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.

Cross ATX Pure Chrome ballpoint

Here we have the Cross ATX ball pen, as far as i am aware, they only do this model ballpen, there are of course pencil versions available in the ATX range as is usual with Cross model lines. This model is the standard Chrome finish, again they only did this finish in this model

And here is the test, as you would expect form a ballpoint the line is very precise and even, of course with all Cross pens it does not exhibit any skipping as can present with some ballpoints. The ink is, typically for a Cross, rather light from my personal preference, but having said that it is perfectly legible and dark enough for most people and their needs.
The pen has a very definite weight in the hand and could be tiresome for extended periods of writing for those with smaller hands, I have also found that extended writing activates the twist action, over time while writing (just a few minutes I find) the writing nib retracts into the pen barrel, meaning every few lines I have to stop and re-twist the barrel to extend the nib, my wife doesn't have this problem at all when she uses it, so it must just be me, but perhaps something to look out for if you have larger hands.
The pen itself seems to be a favorite for the corporate gift and present market as it has a large surface are for engraving, taking deep and defined engraving very well.

Of course there is no smudging, it's a ballpoint after all, although I am aware some ballpoints form the cheaper end of the market can & do smudge very badly, these tend to be very "wet" writing pens and are to be avoided, unless you like a "wet" pen, and you are a neater writer than me of course.

I am using the standard Cross ballpoint refill, to be hones the refills for Cross pens are so reasonable there is not much benefit trying to find an aftermarket/3rd party refill for most cross pens, the fountain pen refills are also very reasonable. This is the standard size refill that fits many pens throughout the Cross range, some pens need the removal of the plastic knurl at the top of the refill you can see in the photo, a very simple job to do, it just pulls off.
The plastic knurl is needed for all pens that have a twist to extend action, the super fine pen that Cross makes takes this refill too, it's a very popular pen that is often marketed as a ladies pen, which is a bit unfair as I think it makes the perfect suit pen, very light and easy to carry without making too much bulge or drag on a suit jacket.

As you can see the refill screws into the lower part of the barrel the twist action actually working the black collar ring you can see in the photo, that's where the thread son the black knurl come in to action.

Here we can see the nib extended, as you can see the extension is not huge, meaning the pen writes very much like you see it, and manages to stand up to a lot of abuse for those who are very hard pressing writers, some ballpoints have a very long extension which can lead to trouble for the heavier writer, it also means that it can write very quickly and feels very assured and robust in the hand.
All in all it's a very nice pen, let down (for me and my use) by the annoying retraction habit it exhibits while writing, but other than that, give it a try, as an everyday pen it's hard to beat, or even as a nice gift for yourself or someone else.

Schneider Slider Memo XB *UPDATED*

The Schneider Memo XB is a very nice smooth writer, ink flows easily and instantly from first use, what the actual names means is open to discussion, thou it may have something to do with it being marketed as a scholars, or pupil as the manufactures website has it, pen, but as a "memo" pen, then its does it's job admirably, writing quickly and efficiently with a quick drying time. Ink is also "wipe proof" when used with highlighters and waterproof, some nice considerations and presumably why its marketed as a school/pupils pen. A nice range of colours is also available, apart form the normal blue. black and red, there are Green, Orange, Violet an Lilac (these are my interpretations of the colours on official website, as there are no supplied colour names by the manufacturer), each colour having its own barrel colour combination, the inner black part barrel of test pen changing to math ink colour.

The drying time is acceptable for any but the quickest of left handed writers, I am not left handed so please let me know if a "dryer" pen is best, with a strong, even and medium thickness line, again stated by manufacturer as 1.4mm, laid down easily and with little effort. Presumably due to the Viscoglide (R) - Technology used by the German manufacturer.

Below is a plain paper ink test with bleed through. As you can see its a nice fine dark and constant line with very little show thought to reverse side.

Written line test, plain "copier" paper

Bleed thought test, 80 gsm plain white copier paper

The body of the pen itself is very comfortable, light and easy on the hand, with a slight rubbery feeling to the bulk of the covering (blue bits). The pocket clip feels very strong and has a reassuring heft in it's spring, this pen is going nowhere in every day use and carrying, the cap itself fits snugly over the nub and even more snugly when mounted for writing, a stop lug is in place to prevent over fitting (see second picture below).

All in all a pleasant and promising everyday/pocket pen. The nib itself is stainless steel and wear resistant. The pen does not appear to be user dissemble, so i would say it is a disposable.

See www.schneiderpen.de/en/ for more info, using the penfinder to find this pen, and to browse the other products from manufacturer.

I received the pen as a free sample from www.cultpens.com when purchasing other items, I can heartily recommend them for any of your pen, refill and ink needs, free delivery on orders over £10 and ship worldwide.

Include the book the test quote is from in the comment area for personal kudos, all tests will have an (CLUE) opening line from a literary work.