Shopping Finds: Exercise books, BIC pens, Stabilo

Latest shopping finds, kicking off withe these exercise books, squared ruled 88 page staple bound books available from Poundland, invoking memories of school and coloring in the squares when bored.

Next up are some more memory invokers, the classic BIC 4 colour selector pen and a new "mint" colour version. I always wanted a 4 way colour selector pen when i was young, to this day I've still never got round to getting one. Both are currently on sale at Wilkonson's in the UK along with a larger range of BIC products, including the M10 as in the picture, which I never knew actually had a model name.

And here we have more BIC products available in the Wilkinson sale, these look to me to be the infamous "For Her" BIC colours that created a bit of a foray a while back, that have now been repackage and renamed as "Fun" Cristal pens. They are nice colours I'll admit, but the whole debacle with the previous branding incarnation will no doubt stick in my mind. For a lighter look at what people thought of the original pens and that marketing campaign, check out these reviews on Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004FTGJUW

Finally we have a sale deal on the Stabilo 10 fineliner pen set, I've always liked these pens, but found them to be too expensive for what they are, but this price makes them much more attractive. Give them a go, they are a lovely pen for drawing and general colour work, thought hey are not light proof or pigment inks so don't expect them to last too long on paper.

*** SOME PICS HAVE BEEN LOST - POST REMAINS FOR REFERENCE ***

Wilkinson Gel Roller Ball

** There is now a  www.pensetc.tk shop (click here) or use the link at top of page **

Wilkinson is a UK department store (click for more info) that usually has a very good range of stationery at the budget end of the market branded as their own make as well as branded makes, here.
This particular pen is sold as a pack of 5 for a very reasonable £1.15 ($1.76/C$1.79) in a plastic wallet in the standard blue and black, all of which are a fine nib.

As you can see it is a very basic looking pen without frills or ornamentation, what else can you expect or want for the price? It is in fairness a nicely balanced pen and a very robust construction, it is not refillable.

As I have found with most Gel Rollers the inked line is very wet and susceptible to smudging and wiping, but this could be down to my writing style as much as the ink wetness. The line laid down is a very pleasing solid black wiht little or no skipping, writes from first use consistently and evenly.

Posted or capped the pen is nicely balanced and not overly long or short, the crip part of the barrel is covered in a soft knurled rubber cover which stands up to use for the writing life of the pen, more on this later, the cap has a pocket clip denoting ink colour but it does nto hodl the pen in pocket very firmly on thin pockets or material, the clip also comes away form the lid easily, perhaps due to the breathing hole designed into the lid.

The lid does cap with a reassuring click and stay on the pen barrel well in transport.

Other than the comments above there is not much more to say about the pen, but there is one final point to make which I believe is vital, and that is the writing life span.

When using this pen solidly for note making on an A5 writing pad the pen only lasted for 4 or 5 pages, I've used two now over 10 pages, admittedly the full page was covered in writing, but I feel that a pen of this size should last longer, does anyone else have any thoughts or comments on the writing life if ink in pens of this sort? But in fairness what can you expect for the price, some pens of the same style and ink cost 2 or 3 times more for just one. In closing I can't really fault or criticise the pen any more than above, I think they write very nicely, have a reassuringly black line and are very reasonably priced.

*UPDATE*

Just finished another pen, this one lasted a bit longer, 6 and a half pages, but not much more. The pen and ink do write consistently until the very last letters, no skipping or reluctance to write evenly, so you do get to use every last drop of ink. I'm still undecided f these are a bargain or a waste of money, if only the refill was larger/lasted longer, I would gladly pay more as the pen itself and nib are very nice for the current price.

Pilot V5 Hi-Tec point 0.5

** There is now a  www.pensetc.tk shop (click here) or use the link at top of page **

Here we have a Pilot writing pen, although in my opinion I like them for a multitude of other uses to which they are very suited, more of which later.

What to say about this? Well, its very much what you see is what you get, there is no fancy over designed additions or build in the pen itself externally, barrel, cap and pocket clip are all there are, it does not come apart and is not refillable, but what it does do is endure, and write very well from start of ink flow to finish, a solid black line with no skipping or missed curves. As you can expect from the 0.5 on the barrel, the nib and the written line is very fine, but still strong and very legible, if you do not have terrible handwriting like I do. 

