New Year’s Resolution 2025 - Week 3 - Visconti Mirage Mythos Poseidon
In 2022 I did 52 weeks of pen reviews as my New Year’s Resolution. In 2025 I’m back for another 52 weeks! The purpose of these reviews is to use each one of my pens for a week straight (and only that one pen) in order to really discover what I like/dislike about them and fine tune my collection.
All of my reviews will be posted to r/fountainpens but I have a new sub, r/PenReviews where I will also be posting all of my reviews to make finding them more convenient.
Rating Scale:
- <20 = Essentially unusable or so bad in some way you wouldn’t want to use it.
- 20-30 = Poor to below average.
- 30-39 = Average to very good.
- 40+ = Excellent to truly great. Each point after 40 scales up at an increasing rate. The difference between a pen rated 40 and one rated 45 is a more significant difference than 35 to 40.
Introduction
I have a troubled history with Visconti. A couple of years ago I fell in love with, and bought, a Homo Sapiens Lava Blizzard. It was a nightmare. The pen had a number of issues, the most glaring of which was a bad nib. I sent the medium nib off and had it repaired and ground into a smooth cursive italic by Kirk Speer of Pen Realm. After he worked his magic on it it became, and still is to this day, my absolute favorite nib. But because the Homo Sapiens had other issues and I had fallen out of love with it I resolved to find a better home for the nib. It lived for a long time in a Narwhal Original, for a short time in a Retro 51 Tornado. I also tested it out in a handful of other pens without any success. While I liked it in the Narwhal it still didn’t feel ‘right’. I kept my eye out for another Visconti hoping to find one cheap, maybe with a bad nib or no nib, that I could transplant mine into. But being scared away from Visconti’s quality inconsistencies I wasn't able to find the right combination of pen and price. I have been keeping my eye on the Mirage Mythos from its release because I liked the style and the price but when it was first released in 2023 they didn’t have a color that I loved. However, in mid-2024 that all changed with the release of the Poseidon and I bought one immediately.
The Mirage Mythos is an evolution of the Mirage which was released in 2018. That older version had the same basic shape and overall look but with a few key differences, the main one being that the older version has a #5 sized nib. A couple of other differences are that the section was resin whereas it is all metal now and the older version had the ‘My Pen’ finial where you could change out the Visconti logo for a selection of other options (initials, Zodiac signs, and gemstones) which, I believe, meant that the cap did not have magnetic posting.
Looks (Rating: 8/10)
For a pen that lacks hand painted Maki-e artwork (a Namiki Emperor Maki-e would be a 10 for me) it has just about everything I want. The matte acrylic has swirls of blue, black, and silver evoking deep, turbulent waters. The overall shape is flat-ended with a taper on both the cap and barrel going towards the ends from the widest point at the cap band. In addition to that, both cap and body have three slightly concave facets which gives it some visual interest and, whether by design or coincidence, makes me think of Greek columns. The trim is all sandblasted and ruthenium plated which gives it a slightly worn look almost like an ancient Greek silver coin. As of now the Poseidon color is the only version without gold trim. The clip is the typical ‘bridge’ shaped clip with the Visconti name on either side. While many higher end Visconti models have the name more deeply engraved with a lacquer fill, the Mirage Mythos clip is just laser engraved. The clip is hinged and runs over the top of the cap and down a few millimeters on the back side. I know some people have strong opinions about the Visconti clip design but overall I find it to be nice looking, especially as it is executed here. At the base of the cap is a wide trim ring with ‘MYTHOS’ emblazoned in the middle and a series of alternating V’s around the rest of it. If I’m honest it looks a little cartoonish but I still like it. Under the cap is a dark ruthenium, almost black, #6 Schmidt nib with Visconti branding. Currently mine is swapped to a ruthenium plated 14k in-house nib from a Homo Sapiens which, to me, the is slightly more interesting looking because of the spear shaped design. But both nibs look good. The feed is typical Schmidt, while mine is now the Visconti branded feed that came over with the nib. Just behind the nib is a black ring which I think is part of the magnetic capping system. I would’ve preferred that this blend in a little better as it does on the gold trimmed models but it’s a minor gripe. The section has a ring that is a repeat of the alternating V pattern on the cap band followed by a brushed, slightly tapered section. There is a small lip where metal meets acrylic which is the point where the barrel unscrews from the section. There is a fairly steep rise to the widest part of the barrel that sits just under the cap band when capped. The lip in the acrylic that sits under the cap has three notches in it which serve to orient the cap so that the facets always align. This is a small detail but one that I really like and none of it is obtrusive or bothersome to my grip. At the end of the barrel is a step down to a small trim ring that is used for magnetic posting (more on that in the next section) and the bottom finial is finished off with a small black disc with the Visconti logo. The logo on my pen is not aligned with the nib or cap. While I would’ve appreciated this detail it’s not really noticeable enough to matter. At least the logo is roughly right side up while I’m writing, but I almost always use this pen posted anyways so it’s a non-issue for me.
