Kokuyo Beetle Tip Dual Color Highlighter Review

I don't do too many highlighter reviews because I don't have many situations where a highlighter comes in handy. My highlighter replacement tends to be a multi pen like the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto where I can mark up or underline in a range of different colors. On the occasion where a highlighter is required there is only one brand for me though, and that is Kokuyo.

The original Kokuyo Beetle Tip 3way was the first, and probably only, highlighter to make me say wow. In one tip it has three different highlighting modes, and I can't imagine anything else I would ever need from a highlighter.

Since my experience was so positive with the 3way, I wanted to give the new Dual Color Highlighter a shot to see how it stacks up. The selling point of this highlighter are the two adjacent color tips. You can start with one color, rotate the pen 180 degrees, and pick up with the other color. You can also create a double underline by using the two tips at once right down the middle.

This all works great, but I had one annoying issue with the highlighter. The width of the barrel and the low profile of the highlighter tips caused me to tilt my head like a curious dog to see the line I wanted to highlight. It was awkward and I tired of doing that quickly.

Aside from that, the colors are on the light end of the scale, which I prefer, and the barrel quality itself is nice. Plus, I thought that was a Rebel Alliance symbol on the barrel the first time I looked at it. The Kokuyo Beetle Tip Dual Color Highlighter is not Empire approved.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

Posted on November 17, 2014 and filed under Highlighter, Kokuyo, Pen Reviews.

Three Questions With Chad Doane

Chad Doane is one of the longest standing friends and supporters of The Pen Addict. I'm glad to call him a personal friend as well, and of course, I am a huge fan of all of his work at Doane Paper. My thanks to Chad for answering Three Questions.

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

Pens, Pencils and Paper play a monstrous role in my day to day life right now. I'm constantly thinking about what the next Doane Paper product will look like or what pen or pencil should we add to the online shop. It's cool to be completely surrounded by analog tools for the majority of my day but some mornings I walk through my studio and say "Chad what did you get yourself into?!". Ever since being a kid I've always been into pencils, notebooks and sketching plus my dad was an industrial engineer so we always had mechanical pencils and graph paper laying around the house. There's just something both dependable and comforting about your favorite writing instrument and notebook.

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

Right now as far as writing instruments go I have a uni-ball 207 retractable (micro tip) and a Sharpie medium tip marker on me at all times. We've done a couple notebook collaborations with uni-ball over the years so I'm pretty loyal to all the Newell Rubbermaid brands. I'm always filling out customs declarations forms at the post office and need a solid gel ink ball point for that and I'm always marking on the tops of order boxes with a Sharpie before they go out.

My "go to" notebook these days is the doane paper - large utility notebook. The standard sized 3.5 x 5.5 utility notebook was always a bit small for me so in 2013 I decided to produce a slightly larger 5 x 7 large utility notebook. I'm a die-hard Kansas City Royals fan so box scores of the Royals' epic 2014 post season run (curse you Madison Bumgarner!) filled up my last large utility notebook. Now I'm starting a new one filled with plans / strategies to broaden doane paper's distribution channels in 2015.

3. What creation or design of yours are you most proud of?

Nope it's not the grid + lines pattern or the flap jotter notebook, the creation I'm most proud of is my daughter (who is now sixteen) had a 5th grade science project where she had to turn a pizza box into a solar oven. I'm not exactly the diy sheriff but one Saturday afternoon we took our time and made the solar oven together. Crazy thing is it actually cooked a hot dog, we were so stoked! The diy solar oven now has a permanent spot on the Doane garage top shelf.

Posted on November 15, 2014 and filed under Three Questions.