Intermittent...

Sorry to all the regular viewers, life has been a bit busy of late.
Not counting computer troubles too, it has been a bit difficult to post regularly and sufficiently, but new post will be here soon, normal regular service should start again tomorrow.
Thank you all for your perseverance and keep checking back for all the new updates and posts to come.

Shopping Find: Rhodia, Rhodia Colours notebooks

Another recent find are these Rhodia coloured notebooks, A6 and A5 hardback versions.
Price point seems competitive, would think so at supermarket prices.
Could be an interesting area to watch especially now large high street stores appear to be getting on the notebook trend.

Shopping find: Uni Chalk Markers

Just spotted these on recent shopping trip.
Interesting to find in a general shop, only ever spotted these in art and craft stores, as well as sign making shops and business supply retailers.
Not sure what I would do with them, but maybe there will be a post coming about them, keep checking back.

Shopping finds

Recent trip to the shops for a fetish feed turned up some interesting new finds. All the following finds were discovered in Staples, who are admittedly a little over priced, but generally have good stock levels and variation.

First up is two new Bic pen finds, the 2-in1 Stylus and the Cristal Stylus. Their use and intention are pretty obvious I would say to everyone, I do like the fact that they have crafted a more budget end stylus pens as well as an all steel premium model. Although i think selling a bic branded Stylus cap would have been a good idea too, maybe not as commercially lucrative but a nice touch and addition to the Bic line up.

We are all familiar with the Bic four colour pen, well here we have a standard model branded with Hello Kitty, the colours are no different to the stanard model, which seems strange, why not brad the Pastel version as a Hello Kitty model, or perhaps some limited edition colours, anyone remember the yellow ink Bic Cristals that used to be available?

And of course no shopping trip would be complete without the obligatory Sharpie  product line check up. Here we have 2 Sharpie pen models, the Stylo Premium Pen and the Stylo Grip Pen, now, why the premium is labelled as such I'm not sure, as far as i can tell the barrel is all plastic, the nib is no different and colours are the standard fair available in all Sharpie pens, equally bizarrely, the premium version is actually cheaper as a 4 pack than the 3 pack grip pens. Neither of them replace in my affections the Stainless Steel or Pen Sharpies as reviewed in an earlier post.

 Here we have a new find, Aveo are I believe a Montex brand/model, first impressions are these pens are very similar to the old model Sharpie pens as mentioned above and reviewed in earlier post. These pens feature SilkScribe ink, of which there was no further mention on the packaging so what the benefits are of it I have no idea.

Some nice Staedtler penciles were also spotted in the loose section of Staples, as you can see there are a multitude of colours, which all makes for a nice product line up, rare to see investment in so many colours from a good manufacturer. I'm note sure what the white artifact is around the coloured lead, there was no mention of it on the retail pricing stickers,  so if anyone knows please get in touch.

 And in closing some new pencils from Faber-Castell, 2 1/2 HB Grip pencils, with a free Grip eraser too, nice little bonus there, writing pencils seem to be becomming more and more popular lately, perhaps following the American market.

Plus Gelly 0.7 (Plus*Office brand)

Here we have a Plus Gelly 0.7 (from the Plus*Office brand), which is obviously a cheaper Pilot G2 Chinese copy.

As you can see the the design of the pen is almost identical to the Pilot G2, even down to the design of the refill and ink barrel. Length, with and weight are all comparable to the G2, no accident that it resembles the G2.

But how does it actually write?
Well I must admit, even with the huge popularity of the G2 with the notepad/notebook fans on the internet, I've never owned or used one, terrible of me I know. But as to this pen, well there are no complaints really, it has a decent and reassuring feel in the hand when writing, not especially heavy as you would expect from a plastic gel roller, the ink lays down well with no particular smudging issues.

The line is nicely dark and black, with a good consistency on the loops and whirls, no skipping here. The grip section is the usual hard rubber (almost plastic) set up evident on so many pens of this type and price bracket, certainly sufficient I would say to last the life of the pen.

The refill is not end capped, unlike the G2, the pocket clip feels sturdy enough, moulded as one piece withe the post nodule as it is, and has nice spring to it; it should hold firmly enough when in use. The click/spring action is certainly positive, no mistaking when you've extended or retracted the nib.

All in all a decent pen with some nice G2 like characteristics for a very decent price, this pen was one of the recent Spanish haul, if you see it around your usual haunt and are a fan of the G2 or gel pens in general I would say give it a shot.

Blog round up!

Some great posts from fellow stationery fetishists:

• Pelikan M450 Pen ReviewFountain @ Write to me often
• Pilot Hi-tecpoint V5 Grip @ A penchant for paper
• Sailor Ultramarine Purple And A Kaweco Converter @ An Inkophiles blog
• BIC ecolutions evolution BLACK @ Bleisteft
• Schneider Xtra 805 .5 Black and Xtra .5 Red @ Economy pens
• NuNotebooks Nu: Elite A5 Multi-Event Journal - Black @ Gourmet pens

Enjoy!

