SQ1 EDC Pen by RNG

Better lit picture pending either the return of the sun or the revival of my scanner

Have we had a lot of Kickstarter pens designed around the Fisher Space Pen refill? No offense to any creators if we have, but I can’t remember many if any that caught my eye until I saw the Shipwrecked finish SQ1 sample on the Clicky Post‘s Instagram feed.

Caption typed by my dog: Q`1

This was something different. This was all thumbs up and a basket of yes. And at the Kickstarter special price of two for $40, I didn’t even have to choose between my two favorites. Ryan did a good job of communicating and updating throughout the project process, and a good job of getting product out (estimated delivery October, actual ship November)–especially for a one-man show machining some quality pens.

In my Kickstarter experience, you only earn the right to complain about the project timeframe if it’s been so long you forgot you even backed the project. Lookin’ at you, Fidget Cube.

The bodies of the SQ1 are all 6061 Anodized aluminum or stonewashed aluminum (I opted for a black and an olive drab green anodized), with four cap material/finish options (polished brass, polished copper, and then the two I chose: brushed copper and shipwrecked copper). In spite of reading how long the pen would be (5″ long, with a 5/16″ diameter), the thing itself in my hand was smaller than what I’d expected. Unless I actually measure and draw out a scale representation, I never really have an accurate conception in my mind of how big a Kickstarter pen will be.

But I guarantee, even with reference images including normal every day objects, my mental sization will be inaccurate

The aesthetic is a simple but satisfying arrangement of circles and lines – dimpled lines of circles for the grip, circles carved around the ends to create a visual of lines, all on the straight-line cylinder of the pen body. I like that the cap isn’t flush with the pen body; it makes the grip more comfortable as there isn’t a step down between the pen body and the nose cone, and it gives the pen a stylized matchstick look.

I’m going to end up looking at actual shipwrecks some day and probably be very disappointed that the colorations aren’t as pretty as this

But the biggest draw for me is that gorgeous shipwrecked finish. Every bit as beautiful as I’d hoped, and then some. The steampunky brushed copper looks great too. I’ve had both pens knocking around in bags for some time now, enough so that the anodized body of the black pen shows a bit of wear to it, but the finishes on the end caps look as good as the day I got them. I appreciate whatever protective or magical force has accomplished that, because I would hate for those beautiful patterns to get worn off.

The nose cone isn’t shipwrecked. Magic, or conspiracy??? ConsPIRACY ???? Arr.

Speaking of wear, here’s the wear I mentioned on the body. In dim lighting it’s hard to find but in sunlight, it’s visible. As long as I’m not losing my shipwrecked finish, then the more character the merrier. My only complaint for these pens: the threading on the nose cone. The cap doesn’t easily catch onto the threading. I have to take care and pay attention to make sure I’ve got it right. If anyone reports stripping the threads after a hasty or drunken recapping of the SQ1, I won’t be surprised.

Please write responsibly

I considered taking off points for the slight complications involved in freeing the refill. You have to unscrew the back end, then take a 1/8 allen wrench (not included) and insert it to unscrew the set screw, and then you can shake out the refill. But the set screw holds the refill perfectly and firmly in place. And if you’ve ever assembled or at least thought very hard about assembling any piece of IKEA furniture, then your toolbox probably already has an allen wrench or two drifting along the bottom with every spare mismatched nail you’ve encountered in your adult life. It wouldn’t be worth increasing the price of the pen to include one. My only beef here is with the cap threads on the nose cone (the threads on the back end to post the cap don’t have the same problem).

Pairs well with a rugged Field Notes and/or a gin & tonic

Though I haven’t actually reviewed the Space Pen itself yet, I’m not going to get into that this time. The short of it: it’s not a Jetstream, but it never said it was. It writes in all manner of environments, as would befit an EDC pen. Would I hand write a novel with it? No. Jot the jotty sort of jots one would expect of an EDC pen? Gladly.

 

The RNG website isn’t ready for selling yet, but at time of writing there are a few SQ1 pens available on the RNG Etsy shop.