The ink itself lays down very well and drys quickly, no discernible smudging or wetness is left on the page when writing. This is in contradiction, for me anyway, to the pure liquid ink advertised on the barrel, I would have expected a very wet line to be laid down with care haign to be taken to avoid smudging, but happily I was very wrong in my initial expectations.

And here is the nib itself, as you can see it is fine, a needle point in my opinion, but surprisingly robust and stands up to a lot of abuse, I'm a bit heavy handed when writing and I have not had any issues with the nib or the writing performance.

What, precisely, the pure liquid ink is supposed to benefit or deliver I'm not too sure, but I suppose liquid ink flows smoother and more consistently than other inks, on reflection the ink flow is rather like fountain pen ink and the line when writing does have that feel to it, so I guess the intention is give the best of both worlds in a fine nibbed rollerball.

The pocket clip is very springy and firm when slipped over over pockets, especially thicker material ones, the clip itself is very robust and stands up to a lot of abuse, so much so that if the spring on the clip is not enough it can be gently bent to provide a stronger grip.

Further to the comment in the opening paragraph, I really like drawing with these pens, a great use for them I think, the pen and the nib suits my style and drawing technique, if they came with artist grade ink, permanent, lightfast etc I think they would be come my default and go to pen for drawing, especially with a range of nib sizes offered. And yes, that is my representation of Leon played by Jean Reno in the film of the same name, the remake anyway, one of the very few examples where the remake is as good as the original, possibly. 

Staedtler Lumocolor Fine Permanent

So here we have a permanent fibre tipped pen from Staedtler called the Lumocolor, that american spelling again, COLOUR! that is also lightfast and waterproof.
What exactly "Dry Safe" is meant to tell us about the ink qualities of the pen I'm not entirely sure, so if you do please leave a comment and let me know.

Anyway, I'm not really one for using fibre tipped pens as everyday writing instruments, even when fine nibbed as this one is, though they do of course have their place, in most cases (if not every) the ink bleeds through really too heavily on most papers except the thickest, not the sort you would want to use for notes/writing etc.

As you would expect the pen lays down a very definite and solid line throughout the cursive turn, in other words there are no skips or blanks when writing any letter, and is very black, in a nice way though, a nice assured and authoritative line, but again, unless needed and used on the correct medium, not an everyday general writing pen.
Having said that the Lumocolor is a great pen for other uses, I have used them for all sorts of applications  disc labeling (but only on ones with a print surface, permanent markers can "burn" though discs), art applications, label marking for technical work, pretty much anything where you need indelible writing with a fine point, to my mind I actually prefer them to Sharpies for this sort of thing, but to their detriment they do not come in as large a range of colours, black being the only option, but there is a range of nibs.

The nib being fibre does have anice flow across the surface and never feel liabel to flex or bend when writing, I do know through personal use that the nib does wear and spread, although I put a lot of that spread down to being used on rough surfaces and with unnecessary pressure when writing with it, we all know a heavy handed writer!
There is really not that much more to say on the writing experince, it feels pleasant in the hand, does not skip while writing and the barrel feel s sturdy enough, I would personally have preffered the pen to be a little wider in the barrel, just for comforts sake during prolonged use, but agian this is down to personal taste.
So, down to the construction, the pen is not refillable unlike the Pilot V Super Color (there's that missing U again) of which there is a post review in the coming weeks, apart from size and colour range, but it is a completely different type of marker with different intended uses.

As you would expect from Staedtler and a permanent marker the top fits snugly and securely to the barrel, a very reassuring thing with permanent markers, and the pocket clip is very sturdy but I would have licked it to be a bit more springy and hold tighter than it does.

There are fine tip (the classic according to Staedtler), chisel tip and an extra soft tip for CD/DVD marking versions available, ranging from 0.4mm for the extra fine tip up to 2/5mm for the chisel tip, depending how it is held and used, the writing pen is a 0.6mm line.