I stopped by Office Depot on the way home this week, and picked up some more pens.
1-Pentel Retractable Energel, Black medium line
2-Pilot G2, Black Extra Fine
3-Pilot Precise GRIP Rolling Ball, Black, Extra Fine
This last one came with a free Precise V5, so that gives me 4 different Pens to try out. I also have some Uni-Ball Signo RT gel 0.38, extra extra fine that I've been enjoying for a while, and I'll write up my impressions on that sometime it the future, as well.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Uni-ball EX2 basic
Staples/$1.29 single price
This is very similar to the Uni-ball Signo bit that I've reviewed. Writes very nicely with a smooth dark line without gaps or skips. The ink smears a little right after it goes down, but give it 15 sec to dry, and it doesn't smear. After the cap is off for a while, the pen starts up nicely. I even left the cap off for 2 hours, and it started up nicely.
This is a pretty generic stick pen, with a hard plastic grip that isn't very comfortable to write with. This is pretty long in your hands, without the cap posted on the end. This also unscrews to allow the ink cartridge to be removed. I'm not sure if the cartridges are available.
This pen also has a small scratchy point which went away as I rotated it in my hand.
This point is labeled 0.7, which is too broad for my taste, and I was unable to find a smaller point in the bin at Staples. This isn't a bad pen for the money, but it's got a really generic office supply look to it.
This is very similar to the Uni-ball Signo bit that I've reviewed. Writes very nicely with a smooth dark line without gaps or skips. The ink smears a little right after it goes down, but give it 15 sec to dry, and it doesn't smear. After the cap is off for a while, the pen starts up nicely. I even left the cap off for 2 hours, and it started up nicely.
This is a pretty generic stick pen, with a hard plastic grip that isn't very comfortable to write with. This is pretty long in your hands, without the cap posted on the end. This also unscrews to allow the ink cartridge to be removed. I'm not sure if the cartridges are available.
This pen also has a small scratchy point which went away as I rotated it in my hand.
This point is labeled 0.7, which is too broad for my taste, and I was unable to find a smaller point in the bin at Staples. This isn't a bad pen for the money, but it's got a really generic office supply look to it.
Uni-ball Signo bit 0.7
Staples/$1.99 single price
Not a bad cheap pen. This is a capped Gel pen, which writes pretty well. Using Ampad's Gold Fibre pads, there was little feathering on the page and the ink dried quickly. If I rub my fingers over the ink just after writing it, there was some smearing, but if I gave it 10 to 15 seconds, then there was no smearing. I left the cap off the pen for a couple of hours, and it started up nicely without any skipping.
The grip is partially rubber, and partially ridged. It was comfortable to write with. With the cap not posted, it's a nice small pen to write with. The pen unscrews, and the ink cartridge comes out, although I'm not sure if refills are available. Looking at this, it's a fairly attractive pen, with some nice texture to it.
One downside is that it's a little scratchy when writing. As I rotated it around in my fingers, this came and went, so there was a single spot on the pen point that was scratching. This is on a sample size of 1, and so I'm not sure that this is the case for all of them.
I generally prefer a much finer point, so I'd have to say that this isn't a pen that I'd really use for day to day use. If this were available in a fine or extra fine point, I'd be likely to use one.
Not a bad cheap pen. This is a capped Gel pen, which writes pretty well. Using Ampad's Gold Fibre pads, there was little feathering on the page and the ink dried quickly. If I rub my fingers over the ink just after writing it, there was some smearing, but if I gave it 10 to 15 seconds, then there was no smearing. I left the cap off the pen for a couple of hours, and it started up nicely without any skipping.
The grip is partially rubber, and partially ridged. It was comfortable to write with. With the cap not posted, it's a nice small pen to write with. The pen unscrews, and the ink cartridge comes out, although I'm not sure if refills are available. Looking at this, it's a fairly attractive pen, with some nice texture to it.
One downside is that it's a little scratchy when writing. As I rotated it around in my fingers, this came and went, so there was a single spot on the pen point that was scratching. This is on a sample size of 1, and so I'm not sure that this is the case for all of them.
I generally prefer a much finer point, so I'd have to say that this isn't a pen that I'd really use for day to day use. If this were available in a fine or extra fine point, I'd be likely to use one.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
What's Here?
This Blog is intended to collect and comment on cheap pens and how suitable they are for writing. I've got small handwriting, and I use a variety of papers to write on. I've been using fountain pens for a long time, and have recently decided to stop carrying around $100 pens, and instead use ones that only cost under $5.00 each.
My review format will likely involve writing on several different paper types, along with seeing how well the pen's start up after sitting uncapped for a few minutes.
Dave
My review format will likely involve writing on several different paper types, along with seeing how well the pen's start up after sitting uncapped for a few minutes.
Dave
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