Skilcraft U.S. Government Pen

Trying out a Field Notes for this here writing sample. It’s ok because it’s ballpoint

When you get an email with an offer to try “The official pen of the United States Government,” you can’t say no. That’s how you make bald eagles cry, and George Washington would not be pleased with that.

Insert partisan political joke of your choice here

These pens look like a retro throwback straight out of some non-existent idyllic past (a.k.a. the good old days). I dig the stamped-on “SKILCRAFT U.S. GOVERNMENT” label. But wow, these pens are tiny.

Granted, I’m comparing this to normal, full sized pens. Maybe it actually aspires to the compact carry category?

Makes me think about the size of a 1950s McDonald’s meal vs. now. Cheeseburgers of a rational size that look microscopic in comparison to the heaving patty towers of the modern era. I digress. This is a short, slender pen, light of weight and modest of design.

So official

The knock is a slim button, but with a strong and satisfying click. There’s a decent amount of resistance to it–when you deploy the pen, it’s a deliberate action. This! Is! Government! Business!

Does very good job attracting dust and cat hairs

Some minor quibbles – alignment. The clip doesn’t line up with the label. The metal spacer ring in the middle mostly lines up, but you can feel the slight edge line between the plastic and the metal. Psychologically, I really want the words to all be in a line, and the surface to all be impossibly smooth. 

See how none of these refills seem quite centered? That will become relevant

The refill is a bronze-bodied affair rumored to last for a mile (I don’t have paper long enough or patience sufficient enough to make over 5000 one foot long lines to test this claim). It’s no modern marvel–compared to the super smooth ballpoint kings, the Skilcraft refill is lighter in color and not as smooth. It’s good when it gets going, no blobs. There’s about half a millimeter of play laterally between the refill and the end of the barrel, the result being a soft but not unpleasant sound as you write, like a gentle tapping with each pen strike on the page. If you like tactile things, it’s a bit zen-like, your own personal write-powered white noise generator. If you crave absolute silence, then this could at times pose a problem.

Technically I have a dozen of these, but all those not pictured have migrated their way into the fabric of my life, and the reliable bottoms of my bags

This pen seems designed to be as unobtrusive as possible while still retaining usability as an everyday jotter. I doubt this would be very comfortable for a marathon note-taking session, but for quick notes such a slim pen tucks away easily to be ever-available. It’s stood up well to several months of abuse thrown in various bags without care. I find myself including one in each of my bags, in case I need a normal people pen, especially one I won’t have to worry about loaning out or losing.

Available wherever they are sold. Like Amazon, apparently. And probably other places.

A little more about Skilcraft – it’s the trade name of the National Industries for the Blind, employing those who are blind or visually impaired. Let me just link to the Tiger Pens Blog post about Skilcraft, which has a fantastic and fascinating write up about the company that makes these pens.

(Industries for the Blind, Inc. provided this product at no charge for reviewing purposes. Opinions entirely my own.)

TUL Pens – Serious Ink

I really need to get my nice big scanner set back up again, so I can easily do writing samples bigger than a playing card

I received an email from the new representative of the Office [Max/Depot] mecha behemoth advising me that I needed Serious Ink, which I pictured to be a very large bottle of black ink with a stern-faced, possibly dead individual on the label. No, apparently that’s not what Serious Ink is. Serious Ink refers to Office Depot‘s line of TUL pens. Would I like a free sample to review? Sure, I said, as long as these are somehow different from Office Max‘s line of premium TUL pens I reviewed before.

Obviously these are different, they came in their own suitcase

No reply from my Office DaxMepot liason, but this thing showed up on my doorstep (in the arms of the UPS guy, whom my dog viciously barked at). The previous set included a marker pen, a rollerball, a gel pen, and a ballpoint. This set included a pencil, a rollerball, a gel pen, and a ballpoint.

Literally, the same ballpoint

As before, the ballpoint delivers dark, super smooth ink performance in a somewhat bland-looking package. Put the ballpoint refill in the previous TUL line’s gel pen body, and then we’d be talking. But in spite of being the same ballpoint, the refill on this new one tends to sometimes rattle, which is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

The little keys that came with the little suitcase, by the way, do not work.

