Running a pen blog lead to some unique situations.  One unique situation is hearing about a certain pen, in this case the Uniball Jetstream, and not being able to find it.  All over the internet, specifically the office supply are of the internet, the Jetstream is spoken of with reverence.  My problem was getting my hands on one.  Driving around one day I made a random stop at a Staples I had never been too before, and to my surprise they had a nice offering of Uniball Jetstream's available.  I snagged a couple and went to work testing it out.

The body of the pen is really cool looking.  It's simple but doesn't look plain.  The Jetstream also does something I love, they match the barrel of the pen to the color of the ink.  In this case the Jetstream I bought was a 0.7mm with blue ink, and a blue barrell.  There is a lighter strip of blue around the clicker.  The tip, a Jetstream logo, the clicker and the clip are all silver colored plastic.  I think the silver and blue combo looks good.  The grip isn't anything special, but it's not bad.  It's the same material as the rest of the body but it has little indents in it.  When writing a lot your hand does not get fatigued so even though it isn't the fanciest grip it does the job well.

What had gotten me excited about the Jetstream was the hype around how smooth it was writing.  I felt like I was gliding across the page.  It didn't matter whether I was writing on my 17 cent Marble Composition book or my 15 dollar Black n Red notebook, the pen just glided across the page.  The ink is a really dark blue which I love.  The only problem that I noticed is a little bit of white space when writing.  But it's not so bad  as to completely ruin the writing.  Honestly I am just nitpicking at this point, because this pen is great!

Obviously this pen has a ton of positives and is a great all around pen.  Despite the positives it still doesn't have the WOW factor for me. It seems to me as above average/good, but not great.  It's hard to explain, there is nothing technically wrong with it, but to me it just isn't a great pen. I prefer .05mm pens or lower, so a pen that's smallest tip is 0.7mm tip is going to limit how well I like it.  So for me I have to say that I like it, and I would write with it again.  I wouldn't worry about lending this to a friend though.

8 out of 10 mummies.

Platinum Mini Ballpoint .5 - Economy Pens

Conference Sketch Noting - From the Pen Cup

Ohto Pieni Wooden Body Mini Needle Point Ballpoint Pen .05 - No Pen Intended

A Traveling Sketchbook - Notebook Stories

Moleskine Professional Series Project Planner - Office Supply Geek

Lamy Tipo Rollerball Pen - The Pen Addict

Alicia Klein's Pen Quiver - The Well Appointed Desk

When I first heard the news that Sharpie was going to be making a liquid pencil I was interested immediately. I press very firmly when I write, so when using traditional pencils or mechanical pencils I would break the tip quite often. It's a cool idea and something that sounds like it's out of the future.  It sounds like something a robot would use to take a math test.  Sadly the Sharpie Liquid Pencil does not live up to its futuristic sounding coolness.  It has the potential to be a great product, but just isn't there yet.

The body of the Sharpie Liquid pencil is nothing extraordinary.  It has a simple design that looks good but not great.  The top 1/4 of the pencil is actually used to deploy the tip of the pen/pencil/cool metal thing refill that writes with the liquid pencil ink.  This makes the design a bit more unified but causes a bigger problem.  When deployed the top 1/4 of the pencil rattles constantly while being used.  This might not bother some people, but it drives me crazy.  Other than this there are no real problems with the body of the Liquid Pencil.  The design is simple but uninteresting.

The other major problem with the Sharpie Liquid Pencil is the way it writes.  To be blunt, it writes badly.  It skips, leaves a ton of white space, and requires a ton of pressure to produce a mark on the paper. It leaves a lot to be desired.


Once again it is a cool idea, and I like thinking about robots taking tests with this.  But until Sharpie makes some tweaks to this product, which I think they will do, I won't be using it very often.  Cool can only get you so far.





5 out of 10 mummies

Today we are starting a weekly post where we will link to other blogs that have interesting things we have been reading.  We weren't sure whether or not to name it something serious or to try and make a pun.  We decided on the pun, so it's PEN + INTELLIGENCE = PENTELIGENCE.

Montblanc Starwalker Red Gold-Plated Fountain Pen  on Gear Patrol

Ohto Graphic Liner Needle Point Drawing Pen 03 Review on The Pen Addict

Moleskine Monday: Great Lakes Writing Set on Etsy on Notebook Stories

Monteverde Artista Crystal Fountain Pen Medium Nib Transparent Turquoise Body on No Pen Intended 

Review: Pentel EnerGel-X Gel Ink Pens - 0.7mm on Gourmet Pens

Pentel Hybrid Technica 0.5 on The Well Appointed Desk 

Fortnightly Inkings #5  at On Fountain Pens 

How to Write a Letter to a New Penpal on The Blog of the European Paper Company 

Every Day Carry on the JetPens Blog

Carnival of Pen, Pencil Paper at Comfortable Shoe Studio

 

 

On lunch break the other day I decided to take a stroll through my campus store. I came across a fantastic deal on what seemed like a pretty solid notebook. I picked up a few.