine too! My medium gold nib writes smooth as silk with a beautiful bounce, with a very juicy line. It was bought at the Visconti shop in Florence and given to me as a gift. I’m using it with Visconti Sepia ink, which came with it. No pen in my collection feels like this one. Love it. I may get the nib tuned or ground in the future, but only to fit my writing style better.
this is my grail pen... but honestly quality matters too much. Specially for a pen, it should write. I am slowly gravitating to the sailor kop as a grail pen. It makes sense. Sailor has amazing writing experience and its a cartidge converter. It will not break and should work everyday.
My silver age Visconti and van Gough version were both perfect out of the box, so surprised to see these comments.
And that is why I will never get a Visconti... As pretty as they are, for this amount of money each and every one needs to write perfectly out of the box. They don't care about the customer, so why should I care about them?
I'd spend my money on a Pelikan M800 or M1000. Tougher, more reliable, top notch engineering and a bit cheaper. I had a Visconti Homo Sapiens some time ago. I sold it after an unacceptable writing experience. No more Viscontis for me, I'm afraid.
I will get a pelican M1000 at some point I am sure
I bought one after I received a bonus at work. It took two nibmeisters to even get it to the point where it writes "average" - it's not amazing, and it's definitely not "buy new price" amazing. I love touching it, I love playing with it while watching TH-cam videos or listening to lectures, and when the time comes to make notes, I'll put it down and get a reliable Japanese or German pen. It's overhyped, far too expensive and I won't be buying any more from Visconti even though their pens are beautiful. But I take a drab/boring looking 2nd-hand Montblanc or Pelikan (or any Pilot or Platinum) any time over the HS range. Hell, every single Esterbrook steel nib has written out of the box and been smoother and more fun than the HS Dark Age. I'm majorly annoyed.
Undeniably, Dylan, this range of pens are aesthetically pleasing; that said, the most obvious aspect of a decent fountain pen is that it performs straight out of the box. I've crunched the numbers on nib failure with the 'Sapiens - eighty per cent are not even close to being engineered to write properly - & bear in mind, if you're spending that sort of money on an apparently high-end scribe, the last thing you want to be doing is refining it yourself. Most of my pen collection are vintage models, so they've taking a bit of a beating over, say, fofty years plus - that's an acceptable period of time to refurbish. My local FP club have several members who have bought the Homo Sapiens & immediately regretted it - numerous returns to factory et al; now, either they, as a family-run business, cannot be bothered to improve their quality control - or they're implacably arrogant - whichever it is, I wouldn't touch any of their pens with a bargepole..but hey, each to their own. Thank you for the candid overview !
Somehow this makes me want to boycott Visconti, even though I adore the design... when do they learn that quality controls are important? Literally everybody complains about their quality control.
Over.Rated.Pen. Any Sailor, or Pilot fountain pen will sweep that pen right under the rug.
Ask me how I know. $800.00 down the drain, waste of money for a pen made out of >>> coal 😅