The Pen Addict

Review: Sharpie Pen Purple

To this day, my original Sharpie Pen post has been one of the most well received posts on The Pen Addict.  The folks at Sharpie really knocked one out of the park with this pen, and it remains one of my favorite pens to this day.  The original four colors were your basic black, blue, green, and red, but many months ago they added purple and orange to the 6-pack of colors offered.  When I first saw them online, I could have purchased them from Staples.com or any of the other big online retailers, but I figured my local Staples would carry them soon enough.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more, until finaly a few weeks ago they started carrying the 6-pack with the colors I really wanted to try - purple and orange.

There isn't much new to add on top of what has already been said about this pen all over the internet - it does its job wonderfully.  The lines are crisp and sharp, the ink doesn't bleed, and the tip is surprisingly durable for a plastic tip pen.  I love this shade of purple, and the orange - which I will likely review another day - is very vibrant.  I mentioned on my wish list in the written review that I would like to see more colors, plus be able to purchase the non-black and blue colors separately.  Hopefully that is in the works at Sharpie HQ.  I did notice in @sharpiesusan's Twitter feed that there may be a Sharpie Pen RT (I'm assuming that means retractable) in the works, which is a good sign that Sharpie believes they have a winner on their hands and will continue to support this product line.  I sure hope so.

Click Here for the XL review.

Ink Links

-- I've been away for a while... (Drawing with a Squirrel)

-- J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage  (An Inkophile's Blog)

-- Rhodia Pad Review by Tejal  (Rhodia Drive)

-- Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph 0.25 mm Technical Pen compared to the Staedtler Mars Professional 0.25 mm Technical Pen  (Lung Sketching Scrolls)

-- Lamy Pico Pen-Spinning Video  (Goldspot Pens)

-- Ever try painting with your fountain pen inks?  (Spiritual Evolution of the Bean)

-- Koh-I-Noor 2.0mm leadholders and colour leads  (Pencil Talk)

-- It's School Supply Time  (My Supply Room)

-- Tiny Bit  (Unposted)

-- Notebooks at Target: Markings and Noted  (Notebook Stories)

-- Inks!  (The Pen Chronicles)

-- Alaskan Cruise '09 Sketchnotes  (Rohdesign)

-- Parker v Turner  (Dave's Mechanical Pencils)

-- Clairefontaine Notebook  (The Pen Archives)

-- Professional Figure Making - Part 3 - Planning Tools  (Tomio Tsuji’s Blog)

Pilot FriXion Giveaway Winner

Lucky #113 takes home the prize this morning:

113 Gayle J said...
I would love to win these pens! Thanks
Reply July 02, 2009 at 12:07 AM

Congrats Gayle!  Here is what I need you to do:  1) Leave a comment on this post, and 2) email me at the address on the sidebar with your mailing address.

Thanks to all who entered.  Have a happy 4th of July, and look for another giveaway next week.

Review: Uni-Ball Signo Broad UM-153 Dark Blue

I'll make no bones about it - I love this pen.  Love it.  And this is coming from the guy who thinks the 0.25mm Pentel Slicci is the bees knees, and lusts after the Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.28mm in brown black.  Like I mentioned on the page at left, I need to do a better job of reviewing pens with a tip size larger than 0.5mm, so I grabbed this one on a whim from JetPens.  As best as I can tell, this particular Uni-Ball model is most popular for the white, silver, and gold gel ink models, which are used mainly for scrapbooking.  I went with a more traditional color for my first UM-153 purchase - the dark blue - and it is very nice.

From a feel perspective, the barrel diameter seems a bit wider than the Uni-Ball Signo DX, not by a great margin, but the weight is very similar.  I would hope that a gel pen with an 1.0mm tip like this would write smoothly, but it is better than I could have anticipated.  It just flows like the paper isn't even there, and the lines stay clean and there is no feathering or bleed to speak of.  For a pen I grabbed almost out of the blue, I couldn't be happier, and I intend to try out a few additional colors in the future.

Click Here for the XL review.