Pilot V Super Color Permanent Marker Refillable - Bullet and Chisel tips

** These are now for sale over in the www.pensetc.tk shop (click here) or use the link at top of page **

This post is the first one to concentrate on permanent markers, honour of first post go's to the Pilot V Super Color Permanent Marker Cartridge Refill (no, it's not a spelling mistake, it really is spelled Color on the marker by Pilot).

Essentially, these are the standard style marker (in bullet or chisel tip), but use Pilot's Pure Liquid Ink technology to refill the marker by way of a cartridge inserted in the bottom, more of which later.

Above is the latest haul I made, 4 of the Pilot markers, in black, blue, red and orange. 3 are chisel tips and the blue is a bullet tip. Let's start with the blue

The bullet tip is very hard, to my feel, giving a very fine line for a marker, consistent colour (not color as Pilot have it on the barrel), and a generally smooth feel to the laying down of colour and ink.

Two line thickness' are possible with the nib, a fine line when using the point of the tip and a slightly broader line when using the side of the nib, either method is very easy and consistent with laying down ink, how the nib will hold up over extended use is anyone's guess, presumably it will behave pretty much like any other fibre tipped marker, gradually becoming more flexible and soft over use.

Now the difference with these and other markers, as with many Pilot products, these markers use their patented Pure Liquid Ink technology, they are refillable, meaning that the marker has a removable cartridge that clips securely into the barrel of the pen, filled with the liquid ink. The cartridge itself has a seal that is broken when inserted into the barrel, much like a fountain pen cartridge.

There's the cartridge fully inserted in its use position, not the warning not to remove the cartridge once it has been inserted and is still in use, i.e. with ink still in. believe me, really don't, even being super careful still resulted in a large amount of "Pure Liquid Ink" spilling all over the table, see the slightly lighter patch on the right of the photo, that's the table after I cleaned up the spill. The ink in these really is liquid and really is permanent, the cartridge refill is not like usual marker refills, the insert carrying the ink is a large fibrous plastic wrapped ink soaked sponge type affair.

Here is the marker in its capped and filled makeup, the top both when capped and posted, fits very firmly, engaging with reassuring clicks.

The picture at the top of the post (again left) shows the width differences of the chisel point between the edge and side uses.
As can be seen, the orange is quite dark and the red does have a pink tinge to it.
This could well by my eye's colour perception and the fact these were all first use tests, the colours may well develop more with use and over time.

And for completions sake here is a bleed  through on 80 GSM copier paper, just for those who this may be important too. I really like these markers so far, I think they could be very cost effective in the long run use, as long as the tip stand up over time.

Sharpie¦Pen: Retractable x 3 and the Stainless Steel refillable version

Here are the 4 Sharpie pens in this review, set of 3 retractable disposable and 1 stainless steel refillable.

We have a red, blue and black of the disposable variety and a plain black in the stainless steel, the three disposable come as a varity pack of the three, the stainless steel version came as a single, although I'm sure there must a twin- or even tri- pack available also.

Nibs extended/uncapped, as you can see, it looks like all pens hare the same internals and nib structure, not really surprising is it? I always expected the stainless version to just be a re-barreled disposable anyway, but sometimes manufacturers throw up surprises.

The stainless version close up of nib, here you can see that like the disposable the nib is very short, hard wearing like usual Sharpie products, it at this stage does not feel like it will give away before all the ink is used unlike some fine liners, I do consider these pens to be Sharpie's version of the fine liner, just with their expertise in ink and design.

What did surprise me with the stainless version, was the refill. I was not expecting the whole nib and grip area to be part of the refill, I can imagine this makes for a elevated price for refills, but likewise I can understand Sharpies logic, presumably the expected use of these pens, as with most of their products is the art/design/crafting etc world, so the intention I believe i s that they will be used hard and hence the grip area will be used extensively so when it comes time to refill you get a new grip too and hence an almost totally new pen.

Grip area close up, the grip having said all that does seem to be hard wearing, not very think rubber casing, but comfortable despite that. You can also see the one piece construction of the refill area and grip area.

The cap, understandably hard wearing, as is all of the pen, what else to expect from a all stainless steel construction? The pocket clip appears to be sturdy, again only time can tell how strong and long lasting the clip is. One design addition I think Sharpie missed out on was enabling the black top of the cap to be a touch screen compatible feature; BIC have a new Crystal pen out at the moment that has this feature, a great addition I think for the usual target market of Sharpie products, the designers etc of this world.

