Pentel Libretto Pen & Pencil Set — and GIVEAWAY!

Pens AND pencils—TOGETHER?!?!?

You know how these things start. I get an email that begins with “do you want—” and I’m already shouting YES PLEASE as I reply with my mailing address before they can even get out the words “free pen sample.”

Does this desk look dimly lit to you? Or do I need to change my contacts?

Usually I’m skeptical of gift sets when it comes to the world of writing utensils. No good reason for it, really. If I don’t like something, there’s usually a good reason. Gift pen and pencil sets are the exception. I distrust them without any justification.

The subtle accents somehow seem festively appropriate. Or maybe that’s the red felt. Maybe the accents really indicate the number of times the pen was distilled. 150-proof pen, ladies and gents.

But I’m glad I gave these a shot. They’re simple yet elegant, with classy accents and a nice feel in the hand. I’d take them to a dinner party; wouldn’t you?

Pencil? Bueno. Rollerball? Not so bueno.

The pencil I found myself reaching for time and again on recent craft / notebook-making projects. The pen, however, is a bit of a let-down. It doesn’t apply well over pencil, meaning it’s a no-go for art use, and I had some occasional skipping. Not to fear though.

I doubt Pentel appreciates me kicking their refill out for a Uni-ball Jetstream refill, but maybe I wouldn’t have to if they’d stock the VIcuna in American retail stores.

Joyous wonder, the Jetstream refill fits in this body. So you can have a fancy all-fine-occasions pen with a delicious Jetstream center (and if you love the person you’d be giving this to, you WILL open it up and put a Jetstream refill in the pen).

 

For all your favorite gift-based holidays!

Now, on to the good stuff.

 

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THE GIVEAWAY RULES!

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1. To enter, just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Thursday, December 27th 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. Since I’ll be sending this myself, and I’m not made of loot and dough, I’m limiting this contest to U.S. residents only. Sorry!
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Make any kind of comment—but only one comment! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. Because my blog doesn’t seem to number the comments on its own yet, and I STILL don’t will probably never have time/the willpower to fix it, I will again hand-number all the entries in Photoshop like I did here. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner on Friday, December 28th. Winner will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar.

Good luck everyone!

Many thanks to Pentel for providing these sets for me to review and for the extra to give away!

Pentel Libretto Pen & Pencil Set

 

 

New Premium Line of TUL Pens from OfficeMax — and GIVEAWAY

Four for one special!!

This review would have been brought to you sooner, but someone decided to make vanish my original sample package. Whoever you are, I hope you weren’t expecting pens in that box. I hope whenever you so much as look at a pen you are filled with an unending sense of guilt that haunts you all your days.

ADMIT YOUR GUILT OR BE CURSED FOREVER, MYSTERY THIEF

So, I too was contacted by OfficeMax to see if I’d be interesting in taking their new premium line of pens for a whirl. As always, I am thrilled for the opportunity to test some new pens. Also, something about a giveaway? We’ll come back to that.

From top to bottom: marker pen, rollerball, gel pen, ballpoint

I like the general design of this TUL line (confession: I am not at all acquainted with the previous line so I can’t really compare the two). These pens don’t try too hard; they adhere to basic, minimalist designs that stick to a general theme while giving each pen a unique look.

The ovals are another good element

Design-wise, the gel pen is my favorite. I like the long grip, and the color accents are just enough to let you know what the ink color is while not detracting from the simple, stolid office theme. The capped pens (marker and rollerball) have hard plastic that I’m afraid might be prone to crack over time (similar to the Platinum Preppy). The ballpoint would be better with a longer grip section, like the gel pen, but I’ll survive.

Here’s where all the important parts come in.

The marker pen is smooth, and the only bleedthrough I had was on the drawing portion. The rollerball was a little inconsistent (or character-filled, if you prefer), and was probably my least favorite of the bunch just due to that and the occasional odd sensation of the ball rolling not quite properly. If I’m going to have character-filled lines, I prefer to have them coming from a fountain pen, when I can have whatever color ink I want. The gel pen was smooth, bright, and consistent, all good. But my favorite, by and far, was the ballpoint pen. It was dark and smooth to the point that it took me completely by surprise. I think I’ve finally found a pen that performs close enough to a Jetstream that I can keep on my desk, but not be too distraught if the pen walks away.