Giveaway: Pilot FriXion Point 0.4mm

This giveaway is for the two Pilot FriXion Point 0.4mm erasable gel ink pens shown at right.  I have a few duplicate colors, so one winner will take home both the purple and orange pens.  Here are the rules:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Thursday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.  You are limited to one entry.  Feel free to link this giveaway on your blog, or share it with anyone you feel is a true pen addict.  If you have a blog, I would love a link back, but it is certainly not required for entry into the contest.

2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post.  The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on.  The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.

3. The contest winner will be posted on Friday, July 3rd.  The winner will have one week to email me at the address posted in the right sidebar.

4. I will ship internationally.  I know there are many international readers and fans of The Pen Addict, and I will gladly ship to you at my expense.

Thanks, and good luck!

Review: Uni-Ball Kuru Toga High Grade 0.5mm

I first reviewed the Uni-Ball Kuru Toga back in December of last year, and now that the Kuru Toga High Grade model is available at JetPens, I wanted to try out some new things.  In my original review, the Kuru Toga was an 0.3mm model, and while I liked it a lot, I felt that the lead size, combined with my writing style, didn't take full advantage of the core rotation mechanism that makes the Kuru Toga what it is.  This time around, I went with the 0.5mm size and did a little more accurate testing with the pencil.

My normal writing style involves a bit of spinning the pen or pencil in my hand when writing.  I write a few words, pick up the pencil, rotate it a bit in my fingertips, and put it back to paper.  It is a fraction of a second thing, but to really get a feel for how the Kuru Toga works, I need to let the pencil do its job.  So for this writing sample, I decided to punish myself like I was in 4th grade, forcing myself to write "I will not rotate the pencil in my hand when writing" over and over again until the page was full.  I made a concerted effort to keep the lettering on the barrel perfectly square between my thumb and index finger throughout this experience, and was successful in doing so.  If you didn't realize this already by looking at the page, the Kuru Toga really, really works.  Any other pencil around would have a huge flat spot on the lead, making for wider and lighter transfer to the page.  The Kuru Toga rotated properly the entire way through, keeping the lead sharp and ready to go with every word.  There is no difference in line width or darkness between any line on the page.  Fantastic results!

The design differences between the original Kuru Toga and the High Grade are not that different other than the materials used in construction of the barrel.  The original has a plastic grip, plastic clip, and is a touch shorter, while the High Grade has an aluminum grip section, metal clip, and is a bit longer.  The eraser section is also designed a bit differently as you can see in the photo, and the original is a hair lighter, but they are both lightweight pencils.  The biggest difference is price, with the original costing $6.50 and the High Grade at $15.00, so it just depends on what you are looking for in a pencil for which one you should buy.  The High Grade is striking looking, but my next Kuru Toga will probably be another original.  You can't go wrong with either.

Click Here for the XL review.

Ink Links

-- An Interview With Sketchnote King Mike Rohde  (Hi, I'm Grace Smith)

-- Webnotebooks From Rhodia  (Unposted)

-- Shiny writing implements  (Halophoenix's Moblog)

-- Bic Round Stic Medium USA  (The Pen Collector)

-- Legendary Pilot Murex and M90  (Scription)

-- Carolina Pad Sasquatch Recycled Notebook Reviews  (Office Supply Geek)

-- Review: Picadilly Leatherlook Journal  (Spiritual Evolution of the Bean)

-- Nomadic PD-04 Khaki Roller Pencil Case Review  (Lung Sketching Scrolls)

-- Doane Paper at Laywine's  (Doane Paper Feed)

-- Compare and Contrast: Canteo and Moleskine Journals  (Pentamento)

-- London Underground pencils  (Pencil Talk)

-- Review: Stabilo Point 88 Mini Pens - 18 Color Set  (The Pen Chronicles)

-- Toolbox: Writing/planning tools  (Make Online)

-- A disposable fountain pen?  (Quo Vadis Blog)

-- A4 Size Moleskine Folio Portfolio  (Notebook Stories)

-- Why didn't I have this in High School---Cheater Pen  (Good Pens)

-- Uni-Ball Gel Impact  (248am)

-- Growing list of fountain pen ink samples  (The Harmless Dilettante)

-- New additions to my pen case  (Therapist Girl)

-- Pencil Holding  (Interesting)

-- Pilot, Dr Grip G-Spec/Center of Gravity  (Alexa's Mechanical Pencils)

-- Do you like pens, too?  (Kathleen Gabriel)

-- Pentel Multi Pencil  (Super Eggplant)

Review: Styb Pens

This slew of Styb pens was sent to me by Pen Addict reader Carmen from Puerto Rico (sorry this took so long).  She emailed me about these pens, mentioning how she used them everyday at work, and was wondering if I had heard of them.  I hadn't, and she graciously offered to send me some in the mail.  Little did I know that "some" meant "an envelope stuffed to the gills" - thanks Carmen!

