Gravitas - Ultemate Vac Ultem

recently purchased a Gravitas Ultemate Vac Ultem from Pen Venture, and I’m thrilled with both the pen and the shopping experience. The pen is fantastic—I’ve had no issues with filling or any wear on the Ultem threads. The balance is just right, making it perfect for both writing and drawing sessions. With my chosen nib and ink, the flow has been flawless, providing a consistently smooth writing experience.

Pen Venture’s service was top-notch, with fast shipping that exceeded my expectations. A personal note from Emy added a thoughtful and friendly touch to the order, making the whole experience feel personalized and welcoming.

All in all, I’m delighted with my purchase, and Pen Venture has definitely earned my trust for future fountain pen needs. Highly recommended!

This pen is quite substantial as you can see in the pictures, compared to a Pilot 823 which is already a large pen. Perfect for my hands.
The writing experience and the way the nib (EF) has been tuned is over the top. It's my best steel nib I now own, absolutely perfect. Flow is normal to wet, smooth, precise and just a tad of feedback.
The size of the section made the pen fit in my hand immediately at home. Really amazing.
The ultem is what I was looking for as I was already a fan of this material for my guitar picks.
It doesn't slip, it doesn't stick, just perfect control.
So why 4 stars then? The cap.
The cap had machining traces of threading inside where it's not supposed to be, the ultem has some sparkle in it as it was heated a bit in certain light conditions but above all, if you don't care, you could cross thread this guy very easily as sometimes you feel the cap engages the wrong way on the titanium threads of the body of the pen.

5 stars for the pen venture experience
5 stars for the pen itself
3 stars for the cap

First of all, I would like to tell you about the kindness and attention I received from Emy when buying the pen. He spend quite some time answering my emails.
The pen is very well constructed, the PEI (ULTEM) is well polished and shiny. The vacuum system is effective and allows the pen to be half filled with a single gesture. The nib... well the nib is a BB juicy and broad and smooth. No assymmetries. No baby's bottom. Lovely pen and lovely buying experience. (I'll add a picture with a small writing sample including the Gravitas Medium steel nib I also bought with the pen).

The pen is very well made, has a good size and sits nicely in the hand. It makes a very high quality impression. The nib tuned by Emy once again writes like a dream! However, I bought the pen for a different purpose. It serves as a support for a 14k ultra flex Jowo compatible nib unit from FPR with ebonite feed from FNF. With a flex line width of easily up to 3mm, this nib unit requires so much ink that you can't get very far with a cartridge converter. The Gravitas fulfills this task brilliantly. Constant ink flow without any railroading is guaranteed at all times and with the capacity you can write more than one and a half A4 pages that a cartridge converter creates. I can only recommend the Gravitas for this purpose! However, I have only tried Waterman's Mysterious Blue ink
with one drop of Railroad X per 10ml from FPR so far, but I still have to test whether it works as smoothly with other inks. Thank you very much!

Picked up the Gravitas Ultemate Vac, Emy also tuned the nib based on some input from other pens I’ve used. He nailed it! Pens perfect and loved the extra touch with the hand written note. Thank you. Looking forward to the next purchase.

I tried using ink as soon as I got it, and it was a little confusing at first how to use it, which was slightly different from other pens with similar charging methods, but it's a great pen that shows very good writing and flow. Although it's still nib, I think it's a good pen that's comparable to the gold nib of the Pilot Custom 823, which is already in use. I'm using it with leonardo black ink right now... Next time, I'll try using ink similar to barrel color.

It's only been three days since I used it, but what's unfortunate is that the screw line doesn't match when the lid is closed. If you hurry to close and rotate it, it can be worn out by the screw.

Other than that, it must be a fountain pen that I really want to recommend.

I have purchased the Gravitas Sentry in brass and the Gravitas Ultemate with the gold nib. I love the weight and the patina on the Sentry. When I received it it was shiny and yellow. I’ve had it for about a month now and it is now a beautiful caramel color - incredible! Smooth buttery feel with the broad nib. I love everything about this pen. I just received the Ultemate with a medium gold nib. With the Ultem and the ability to see all of the high quality internals - it is a beautiful pen as well. The medium nib is a very wet writer with just a touch of feedback - depending on how I am writing - but mostly very soft and springy. The medium nib writes like a very wet broad. I am really enjoying writing with it as it shows beautiful extreme shading with the Sailor ink studio 280. Emy provides a fantastic personalized service with a handwritten note in the shipment and is super attentive and I can not recommend him enough. He really cares about service. I will purchase from him again.

This is an extremely lightweight pen. holds a ton of ink, the NIB is ULTRA Smooth. Based on the feedback ULTEM is durable so I am expecting this pen to be.
I would highly recommend getting this pen from Pen Ventur. It was tested thoroughly before sending it to me.

These are destined to be daily use pens for me, I bought two. They are very well made, as are all the Gravitas pens I've used. Extremely smooth nibs and perfect flow. Both will be on their way to Chris Lim in Australia tomorrow for a grind as I do not like overly smooth nibs; I prefer my Sailor/Platinum and even Pilot and Hakase for that. I knew what I was getting and this is a part of the plan. For those who like very smooth nibs, these are truly excellent writing instruments as they are, out of the box. For me, just a bit of a tweak and they will be perfect. As I said, extremely well made, beautifully so.

I dont really have much to add that hasnt been said before about this pen. I agree that it is the best Jowo #6 and best Ultem pen on the market. I also agree that it has one or two design elements that could be better. Though the Vac 2 addresses the shortcomings, it feels like a completely different pen, not a refinement of this one. At almost half the price, I would rather buy two of these and have one as a backup.

