Dear Fountainpen Friends,
A wekk ago a got this beautiful Diplomat Viper. I bought it because I wanted to try another pen with a metalic body. I love the weight and feel of my Kaweco AL Sport Olivine and the smooth and cold feeling whenever I take it in my hand. So I was very excited to try this Diplomat Viper. It is my first fountain pen by Diplomat and honestly I'm not really convinced. The pen doesn't write as smothly as I hoped it would, sometimes I have to press a little harder or it skips a letter mid sentence. Also I'm not really sure about the feeling of it in my handy and the weight of it.
What are ypur expiriences with de Diplomat Viper? And any recommendations about good pens with an metalic bodie or should I just stick to my beloved Kaweo Sport and get another AL Sport?
Have the complete opposite experience. My blue Viper has a fantastic wet and glass smooth nib and premium feel compared to some of my collection that is priced higher. The downsides are the weird agitating ball in the converter can cause some issues when drawing ink and that there is very much a sweet spot to get it to write/smoothly write.
Thank you!
You probably have to find a wetter¸ or even just another ink. In my limited experience the ink is one of the important variables that strongly influence how a pen writes.
My blue Viper is my current EDC and it’s phenomenal. The snap-cap is so satisfying and the nib is buttery smooth. I did learn that my initial ink choice (shimmer) wasn’t the best option as it caused some hard starting, but once I cleaned it up , it’s been bullet proof.
I have a Viper that I like well enough, but it's just not as smooth nor as solid-feeling as my Lamy 2000.
I'm using a normal, blue inki never had problems with so far.
What is the ink though? If we know the brand and color we may be able to help. Maybe in your other pens it was fine but this one is dryer for whatever reason. Or maybe the nib or feed unit is a little tight. I’d try flushing the pen with water and then putting in another ink first. And check the nib to see if there’s space between the tines where there shouldn’t be. And if there’s not enough room between the nib and feed unit, the capillary action doesn’t work properly. There’s a bunch of stuff to try before giving up (but I hope it’s just a case of the ink not being quite right for the pen- that’s easy to fix!)
I currently use Pelikan 4001 blue black.
I loved my Viper until I didn’t. With converter it tends to vomit ink into the cap (maybe due to the suction when it pulls off?). Ultimately ditched it. My Diplomat Aero is a far superior pen.
Have the same problem, sometimes the grip is full of ink
That can happen with just about any hooded nib ( like Pilot e95s, Lamy 2000, etc. ) where ink gets on the Section (and, obviously, it can happen to non-hooded nibs, too.) You might try uncapping, or capping, a pen with the the nib pointing up and storing the pen vertically, nib pointing up. The second you notice inky fingers you might want to run a Q-Tip, or rolled piece of paper towel through the inside of the cap.
If it does vomit ink into the cap, I doubt you're carrying it nib down, or storing it nib down, it could be because of temp differential, say, where you're pocket carrying the pen and your (rhetorical) body heats up the ink and it burps.
I never get this problem with my Lamy 2000, which is my only other hooded nib. At home my pens live on their sides; at work the Viper went tip-up in a notebook loop, with the notebook vertically in my briefcase. Got ink on my hands while opening it at work one time too many. A real shame because I loved the way it wrote, but life is too short to risk ink on work clothes when I have plenty of pens that perform flawlessly.
I've used mine pretty much constantly since mid August. Overall I really love it. I have a lot of metal body pens, though none from Diplomat, which wasnt really on my radar until I got this (same brown color) as a gift. Its got a nice weight to it, I use it unposted, and I LOVE the magnetic cap.
In terms of performance, I've had zero issues. Always starts on first go, no skipping or scratchiness.
That said I did some research when I got the pen and I also saw some comlaints about it. And so I've only ever used water based inks in this one- Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo and Murasaki Shikibu so far.
I'm curious, does it post magnetically?
Yes it does, but weakly. I think the barrel itself is aluminum, but there may be some steel component inside that the cap magnets are attracted to.
Ah, okay. Cool. Thanks for answering! I've had my eye on a blue Viper for a bit.
I had the exact same experience where the Viper would constantly hard start and skip, which turned out to be related to the nib and feed. I got them exchanged by the shop I bought it at after letting them know a few days after purchase.
After the exchange things have improved, but it still skips every so often while writing longer stints. I have the feeling that the problem comes from the converter that they gave me with the pen, it has a little plastic ball in the converter that causes a vacuum to appear when you write for a little longer. It is very noticeable when I clear out the ink or flush the pen, so for me personally, the pen is going back to the store.
It's very upsetting that this seems to be a more common experience, there was a post recently about tolerating hard starts and skipping where another redditor also told me about the problems like this that they experienced with their Viper.
After wanting this pen since it came out and finally having the opportunity to buy it, only for it to fail, I feel very disappointed in this specific pen and I don't think I'll try with another Viper any time soon.