They’ve taken everything I liked about the look of the previous gel pen and completely done away with it, the beter to match the less-inspired design of the ballpoint. The gel ink remains smooth and skip-free, but still has spots where it takes too long to dry. Not very left-handed friendly. This is the medium point size—I’d like to try this gel pen in fine.

Oh rollerball. You have liquid ink, but are not a fountain pen. I never know what to do with you

I will give them credit in that the designs of this new set seem to go together a lot better, particularly the gel pen and the rollerball. Again, I’d like to try this in a fine; my handwriting just looks too thick. The medium rollerball seems to write much more consistently this time around, and the dry times are decent—much better than the gel pen.

I’m not very picky about mechanical pencils. Either it works, it’s a Uni Kuru Toga, or it’s a useless piece of garbage

Now this looks like it matches the design of the TUL gel pen that I liked before. I love the long rubbery grip, and that the lead and tip can be pushed back into the nose cone when you need to travel. And almost an inch of twist eraser! No complaints; it does everything a mechanical pencil should and in no way fills me with any rage.

By our powers combined, we are OFFICE INK DEPOT SERIOUS MAX

Design-wise, the pencil is the clear winner for this TUL group. Performance-wise, the day goes once again to the TUL ballpoint. The refills between the gel body and the ballpoint body are compatible with one another, so I’ve now gone back to my first set and put the ballpoint refill in my much more beloved gel body. Now my life is complete.

TUL Writing Line – Available online or at your nearest amalgamated Office Depot/Max.

Thank you to Office Depot OfficeMax for providing these samples free for review. Please consider adopting a slightly less unwieldy name though. 

The Patriot Pen

Hopefully the volatile combination of Doxie Flip Scanner and Pixlr editor on Chromebook rendered this writing sample at least somewhat approximate to reality

Here we have another successful child born of the Kickstarter penterprise—the Patriot Pen. You may recall I mentioned it before, and now I have it here before me. I have not yet turned into a man from using this pen, in spite of being “knee deep in pure manliness” with every writing session. Nor have onlookers assured me that they knew I was a man of real mettle by virtue of having this pen in my purse (Brad Dowdy did admire the knurling in a bar at the DC Pen Show, but I think that’s a far cry from being a testament to my “complete studliness”). This pen was provided to me free of charge as thanks from the good people of Dimond Point—since I wasn’t a backer, I can’t attest to how they functioned on that end of the process, but they did seem to get their pens out on their actual deadline target.

Hail of bullets not included

I gave this pen a shout out in the first place because I liked the look of it. A gun-inspired pen that’s tactical, not tacky. The squared-off barrel parts, the long and lanky powder coated spring steel clip, and of course the iconic “muzzle brake” styled tip, all in stealthy black. The only thing I didn’t like was the way the knurled version, when capped, just visually had so much knurling all in a row. I’m still on the fence about it. Posted, the knurling looks good echoed at both ends of the pen, but capped? Capped, the smooth grip style looks better.

Neon orange is such an awesome color that neither my camera nor my Photoshopping ability could adequately capture it

The threads are well done; it’s easy to get the cap on and off, both capping and posting. However I’ve had the cap unscrew itself and fall off into the pocket of my bag more than once. Maybe I didn’t tighten it enough those times, but the possibility is there. The anodized threads are also starting to show wear already—you can see the metal through the black coating. But I think this adds a personalized ruggedness to the instrument (see Spyderco clip, above).

Doubles as an emergency nail file.

The knurled grip is comfortable—if anything would get in the way of my comfort for a prolonged writing session, it would probably be the rounded corners formed by the squared body. The harder you grip your pen, the more those rounded corners may pose a problem.

Unless whatever you have next to the Patriot Pen is made of something hard, like diamond or adamantium, beware

Do be careful of putting the knurled grip in a pocket with basically anything else in it that you don’t want damaged—I had it clipped in a bag pocket next to my Bell System Property Wearever twist pencil, and the plastic got quite a bit scratched up.

Quite possibly the longest clip I own?

