(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
I first wrote about the Monteverde Invincia way back in 2016 (!), and today I'm talking about the same pen. The Monteverde Invincia with Nebula finish and Omniflex nib is a recent addition to the line, and I wanted to try out a new one to see how it compares to my well-worn orange and carbon fiber variant.
What I've enjoyed about my original Invincia is the dependability and all-round good and reliable performance and easy maintenance. It's certainly not the best pen I own, and it's not even close to being my favorite. I like trying inks in lots of pens, and I definitely go through phases of favorite ink/pen combos. When it comes time to test out a new ink, I don't always want to clean out a favorite pen to try out the new ink. And that's where the Invincia has never let me down.
The Invincia is "good enough" of a writer to do a great job at testing inks. The 1.1mm stub nib shows off ink characteristics wonderfully, the ink flow is superb, and it just happens to be really easy to tear down and clean out. I've used and cleaned this pen so many times that almost half of the black coating on the nib has worn away. Some of the black coating on the grip section is also wearing away. I keep coming back to it because I know exactly how it behaves.
If you have more than a couple of fountain pens, then you're probably aware that some pens write dryer or wetter than others when using the same ink. It's the same phenomena as using the same ink and pen on different types of paper. They just feel and act differently! Using the same pen for testing affords a certain level of control to keep the testing grounds even. I stumbled into using the first Invincia as a go-to test pen by accident, but now I can't imagine testing a new ink or notebook without it being in the mix.
The Nebula variant caught my eye because of the beautiful coating. I'm a huge fan of anything with a nebula or galaxy color scheme, and this Invincia just did it for me. I love the gradient that goes from blue, black, purple, teal, and orange. That was enough to put this pen in the cart, but I had to pick a nib first. I saw the Omniflex option and realized I had no idea what that was. Touted as a steel nib with a good amount of flex, I was sold immediately.
Upon opening up the new Invincia, I was immediately 100% satisfied with the colors and finish. After inking it up and testing out the Omniflex nib, I was also pleasantly surprised with how it performed out of the box. It's an extremely smooth nib and feels similar to a car that rides on a super smooth suspension. It glides over the imperfections of the page and reacts to the various pressure levels from your hand with ease.
Being a steel nib, it doesn't have the same level of flex as a gold flex nib (like the Pilot Falcon), but it's pretty impressive considering the steel materials. It's easy to add a little flourish of line width with light pressure. When writing normally, the nib acts like a fine, and you can increase the line to a bold with enough pressure. That's a great amount of variation that means you can really affect your writing style with practice.
The Invincia comes with a cartridge converter and two international short cartridges (one black and one blue) to get you started.
The cap of the Invincia is a screw on cap, but it only takes a quarter turn to operate. It's really smooth and secure, and I've always enjoyed using it. There's a satisfying motion and click to let you know it's closed.
Posting the cap on the back of the pen extends the length quite a bit, but it's still a great overall length for writing. The pen is well-balanced without the cap, but the extra weight of the cap doesn't throw off the balance by much.
I mentioned that I'm a huge fan of the color scheme for this version of the pen, but there is a downside. This finish is a fingerprint magnet! I find myself wiping it down pretty often, and it picks up new fingerprints instantly. I guess that's the price you pay for a shiny finish with bright colors. It won't keep from using it a lot, though.
Since this is my second Invincia, I knew what to expect with this pen (aside from the new nib type), and it's delivered flawlessly. The nib is smooth and consistent, provides a lovely amount of flex and variation, and flows perfectly. It's great seeing new types of nib options outside of the standard EF-B sizing. Monteverde has excellent stub options, but flex nibs offer a different experience and are uniquely interesting. It's great seeing this diversity and change in a pen that was already well-dialed.
The Monteverde Invincia isn't the best fountain pen out there, but it's a solid contender that is worth your attention. It's a work horse that just keeps delivering a great writing experience after plenty of use and abuse. I can whole-heartedly recommend the Invincia to anyone in the market for a unique and affordable fountain pen option. And if Nebula isn't your thing, there are plenty of other color options!
At $80 for the Nebula colorway, it hits the middle price point for the line, and I think it's a fair price for the quality, materials, and aesthetics that it provides. I think the Omniflex nib is definitely worth checking out, but you can also pick from more standard nib sizes as well.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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