pen reviews

Review: BIC Triumph 537R, Needle Point Roller, 0.5mm

by Andrew

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With its bland black/grey barrel and a partially-transparent ink window, there’s nothing about the BIC Triumph 537R that really stands out. Still, this needle point roller pen draws surprisingly clean lines despite the fact that it drags a bit on the page. It’s a nice pen to write with, and it would make a decently good pen if not for the awful barrel and cap design.

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The main problem is that the cap has a tendency to stick, whether it is locked over the tip or posted on the barrel. There are times when removing the cap is literally a double-fisted endeavour. To make things even worse, the cap connects to the barrel in the same spot where the refill threads in. So sometimes removing the cap (or even spinning the cap slightly in the wrong direction) will cause the refill to become partially removed from the barrel.

If BIC were to keep the refill but fix and snazz-up the barrel, then this pen could be worth using. Until then, there’s no reason to bother with the Triumph 537R.

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Review: Zebra G-301, Gel Pen, 0.7mm

by Andrew

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There’s no doubt that Zebra’s got a hit with their 301 series of retractable stainless steel pens. There was a stretch of time when the F-301 – the original ballpoint version – was my everyday, go-to pen. While I’ve since moved on, there seems to have been an explosion of the 301 series. They’ve got the M-301 (mechanical pencil), the H-301 (highlighter), and even a fountain pen they’ve called the V-301. Because I’m more of a gel pen user, I was pretty excited to pick up the gel version of this pen called – you guessed it – the G-301.

I feel no shame in stating that I love the design of the 301 pens. It’s the kind of pen a cop would use to write your speeding ticket. Like the others in the series, the G-301 has a thin, stainless steel body with a black, hard-plastic grip. The thinner barrel design is not something that everybody would enjoy, but I find that it suits my grip-style very well.

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Unfortunately, while I loved holding the pen, I really didn’t like writing with it. Its gel ink runs so quickly that it feels very slippery while writing, and though it’s a 0.7mm tip, the line it dispenses ends up looking like a 1.0mm or higher. I like the darkness of the ink, but it smears like crazy. I also had problems with the grip frequently becoming very slightly unthreaded from the barrel, causing the ink cartridge inside to rattle around when writing.

The design of the barrel is great, but the innards leave something to be desired. Luckily, there are plenty of other versions of this pen, and I hope one of those will work out better.
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Review: Sharpie Stainless Steel Pen, Fine Point

by Andrew

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The Sharpie Pen has been around for a while now, but, for whatever reason, it never quite caught my attention until recently. It was at a big box store that I spotted the stainless steel Sharpie Pen with its torpedo-like design. It looked nothing like all the other pens surrounding it, and I knew that I had to have it. And now that I’ve been using it, I fully understand why the Sharpie Pen line has grown so huge.

It’s a felt-tip pen that writes smoothly with very clean lines and a nice dark ink. I’ve had no ink flow issues, very minimal smearing, and I’ve seen no bleed-through. The stainless steel has a bit of weight, but not so much to tire out your hand, and the grip section is made of a comfortable rubbery material. Speaking of the grip, the entire grip area of the pen is built into the refill. While this means the grip section of this pen will never wear out (since you’d replace it with every refill), this also makes the refills pricier – around $2 per refill most places I looked.

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My one big issue with this pen is the stainless steel clip. It sits so close and stiffly to the barrel that the clip is basically nonfunctional. Clipping the pen to my pants’ pocket was totally impossible, and I struggled to clip and unclip the pen from my notebook’s elastic band, nearly destroying it. I managed to fix this problem by bending the clip out with a screwdriver, but this also pulled the clip a little loose, so now it rattles around.

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I think the Sharpie Pen is great, but I don’t think the stainless steel version is a must-buy. They make a plastic retractable version, as well as a plastic version that looks a little bit thinner than this stainless steel.They both look pretty nice to me, so I’ll definitely have to give those a try someday soon.

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Review: Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica, Gel Ink, 0.4mm

by Andrew

Pilot_HiTecC_Maica-3First and foremost, the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica looks pretty darn slick. The fancy logo, the jewel-like moulding on the cap, and the smoothness of the barrel combine to create a very beautiful pen. Somewhere along the line in the design process, however, they decided to replace the clip of the pen with a small loop, which I suppose is meant to attach to a lanyard or bracelet. In practice this loop really only acts to prevent the pen from rolling off tables, and I personally would just prefer a clip stuck to the side.

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While I’m usually a bit wary of 0.4mm tips (or anything  smaller), as they can sometimes feel like I’m about to cut through my paper, this Hi-Tec-C gel refill writes very smooth. In fact, I’d even consider going to the 0.3mm tip, a size I typically avoid. And though I’ve had issues with the ink skipping temporarily, necessitating a few scribbles on scrap paper to get it flowing properly, it hasn’t happened enough to become an annoyance.

It’s a pretty good pen overall, and I think minor improvements could make it a great pen: a slightly thicker barrel, a slightly more comfortable grip area, or – what the hell – I’d love a retractable retooling of this pen design while they’re at it. Regardless, the Hi-Tec-C Maica looks cool and writes well, and it’s a pen I plan to keep handy.

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Review: Paper Mate Liquid Flair, XFine, Stick Pen

by Andrew

Papermate_Liquid_FlairXFine-1I’ve been using the XFine Paper Mate Liquid Flair needle-point pen with my journal for about a week, and it’s probably a bad sign that I’m so excited to finally move on to something else.

That’s not to say the Xfine Liquid Flair is an all around bad pen. It’s comfortable enough to hold, and though it doesn’t look particularly fancy, it has a fun design. I especially like the spring-loaded cap, which presses firmly against the tip of the pen to keep it from drying out. It also has a deep black ink, which would probably be great for artists who are looking for a cheap, disposable pen for basic ink work.

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My problem with the XFine Liquid Flair is that it is a terrible writing pen. It smudges so much that if I close my journal too fast, little splotches of ink get smeared onto the opposite page. The ink even bleeds through standard notepads, making it useless for most note-takers. But worst of all, it makes my writing feel messy – it’s already bad enough, it doesn’t need anything making it worse.

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