Review: Zebra F-301 Ultra, Ballpoint, 0.7mm

by Andrew

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I’ve covered many iterations of the popular Zebra F-301 pen on this blog, and it’s been quite a hodgepodge. For example, there’s the F-301 Compact, a redesign that managed to be even more uncomfortable than the original. There’s also the rollerball version of the F-301, creatively named the R-301, which made some positive and interesting changes, yet still failed at some of the basics. And then there’s the 301A, a version of the F-301 that made almost no changes, positive or negative, except that the barrel looks a little prettier.

But, finally, I’m happy to report that Zebra has an update of the F-301, called the F-301 Ultra, which really is a marked improvement.

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Within moments of using the F-301 Ultra, it’s clear that it is a much better pen than the original. There’s a couple small changes – a reinforced clip and a rounded-off knock mechanism – that contribute the overall improvement, but the most significant change is the grip. Rather than the hard-plastic of the original F-301, the F-301 Ultra has a softer, thicker grip. It’s impressive how this change makes the F-301 Ultra much more comfortable to write with than the original.

At around five dollars per pen, it’s about double the price of the original F-301, and depending on your personal use case, this softer grip will wear down eventually. But if you’re using your F-301 for more than jotting small notes here and there , then it’s definitely worth the upgrade to the Ultra. Now if Zebra could only improve its ballpoint ink refill to compete with something like the Pilot Acroball, this pen might really be a game-changer.

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Extra Links

  • A review from the Tiger Pens Blog. Apparently, it’s a good self-defense pen? I don’t know about that, but he also agrees that the ink is less than ideal.
  • A review on the Fountain Pen Network Forum by member s5s. Again, the main contention is the refill, which is a proprietary design. So don’t think you’ll be able to switch this refill out with any other.
  • The F-301 Ultra is carried by many retailers online, but I’ve never seen one in a store – even Zebra’s website doesn’t really mention the Ultra anywhere. Perhaps it has been discontinued already.

10 thoughts on “Review: Zebra F-301 Ultra, Ballpoint, 0.7mm”

  1. Pingback: Review: Zebra F-402, Ballpoint, 0.7mm | Pens and Junk
  2. Pingback: Review: Zebra F-701, Ballpoint, 0.7mm | Pens and Junk

  3. Any further luck finding these? They’ve been my favourite pen for some time (potentially 10 years) but I’m down to my last one.

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      1. Well they are not wearing out but I would like to buy extra full pens (as well as refils). As nice as they are, they are not worth $30-40 being asked on Amazon and eBay.

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  4. Someone in the UK a year or two back sold a whole bunch of new old-stock blue Zebra F301 Ultras on eBay (the ink refills in them appear to be date-coded for 2007). Other than that, it’s been very difficult to find them anymore as Zebra had discontinued them years ago (and was saying as much to people asking about the Ultra), and they don’t tend to show up on any online re-sellers or eCommerce outlets.

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    1. I just checked and they seem to be available now. The packaging says “Original Series.” So I’m guessing enough people complained that they re-released the F301.

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      1. There is currently no “F301 Ultra” offering on Zebra’s official web site or any other large retailers, just the regular F301 they never stopped selling. The “Ultra” has the rubber grip, and hasn’t been produced by Zebra for many years now.

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  5. I see you posted this review several years ago. I have had the same complaints with the original Zebra F-301 ballpoints. Not a very comfortable pen to use but it wouldn’t be terrible if they upgraded their ink.

    You posted this in 2016 and it is 2023 and the ink has not improved! I have actually had better luck with the 0.7 tip even though I usually prefer a little bigger point – a 1.0. But it is impossible to find a Zebra 1.0 ballpoint refill that is not garbage. I even left a bad review on Zebra’s site about the terrible quality of the 1.0’s and they contacted me lol.

    They could not understand why I couldn’t find one that would write smoothly, without skipping. So they sent me a bunch of replacements at no cost and they all sucked, too ha ha. (I didn’t even get my hopes up).

    Zebra refers to their ballpoint ink as “Easy Glide,” just as Bic does/or did. But they aren’t the same type of ink.

    I have actually spent the extra money to buy the Zebra Steel 701 with the 0.8 point and they were worse than the standard, original F-301 0.7 ink system.

    Anyway, I have never seem these F-301 Ultra pens anywhere. When you Google them, Office Depot says they sell them but they are out of stock on their website. Do you have any idea where they can be found these days? I’d like to try them out. Even if I had to pay a little extra for them but I can’t find anywhere that sells them online. Can you help? Do you sell any?

    Thanks!

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