If I ran an office, I’d order them

Suggested retail prices range from $1.99 (single pens) to $20.99 (12-pack). Not bad at all.

TUL Marker Pen from OfficeMax

TUL Rollerball Pen from OfficeMax

TUL Gel Pen from OfficeMax

TUL Ballpoint Pen from OfficeMax

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THE GIVEAWAY RULES!

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Now for the part you’ve been looking forward to: the giveaway! OfficeMax is generously providing a sample set directly to one lucky reader here. Your rules as follows:

1. To enter, just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Monday, December 10th 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. Sadly, this contest is only open to U.S. residents.
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Make any kind of comment—but only one comment! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. Because my blog doesn’t seem to number the comments on its own yet, and I STILL don’t have time/the willpower to fix it, I will probably just hand-number all the entries in Photoshop like I did here because this is the kind of solution that sane people come up with. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner on Tuesday, December 11th. Winners will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar. I’ll forward your info to OfficeMax so they can send you your pens!

Good luck, and thanks again to OfficeMax!

Disclaimer: I received the TUL products mentioned in this post from OfficeMax in order to facilitate my review. The items featured in this giveaway are also provided by OfficeMax and will be sent to the winner directly. Opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own. I have not been compensated for this post in any other way.

Stabilo Bionic Worker Roller Ball Pen – 0.3 mm – Black Ink

It is theoretically possible that one day, I will find a rollerball I like as much as I like the Jetstream ballpoint that I’ll go around championing. But today is not that day.

One of these days, maybe I’ll learn to stop trying rollerball pens. We just don’t work well together, me and rollerball pens, but resisting such a brightly colored new arrival proved impossible (thanks to JetPens for providing this sample!).

Good for Halloween, and for public safety cone emergency replacements

I’m all over this design. Bright minimal-industrialist, the curves, the dots—and it looks great next to a Rhodia notebook.

Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking, but zoom in on this picture—doesn’t it look like there’s a black bird standing on the S, dropping a dot on the T? Maybe it’s just the sleep deprivation.

It’s got the little touches that are nice to see on an industrial pen, like the unobtrusive little bump there to keep the pen from rolling off when uncapped, metal clip, and a cap that posts and secures nicely. The rubberized body, though it has a mild propensity to gather a few cat hairs, has nice traction (because I assume all industrialized environments more or less involve working in three feet of oil).

Labeling can sometimes be used to great design effect. EXCEPT WHEN IT’S COVERED IN LIES

I know that a European fine is thicker than a Japanese fine, but there is nowhere on this planet where a 0.3mm tip pen should make a line this thick and be called a “fine.” This is not fine. This is very unfine. You should be fined for making something so unrefined, Stabilo.

shhhh the sleep deprivation is talking

Maybe German workers have no need for fine things. Maybe other people like pens that don’t write consistently clean, crisp lines. I don’t know. All I know is I have a cool looking pen here that I’m not particularly drawn to write with.

Fuzzy writing on majority of papers is a pretty constant problem for me and rollerballs though, so don’t blame Stabilo too badly for that.

I might try to see if I can hack the Stabilo ink insert out and put something else in, and if it works I’ll report back. Otherwise, unless you really need something to match a Rhodia Notebook, or you collect all the rollerball pens, or you have better luck than me with these mercurial liquid ink sticks, I’d pass on this pen.

Stabilo Bionic Worker Roller Ball Pen – 0.3 mm – Black Ink at JetPens

Schrade Tactical Fountain Pen / Rollerball Pen

Black Cherry---also thematically holiday appropriate!

When I first saw this pen reviewed by the Office Supply Geek, I just about went out of my mind—I HAD TO HAVE THIS PEN. I literally scrabbled around on my iPod touch, sitting on the trunk of my car during a work break (the better to connect to free wifi), navigating frustrating little mobile menus to order this pen RIGHT AWAY. Maybe I could have contacted the manufacturer, asked for a sample to review? But no, no no no I had no patience for that long shot, and ordered the pen immediately. I was, and am not disappointed. And good news for you—the price has gone down since I bought mine!