The refill and barrel, not much to say here, other than the fitting of the refill is very easy and durable, no weak points here, a good indicator that the pen will actually out last the refill and it is worth buying refills as the barrel will last. I assume in time that other refills will be available for this pen and not just the fine liner options, perhaps the fin marker or perhaps some new product,I think Sharpie could really expand this range, brush markers perhaps or other arts and craft specific markers, or even pigment ink refills for the artist, something archival quality would be my hope, or perhaps a hard italic tip.

Now the disposable version, pocket clip holds some worry's for me, experience has left me with doubts as to the durability of metal clips attached to plastic bodies, I may be being unfair here, but again as always only time will tell. Also, note the position of the extend/retract button, for such a short nib extension the button travel is long, best seen in the nib retracted photo below.

The grip area is very much like the stainless steel version, the thin covering of rubber, again it feels substantial enough and more than likely to last the usable life of the the pen.

In closing, I rather like my first experience of Sharpie pens, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, other than build and ink quality, I would recommend them so far, especially for those who like a fine liner and need something with a bit of quality.

Bic All in one disposable fountain pen

Unsurprisingly BIC are also in the disposable fountain pen arena, what is more of a surprise is that hey are not the market leaders, I would say that Pilot and their famous disposable fountain pen the Pilot V5 must be ahead in the number of units sold, surely?

Anyway, here is BIC's contribution, and again coming as no surprise they are only available as a multi-pack, now depending on where you buy them and what price you can get them for they are either very reasonable or over priced, I  managed to find these for £1.99 for the pack of four (one free! WOOHOO!) consisting of 2 blue, 1 black and 1 red, I shall not go into the issue with most pen manufactures believing that consumers prefer blue ink over black, other than to say black is very popular too! *rant over*

So, what to say, the pen is of all plastic construction, apart from the nib of course, viewing windows in the side of the barrel to observe ink level, a good sturdy solid plastic pocket clip, a very reassuring feel to it in fact of the few pocket clips I would actually trust to do its job.

A nice sturdy and durable nib, neither fine nor medium, somewhere in between, not much noticeable flex when writing, the ink flows straight away on first use, and continues to through writing, with a nice smooth travel over the page, not always evident in disposable fountain pens.

The cap in all it's glory, not much more to say really about the cap that has not already been said regarding it and the pocket clip earlier, other than to say that it caps nice and firmly with a reassuring feel. 

As to be expected the ink delivery system is by the standard veined fin workings, this method seems to be pretty much ubiquitous across the industry now. One nice touch is the reinforcement of the nib attachment to the plastic carrier, many pens of this type i have seen rely on the nib to stay attached just by one mounting point, hopefully this points to a good writing life for the pen.

It's test time, the pens come as a pack of four (in this special offer) comprising of blue, black and red pens. As you can see the written line is in the fine side, but not so much that I found it scratchy. The blue and black inks lay down nicely giving good colour reproduction ,matching expectations, the red I found in normal light to actually look slightly orange or even pink, dependent on lighting, not as red as I would have liked, this could be down to colour intensity or thickness of the ink, it's opacity. It's not a huge problem, for a disposable fountain pen I think you can live with slightly "off" colours, after all they are meant to be everyday every use pens, not a special ink or colour cast. Having said that I do actually like the colour of BIC's red, it is not the same sort of red that the BIC Crystal we all familiar with lays down, it actually looks rather special on perusal.

Muji 2-in-1 Pen/Pencil

Muji, a Japanese design house selling everything from CD players to bathrobes and stationery, have long been a favourite of mine to get inspiration and envy from when I'm bereft of new ideas or desires to fulfill, sadly there is not a branch close to me to indulge myself very often. Anyway, here we have their 2-in-1 pen/pencil, twist one way for pencil and the other for the pen. Then pencil takes standard 0.5mm lead refills and the pen takes refills available from Muji, for a very reasonable cost, if you call in the shop to check out the pen and end up buying it, get some refills for the pen at the same time, save you a trip and ensure you have a good writing life with the pen, they do last a good while and I think are not available anywhere else.

Here we can see the workings of the pen, this is as far as you will get taking apart the pen without destroying it, the spring cased section is the pencil workings and the other part is the pen refill. As you can see the pencil workings enable a "push to advance" method of lead advancement, the pencil section is replenished by filling with new leads in the usual manner with propelling pencils, pop the eraser off the top of the workings and tip them in (see below). The pen is replenished by simply gently pulling the pen refill out of its housing and inserting a new one.

And there it is, the one extra with this pen, an included pen top eraser, usually hidden under a metal ferrule, they appear to be standard size erasers and holders, as witnessed on other mechanical pencils so i guess that it will be easy to replace when it is all used up.

