#PenSwag

Fountain pens are a writing utensil that I never really had much interest in, and an item that I never really used before. The Bic disposable fountain pens are a great, and cost effective pick up to help spark the interest in an inexperienced customer.



There is no easy way to put it, so I am just going to come out and say it. This pen is ugly. The overall design of the pen does not flow at all, and looks fairly awkward. At times I would feel stupid using it in class just because it is so weird looking. It is round and bulgy, really no redeeming qualities looks wise whatsoever. Luckily it writes a little better than it looks.


 The ink used in these pens is quite nice. The black is very dark and crisp. My favorite color is the blue, it is unlike any ink I have ever seen. It is a lighter hue, and has lavender hints to it. The red color is disappointing. I wouldn't even call it red, it looks more like an orange than anything. When I first used it I thought there was something wrong with it, maybe not getting the proper ink flow. That was not the case though, it is just a very strange color.


The best way to describe how these pens write is inconsistent. The black variation was the best of the 3 giving smooth crisp lines always. When I would switch to the blue it would feel very scratchy. I do not know if it had anything to do with the ink, or maybe if I got a slightly defective pen. The red also wrote well, but I hardly ever use that due to the odd color.


 Paper is also another big factor in using this pen. For class I use a cheaper store brand notebook. The pens do not perform well on this paper and give very inconsistent lines, and an inconsistent feel while using. Another downside to the cheaper paper was the bleed through. These pens bleed like a stuck pig on cheaper paper. While doing my review I used a black and red notebook, and there is a considerable difference.The Bic flows much nicer, and allows much less bleed through.

Overall these pens were disappointing. I was expecting a supreme writing utensil, and I did not get that. I would suggest that if you were going to try this pen you would have nice paper as well, and to not bother in getting the red variation.



-Cody

I've wanted a fountain pen for a while.  I saw a bunch of reviews around the internet about the Kaweco Sport. All of these reviews said that it was a great fountain pen for beginners and also easily affordable.  I hopped on JetPens and ordered the white body along with a box of black ink and aubergine purple ink.  Add in some extra money for two day shipping and I had just spent over 30$ on a pen.  Easily 3x as much as I've ever spent on a pen.


Needless to say I was excited for this pen to get here.  Around 3pm the pen arrived in my mailbox. I ripped into the packaging, which seemed a bit smaller than I expected it to be.  I pulled a tiny box, a little bigger than a lipstick container, out of the mail bag.  I slid the pen out of the box, and was disappointed again.  The pen was about 4 inches long all closed up.  I posted the cap on the end and it grew to about 5 inches long.  Still very small but more manageable at least.



Although I was disappointed with the size of the pen, I couldn't wait to have my handwriting instantly transformed into a flowing script by this fountain pen.  Once again I was initially disappointed.  It was similar to using a scratchy liquid ink pen.  It wasn't an instant transformation into a beautiful italic script.  My limited knowledge of fountain pens had me expecting something totally unrealistic.  So I was upset with my purchase.  To add to the negative attitudes of the day, I lost the pen the very night I received it in the mail.  Luckily I found it the next day.  It had been run over by a car in my parking lot (you can see the battle scars in the pictures). Despite being run over by a car the body was still in perfect working order, except for a few scratches which I like.  I cleaned out the exploded cartridge inside and threw in an aubergine purple ink cartridge.  I put the pen in my pencil case and didn't think about it for a couple weeks.


 
The Kaweco Sport Fine nib lays down a smooth crisp line.  The previous scratchiness I had experienced disappeared and it moved smoothly across all my different papers.  There was no white space in the lines, and the purple color was a pale version of the hue that wasn't distracting.  I went from hating this pen because of my unrealistic expectations to really enjoying it.  I still prefer fountain pens with wider nibs or italic/calligraphy nibs but I find myself reaching for the Kaweco Sport more often than not.
 

The Sharpie pens are easily one of the most beloved writing utensils in the pen community. I was super excited upon the release of the Stainless Steel variation, so I had to pick one up.
The stainless steel construction definitely  adds a noticeable amount of weight to the pen. It is not too heavy though, and does not cause fatigue or hand discomfort.The grip is rather tacky, which allows for a firm and comfortable grasp which I really do enjoy. I could see it being a dust magnet if left uncapped for periods of time, but I really don't think anybody would do that.
Unfortunately there is a huge flaw to this great pen, the cap.  First of all it's a struggle to get the pen cap off in the first place. Secondly it does not slide on firmly to the back of the pen for writing, this leaves wriggle room which inevitable leads to it coming off unless you really slam it on. Lastly the cap utilizes an inner grommet type thing that is made out of plastic which allows it to snap on to the top of the pen. The problem is that it comes loose and sticks out. This might not be a big deal to some people, but it really bothers me.
This pen could have been perfect, but unfortunately it's not. 8 out of 10 mummies.

I'll be honest Bic pens are not normally in my list of favorite pens.  I find them to be unreliable and average writing utensils at best.  However, I couldn't help myself when I saw the Bic Triumph 537r at my local Staples.

The 537r has a sleek modern look to it, and was a liquid ink rollerball which is always a bonus. Still I wasn't expecting much from the Triumph 537r.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  The Triumph 537r writes super smoothly and the lines were crisp and a deep dark black.  There was no bleed through on my Black n' Red notebook and no show through either.