Also comes in silver and bronze, apparently. Just saw the bronze for the first time online. I THINK I NEED THE BRONZE, TOO.

I don’t know much about anodized aluminum, but I do know that this pen has got it in spades. This is the kind of pen you could beat down a cardboard box with and not break a sweat. This is the kind of pen you clutch in dark alleyways and late night parking lots. Forget that mess about carrying your keys around to attack criminals with, this pen will probably be much more effective (unless your criminals are armed and dangerous; don’t bring a pen to a gunfight, kids).

The least weaponized part

The clip is bolted firmly on, and clipping it on, the clip has the sort of grip strength that falls just shy of rigor mortis levels. But the flare at the end makes it easier to slide onto notebooks, and, bonus, is kind of like a little handle.

The business end---if by "business" you mean the kind typically run by the Mafia.

Here’s where you’ll find all the tactically placed hurt-making parts, and where the cap threads on (for those who’ve always wanted to write with a marathoner’s baton). You’ve got a blunt point at the very end, and a bunch of sharp corners for ripping things like cardboard.

Pretend that this box just tried to rob you.

This is just a little bit of sample damage done to an empty box. Imagine what it might do to metal, glass, the criminal element.

Another stabby part!

Technically, the cap posts—quite sturdily so.

Really only practical for when you need to use the pen to joust

But then you’ve got a pen that’s over seven inches long. That’s a bit much for a pen that isn’t one of those giant novelty pens typically found at the cash registers of quirky stores that are tired of people accidentally walking off with their pens.

Stealthily smooth---and look how clean the nib stays! Seriously, that is also an amazing thing for me.

I am surprised every time I open this pen up to write. One, I’m usually surprised that it still writes at all, no problem, because it’s usually been days—if not weeks—since the last time I used it. Two, I was not expecting a pen so rugged to have such a smooth (probably medium point) nib. The ink flow is great, and it takes standard international short cartridges (comes with a black cartridge (or two? I don’t remember; I never used them)). And for you crazy people who like the body but hate fountain pens:

Why would you hate fountain pens? Why would you want to break my heart like that?

It also comes with a rollerball option! Included with the pen free of charge! Whether you want it or not, you’ve got two options! It’s easy to swap out, and the rollerball (a Schmidt brand fine point, in black ink) writes just fine.

Probably not going to be as tactically useful as all that pointed metal on the fountain pen nib.

Let’s review: this is a pretty awesome pen, by its own merits, and it’s currently at an unbelievable (considering all the metal) price (around $25 at time of writing). Maybe you live in some idyllic countryside bubble of safety descended straight from a single weekend in the 1940s, and the thought of such a dangerous-looking pen terrifies you. That’s fine. But for the rest of us, especially those who want to combine elegant writing with armored accouterments, our pen has come.

Schrade Tactical Fountain Pen in Black

Schrade Tactical Fountain Pen in Brown

Schrade Tactical Fountain Pen in Silver

Stabilo ‘s Move Easy Left Handed Pen

Ergonomic grips: the fastest way to make your handwriting look as terrible as possible

This pen dates from way back when in 2008, before I’d even heard of JetPens. I was studying abroad in Venice, and discovered the office supply wonders of the nearest Testolini. That’s where I first saw this:

THIS BASTION OF COOLNESS

in multiple colors, but all were right-handed models. I was not confident enough to hazard my own translation to ask “Do you have the left handed model of this pen? Could you order it for me?”, preferring instead to drown my sorrows in wine and to visit Testolini often, in the hopes that the pen fairy would see fit to take pity on my situation.

Things the pen fairy did not do: exist; take pity on my situation.

It wasn’t until over a month later that I finally found the left-handed model I wanted in some office supply shop in Paris.  Was I delighted? I was so delighted, I didn’t even know what language to use to say thank you. Or maybe that wasn’t delight; maybe that was wine…

Strangely not hypermagnetized to attract debris

I can say that even after almost 3 years, this pen still looks pretty good. It has withstood abuse well. It feels great to hold, curves in all the right places. Of course, I apparently grip my pens in the most ergonomically unsound way possible, so holding the pen and writing with it aren’t precisely the same story, but I think that’s more a function of me than the pen.

