Delta Disaster

Never again. One Dolce Vita started leaking through the ink window, and the gold part on the Fusion nib on another broke off. The Fusion nib is silly marketing hype. I returned a Dolce Vita Soiree because on arrival the resin felt cheap and the pen had no weight. I do have a Dolce Vita ballpoint that works well. But no more fountain pens. Biggest disappointments ever, and way, way overpriced. Live and learn!
Now my Sailor, on the other hand....

That's a shame, the Dolce Vita are beautiful pens; I almost bought one during the Chatterley Luxuries blowout sale.

It's a shame that you're ruined on Delta. I absolutely love my Dolce Vita oversize.

That said, there is definitely a diminishing return on pen cost. The Dolce Vita cost in the several hundreds, but my favorite pen I own retails for less than $70.

pilot makes light weight pens, i wouldn't fault Delta for it being light as that's a plus in many pen users books. but there is never any excuse for a leaking pen

Yeah, weight doesn't always equate "quality." I had to look the Dolcevita pen up because it's been so long since I'd seen it and my first impression was "whoa that's ugly." But I'm sure plenty people find it right up their alley.

In any case, the price it sells for is actually pretty much in line for a resin piston filler with a gold nib. But if the Soiree is actually a C/C pen, yeah that's high. The nib has to be pretty special to go for $350-$400 in my opinion. That's just asking too much for what boils down to a pretty casing.

And if it leaks? Yeah...get rid of it.

The fusion nib is a lie. The gold is not fused to the steel, it's glued to it. The little strip of gold does nothing more than make the steel nib look cool. The gold certainly doesnt help with the flex.

patten1969 said:

Never again. One Dolce Vita started leaking through the ink window, and the gold part on the Fusion nib on another broke off. The Fusion nib is silly marketing hype. I returned a Dolce Vita Soiree because on arrival the resin felt cheap and the pen had no weight. I do have a Dolce Vita ballpoint that works well. But no more fountain pens. Biggest disappointments ever, and way, way overpriced. Live and learn!
Now my Sailor, on the other hand....

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You posted the pictures of a Delta that made me want one....I'm not upset at all that you did. I posted a review of the one I bought as a result, and you can see from it that I think it is a great pen. I hope you are able to get yours working again. I guess maybe I benefited from not having a fusion nib.

TAYLORPUPPY said:

The fusion nib is a lie. The gold is not fused to the steel, it's glued to it. The little strip of gold does nothing more than make the steel nib look cool. The gold certainly doesnt help with the flex.

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I had to look up the fusion nib and my first reaction was to laugh at it. But from the description, it's supposed to help with the inkflow, right? Not flex. There's also a thread on FPN discussing it where a guy claims to have taken the nib off and says that the two metals are soldered together. The FP Geeks review suggests Delta's claims of what the "fusion" part is supposed to accomplish (improve viscosity) is complete BS, and I'm inclined to agree, but they say it writes well.

So I guess it's a half-lie?

I've got a Delta with the Fusion nib en route to me right now. I'm pretty sure the gold overlay is nothing more than an attractive gimmick, but other than that, it's supposed to be an excellent, well-performing pen. I'll have it soon and will see if my hopes match reality. Stay tuned!

gold dampens vibration better then steel, wonder if the gold here would make for a smoother feel by acting a bit as a shock absorber. ive never had an ink flow problem with steel nibs to begin with so not sure why they would do this in the first place, but it may make for a nicer feel, which is what they should have claimed in the first place lol