8 out of 10 mummies.
Showing posts with label Pen review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pen review. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Review: Uniball Jetstream RT 0.7mm Blue
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.
8 out of 10 mummies.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Review: Pilot Precise V5 and V7
The Pilot Precise V5 and V7 have been two of my favorite pens since I was in the 4th grade. The Precise series of pens are actually one of the reasons I got interested in pens. Before I used this pen I didn't know there were different types of inks. I did a bit of research, trying to figure out why this pen wrote so much better than others, and was awakened to the wonders of high quality pens and office supplies.
Even in the 4th grade I realized that the Pilot Precise was a step above the competition. Everything about this pen, from its design to its writing, screams quality.
First, the writing. The Pilot Precise V5 and V7 are the 0.5mm and 0.7mm versions of the liquid ink Precise brand of pen. The V7 writes very fast and smooth. If you are writing on glossy paper it doesn't even feel like your writing, just gliding along the page. That being said if you have sloppy handwriting, like myself, it can get out of hand. On thinner and or cheaper papers there is show through. I have also heard of bleed through from these pens, although I have never experienced it.
The V5 is also a super smooth writing machine, but is a bit more manageable. The super fine tip allows for a more controlled writing experience that is still just as smooth as the V7. It really is a masterpiece of a pen.
Now onto the design of these pens. The Precise V5 and V7 are, in my opinion, some of the best looking pens out there. They have the name of the pen and the brand on the barrel and not much else. The cap is minimalist and fits snugly on the back, although I would like it if it posted with a satisfying click. The barrel has the name of the pen, the tip width, and is color coordinated with the ink color. My favorite feature of the pen is the ink window on the barrel which lets you see how much ink is left in the pen. As a kid I would always shake the pen until there were bubbles in the ink and then watch the bubbles move around instead of paying attention in class. Everything about this pen blends together perfectly into a great writing instrument that also looks good.
The only possible negative is the needle tip of the pens. They are prone to be bending and damage. Even this happens rarely in my experiences.
Overall the Pilot Precise V5 and V7 are two of the best pens made. They deserve a spot in every person's pen case.
Pilot Precise V5: 10 out of 10 mummies
Pilot Precise V7: 9 out of 10 mummies
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Review: Zebra V-301 Fountain Pen
This pen surprised me. I didn't know that Zebra was making cheap "disposable" fountain pens. So I bought it. This was the biggest waste of around 4$ in my life. I'm not going to lie I hate the Zebra V-301.
First the body. At first glance it seems like a really cool, sturdy aluminum body. However, it feels cheap the moment you touch it. The branding on the pen is large and detracts from the overall presentation of the pen. The cap, which posts with a nice click on the back of the pen, wobbles back and forth and makes you feel like your cap will fall off. These are large problems, but nothing that can't be overlooked.
The thing that can't be overlooked is the horrible job this pen does of writing. When I first plugged the cartridge into the V-301 it wouldn't write. So i pushed the cartridge in a little bit harder and it still wouldn't write. I scribbled for about 3 minutes until it finally started writing. Then it stopped writing again. I wanted to scream. I tried doing a writing sample, but got about halfway through it and quit. The pen is so inconsitent that I am not quite sure how Zebra can put this out. This is the worst fountain pen, be it disposable or not, I have ever used.
I wanted to like this pen. But Zebra did everything in its power to make me hate it.
3 out of 10 mummies.
First the body. At first glance it seems like a really cool, sturdy aluminum body. However, it feels cheap the moment you touch it. The branding on the pen is large and detracts from the overall presentation of the pen. The cap, which posts with a nice click on the back of the pen, wobbles back and forth and makes you feel like your cap will fall off. These are large problems, but nothing that can't be overlooked.
The thing that can't be overlooked is the horrible job this pen does of writing. When I first plugged the cartridge into the V-301 it wouldn't write. So i pushed the cartridge in a little bit harder and it still wouldn't write. I scribbled for about 3 minutes until it finally started writing. Then it stopped writing again. I wanted to scream. I tried doing a writing sample, but got about halfway through it and quit. The pen is so inconsitent that I am not quite sure how Zebra can put this out. This is the worst fountain pen, be it disposable or not, I have ever used.
I wanted to like this pen. But Zebra did everything in its power to make me hate it.
3 out of 10 mummies.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Review: Kaweco Sport Fine Nib
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.
8 out of 10 mummies
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.
In those couple of weeks I bought a couple disposable fountain pens with italic tips and medium nibs and realized that I had totally unrealistic expectations for the Kaweco Sport fountain pen. I decided to give it another try. Without the lofty expectations the pen blew me away.
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.
8 out of 10 mummies
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