Another pen cap that makes me think of a squid

My biggest unfounded concern with this pen was the cap. I figured there would be no way this thing would still be with me after any appreciable length of time. But there it is before your very computer screens. I appreciate the consideration Stabilo put into the cap. It pushes on and/or screws on to close, unscrews to open, and snaps firmly onto the end to post. Doesn’t pull off when it’s shut, doesn’t unscrew by itself, and despite my best efforts, cannot be accidentally knocked off the end when posted.

Place for your name, again in this magical fantasy world where all the children have cool pens

And can we just stop for a moment and admire this minimalist design? It may be a child’s pen, but (at least with this color scheme) it’s far from childish.

Mine came with 3 ink refills, and probably more than one nameplate sticker and laminate sticker cover in case I screwed my name up

In spite of my ergonomic-defying gripping tendencies, I still enjoy writing with this pen, even if my handwriting doesn’t look as good because my mastery of the “ideal” pliers grip is on par with a first grader. There is a kind of velvety smoothness to this rollerball—tactile, smooth but not buttery smooth, deliberate but not in a way that feels like I’m getting resistance. It writes well and consistently from almost every angle, except when I attempt a very unnatural-feeling 90-degree perpendicular approach to the page (at that angle, the ink is thinner, lighter, and there is resistance).

Gimmicky? No, gimmexcellent.

The good news: I like this pen. The bad news: one, I don’t think this particular model is sold anymore? It has been slightly redesigned, with an aesthetically-challenged  snub-nosed cap. Two: I have no recollection of how much this pen cost, especially since I bought it in another currency, at a time when I was pretending that the euro and the dollar were equivalent (because otherwise, I wouldn’t have spent any money at all, because I would have thought everything to be far too expensive). Three: I don’t know a good site to link to for you to buy this pen! Here‘s the current iteration of this pen at Stabilo’s website, but if any of you reading this know of / are a site selling this pen, let me know and I’ll add a link!

Pilot Precise V5 – Extra Fine in 5 Colors

I should have just made this page all sketches and leprechauns. Who needs words, anyway?

It is apparently disclaimer week for me, because I have a disclaimer for this post as well: I am currently traveling (probably at a speed of around 65mph), and had to do my pen pictures from my cozy little bus seat. So, if the picture quality is somewhat lacking this week, please blame the poor suspension system of this vehicle I’m sardined into.

Black! Red! Green! Purple (I swear it's purple)! Blue! Also...Maryland? Probably Maryland.

I picked up the 5 pack of these (for once, a set of pens easily available at probably any major office supply retailer but NOT on JetPens) so we can get all the colors out of the way in a single review. I loved drawing with this pen–ink flow was perfect, though when writing I did feel some slight friction drag. This might be a left handed thing, since I’m pushing the pen across the page rather than pulling, but this is why buttery-smooth writing pens make such a big difference to me. I also didn’t have any problem with ink getting picked up off the page, carried around, and deposited elsewhere on the page via the side of my hand.

You can easily tell the pen colors apart based on the body. This is the only nice thing I have to say about the body.

My only problem with this pen (aside from the slight (ever so slight) drag while writing) is the body. Look at it. It looks like the 1990s distilled into a single writing instrument. I mean literally, I’m pretty sure I have some of my mom’s POWERFUL BUSINESSWOMAN pens from the 1990s, among those several old Precise V5 or V7 pens, and they look exactly the same. This is a cylinder with a clip on it. It also has no grip, for those of you who find grips crucial. This model is primarily for the purpose of having a pen that makes its marks well, but has such a cheap aesthetic that, if it walks out of your pen cup in the hands of a coworker, it’s no big deal.

IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE YOU THAT COUNTS. BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP. Except with pens. Being a pen is like being in a beauty pageant that never ends.

There is one design element I like: the colored tips. Those are pretty neat-looking.

My judgments against this pen are completely superficial, which is good–I feel like a lackluster exterior is much easier to fix than a pen that looks neat but writes like crap. And I know there are several other Precise V5 models–I think I’ve seen a nicer looking retractable version on the shelves that would be worth checking out. As long as it writes as nicely as this model. But that will have to be another review!