blue ink

Colors Review: Zebra Sarasa, Gel Ink, Ten Assorted Colors

by Andrew

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When I reviewed the standard black Zebra Sarasa, I called it a pen that failed to stand out alongside a sea of similar options, and I felt very similar when I cracked open this 10-pack of Sarasa colors. Included in the pack is a black pen plus three shades of blue, two shades of green, a red, a pink, a violet, and a brown. Oddly, orange and yellow – standard colors in larger sets – are absent.

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I quite like the aquatic hue of the light blue and the reddish tinge of the brown, but none of the other colors stand out as anything special. The pens are relatively comfortable to hold, and the ink is relatively smooth. The Zebra website also touts its “rapid dry ink technology,” though the pens still manage to smear somewhat.

If you already have a stash of colored gel-ink pens, you aren’t likely to find much new here. However, these will do fine as a standard set of color pens. At the very least, that brown ink will look good in my notebooks.

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Review: Parker Jotter, Ballpoint Pen, 1.0mm (blue ink)

by Andrew

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The Parker Jotter has been around since the 1950s, and it is probably the nearest thing to being the classic click-style pen. It has a durable stainless steel and hard-plastic construction, a light and compact build, and a retracting mechanism that makes one of the most satisfying “clicks” I’ve ever felt. It’s no wonder why Q used the Parker Jotter to build his grenade-pen for James Bond in 1995’s GoldenEye.

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The standard refill that currently ships with the Jotter is a 1.0mm, blue-ink ballpoint. Though I personally prefer finer-tipped pens, the Jotter produces a consistent and reliable line, despite having some drag across the paper. Parker also offers a variety of alternative refill options, but you’ll have to find and purchase those separately.

Overall, the Parker Jotter is competent at walking the line between the professional and the pragmatic. It’s small and sturdy enough to throw in a backpack without much thought, but it also has a fairly polished look. It’s in the same category as a pen like the Zebra F-301, but for my money, the Jotter is a much better choice.

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Colors Review: Paper Mate Liquid Flair, Assorted Colors, Medium Point

by Andrew

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Although I didn’t like the Paper Mate Liquid Flair for writing, it turns out that it’s a pretty great pen for drawing and coloring. It’s comfortable to hold, and the medium, felt tip does a great job at filling in areas. Though smearing and bleeding can definitely be an issue, it might be worth the trouble for some of the bright and vivid colors.

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This set comes with seven colors (plus black): blue, red, green, pink, orange, turquoise, and purple. Some of the colors almost look like highlighters, which isn’t something I tend to like. But the red, blue, and purple are dark and vivid – great colors.

If you’re doing detailed work, this might not be the pen for you – the medium point and the smearing issues would make it less than ideal for that application. But for general coloring, it does a great job. Each pen also has a different design on the barrel, which is a nice touch.

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Colors Review: Pilot G-2 Fashion Collection, Gel Pens

by Andrew

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It’s very easy to criticize the Pilot G-2 Fashion Collection for its lack of originality. Pilot simply took their G-2 design, slapped on a flower pattern, and gave it a silly name. But, honestly, covering up that ugly clear barrel is one of the better decisions that Pilot has ever made (even if they already did it before).

There are four colors included in the pack – pink, blue, green, and orange – all of which are very bright. In fact, the orange is so bright that it might make a good highlighter. And the green, my favorite in the pack, has the beautiful color of summer grass, which is a lovely color to draw with.

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Though they’re really just an old pen wrapped in a new skin, I really have nothing particularly negative to say about the G-2 Fashion Collection. They’re fairly smooth, have a good consistency, and they don’t excessively smear. Overall, a nice pen for coloring and doodling.

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And if you just like barrel design of the pen, the Fashion Collection also comes in a series of black-ink pens. They have the same blue, green, pink, and orange-colored barrels, but the grip, knock, and clip sections are black. At first I accidentally bought a set of these black-ink pens thinking that they had colored ink, so be careful not to make the same mistake that I did.

Black Ink G-2 Fashion Collection
The black-ink version of the G-2 Fashion Collection

Colors Review: uni-ball Signo 207 Assorted Colors (Blue, Red, and Purple)

by Andrew

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This uni-ball Signo 207 color set is best characterized as utilitarian, meant for taking notes but probably not for drawing pictures. Along with black, the set includes three basic colors: a blue and purple, both of which have a fairly standard dark shade, and a red, which is somewhat brighter. They are comfortable to hold and don’t seem to skip or bleed, but they still don’t quite live up to the high standard set by the micro (0.5mm) version of the Signo 207.

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While this color set has reliability and comfort, the Signo 207 micro stood out for its professional look and its ability to avoid smearing. By replacing the black grip and silver accents with cheap-looking rubber and white plastic, the professional look is mostly gone. And the smearing is among the worst I’ve seen, especially the blue ink pen.

This Signo 207 color set is not an outright bad set of pens. They’re mostly a disappointment given how much I like the Signo 207 micro. Still, a color set of Sharpie Pens or Pilot G-2s are better options, no matter if you want them for work or art.

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