I have made a number of orders form Pen Venture recently and each has come with a lovely handwritten note with beautiful penmanship.

Thank you very much!

9 months in, my Gravitas Ultimate Vac (B) is now a staple in my four-pen rotation, puts down a nice, juicy line and feels extremely comfortable for varied writing sessions and general brainstorming. I'm very pleased, Emy, and soon coming for Vac 2.0 😊😊😊

Fantastic pen that gives my 823 a run for its money. I’ve never gotten such a nice note from a vendor—like getting a gift from a friend. Pen shipped surprisingly fast to the United States and customs weren’t bad.

If you are even vaguely considering it—do! Great experience and amazing pen!

The best Jowo #6 pen body on the market. Just an overall fantastic pen. Delivery was also really quick. Im in the US and recived the item in less than a week.

Excellent pen!

This pen is nearly perfect!
The fit and finish of my pen is perfect, there are no gaps, chips, burrs, spurs or cowboy boots anywhere on this pen; the Ultem is polished to the point of looking like amber polycarbonate.
The filling mechanism is a vacuum filler system, but it has a secondary ink chamber between the primary ink chamber and the feed, similar to the system that an Italian pen company pioneered about 28 years ago.
The nib and feed are very smooth. I have a Fine nib, and I find the line to vary from Fine to Medium, depending on which ink and paper you use. The nib is relative wet, which makes it perfect for me, because I find Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue to be “dry” enough to cause hard starts and skips with most of my pens, but Gravitas pens seem to thrive on it. So, if you think this pen is too wet, try the Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue ink.
The cap threads…okay, yes, whenever you you force two dissimilar materials together, like an Ultem/plastic cap and metal threads, the softer material is going to wear out sooner. Oftentimes, that’s intentional; you sacrifice the cheaper/easier to replace part, but prolong the life of the more expensive/more difficult to replace part. It should be cheaper to replace a cap than the body of the pen, which is an assembly of various parts, glued together. You can minimize damage from cross threading when capping the pen by rotating the the pen and cap in an uncapping rotation, gently pushing the two parts together, until you feel the threads “snap”. Some pens may require a “double snap”. Then everything should be lined up correctly to allow you to cap the pen without damaging the pen.
On the plus side, the clear material lets you see how the precisely machined lip inside the cap meets the forward edge of the grip section, preventing the nib from drying out very quickly. Had the pen inked up, sitting on my desk, untouched, for over a week, and it started writing as soon as the nib touched paper.
Would definitely buy again if I lost this pen!

This is a good quality pen - exectly as showen in the photos on the website and has all the quirks etc. as described in videos. I love it, the qiality is very good and the extra fine nib on this pen is just gorgeous. I bought both this pen (at a great price) along with my Gravitas Carbon Black in Fine nib and I tend to prefer this pen for its dimentions and ease of writing. Few important things to mention. This was my first purchase from Pen Venture and my experience with this team was A+++. Their response time to queries, shipment etc. was the best in my experience. DHL as a complany is excellent in terms of time they take for delivery, but boy are they expensive!! their charges on this end (after already paying shippment cost on checkout) were phenomenal - more than the VAT+Taxes on this end in UAE. All in all very satisfied and will highly recommend Pen Venture and Gravitas to the community. Thank you to Ben Walsh (His accent reminds me of many years I spent in Dublin) and Pen Venture Team.

This is a great alternative to the Pilot 823 and honestly I’d pick this over the 823. First, I’ve tried an 823 several times and I don’t care for their nibs, which is usually the case with Gravitas but it appears they’ve changed their nibs. The broad nib on this was acceptable. Broad line and a big juicy. I LOVE how deeply and securely this pen posts. It is truly great in the hand and perfectly balanced. It’s also so easy to take apart if you desire and for cleaning.

This pen is exquisite and nice been looking forward to promoting it to my daily driver. Unfortunately, even with an extra fine nib, the line it lays down is just too think and wet for me to use.

I keep a bullet journal and my handwriting is tiny. This is definitely a “me” problem and finding a fountain pen for my use case was always going to be an uphill battle. So far, my humble EF Pilot Kakuno with Diamond Oxblood ink on Tomoe River paper has delivered the best performance yet.

I’m not giving up on the gravitas though. It’s too good and despite the broad stroke, it writes SO smoothly. I didn’t know what “buttery” meant until writing with this pen.

I intend to send it to a nibmeister to grind it down to lay down a 0.2mm line. It’ll take more time and money, but I think it’ll be worth it since everything by else about the pen is great.

The fulfillment was also great and the personal note from Emmy was wonderful. Just be aware that in the US, you have to pay for the tariffs to import the pen. It was about $45.

Got this fountain pen recently and I instantly love it. I thougt longer about buying it and black friday got me doing it. It's worth every Cent. It is a fantastic pen, extremely well balanced (in my opinion even better balanced than the Monster), has a superb haptics/surfaces and a pure joy to write with.
I love the hamdwritten notes from Emi in the parcels and you feel that the people at Pen Venture really care about what they do.

Ordered the pen for Fountain Pen Day. The first impressions are amazing. It feels very finished and polished and writes well. Looking forward to using it throughout the years.

Literally takes my breath away. Emy was brilliant - timely responses, tuned my nib(s) and answered all my questions. Have been travelling so haven't inked it / them yet but will get to it mid-week. Thank you again Pen Venture + Emy. Just earned a loyal customer..

...I had to et the Ultem version as well. I can't say enough about how much I love the UltemateVacs. They are incredibly well built, beautiful, and with the medium nib anyway, lay down a juicy line with no sputtering or hard starts. Get one before they are gone!