The Monteverde Invincia Stealth All Black Fountain Fine
The Monteverde Invincia Stealth Fountain Pen immediately caught my attention the first time I saw it because of my penchant for nicely designed all black items, be it a car, a watch, or a pen. I stumbled upon this by accident when I was chatting with the fine folks at @yafapen on Twitter who represent Monteverde in the United States. I immediately went to my “go to” place for pens, Goldspot and spoke with Tom about the Invincia line. Tom explained that the Invincia line itself was a very popular fountain pen, and to my great surprise offered one up to me free of charge for this review, so a big thanks to Tom and Goldspot for making this review possible, and for making my day by offering this up.
The Monteverde Invincia Stealth Fountain Pen in the photo above Reminds me of this picture of the SR71 Blackbird Spy Plane.
In addition to just being totally black from top to bottom, I love the way the Monteverde Invincia Stealth Fountain Pen looks when un-capped, because it resembles the SR71 Blackbird pictured above, adding to its stealthy name and image. Now the pen wont travel at 2,000+ mph, or snap spy photos from over 85,000 feet in the air, but it’s about as cool looking of a fountain pen as you re going to find in my opinion.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth All Black Fountain Pen Full Length
The Monteverde Invincia Stealth is entirely (excluding the converter and feed) made of metal, and entirely black minus some very small gold writing around the bottom of the cap with the Monteverde and Invincia name on it. The high gloss black color of the pen is accomplished with 3 layers of lacquer finish on the cap, barrel, clip, and trim, while the all black nib is stainless steel with a coating of titanium.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth All Black Fountain Pen Nib Close Up
One thing that threw me off with the Invincia Stealth was how the nib size is indicated on the side of the nib which you can see in the photo above. Clearly there is nothing wrong with this, just the first time I’ve seen it placed on this part of the nib instead on the front closer to the section.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth All Black Fountain Pen Converter
The converter on the Invincia Stealth is translucent green, and I am not sure if it was just me, but the first few times I filled the pen and put the converter in, it just didn’t seem like it wanted to fit snugly even when applying what I felt was a good amount of pressure. I got it in there, and the pen worked fine, however it always felt slightly loose. I spoke with the fine folks at Goldspot, and they did offer to send over a new converter if that one didn’t seem to be working out. After feeling a little uncomfortable with this situation, I decided to suck it up and just kind of force it to see if that would make things better, and sure enough the added pressure (which felt like I was being too hard on it) got it to sit snugly. Also, note in the photo above that the pen comes in a nice green clam-shell box and also a few cartridges of ink which you can’t see there.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth Cap and Nib
An interesting thing I noticed about the threaded cap on the Monteverde Invincia Stealth is that when twisting the cap off, it takes almost exactly one full rotation, however when recapping the pen, once you get about 3/4 of the way around, it almost falls into place. I would equate the last 1/4 of the recapping motion to one of those embarrassing moments we have all had where you take a step and almost trip and kind of just stumble forward then you quickly look around to see if anyone saw you. It is definitely not a bad experience at all, but the first time I did it, it just reminded me of that tripping situation, but it is nice because that little bit of momentum lets you know that you are almost there and acts as a good subtle warning not to over tighten the cap.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth and Stainless Steel Sharpie Size Comparison
In terms of a size comparison, I thought the best way to convey the size of this pen is to use something that just about everyone can relate to, which is a Sharpie marker. I picked the Stainless Steel Sharpie which is the same size as a regular Sharpie just because I think these are probably two of the coolest looking pens that I own and wanted an excuse to photograph them together. Back on topic….the Monteverde Invincia Stealth and Stainless Steel Sharpie are pretty much the same exact size, however the Stealth is noticeably heavier than the Sharpie.
Monteverde Invincia Stealth Writing Sample Fine Nib
With all of my praise for the visual appeal of the Invincia Stealth, you are probably wondering how well it writes. Writing with the pen was enjoyable for me, I enjoy a heavier pen, and this one fits the bill there. In addition to the nice sturdy feeling you get with this pen, it is also quite well-balanced with the cap posted. When posting the cap it, there is not a completely tight or locked in feel, but the weight of the cap and the depth at which it sinks onto the body leave you confident that it wont come off while you are writing.
I found that the actual writing with the pen went well, the writing sample above was done in my Black n Red notebook, but I did also do a good deal of writing in my Levenger daily planner. Both the Levenger and the Black n Red paper worked out nicely with the Invincia Stealth, and I used both Noodler’s Bulletproof black and Private Reserve Velvet Black because as far as I’m concerned my Stealth will only ever be loaded with black ink…anything else wouldn’t seem right. With both inks and both papers, I think that the fine Nib on the Stealth wrote nicely, there is a very faint bit of a toothy feel, but the nib lays down a very solid and consistent line almost every time. The only instances where there were a few skips were when I was writing quickly on a down-stroke. Some of my written “k”, “l”, and “I’s” got a late start, so they looked like half letters, but this did not happen every time.
Personally I’m a HUGE fan of the way this pen looks, and it is definitely a quality fountain pen that I find enjoyable for an everyday writer. If an all black pen isn’t your thing though, there are plenty of other versions of the Monteverde Invincia at Goldspot, so check them out, they are worth serious consideration if you are looking for a nice solid feeling pen.
©2017, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.