My advice to you is to contact the store and return this one, maybe have it fix or get a different one instead.
As for pens with metal bodies, personally I love the Waterman Hémisphère and the Sheaffer 100. I am also looking to increase my line up of metal body pens, so I'll be following this post to see if anyone recommends anything else
Thanks fpr the advice. Sorry to hear you had such a disapointing experience with this one as well
Pretty much same, not as smooth as I’d like and sometimes needs a little pressure. It has a small sweet spot but because the grip is so slippery it’s hard to maintain that. Glad I got it on a Black Friday sale, it’s not worth MSRP IMO.
My medium is very smooth.
I have a diplomat elox and that nib is stingy as all hell. Try a super wet ink! Sometimes i can get around the issues you're describing by changing ink.
Thanks for the advice
Opinions seem to be divided, but I'm one of the people who loves the Pilot Metropolitan and its twin sister, the Pilot Cocoon. Their bodies are brass, and Pilot pens usually have wonderful nibs. I've had as many as 12 Metros and Cocoons inked at once, and they've all performed very well for me. Some users dislike the grip, which has a small step-down from the body; others complain about the CON-40 converters. Neither of those things both me a bit. The pens balance well in my hand, and I love the feel of the metal body and the click of the metal cap. Cheers!
Thanks for the recommendation! I have to admit I don't like the looks of the Pilot Metropolitan😅
I too love my pilot metropolitans. They have a cigar shaped too like your diplomat. I really love the look of your diplomat. The color and texture is gorgeous. I’m really sad to hear that you’re having such a terrible experience with your beautiful diplomat!
I don’t have any expensive pens in my collection of many. They are all budget pens. Pilot Metropolitan got me back into fountain pens as an adult. My first half dozen fountain pens were metropolitans before I branched out and tried other low budget pens.
As for the converters, they do leave much to be desired. However, they don’t make the pens completely unusable.
Metro’s usually come with the squeeze sack converter (con20), which works perfectly fine. The problem is you can always tell if you’ve got a full fill, or see when it’s nearly out of ink before your pen, actually runs out and stops writing.
I bought a bunch of con 40s many moons ago to replace the con 20s but I really dislike them. They hold less ink than the con 20s (only .4 ml in my own experience.) And, they have no agitator because the Pilot converters have such a large opening at the end. I’ve tried using things like glass beads, and tiny BBs over the years.
And the con 70s holds a lot more ink, but don’t fit in the metros because they’re too long… first world problems, lol!
Out of curiosity, may I ask what you don't like about the way the Metro looks? If it's the Retro-Pop or the Animal band designs, you might go online and look up the Cocoons. They come in solid jewel tones like Bordeaux, Dark Blue, and Titanium, as well as Gold, Silver and Classic Black.
Those are the things I don't like about it yes. I will look up the cocoons, thanks!
I bought a metro for giggles a couple weeks ago. Now I have two more being shipped in deferent colors because I like it so much.
Similarly, it's the Prera for me. I'm up to 7 of them, and nary a problem among them. On the other hand, I've had crappy experiences with Kaweco, Lamy, and TWSBI — and on my first or second pen from each. So in my experience Pilot has some of the best QC on the market, and that makes buying any given pen much less of a gamble.
That copper color is very beautiful 💖👍
Diplomats are usually exceptional writers. This behavior is not typical at all.
The standard suggestion is to always clean out a pen (water + a drop of dish soap) before first use. That may be all it needs.
If you're up for it, it may also just need the tines widened ever so slightly. Get yourself a 10x loupe and some brass shim stock - these two tools will fix 90% of fussy fountain pens. If the tines touch tightly at the front, they should be widened until they just barely touch.
If you're not up for it, return/warranty. :)
My Viper is my absolute favourite pen. Smooth as silk, perfect amount of ink laid down. I adore it.
The skipping might be ur ink choice. I know i have certain pens what are divas when it comes to ink...
I'm using a normal blue ink by oelikan. Never had problems with it
How is the snap cap? If you cap it quickly is it loud and distracting?
I really like my pilot metropolitan for its metal body but the lack of decent converter for it keeps me from recommending it often, if you don’t mind refilling carts then it’s not so bad.
It's quite loud, yes. It has a magnetic cap and you clearly hear that.
Mine hard starts almost every morning. I've got a green viper filled with octopus fluids - goblin green.
I think I've been spoiled with 14k gold nibs... I didn't think there was a difference when I first used one. But when I switched back, there was a slight but very noticeable difference.
Otherwise it's a very lovely pen that I still use as often as I can. It just didn't make it into daily driver status.
I have mixed feelings about mine. It writes okay, which is the most important thing. I wouldn't call the nib smooth. I don't like how the hooded nib holds ink when filling. The clip on the pen is very stiff, which bothers me.
Mine is a hard starter, not impressed with it.