And there it is, what you have all been waiting for, the famous pensetc.tk test card. The pen performs perfectly well, all Muji pens seem to work perfectly well from first use and have a very smooth flow, no skipping or troublesome ink flow. As the use of the pen, I think it's an ideal everyday pen, tough due to it's all metal construction, handy with the pen and pencil combination (though if they could make one with two colour pens and a pencil then it would be a must have buy) and cheap enough to buy for everyday use. It feels very substantial in the hand and very comfortable, although as with every all metal pen imagine it can become very slippy for those with hot hands.

Cross ball point Ion-a-like

Firstly apologies, i have totally forgotten the correct model name for this pen, scouring of the cross website does not help either as it doesn't feature on their website anywhere, thankfully the refill is a standard size and readily available from The Pen Shop here in the UK on the highstreet.

And here it is, above, with nib retracted, as you can see the pen is elliptical in shape, the nib and knurled end rest proud of flat surfaces, it is of course cap-less. The knurled knob extender is infinite, continuous turning cycles through extended and retracted nibs, in either direction, so no fear of over extension of the nib, and means a quick readiness for writing, which is ideal for one reason, more of which later. This particular variant of the range is covered in brown leather, which after all this time (about 5 years of ownership  has shown no signs of coming undone or peeling away from the barrel of the pen. 

Here we see the writing nib extended, as you can see it doe snot protrude a huge amount, maintaining the very compact dimension of the pen when writing, also the extended knob does not raise or lower with extension and retraction of the nib. Below is close up of the extended nib.

The dissassembled pen has three user dismatleable parts, the nib cover, the barrel and the refill.

The refill in the picture is actually an after market replacement, available from The Pen Shop in the UK, I beleive these particular refills fit a wide range of Cross pens, including the Filofax slim Century models that are so popular.

Here is a close up of the twist knob for nib extension, there's not really much to say about this other than it's infinite turn property's as mentioned earlier and the nice attention to detail with the cross hatching.

And there is the test, there is not really much to say about it other than it performs perfectly reasonably for a ballpoint, it does exhibit a little skipping on first use, but I will put this down to new refills starting temperament rather than a sustained 
and persistent behavior trait.
I would say this is not really intended for a sustained writing session, it is more of a occasional use, jacket/bag pen for those time where you need something with a bit of style, for some reason it presents itself to me as a perfect pen for business mans suit, small and stylish enough to be carried every day in a suit pocket and serviceable enough to use when needed.

Shop?

Hi everyone,
Just a little request for your thoughts please.
Would anyone be interested in purchasing any of the pens I review on here?
I'm thinking of adding a shop for those really popular review subjects, for example:

http://pensetc.blogspot.com/2013/03/faber-castell-multi-post.html

Going by post views these are interesting to most of the readers of the blog, presumably they are wanted/desired/lusted after by people.
Please let me know if there is any interest for this sort of service, I know a lot of readers are in the USA and even further afield, who may not be able to get some of these items in their home country, use the comments field to let me know your thoughts/support/intention to buy/things you would liek to see in shop or just general encouragement.
Thanks 
pensetc blog owner

Papermate Flair Nylon Colours

Another shopping trip find, Papermate Flair Nylon Assorted Colours multipack.

I'm confident in assuming they will behave and write just like the standard ubiquitous black Flair Nylon that is seen everywhere, usually in schools, anyone else noticed that?
For my review of that particular pen see here: 
http://pensetc.blogspot.com/2013/04/paper-mate-flair-nylon.html

Cult Pens Mini Fountain Pen

New post centering on my favourite pen site for browsing and drooling over which pens I want next, I am of course talking about www.cultpens.com.
Cult pens have taken an interesting and bold step, manufacturing their own pen, and not just any old style of pen but a mini fountain pen.

And here it is, the Cult Pens Mini Fountain Pen in all its glory, it is a bit hard to tell from the pictures just how big this pen actually is, so here are the dimensions direct from www.cultpens.com description:

Barrel diameter: 9.5mm, stepping up to meet the 10.5mm cap

Length capped: 105mm, uncapped: 93mm, posted: 123mm

Weight: 20g

Some more details:

"There's a choice of five nib sizes, from EF to BB. The nib is the same German-made steel nib from Bock that features in Kaweco's highly respected AL Sport, Liliput and Dia pens, among others; so not only is it a good quality, smooth nib, but it's easy to replace if it's ever damaged accidentally, or if you just decide you fancy a change of width."

I have really high hopes for this pen, I will certainly be getting one soon, soon as i can justify it to myself, even though it is a very reasonable price. I think it could well become a favourite everyday pen, ideal for pockets and notebooks. Only time and use will tell, stay tuned for a full review once I get one. One note, for some reason this pen wants to make me trying it with the extra fine nib, not sure why, but I'm strangely excited by the thought.

They also have a huge range from various manufacturers of ink cartridges to fit this, and other, mini pens, a colour to suit every desire surely. If anyone already has one, please let me know, or even get in touch for a guest post.