The variety that Styb offers is pretty impressive, especially since this is only a sampling.  From plastic tip pens, to liquid ink, to fountain pens - both large and small - Styb looks to have things covered.  My favorites of the bunch are the first two pictured at left, which are the Styb Precision 04 and 08.  They are a plastic tip pen, but the firmness of the tip is something I haven't experienced in a pen like this before.  It is very rigid, and writes a very sharp line, which I like.  The other pen I liked a lot was the Styb K2 Megaroller 07.  It reminds me a lot of the Uni-Ball Vision, which is an excellent liquid ink pen and high praise indeed.

I was shocked to see a fountain pen included in this lot, but there was one, and reminds me a lot of the Pilot Petit fountain pen, size wise at least.  I couldn't really get the ink flowing well with this model though, so the jury is still out on this one.  I'm not sure what the difference is between the Styb Sprinter Roller and the Styb Glider Megaroller are, but I didn't really care for either.  The ink bled too much on both, especially the Sprinter Roller.  It also laid down a line much wider than the 07 K2 and it is apparently supposed to be an 05 width.  The Signpen, on the other hand, is great.  It is the perfect size and design, and writes just how I would expect it to.

Overall, there are some good pens in this bunch, and only a couple that I really didn't care for.  Huge thanks to Carmen for sending these to me.  You can read more about Styb pens and additional products at their website.

Click Here for XL review.

Review: Monami Plus Pen 3000

Close-out sales make people do funny things, like take a chance on pens you have never heard of just because the price was reduced.  That's how I came across the Monami Plus Pen 3000.  A box of 12 at JetPens was 50 % off, and I am a fan of porous tip and plastic tip pens, so I took a shot on them.  Right out of the gate I was pretty happy, but the more I wrote and doodled, the more I found that they weren't for me.

The main issue I ran into is that the tip of the pen was almost a cross between a porous tip pen and a brush pen.  Both on their own are perfectly fine, but by the looks of this pen, I wouldn't expect to find much - if any - feedback from the tip.  I am used to smooth writing from other porous tip pens I have used, but this one flicks when writing, like a bristle on the tip is caught going the wrong direction.  The clicking noise it makes is unmistakable.  This pen designed nicely, so it is a shame that this problem is frequent and unavoidable, even causing ink splatter on the page in most instances.

I'll leave this pen to the pen spinners out there, which is how this pen is tagged at JetPens anyway.  I guess I should have taken a cue from that.

Click Here for XL review.

Awesome Readers = Awesome Mail

I had no idea the reach this blog would have when I first started it.  After all, I was just a guy on a quest for some ultra fine gel ink pens.  But as time passes, and the blog keep growing, I am finding that the readers of The Pen Addict are some of the most awesome people you could ever hope to run across.  From the great comments, email, and the occasional snail mail, I am very thankful for all of the communication and sharing of stories, ideas, and products.  Two of the most recent items I received in the mail are below:

George from the recently created My Supply Room blog sent me these wonderful stencils.  I made a comment on his blog about how cool the chemistry stencil was, and lo and behold, it shows up in my mailbox a few weeks later.  Thanks George!

When I gave away a set of Copic markers back in may, Yogi from the blog Art with Yogi was the big winner.  She was thoughtful enough to not only send me a thank you card for the markers, but the amount of time and effort she put into it were amazing, even using her newly acquired loot to decorate the squares on the card front.  Thanks Yogi!

These are just of a couple of the items I have received recently, and I have a few more items I need to get reviewed and posted from other readers.  Look for those in the very near future.