I couldn’t replicate the smooth pocket-clipping action of the Patriot Pen’s Kickstarter video (but I did come close to ripping my back pocket off), but the clip slides nicely onto papers without assistance (and onto fabric objects if I pull the clip out a little first). I like the texture that the powder coating gives. It makes this pen a delicious sampler of tactile sensations.

brratatatatat! pow pow pow! bang! bang! pyew pyew! wait maybe that last onomatopoeia is for laser blasters ….

The Pilot Dr. Grip refill was a good choice, being common (and thus easy to obtain) while still providing good performance. As I reviewed with the Pilot Dr. Grip pen, this refill is smooth (almost in the realm of the super smooth), sufficiently dark, and held back only by occasional blobs.

AMERICA GEORGE WASHINGTON FREEDOM WAVES OF GRAIN

The goal is to eventually add The Patriot Pen for sale on their website, with updates to be announced (possibly on their Kickstarter?) If you’re interested, keep your eyes out!

Yoropen Z3

Writing samples will be tiny for a while, until I can get my computer/scanner set up again. I’ll be using my Doxie Flip scanner and hoping it will be good enough

The ever unusual Yoropen! It’s been a few years since the first Yoropen undulated into my life. And now here we are, this silver phoenix born again through the fire of Kickstarter. Thanks to the folks at Yoropen for sending this free Z3 to review.

Box not pictured, one because it looks just like the box on the Yoropen website, two because after moving I’m not 100% sure where I put the box

The Z3 is an executive pen and comes in a tasteful box to match—nice enough that you’d never have to hide in shame when giving it as a gift, but not so nice that you’d feel like you couldn’t throw it away, if you’re not of the box-hoarding persuasion. Included with my sample pen: 1 proprietary cartridge, and 1 mold to turn other refills into Yoropen-compatible refills.

Grip colors available are black, blue, and reddish

The grip is made of comfortable, dust-collecting material. Once you start using it, it will never be fully clean again. The grip is adjustable, making the pen suitable for both left- and right-handers. I’m still trying to figure out exactly where I want my grip twisted to so as to facilitate the correct grip positioning.

I think I’m holding it correctly. I think I followed the instructions…

To get the full ergonomic benefits of the Yoropen requires some grip retraining, which allegedly will take you about five minutes. I didn’t really time it, but my cursive handwriting of this review did look a lot better by the end.

The end of that clip is just inviting my cat to walk up and chew on it while I’m writing

The cap snaps securely on the end, the clip a tilde floating in the wind. But closing the pen, the cap is very particular—it only goes on one way, in such a way that it pushes the nub of the clip’s end into the grip.

The mystery of the dented grip was quickly solved thanks to Scooby Snax and menthol cough drops. Or maybe it was simple logic.

Every time I put the cap back on, I have to remind myself that pushing the clip into the grip is correct. This creates a dent in the grip, which is more aesthetically annoying than really having any functional impact.

This is actually the Zebra Surari refill I molded, not the refill it came with. Shhh, they look the same in the pen

It’s surprising how little pressure is needed to get the Yoropen refill to write. It isn’t a particularly dark or striking refill, especially when applying so little pressure. But it flows smoothly and leaves marks on the page.

Top refill is a Zebra Surari multi-pen refill molded to fit the Yoropen. Beneath, the actual Yoropen refill. Finally, a Jetstream multi-pen refill being molded in the actual mold

New to the Yoropen Z3 (as opposed to previous Yoropen models) is a little plastic mold (shipped with the Kickstarter pens, currently available on the Yoropen website with each plastic refill ordered, plans in the future to be included with pens sold from the site). This little bit of plastic opens up a world of possibility. The idea is to take any similarly proportioned plastic refill and bend it into a Yoropen refill shape. It doesn’t work perfectly (the writing tip end doesn’t get bent far enough down, compared to the Yoropen refill), but it works well enough to get the newly molded refill into the Yoropen. You may have to finagle a bit, and physically encourage the refill to go where you want when you put the pen back together, but in the end I got mine to work. I first molded a Surari multipen refill (not sure how long it actually takes, as I just left it in the mold for a few days). Next, I went to mold a Jetstream refill and broke the plastic tip off the mold. Oops. The mold still works though, and as long as I keep the broken-off tip I’ll still be able to line up refills to put the Yoropen bend in at the correct distance from the pen tip.