I was smitten.  I couldn't stop using the pen.  I don't use the pen as much as I used to now as I have been using micro tip gel pens recently, and the transition from a .38mm gel pen to a .7mm liquid ink pen is jarring.  Despite this I find myself reaching for the Bic Triumph 537r frequently.  It is a great pen that writes smoothly, with dark black ink, and a cool design. It also dosen't make the hand tired after continued use.  These factors lead to the 537r being one of my favorite pens to write with.

8 out of 10 mummies.
-Coffee/joe

The Pilot Precise V series have always been some of my favorite pens, which made this new V Razor point so appealing. The overall look of the pen is very satisfying to the eye. It has a cool silverish metallic color that is very neat. It definitely took it's shape from its V7/5 brother with the exception of smoother rounded edges, and a plastic cap clip instead of a metal one which I personally prefer. The cap also has 3 slotted gills on each side for supreme aerodynamic performance :P. Another neat feature was the very tip of the pen cap which was stamped with an EF (Extra Fine) insignia to make it identifiable in a pen cup, this is actually pretty handy.

Field Notes is a brand that caught my eye back in 2009.  I had just graduated high school and had finally taken control of my own finances.  The first purchase I made was the original 3 pack of Field Notes memo books with graph paper.  Over the years I've used those notebooks, and made many more orders from Field Notes, most recently the County Fair edition(Pennsylvania) graph paper memo books.

Field Notes memo books come with 48 pages of Finch Opaque 50#T "whitewash" white paper.  The grids are printed in a "babe the blue ox belly" light blue.  You get 3 books, 1 blue, 1 red, 1 yellow, to represent the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons at a county fair. (The yellow looks the best, blue is great, but red is a bit hard to read)

The Inside Cover

The inside front cover features your standard personal information section, along with a section for pertinent coordinates, date started/finished, and a contact section with an option to mark off whether or not you will reward the person who finds your book if lost.

The Back inside cover features the Field Notes brand story, a 5 inch ruler, hilarious practical applications, and the specifications/materials that were used to make each notebook.

The inside back cover and the back cover

The back cover of the county fair edition is different than a normal Field Notes Memo book.  On the back is a plethora of interesting facts and stats about your selected state.  For instance Pennsylvania had the nation's first Zoological Garden in 1874.  Also on the back is a statement that says "printed and manufactured in the U.S.A" something I appreciate and I know others do as well.

Despite feeling a bit flimsy the books hold up really well in a pocket, and get a nice wrinkled look to them.  I have been using the Blue notebook for about a month and it looks no worse for wear.

Overall the Field Notes County Fair edition is a fun way to spice up your pocket notebooks, without sacrificing quality.

9 out of 10 mummies. definitely worth the 9.95 price tag

Also don't forget to check out Field Notes Blog where you can see more of their awesome humor, and get updates on their latest releases.You can buy Field Notes for $9.95 for a three pack, a bit pricey but worth the price.

-Joe/Coffee

The Pilot Precise V5 has always been one of my favorite pens, and is a classic in the pen community. This is the pen that set my standards for the Pilot VBALL GRIP. Unfortunately it did not live up to the V5's high pedigree.



The first thing one notices about this pen is it's odd appearance. It has a freaky cow like color scheme which doesn't really work for me. Pilot tried to fade the white and black colors in to each other which looks rather silly.



I was also disappointed with the grip. It is so thin that it barely serves any purpose at all. There is also a harsh ridge between the grip and the tip where my pointer finger sits which is very uncomfortable.

It writes fairly well. The ink is jet black which is expected from the Pilot liquid ink line of pens. Although the ink is nice, the tip becomes scratchy at times, which should not happen with a 0.5mm tip. Overall the writing experience was mediocre.

This was the pen that started it all.  I was 8 years old and walking through the back to school section of Walgreens when it caught my eye, a thick pearl body with a giant squeezable grip.  It was over $7 and my Dad wouldn't let me buy it. So after school the next day, I went by myself and bought it. The Pilot Dr. Grip started my infatuation with office supplies.

Naturally, when I saw a Dr. Grip in my campus book store I decided to give it a try.  Sadly it isn't the super comfortable mega-pen I remembered it as. The main draw to the Dr. Grip, when I was in grade school, was the super comfortable and squishy grip.  Now the grip is a hard transparent plastic that makes my hand tired and sore after more than 15 minutes of writing.  Not having the super squishy grip that I remembered was not the biggest disappointment that this pen gave. It was the ink.

Writing sample for the Pilot Dr. Grip

The Pilot Dr. Grip uses a Pilot G2 refill.  This refill is generally accepted as a workhorse, a refill you can write all day with.  However, in this Dr. Grip body the refill is horrible.  The ink clumps up around the tip, and there is considerable white space in the lines.  There are some positives to the G2 refill.  The ink is a nice crisp black, and the pen writes smoothly when there aren't clumps of ink on the tip of the pen.
This pen got me interested in pens and office supplies, and for that I'm grateful.  But the current state of the pen doesn't reflect my childhood memories.  This pen will be stuck at the bottom of my pen case until I start to feel nostalgic again.

5 mummies out of 10

Our ranking system is out of 10 mummies. Sadly the Dr. Grip only got 5/10.

-Coffee