Milan P1 Touch Ballpoint and Guerrero Notebook Review

I am very lucky to have made some great friends over the years here at The Pen Addict. This review includes products from two of my favorite world-travelers: Carmen sent me the blue Milan P1 Touch she picked up while in Spain last year, and Hen from Rad and Hungry sent me the black Milan P1 plus a Guerrero Notebook from the STMT X Spain Kit, the final kit from last year’s world tour. Hooray for Spain!

The Milan ballpoints are very nice to write with. The barrel is coated in a very thin rubber which provides a good gripping surface and the entire pen feels solidly constructed. I thought I was going to prefer writing with the blue ink more than the black, but the opposite was actually the case.

Both inks are smooth, but when compared to each other the blue comes out looking very streaky. The black is one of the darker ballpoint inks I have used, almost making me think it is a hybrid ink like the Pentel Vicuna. It is that dark.

The Guerrero Notebook is a nice paperback that looks ideal for schoolwork. Do any of you remember the blue books from school that you had to take your essay exams in? They are a lot like that. The paper is nice and smooth and is set up well for note taking or writing practice.

I don’t travel to Spain very often (ok, never) but these pens and notebooks would be worth picking up if I did. You should give them a try if you ever have the opportunity. Milan does have a small presence in the US so some of you might be able to find their products locally.

Bic Accountant Fine Ballpoint Review

Raise your hand if you have ever owned one of these classics!

I raise mine proudly to not owning just one Bic Accountant Fine ballpoint, but many. This was one of those pens in the 80’s that I hunted down and hoarded when I was lucky enough to find them. Coming across a fine ballpoint back then was the equivalent to finding an 0.38 mm pen on the store shelf today. They were few and far between.

I received this Bic from my friend George at My Supply Room. He acquired a few dozen recently and was kind enough to send several out to readers. I was happy to get one not only for nostalgia purposes but also because these may be even harder to find now than they were back then.

These days, the Bic Accountant ballpoint does not compare well to its competitors. That’s not surprising - it isn’t trying to. Bic has other products to take up that task. The accountant is old school, and makes no bones about it with its design. Just look at that clip. So rad!

The red ink is nearly pink on the page it is so light. If a pen company came out with a pen that writes like this in 2012 I would eviscerate them, but I can’t help but smile every time I use this one. It does write impressively clean though. Not many present day ballpoints can say that.

It is great to shed light on great old pens like this Bic Accountant ballpoint. Thank you George for sending it my way!

Zebra Arbez Piirto Ballpoint Pen 0.7 mm Review

It is great to see manufacturers branch out from the norm and come up with fresh pen and pencil designs. Zebra takes it a step further by holding an annual contest for young designers around the world, and the Zebra Arbez Piirto was the winner of the 2011 event.

The winning design is based around the slim and simple form of an ice pick, which makes sense when you realize the designer is from Finland. It is quite stunning, especially when you consider that part of the design process was to make it as inexpensively as possible. Mission accomplished on all fronts.

Many pens use a rotation or twist mechanism to extend and retract the pen but where the Piirto differs is that the mechanism is in the grip area as opposed to the upper barrel area. It functions quite well and does not get in the way of the writing experience at all.

What does get in the way of the writing experience is the ballpoint ink cartridge. This is your basic cheap ballpoint refill, so set your expectations accordingly. A Zebra Surari refill would make this pen a knockout but would also raise the price, which goes against the reason the Piirto was created.

The Piirto ballpoint is available with black and red ink cartridges as well as a black barrel design. There is even a mechanical pencil version that is designed similarly. While it may not perform like a world beater, the design and price made it an easy choice to add to my collection.