All the pieces

I’m not used to using a ballpoint with such an incredibly light touch, and with a super-smooth refill in it? Smoother than buttered skates on oiled ice. It’s like first learning to write with a fountain pen all over again. You know how you’re supposed to write with your whole arm, not your fingers? The Yoropen is comfortable yet controllable enough for me to actually start doing that. I haven’t adapted quite as well to any other pen that demanded me to change my grip style (tripod style is typically a disaster, and every five years or so it used to be that I’d buy a PenAgain and soon remember I can never write right with it).

Ordinarily I don’t go for the idea of spending top dollar on a ballpoint pen (that money’s for fountain pens), but with a comfortable design and the ability to mold super-smooth refills to fit? That just might be worth it.

Yoropen Z3 Black Ver. 02 at Yoropen Inc.

United P2: Pocket Pen

Time to kick another starter!

What I have here today is a prototype model of the United P2 Pocket Pen that just launched on Kickstarter. I’ve spent a few weeks throwing it in pockets and bags, I’ve showed it off to nearly everyone I work with, I’ve lost it for almost a week in someone else’s car before finding it again, and I’ve scribbled my fair share of notes with it. Now, my memory is a bit hazy, but this just might be my favorite compact ballpoint pen.

Aluminum body. Stainless steel cap. Machined awesomeness

It looks part lava lamp, part minimalist rocket. It feels fantastically smooth to the touch, the finish some kind of mix between metal and silk. I’ve left it unprotected, free to jangle against keys, pocket knives, coins, and yet still I can’t find any signs of a scratch yet. I haven’t tried chucking it across a roughly paved parking lot or tried dropping it from the top of a five story building, but I’m not sure I’d want to. I like this pen too much to take the abuse quite that far.

I was worried about a small cap on a pocket pen, but it works

The cap (machined out of solid 17-4 stainless steel bar stock) and its locking grooves are machined so precisely that when you push the cap on, air has nowhere to go, thus requiring the hole in the top of the cap. When you pull the cap off, the air being sucked back in as you pull makes a little pop! when the cap is free. The result is a very secure cap that is nevertheless easy to remove and incredibly fun to play with.

If you grip your pens at the very absolute tip of the pen, this might be a problem, but everyone else will be okay

Not sure what I was expecting the first time I pulled the cap off, but this wasn’t it. This was something altogether strange and different. This looked like a candle, with the writer’s flame of a ballpoint tip. I was a bit skeptical. But then I followed the groove of the pen and was pleasantly surprised with the result.

I need to work on having a more photogenic grip

For my hand, the prototype is the perfect size. The weight of the pen gives it presence in the hand, but the comfortable way it’s balanced makes the weight almost unnoticeable. The refill included, a medium Schmidt, is nice and smooth in its own right. But the United P2 is designed to take a D1 refill. You know who makes a D1 refill? Do you?! UNI BALL. THE ANSWER IS JETSTREAM. THE ANSWER IS I CAN HAVE A FANCY LITTLE JETSTREAM REFILL POCKET PEN AND A CHOIR OF PENLY ANGELS SHALL SING ABOVE MY HEAD. Ok put that thought on pause. Brad Dowdy has discovered (as I did once he pointed it out and I tried swapping the refill) that the Jetstream refill is too skinny. I HAVEN’T GIVEN UP YET. RESEARCH MUST BE DONE. But I’ll have to come back to this. I’m holding out hope.

UPDATE from the inventor himself:

“Also for the record, the production pen WILL accept all D1 refills. Currently the prototype doesn’t accept some refills because the coating thickness is a little too thick which in turn made the hole size a touch smaller than it needs to be.”

HOPE RETURNS!

