Gravitas - Monster Grade 5 Titanium & Ultem | Stone Washed

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Leonardo - Momento Zero Blue Aloha

Franciszek O.

Absolutely Stunning Pen & Customer Service

Right out of the box, the pen is an absolute stunner. Leonardo makes phenomenal writing instruments, but buying one through Pen Venture makes the ownership experience truly elite. Thank you, Emy and the team! This won't be my last Leonardo pen from your shop.

Gravitas - Vac 2.0 Grade 5 Titanium | Stone Washed

Dan Shapiro

Another magnificent Gravitas Pen

I love this pen! It writes great, looks great and feels great! Much more convenient for my small hands than the Monster. A terrific buy!

Gravitas - Quark Zirconium Stone Washed Pocket Pen | New |

Jamie Rees

The perfect pocket pen!

I'm typically not a pocket pen person, but as a worker in the nuclear industry, the allure of zirconium was too great to resist. I had nothing to worry about, as the pen is perfectly balanced when posted and very similar in feel to my trusty Fisher Space Pen, with slightly more heft.
The extra-fine nib arrived wonderfully tuned with just the right amount of feedback and when eye-droppered, the flow is juicy without being too wet.
Plus, that zing really is unique and worth the price of admission by itself!

Gravitas - Vac 2.0 Aluminium | Black

Jamie Rees

The smoothest pen I own!

The Vac 2.0 is hands-down the smoothest writer I have. The pen arrived with the nib tuned to perfection, with exquisite machining of every single component. The capacity is massive, yet the pen does not feel overly bulky. The balance in the hand both posted and unposted is right on. You can really tell that Ben pays the utmost attention to even the smallest detail!
Shipping to Australia was very quick and the order arrived with a wonderful hand-written note from Emy. This will certainly not be my last purchase!

Gravitas - Vac 2.0 Grade 5 Titanium | Machine Finish

Destiny Smith

If the Monster and the Vac 1.0 had a Love Child...

...this would be it! To be completely honest, the Monster's DNA is clearly the dominant factor in this creation! As a matter of fact, it might be more accurate to call this pen the Baby Monster, instead of "Vac 2.0". There are only a few characteristics of the Vac 1.0 that were passed on, such as having an Ultem ink window on the secondary ink reservoir. Speaking of which, shouldn't the "Primary" ink reservoir be the one that connects directly to the nib unit? The back up, or reserve reservoir should be the "Secondary" reservoir, since it feeds the primary reservoir, not the nib unit, but...whatever. Other characteristics inherited from the Vac 1.0 are the conical finials on the cap and barrel, as well as a #6 size nib. Ink capacity of the Vac 2.0 is more than the Vac 1.0, but less than the Monster; at 4.5 ml, it's more than enough to get you through an all night session of writing, maybe even all week!
The nib...unlike other Gravitas nibs, doesn't have a breather hole, and the slit is longer. The metal also may be thinner than other Gravitas #6 nibs, which in combination with the longer slit, may give this nib a bit more flexibility. My nib is very smooth! Ink flow is a little bit less than the Monster's, but more than the Vac 1.0's, and is consistent and predictable with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue ink.
Fun fact: the ink uptake hole (where ink goes into the pen when you fill it) is located on the underside of the feed, pretty close to where the feed disappears into the grip section. It's like that with almost every fountain pen that's designed to suck ink out of an ink well/bottle. The only one I know of that has the hole way forward toward the tip of the nib is the Lamy 2000. How does that affect you? The farther the nib sticks out from the grip section, the higher up that hole sits from the nib's tip, and the more ink needs to be in the bottom of the ink well to make sure that the pen sucks up ink, not air. The #6 nib sticks out about 7/8" (22mm), the #8 nib (of the Monster) sticks out about 17/16" (27mm). So, unless you plan on transferring your favorite ink into tall, thin ink bottles (like Robert Oster ink bottles), use an ink miser or ink sample bottle, or get creative with an ink syringe, the smaller sized nib of the Vac 2.0 allows you to get more ink out of your bottle before the rest becomes unreachable. With a little patience, practice, and an ample supply of paper towels, you can fill almost any piston filler or vac filler with an ink syringe as if the pen was an eyedropper filler, as long as you can remove the grip section and squirt the ink directly into the barrel. Some pens won't let you remove the grip section, but you can unscrew the nib unit, which will also give you direct access to the ink chamber(s). Vac fillers are more difficult to fill like that, because the piston has to be pushed all the way forward, and then retracted just far enough to allow ink to flow around and behind the piston to fill the ink chamber. If you were to fill it with the piston all the way in the back, you'd just expel all of the ink as soon as you push the piston forward again.
I love that Vac 2.0 has a second ink window, which lets me know when I need to open up the big ink chamber to allow ink to fill the little in chamber. I love the smaller nib, which allows me to better access to ink in bottles that are less than half full. I love how smooth the nib writes, and that the line width is actually pretty close to the nominal "Fine" standard (0.3mm, +/- 0.1mm). I love that the cap and pen body are now mated with titanium threaded parts, with ACME threads, so there isn't the constant feeling of cross threading the Ultem plastic, like every time I put the cap back on my Vac 1.0. I'm still careful whenever I screw the cap on any of my pens, regardless of material or brand, but I'm extra careful with threads on my non metal pens.
So, if like the Vac 1.0, you're going to love Vac 2.0, because I believe all of the Vac 1.0's shortcomings were addressed. If you thought you might like the Monster, but thought it's too big or pricey for you, the Vac 2.0 is the perfect fit. Still more ink capacity than most fountain pens, including many dedicated eyedropper pens, yet almost the same size as a regular full size pen. Robust construction, high quality materials, flawless fit and finish.

Picture shows (from left to right):
Gravitas Sentry in Ultem
Ultemate Vac (Vac 1.0)
Vac 2.0
The Monster

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Destiny Smith

If the Monster and the Vac 1.0 had a Love Child...

Picture shows (from left to right):
Gravitas Sentry in Ultem
Ultemate Vac (Vac 1.0)
Vac 2.0
The Monster

Gravitas - Vac 2.0 Grade 5 Titanium | Machine Finish

Quality engineering

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!

Favorite Pen, hands down

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.

Great fountain pen

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.

Gravitas Monster Titanium

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.

New Monster Ultem Titanium is amazing.

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!

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Gravitas - Monster Grade 5 Titanium & Ultem | Stone Washed

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