Gravitas - Monster Grade 5 Titanium & Ultem | Stone Washed

I skipped the original aluminum Monster mainly due to fear of slipperiness. I've had issues with other aluminum pens and I seem to recall multiple reviewers mentioning such with the aluminum Monster. I heard no such complaints for the stone washed titanium one so I eventually went for it. I'm glad I did!

The large broad nib is silky smooth, the matte finish comfortably grippy, the vacuum filling system well made and the ink capacity very impressive. The body is nice and thick and feels suitably hefty. I also like the look of the matte finish. Matte doesn't seem to be quite as common in fountain pens as all kinds of shiny finishes (which can obviously be great too!) so it's nice whenever it's an option.

I'm not used to pens without any kind of roll stop but at least on my shall we say busy desk the Monster is quite safe from falling. I'm not sure if the Ultem in this one is supposed to be sturdier than the acrylic in some other versions or not but better be safe in any case.

Shipping was quick and secure and included a traditional handwritten letter from Emy. Thank you!

I was hesitant to buy a Gravitas Monster because I saw a lot of users online mention how fragile the barrel is. Essentially if you drop it from even a short distance, the acrylic barrel is toast. At this price point, a pen so fragile sounded like a bad move. But I REALLY wanted one because it looks so cool, its got a huge ink capacity, and some reviewers said the nib is very well tuned right out of the box. The positive nib reviews and the fact that there is an Ultem version sold me on this pen.

Instead of going with the acrylic barreled version, I opted for the Ultem barrel with titanium. I haven't dropped it yet, as I am careful to keep it in the padded case it came in, and I only use it when I am seated at a desk.

I got an extra fine nib, and loaded it up with Pilot Iroshizuki grey ink. This giant #8 extra fine nib is an absolute pleasure to write with. It is so smooth and so consistent across my fountain pen friendly papers. (Colorverse notebook, Endless notebook, and leuchtturm notebook) I love the weight and feel of this pen in my hand. I can only describe it as, "solidly and definitively present." But it's not taxing to write with it for long periods. I love it so much I have to fight the urge to buy the green Monster with the acrylic barrel.

I bought a Gravitas Monster Titanium and Ultem with a M nib. It’s really a great pen, a great writer. The pen feels solid, well made. It's easy to fill, it holds a lot of ink and, most important point, it writes perfectly. The nib is smooth, with just enough feedback; the pen is a wet writer but not too wet either; the nib is stiff but not too stiff, you can get some line variation. And the M nib writes close to a stub nib for me. One - subjective - point: the grip section is a girthy one, maybe just a little bit too wide for my personal taste. I’m adjusting, this does not prevent me from using that pen on a regular basis. The service form Pen Venture, Emy and his team, was excellent as usual.

The pen and packaging are great. Nice size and materials.
The EF nib was scratchy and did not write well at all (despite a request to have it tuned/smoothed prior to shipping). I took it to a Nibmeister who spent some time fixing bib and now writes much better. The steel nib feels a bit more scratchy than any gold nib I’ve used previously, but expected that from steel.

Where do you start with such a great pen? It’s one of those rare products, which seems to have been thoroughly thought-through. The size and shape are perfect, The nib is as good as it gets. Franky, the stainless nib on my Monster eclipses most of my gold-nibbled pens. The feed is wet, juicy and never starves. And the aesthetic design is fantastic: obsolete fountain pen technology brought into the 21st century. The Monster gets top marks from me!