In the hand (Rating: 8/10)
The Mirage Mythos is a medium sized pen. Capped length is 139mm, uncapped is 125mm, and posted it is 160mm. Overall weight is a sturdy 33g and just over 20g uncapped. The section diameter ranges from just over 10mm to exactly 11mm. The length uncapped will be adequate for most but, because the balance is very far forward due to the metal section and the fact that the resin barrel tapers down to the bottom, I find that I don’t feel like I have as much control as I’d like. It’s fine for quick notes but for longer writing I vastly prefer it posted. When posted it has a much more neutral balance and the added weight gives a little greater confidence. The posted length will be a little too long for some but it’s about perfect for my medium+ hands. When posted the cap is secure but there is a little wiggle in it which might be annoying. On the flipside, the magnetic capping system Visconti used helps to orient the clip in line with the nib which, for slightly OCD people like myself, is fantastic design. The other thing to note with posting is that the bottom ‘finial’ can hit the magnet in the cap without being fully seated. This leads to a slight ‘hitch’ before the cap is fully posted. I usually find that it will self-correct by the time I start writing. When capping and posting you get a nice, affirmative click when the cap is in place.
While I don’t normally like metal sections I have no issues with my grip on this one. It has enough texture to keep my fingers in place and the diameter range is plenty comfortable. The section is plenty long enough that Speaking of texture, the matte resin parts of the pen are not polished perfectly smooth. If you run your fingers over it you can feel the texture in the pen. It’s almost like a wood-grain feel and one that I really enjoy.
The clip is secure but, owing to the shape, won’t clip easily over anything thicker than a couple of sheets of paper. It’s spring loaded however so you can open it up and slide it over things. Had they rounded the end more it could easily slide over things but maybe wouldn’t look quite as nice. Visconti chose form over function here.
Filling and maintenance (Rating: 5/10)
The Mirage Mythos is a cartridge converter pen and comes with a Visconti-branded Schmidt converter. It cannot be dropper filled because of the metal parts of the section. The nib, feed, and housing can all be removed which makes cleaning easy but not remarkable compared to most other C/C pens.
Writing experience (Rating: 7/10)
I have generally not had great luck with Schmidt nibs so I initially thought it was a bit of a letdown that Visconti was using them. It is my understanding that Schmidt nibs are manufactured by Bock to Schmidt’s specification so I’m curious what went into Visconti deciding to use them. Perhaps they were trying to avoid some bad publicity given their past with Bock. At any rate, I was happy to find that the nib performed quite well. The medium nib was smooth and plenty wet. The nibs only come in the typical Schmidt sizes of fine, medium, and broad which I think is sufficient where, compared to my week 1 review of the Diplomat Viper, I think that pen could do with a nice EF nib. The Visconti feels like a more expressive pen and a broader nib feels more at home in it to me.
Taking a turn, once I put the Homo Sapiens nib into this pen it blew me away. It instantly felt like this was how it was meant to be. While my review technically isn’t based on this nib since it’s a modification, and an expensive one at that, it’s hard for it not to color my feelings about this pen to some degree.
Quality (Rating: 7/10)
The reviews of the Mirage Mythos seem to be overwhelmingly favorable suggesting they’re doing a better job of quality control. After Visconti’s debacle with the Bock made Palladium nibs (and even their own in-house nibs, although to a lesser extent) I would hope that they’d be more aware of 3rd party QC issues and, based on my writing experience, they seem to be. My biggest concern with this pen is how well the magnetic closure will hold up over time. Magnetic caps already aren’t the best sealing and that holds true here. It’s not unique to Visconti but something to be aware of. After a few days without being used it will take some effort to start writing again but I have not had to actually force ink through the feed from the converter. Apart from that I don’t have significant concerns beyond what I have for most other pens. Given my experience with Visconti, and a lot of others that I have read about, I am cautiously optimistic.
Value (Rating: 7/10)
It’s a Visconti that is only ~$160 USD and it doesn’t suck. In fact, I think it’s nicer than some of the high-end models. I was initially concerned about it having a Schmidt nib but the fact that it writes very well and is Visconti branded (unlike most Schmidt nibs) eased my concerns. It’s not cheap for a steel-nibbed pen but given the design, feel, and features it feels like something more unique than most other pens in its range. It genuinely feels special and that’s not something easy to find at most price points.
Final thoughts (Overall Rating 42/60)
My final rating reflects my view of the pen with the stock nib, which is very good. If I were rating it with the custom 14k Visconti Homo Sapiens nib that I have in it now it would be among my highest rated pens, in the pantheon with my Pilot Custom Urushi. I really like this pen. It’s not perfect but if I couldn’t buy another pen ever again after this one I’d be content with that. It’s a pen that has made me slow down my purchases and think more critically about them because I want to use this one. I think about using it while I’m writing with something else. While doing these 52 weeks of reviews I’m going to have to find time to continue using it, because I like it that much. That speaks to me.
Would I buy it again?
100% yes. In fact, if they release another color I like I may buy it and have two and leave the 2nd one with the stock Schmidt nib.