Ink Review #196: Montblanc Legend of Zodiacs

Today is Monday, which means it's the start of a new week. This week is new releases here at Mountain of Ink, so I'll be talking about inks that have been released in the last year. Today's ink is Montblanc Legend of Zodiacs Red China. Montblanc does seem to love long ink names, so for the purpose of this review, I'm just going to call it Zodiacs. Anderson Pens was very kind to send me a sample of this ink for review. 

The color:

Zodiacs is a medium red with some shading. 

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-mostly in the flex nib on Tomoe River paper.

Other properties: Low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

The ink was pretty bright red on all of the papers when wet, but on some of them it lightened up as it dried. It lightened up the most on Tomoe River paper.

On 20 pound copy paper the ink did pretty well, just a touch of feathering in the larger nibs.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Robert Oster Rubine, Montblanc Legend of Zodiacs, and Robert Oster Clay Red. Click here to see the Montblanc inks together. Zodiacs is closest to Rubine.

Robert Oster Crimson, Robert Oster Royal Red, and Diamine Red Dragon. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a medium Pelikan M600 White Transparent on Tomoe River paper. The ink felt a touch dry.

Overall, I wasn't crazy about the flow. It felt a bit too dry to me, and I favor wetter inks. I also wasn't crazy about how it looked when dry, I preferred the more vibrant color that showed when it was wet. I don't think it's an ink I would buy a full bottle of, but give it a shot, it might be the perfect red for you.

Disclaimer: This ink was sent to me by Anderson Pens for review. All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.