MonteverdeImpressa FP Gun Metal w/Red Trim - Omniflex

Easily the best pen I have so far. It's between fine and bold, for me I'm learning to enjoy the line since I'm used to a finer line. I love the style and color scheme, it was one of the main reasons that I bought it and that it was all metal made it better. I did have a bit of an issue that the cap seemed to be able to be removed a bit too easily. While that is still true in the sense that you shouldn't be carrying it in pockets or throwing it in a bag, after some extended use I realized that there's a bit of a suction aspect to it, that it settles in before the click. Odd as it sounds, it's an enjoyable feeling of using something that's cooler than the usual boring hard click on and off. Removing the cap actually takes more effort (for lack of a better word) than I earlier thought, but it's still feeling like it could easily be removed by accident.It definitely helps that the box it comes with is the nicest one that's been included so far. Very solid with a strong hinge, I carry it in my pocket when I bring it with me to work. Lift the panel and it comes with warranty information and two pre-filled cartridges.The writing itself is very smooth, the black nib with the overall aesthetic of the pen truly adds to the writing experience. It is NOT flexible as advertised, which I'm actually glad for because flexibility isn't that much of a big deal for me, but it should still be known.The reservoir is a twisting plunger type, with a clear plastic bead as the tension breaker. The moving part is basically a circle with a sliver on either side cut out, I'm fairly lukewarm to this. It's not necessarily bad, but since the plastic is so smooth it can be hard to get friction on it at times. It works well enough, but a hexagon shape may have been better and still keeping with the aesthetic theme.The weight is good for a metal pen, it is a bit heavy for smaller hands but it's not overly cumbersome unless you post the cap.

I'm writing this review in part because I was a little dismayed by the number of negative reviews the pen has: as you can see, I gave it five stars. In his The Pen Habit review, Matt Armstrong complained about the loose converter, but I was so enamored of the look of the pen I decided to buy it anyway and was prepared to fiddle around with a loose converter to try to fix the problem. Well, no fiddling was necessary; mine is perfect, no movement whatsoever. Now I don't know if the makers have responded to criticism on the issue, but all I can say is that there's been no issue for me. I can't speak to the loose cartridge issue because I haven't used a cartridge, but I suspect that if the converter is fine, the cartridges will be also.I've had the pen for just over a week and have written with it every day, and my only complaint is that after I haven't used it for a while, there's just the slightest of hard starts. Once started, however, it writes very well, very smoothly. True, it's not one of those that lays down a line under its own weight, but it performs perfectly under normal writing pressure, which is very little pressure indeed. To me the line of the fine nib is consistent with most other western fines that I've used.Since I've had the pen for such a short time, I can't comment on the finish flaking, but I can't imagine that it would do so without abuse of some kind. And on the subject of the finish, this is a shiny pen, very, very shiny. When I opened the box, I almost took a step backwards; this thing glistens!All in all, I think I've got my money's worth.

Not impressed at all. I followed multiple videos thinking I did something wrong but the nib refused to write properly. I was handling it as if I was holding a feather, gentle as a breeze. The nib would always spread too far apart causing the ink to break into two separate lines and then refuse to flow. When it finally did flow it would only do so for a word or two max. I tried slowing down, this made it stop midway through a word. I changed my grip, used my other hand, even upside down which actually worked like a normal pen more reliably. With this upside down method I lost the main feature I paid for which was the line variation so whats the point? Eventually I started to see if maybe I wasn't applying enough pressure. This led to the nib bending so far back that it became utterly useless. Trying to bend it back didn't work so now I have a broken pen. Waste of $40. Watching videos of people apply more pressure than I did with the same pen and getting flawless lines is just completely infuriating. I was using Sailor Blue Ink in case someone tries to say I was using a bad ink.

The GoodThis is a gorgeous, unique looking pen with great weight to it, with or without posting. There's a very little bit of flex to the nib which is nice as well. The presentation box is a nice touch, and the two included cartridges and converter are nice. The fine point is comparable to other fine point nibs I own.The Not So GoodTwo issues keep me firmly in 3-star territory: the nib leaks quite a bit - there's ink in the cap every time I uncap it after a few hours of non-use - and not just a drop or two, but a good amount on the interior of the cap. Secondly, the nib is very scratchy and a bit on the drier side - I tend to prefer wetter nibs, so this might be a personal preference, but the scratchiness is hard. I'm going to try and smooth it out a bit, so we'll see how that goes tonight.I used the pen for about 4 months before it stopped working - it wouldn't write, and when it did I had hard / dry starts. On top of that the pen leaked ink, even though it wasn't flowing to write. I've tried taking it apart, soaking it, flossing it - nothing. From what I've read in the interim Montverde quality control is hit or miss for these. I still love the look of the pen, so I'm ordering a new stub nib to replace the fine nib - hopefully I have better luck with that.