Everyday carry approved

Tweaks are already planned for the production run vs. what I have here in the prototype. The pen will be a little larger, both in length and in diameter. Personally I’m fine with the prototype size, but I have medium sized hands. It would be nice, down the line, to perhaps have “large” and “small” size options for the United P2. No one size will be perfect for everyone, but it would be nice to have a choice. I worry that a larger pen wouldn’t fit nicely in the pockets of my fitted jeans. The production run pen will also have a smaller cap hole, which I didn’t have a concern about either way. Finally, the production run will have the press fit cap on the back end of the pen flush with the pen body. It sticks out so slightly on the prototype that I didn’t even notice until I saw this improvement listed, but that update is a good idea. Don’t know when I’d need to stand the pen upright, but just in case.

There are still 28 days to go and already the United P2 has reached its (admittedly easy to attain) funding goal. The makers of this pen have successfully completed a Kickstarter project before (a small brass spinning top that looks really cool and I really want one now, thanks a lot research). If you’re interested in this pen, hop onboard.

United P2: Pocket Pen by Dylan Polseno on Kickstarter

Tombow AirPress Pen – White (Review & Giveaway)

Lacking a portable scanner with me at this time, I’m having to make do with photographing the writing sample instead

I don’t know if stormtroopers took over Tombow or if the staff there are just being remotely brain-controlled from the Death Star, but I too was contacted to receive and give away a white-and-black version of the Tombow AirPress Pen. Thanks to Tombow for providing these pens!

It also matches my car. I should give more rides to stormtroopers carrying these pens for the ultimate matching experience. More matching than a deathcage match even.

I’ve had some exposure to the AirPress before, evaluating it as a potential motorcycling pen, but I forgot to get around to actually reviewing it. And I have reviewed the similar AirPress Apro ballpoint pen. As I’ve noted before, I like the lightweight, compact body and the grippability of it—both the non-slip surface covering the whole body, and the slightly wider body itself.

I’m not sure if you can really see it, but it is snowing in the background. And foreground. And on the ground

That wider body makes it easy to hold and write with the pen even with gloves on (and in the cold, on wet paper, upside down, etc.).

Why is the arrow pointing? What does it mean???

The lanyard loop I understand. The hinged clip, we’re good. I like the grip, and the windows where you can see some of the process mechanisms that pressurize the ink cartridge. The only thing I don’t fully understand is the little plastic arrow thing on the end of the clip. I feel like it has some secret meaning or purpose and I just don’t get it.

UNDER PRESSURE, pushing down on me, pressing down on you—wait have I made this joke before

Just like the Tombow Apro AirPress, the regular AirPress ballpoint pen does really well with drawing. Each click of the pen (on the retraction actually, unless I’m mistaken) pressurizes the refill for 492 feet of writing. Is there a machine that tests these things? One robot arm holds the pen while another mechanism scrolls several hundred feet of paper by? Or is it just some probably underpaid guy writing the same word over and over until either he snaps or the ink cartridge runs out? The writing smoothness I would rank just under the supersmooth category; not butterglide skatesmoothery, but it’s still good. For the utility you get, there’s not much sacrifice of performance in terms of how the pen writes. I might loan my pen out to some LEOs I know to see how it holds up to some real field work.

What does 492 feet of writing even look like on paper? Has anyone stopped and really consciously looked at 492 feet of words?

Tombow AirPress Pen at Tombow

 

And now, for the thanksgiveaway! Tombow has provided an extra pen for me to give away, so give it away I shall!

The rules:

1. Since I can only afford so much postage, I’m going to limit this giveaway to the U.S. only. Just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Cyber Monday, December 1st 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Only one comment per person! 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. I will hand-number the entries because why not. 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 2nd. Winner will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar.

Thanks again to Tombow, and thanks to all of you for reading :)

Schneider Assortment – Top Quality German Pens

If I’d spread this over ~5 individual reviews, it would have taken me forever to tell you about all these pens

The fine folks at Stride, Inc. brought it to my attention that I’d never reviewed any Schneider pens before, the reason being I was pretty sure I didn’t have any. Stride, being the exclusive Schneider agent in the US, offered to send me a Schneider sampler to rectify this situation.

