Erich Krause Liquid Line 0.5mm

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So here we have a new make to me, Erich Krause from Germany.

They seem to have a diverse range of products and types of pen that I can find in my local stores.

This pen is a liquid ink 0.5 mm nib fineliner, that writes very fine indeed for this size nib, but surprisingly not in a scratchy way, a big surprise considering the cost, just 0.99 pence.

The ink in the barrel is very dry with great fastness very soon after writing, unusual in my opinion for a liquid ink pen, they tend to be much wetter with a tendency to smudge for a while and have a wetness about them I usually find difficult to work with, whether writing or sketching.

The size of the pen is very nice, for me, not too long or short and has a nice weigh to it, the barrel and pen holding area is comfortable size. The barrel itself is finished in a slightly rubberized covering, only time will tell if it stands up to use or deteriorates quickly, I have a feeling it will, more on this later.

Here we have the cap and nib, the cap is unusually long, the recent trend seems to be for very short caps, personally I like a long cap, just feels more premium, the nib as you can see is short and very fine, I sometimes find with these needle type nib fine liners that that actual nib is too long meaning it can flex under pressure or rapid writing.
The pocket clips seems very strong on first impressions and is firmly attached to the cap barrel, lets hope it delivers what it promises.

Standard method ink delivery to the nib, the usual veined spiral system, the slight gap between nib casing and grip area is a slight puzzle, never come across this before, could this be a design flaw? I suspect it may start leaking from here at some point in the future.

And here we encounter the "issues" with the pen, the barrel unscrews, as I first assumed for refill insertion, but on closer inspection it became clear that the ink reservoir was actually molded into the nib carrier and ink veins, so while it may look refillable, it certainly is not.
Secondly, this pen was used only to write the test card, straight out of the packet, and as you can see the ink level is considerably below half way, in fact I would say there was only a quarter level in ink in the barrel. No doubt another cost saver and indicator of overall build quality and likely length of life. 
What started out as a promising looking pen, whilst it writes nicely and has some promise, ultimately disappointed, perhaps the maker is just starting out and waiting for some uptake before improving their pens, who knows, one to watch for now but I could not recommend a purchase or to but for regular users, the build quality slightly disappoints and the ink supplied would render the pen useless as a daily writer or every day pen.

Pilot V5 Hi-Tec point 0.5

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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.