My Viper dries out quickly and, therefore, hard starts. I’m going to try it with PR Infinity Ink to see if that helps, but yeah, not blown away. That said, their Aero is one of the absolute best that I own. If you’re looking for a metal body pen, try one. It’s amazing.
This thread is so helpful…and rather unsettling
Christmas is bringing me a black Viper. I won’t tolerate hard starts. And the sweet spot concerns me.
I’m hopeful neither of those will occur.
However, If it fails, back to the store it will go
I hope you cleaned it before use. I have an Aero and had to empty the ink and clean the manufacturer's grease before re-inking. It now works like a charm.
Not sure about the Viper but my Aero had a lot more feedback than some pens. It is deliberate.
To be honest I didn't clean it before first use. Maybe I should better do that tjis weekend, thanks.
What about like a brass sport for a little difference?
Don’t have any experience with the Viper but another metal pen to look at is the Monteverde Innova Formula M. It’s got a nice weight and the woven metal barrel has a great texture. The snap cap on mine is quite stiff but I’ve never had any hard starts and the nib is smooth (mine is an EF)
I love mine. At a recent fountain pen club meeting though another member had one that had a much scratchier nib. I have 3 diplomat pens and love all of them. This viper is now possibly my favorite of them.
From the other comments and my recent experience, it seems that some of them come with scratchy nibs.
Beautiful!
I like mine, but it's not my favorite pen because I find it a little too heavy for daily writing! I think the nib is really smooth and it's one of my "broadest" pens I have as a F/M since I mainly use Extra-Fine pens. I think the F/M nib lays down a lot of ink and I haven't had any issues with it, but when I first write with it, I always have to double check the angle I have the nib at to get it to start. It's the same as other hooded nibs for me, but if I don't have the nib rotated correctly then it won't work. Luckily, I only have to adjust once at the beginning to be fine for the rest of the time I use it. I have Ferris Wheel Press Book of Botany inside it and it's a very wet, green ink.
I have 3 Vipers, love them all, and always recommend them. Magnetic cap is so satisfying, weight is perfect for me, and writing experience is fantastic. Sorry this pen doesn’t work well for you.
Hm, mine is very smooth and on the wet side. You might want to take a closer look at the nib and maybe consider returning it, yours might be defective?
I work in Stationery store and vipers are so easy to sell, there will bé many of them under the christmas trees . Fountain pen and roller , ballpoints are going slower. Love the design and the feeling in hand
I’m finding my viper to be persnickety about what ink I use. Wetter, less shimmery inks seem to be best.. which is sad for me cause I love all the shimmer
Mine had misaligned tines which I couldn't adjust so I sent mine back to Diplomat. 8 weeks later I'm still waiting on an update from them.
Gorgeous 🤩
My experience mirrors yours. I have tried multiple inks and it just wont write consistently. Part of the nib has a sweet spot that is narrower than I am use to. But the other just seems to be the cap seal, it is t very good.
I got a Diplomat Viper on Fountain Pen Day, and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks. I find it to be a smooth writer and reasonably dependable, but it does skip a bit.
More concerning to me is that the body keeps unscrewing from the grip section. It seems I _always_ have to tighten that each time I use the pen. Maybe impacts from the magnetic cap are causing it to unscrew?
So, my experience with my Viper has been quite different from you.
The pen is glassy smooth and quite the wet writer, I do get the occasional skipping but this is most often due to me rotation the pen as I write, something I have recently discovered that I do inadvertently, plus the ink I am currently using (Robert Oster Taiwan Blue) is more on the dry side, and with the pen cap not being a Preppy level of sealing allows the ink to dry a bit faster than usually, but at long as I use it once a week, I can avoid pretty much any form of skipping.
For me, it is still one of the best pen I have purchased this year. The Mahjon P140 being a very close second.
I have a green Viper I bought on Fountain Pen day. I’ve tried it with both Colorverse Blue Green Snake and Diamine Aurora Borealis and found it to be a smooth, wet writer with both.
I'm sorry to hear your viper has been less than delightful. Mine is currently in the rotation and is perfect. It's buttery smooth, slight wet line, and a very healthy medium line. It's been a great and trouble free pen for me. My only complaint is how tightly sprung the clip is. Its almost too tight to use on a dress shirt. But as far as the writing experience, it never hard starts or skips. I'd definitely have it checked out or switch inks.
For metal pen bodies, I've had good luck with Cross and Waterman hemisphere. But I prefer the viper over those two pens (nothing specific - just a better feel with the viper).
I was disappointed in my Viper at first, but things improved a ton after swapping out the included converter for a cartridge. Oddly, my Traveller wrote incredibly well out of the box despite being and feeling cheaper.
I just started really putting my green viper I got on FPD through the paces this week at work and I’m loving it
Wow Today right now I am genuinely interested in a pen . Wow
Same experience as OP. Skips quite a bit. And the grip area is way too slippery.