Interestingly enough, when I looked through the Schneider catalogue they sent, I discovered I actually DID have a single Schneider pen, the Voyage fountain pen, as yet unreviewed, rescued from the same dusty NYC pen shop where I got the Parker Reflex

The appearance of the pens I’ve got seems to fall in one of two camps: standard pens that look similar to other pen lines (such as the ones that look like cousins of a Pentel R.S.V.P. or a Uni rollerball), and the modern fun ones. The ones that look like the R.S.V.P. are known as the Slider (with Viscoglide technology). They have slimmer barrels than an R.S.V.P., and easily-identifiable-in-a-pen-cup color-matching caps and accents. Appearance-wise, these are your basic office / school stick pens with plastic clips.

The body says vaguely Uniball-looking, but the grip/fins/nose cone says Pilot Precise. It’s like their strange German baby.

The Xtra Hybrid is also pretty typical office fare, with the addition of a big metal clip, and an attractive grip section.

In hindsight, I think I mentally intended to put the green one in the middle of this lineup for greatest visual balance. TOO LATE TO TAKE MORE PICTURES NOW

Then we have my favorites—the contoured body style with full-body rubberized surface grippiness. I love that there’s no single exact grip spot that you’re supposed to hold, and the rubber has a nice feel; neither too tacky nor too slick. For the capped models, I wish the caps snapped to post. To post, the caps are friction fit on the end; it’s pretty secure, but I like the sound and sensation of a satisfying cap snap. For that reason, if I had to pick a favorite of the bunch it would probably be the retractable Slider Rave XB. It’s attractive, convenient, and practical.

There’s a lot of potentially messy-looking ink buildup, but it hasn’t given me problems so far

The ballpoints all feature Schneider’s Viscoglide technology, which is just their brand-name way of saying super-smooth ballpoint. And is it? I’m happy to say that Viscoglide does not disappoint. Is the ink as dark as that bastion of the night, the ink which absorbs all light, the venerable Jetstream? No, perhaps not, but the smoothness is there, with no blobs or skips. Put it in the pantheon of super smoothness. The sizes I have to try out are XB and F; XB is undeniably smoother, but the F is still pretty slick. We must ask, as seen with the Jetstream Color, do alternate ink colors impact performance? For the purple Slider Memo XB, a resounding no—this might just be the best purple ballpoint I own. For the cotton candy colors of light blue and pink, I do think they feel a touch slower, the light blue perhaps a smidgen more than the pink, but then again maybe I’m imagining things. There are no issues of skipping or blobbing, it’s just the other colors feel faster.

If you’re colorblind, does the red and green body pen just look all the same color?

And then there’s these two. The Xtra Hybrid performs solidly and provides ink consistently, with no scratchiness or any other weird rollerball feelings I’ve encountered in other rollerball pens before. The Schneider Xpress fineliner has got to be a teacher’s pen. Writing with it I feel like I need to give someone an F minus, and with its waterproof ink I wouldn’t have to worry about their tears washing my harsh but necessary judgments away. There are reasons I’m not a teacher you guys.

Bright colors, maximum fun

Bonus: all these Schneider pens I’ve got feature wear-resistant stainless steel tips. Double bonus: Stride is a company not only providing some quality pens, but with a pretty awesome story: they’re a certified small woman-owned business committed to successfully training and employing people with developmental disabilities. Step up your game, other pen companies; what are the rest of you doing to make the world a better place (besides putting good pens in it)?

Thanks again to Stride for providing these pens for review!

Information on ordering Stride Pens (available through Office Max and Office Depot)

Ink Drop Soup: Yoropen, Back Again!

Remember the Yoropen?

It took about 8 minutes of scrolling back through my media library to find this

I mentioned when I reviewed it that there was a metal version. Little did I realize at the time that Yoropens had been pretty much discontinued since about 2008/2009, operations shut down…but they are back, and trying to get started up again through Kickstarter.

Image from the Yoropens Z3 Kickstarter

The Z3 is an updated version of the old metal Yoropen (the Z2) in a big way: instead of requiring only special, odd, proprietary ink cartridges, the inside has been redesigned to be able to accommodate generic refills after they’ve been bent appropriately by an included mold.

