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. 

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)

Sheaffer Taranis Roller Ball (Stormy Wine Feat. Gold Plate Trim)

Fanciest Roller Ball I’ve Reviewed Yet! — and just in time for my 150th review!

Unless you are temporally challenged like yours truly, you’ve realized by now that the gifting holidays fast approacheth. Not to worry—Sheaffer is on top of it, and kindly sent me this sample to review and to pique your gift-buying interest. Thank you, Sheaffer.

Gift experience simulation: engaged

Maybe you’re a jaded pen aficionado who has so many fancy pen boxes that you make box forts in your spare time—I’m not. Maybe this box is simple, but I was impressed. THE BOX COMES IN ANOTHER BOX, how much fancier does it get without turning into a Russian nesting doll of pen containment? And the box for the box? So perfectly wrappable that I couldn’t resist.

This picture is probably the closest to accurate color I could get. Reproduce the color in your own home: put some red wine in a glass. I used Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink the wine. Keep drinking the wine. (If you are underage, make someone else drink the wine for you. If you are against wine, make someone else perform this experiment and take pictures for you.) Leave about a sip in the bottom of the glass. Look at that sip and squint.That’s about the color.

True to the name of its color, my Stormy Wine Taranis Roller ball arrived on a cold, stormy afternoon—and though I couldn’t have wine at the time (had to go to work) this is a perfect warm wine color. If this had been the fountain pen version, I could think of some perfect matching colors of ink…or if Sheaffer made a fountain-pen-ink-to-rollerball-tip converter…hint, hint, Sheaffer; my money dollars are waiting.

The ends are squared, like chopsticks. Using Sheaffer Taranis pens as chopsticks is not advisable. Talk to your doctor before eating roller ball pens as part of your heart healthy diet.

The Taranis (named after the Celtic god of thunder) is a design piece, no doubt. I might have to bust out my top hat, just so I can take my hat off to its designer, U.S. architect Charles Debbas. The details are simple but deliberate, and undeniably classy. I come down on the side favoring the long clip, but if it’s too plain for you I’d suggest finding someone to engrave a Celtic knot band down the face of it. But that’s just me; originally I thought (with my bad eyesight) that the SHEAFFER branding on the grip was something Celtic.

Haha, not even close. Does pronouncing “Sheaffer” with an Irish accent make it marginally more Celtic? Probably not.

Even though the branding is upside-down for my left-handed perspective, I love this grip. It’s streamlined art deco. It’s modernized classic. Everything about this pen is lining up perfect for my hand—the ridge for the cap to snap on doesn’t hit anything, nor does the posted cap edge, and the weight feels nicely balanced. The cap posts smooth and snug, and doesn’t throw off the balance.

Seems the pen world is determined to start learning me a thing or two about roller balls.

The refill it came with is a Sheaffer rollerball refill II (306), and it’s taking me some getting used to. I haven’t used a lot of rollerballs like I have gel pens, fountain pens, and ballpoints, so I don’t know if it’s common for the pen angle to so dramatically change the ink flow. It’s great for line variation in drawing, but for writing I’m still trying to get it under control. When I’ve got it, holy rollerball it’s smooth. It’s glorious. Like writing with power and butter. When I don’t, I cry out to the Celtic god of thunder to show me mercy and let my lines be consistent again.

Bartender! Quickly! Fill my glass! No, not with wine; more pens!!

The Taranis comes in five finishes, with boss-sounding names befitting a Celtic god—Stormy Night, Icy Gunmetal, White Lightning, Stormy Wine, and Sleek Chrome (translated: black, gray-silver, white, purplish red, more different silver) and is available as a ballpoint, rollerball, or fountain pen. Thanks again to Sheaffer for providing this sample!

Sheaffer Taranis by Sheaffer

Cross Edge Nitro Blue Rollerball Pen

Rollerball? Lies. The refill says gel rolling ball.

I won this sweet-looking pen in a Facebook giveaway by Goldspot Pens. Thanks to them and to the gods of random drawings for bringing unto me this pen.

Compact for travelling, full force for writing

The look is one of total modern sophistication. It’s got a bit much going on to be minimalist, but it’s still sleek and stylish. And this nitro blue metallic fusion resin—what a color!

A blue color, to be specific.

The best part is the opening mechanism: pull apart to open, push together to close. It’s the sort of mechanism you can sit there and operate over and over. Open and close. Open and close. It’s fun to do. Might drive someone listening nearby crazy though.

It looks like it lines up so perfectly, but for me that isn’t a good thing.

As I should have foreseen in the name, the Cross Edge has these edges where it slides open, and those edges align perfectly to dig in the crook of my hand. Not a problem if I hold it a little lower, but somehow that’s just not how I end up holding it. The feeling is slowly driving me a little bit crazy.

Name that planet for bonus points! Name where the picture came from for quadruple points! The points mean nothing!!!

The refill it comes with is a gel rolling ball 0.7mm tip. The black is a rich black. Performance has been mixed so far. Pretty nice on some papers, random times where the flow nearly chokes out on other papers.

See how some of the writing is thinner? It still wrote, but it was getting questionable before it kicked back into gear

When it’s working, I like how it writes, though it does do that same annoying thing that Pentel EnerGels do: ink picks up on my hands and gets redistributed onto the page (thankfully without smudging the writing).

I thought maybe this was a stylus. Nope. Just…STYLE.

I like the pen, just gotta watch those hard edges.

Cross Edge Nitro Blue Rollerball Pen at Goldspot Pens

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!