Image from the Yoropens Kickstarter

I’m excited to see the new Yoropen Z3 in action, and Yoropen has reached out to me to send me one to try once it’s ready; keep your eyes open for a review in the future. In the meantime, the Kickstarter is live if you’re looking for a different pen from a company with previous success that’s trying to get back in the game.

Yoropen Z3 on Kickstarter

Uni Jetstream Prime 3 Color Ballpoint Multi Pen – 0.7 mm – Navy Body

Delays in getting this post done brought to you in part by: getting a new dog

Either the Uni people listen or they came to the same logical conclusions their customers do—there should be a fancy Jetstream multi pen, there should be D1 Jetstream refills—VOILÀ! Both of these things, in the same pen. Thanks to JetPens for providing this sample.

And most of all, thank you for blue, and not pink. Pink exists now though, for those of you who are not me and love pink

The body is metal (type unspecified), the paint job that same enchanting metallic finish typically reserved for bumper cars. But classy. Like a Ferrari bumper car.

Exactly like a Ferrari.

Up top, we’ve got some of the most subtle multi pen markings I’ve ever seen, coupled with what I’ll assume is a curious homage to Legos. Sure, you are a fancy businessperson now, but your heart hasn’t forgotten how crucial the carefully collected gem panel was to the city-defending death ray you had Lego Anakin Skywalker man. Or whatever it was you used your Lego gems for.

Put them in treasure chests? But then where would we keep all of Lego Queen Amidala’s extra hairstyles?

The knocks are so smooth, strangely smooth if you’re used to multi pen components that are pressed inward and down to deploy. They are extremely satisfying to manipulated, and probably guaranteed to drive coworkers crazy. At least they won’t drive you crazy—they never fail (not in my experience so far, no getting stuck, no randomly undeploying, just solid mechanisms).

Looks vs. comfort. Typically this is a battle that plays out over fashionable shoes.

I do question the comfort of the all-metal body, especially in the grip area, particularly if you like to grip hard. I have to catch myself when I’m writing to readjust away from a death grip, lest I press the pen uncomfortably into the base of my thumb. Maybe adding a regular grip would do nothing to alleviate this, but an Alpha Gel Grip? What you’d lose in svelte aesthetics you’d gain in heavenly grip comfort. Maybe if I suggest it enough times, it will be reality. Alpha Gel Grip Jetstream Multipen of Fanciness. Alpha Gel Grip Jetstream Multipen of Fanciness. Looks like for now, this will remain but a dream.

You could definitely fit more in here. Oh, perhaps a secret message would fit?

Moreso than the Uni Jetstream 4&1 multi, these refills rattle when writing. When I pick the pen up and put it back to the page I can hear it, enough to be noticeable. Not quite enough to drive me up a wall yet, but given the choice I’m inclined to go for a quieter writing experience. Or, there are some sounds that are soothing to hear when you write, like the gliding of a nib as it lays ink on the page. Refills rattling is not one of those pleasant sounds.

I almost want to ask for more colors, but knowing the track record I’ve experienced with non-traditional Jetstream color inks I think I’ll keep my mouth shut

The performance of the refills is satisfying. The colors are rich, and above all stay off my hands. The black seems to perform best of the three colors, but that might just be my imagination. Is it as good as a regular Jetstream? Perhaps not on the most microscopic, nitpicky level, but it’s much smoother and more satisfying than any other D1 ballpoint refill I’ve tried so far. Is there a bulk discount on these refills? I have a lot of mini ballpoint pens I’d like to upgrade.

Set it down like this and no one even knows about your allegiance to the plastic brick

Is this the best multi pen your $45 can buy? I guess it depends on how much of your childhood was dedicated to Legos. This is the sort of pen that would make a great gift to receive, but might not necessarily be a pen body you clamor to buy for yourself. The D1 refills that this body brought to pen existence are another matter entirely, and I strongly advise you to stock up and retrofit as many little pens as possible.

Uni Jetstream Prime 3 Color Ballpoint Multi Pen – 0.7mm – Navy Blue Body at JetPens