The Pen Addict

Paper Mate Hardhead Flair Review

My recent posts on the Bic Z4 Porous Tip pen have turned out to be very popular. People like this style of pen tip and the way they write, but unfortunately they are a little hard to find. The same goes for any similar pens, which is a question I have gotten several times recently. I was hard pressed to come up with an answer, but Pen Addict reader Amy sent me the Paper Mate Hardhead Flair to try out, and it is very comparable to the Z4.

The Flair line has been around for as long as I can remember, but I had never heard of the Hardhead until Amy emailed me. Flairs have always been my favorite Paper Mate product, and this one holds up well under the test. The Hardhead has a sharp, dark line, and doesn’t bleed through the Doane Paper I am using. Compared directly to the Z4, it is almost identical, with only the smoothness of the Z4 being a bit better.

Now for the kicker: These are even HARDER to find that the Z4. In fact, Amy got hers off of eBay, and was nice enough to share with me. Are there any other porous tip pen options out there that I should test and are somewhat easy to obtain? Please let me know in the comments section and I would be happy to hunt them down.

 

Fantasy Football Draft List

How is this pen related? For the most part it isn’t, but I did put a new pen in action to help me keep track of the team I drafted last night.

This is the lone “jellybean” league I play in, which is a 14-team PPR league. I had the 10th overall pick, and since the Sportsline.com draft interface leaves a little to be desired, I tracked my roster with good old fashioned pen and paper.

I talked about the Bic Z4 Porous Tip a few weeks back, and I ordered a dozen of the new body style from Amazon to see if they are any different. From a writing perspective, it is the exact same pen, but the body has been updated nicely. The grip section is much better, and the overall design is great.

I am pretty happy with how my draft turned out. Good luck to all of the other fantasy footballers out there!

#OnePenOneDay Bic Z4 Porous Tip 1.0mm

The Bic Z4 Porous Tip pen was one of the first few pens I reviewed on The Pen Addict. It has long been a favorite of mine, and I wish it was more widely available. Heck, I wish all pen brands would have more porous tips available. I love the feel of the plastic tip on the paper, and the sharp dark lines it creates. Yes, it is a much wider tip than I normally use, but is very versatile. If you happen across one be sure to try it out.

Update: I have been asked where to buy these. If you are lucky, you can find them at one of the big office supply stores like Staples. I checked on Amazon this morning, and they have the new body style for $9.95/dozen, which is a great deal.

Bic Easy Glide Ballpoint Winners

Three is the magic number, as the three winners below will each receive at least three of the new Bic Easy Glide pens.  And the winners are:

Congrats to the winners!  Here is what I need from you:

1. Leave a comment on this post.

2. Email me your mailing address (click on the "About" link on the sidebar)

You have one week to claim your prize.  Thanks to all who entered!

Review & Giveaway: Bic Easy Glide Ballpoint Ink System

"Feel The Smoothness!"

That is the branding behind Bic's new Easy Glide ballpoint ink, which is now found in some of their more popular pens lines.  Bic sent me free samples of these pens a few months back, and I finally got around to getting my smoothness on last week.

So, are these pens up to 35% smoother compared to other Bic offereings?  I thought they were more like 38% smoother, but who am I to pick nits.  In all honesty, these updated pens from Bic did a very nice job, and yes, they were smooth writers for the most part.

Out of the samples I received from Bic - the Velocity, the Atlantis, and the eco-friendly ReAction - I was sure I was going to like the Atlantis the best, but once pen hit the paper, the Velocity was the one for me.  The Atlantis has the sleekest barrel and a nice rubber grip, but for some reason it didn't write near as well as the other two.  It wasn't as clean and skipped a little more.  The Velocity on the other hand was really nice.  The wider barrel and formed rubber grip turned out to be really excellent, and it was a super smooth writer on the page (the written part of the review is with the Velocity).  While I liked the blue ink of the ReAction, I couldn't get past the slick plastic barrel, but I imagine that is all a part of making it a more eco-friendly pen.

Overall, the Easy Glide pens are not a bad effort from Bic.  It is nice to see them upgrade some of their technology, making a better writing experience for all.

Thanks again to the folks at Bic for providing these pens for review!

And now, for the giveaway portion of the post...

Bic was kind enough to include plenty of extras in their package, so I have several pens left over to give out.  What I will do is pick three winners randomly from the comments section and send out a sample of each of these pens to you.  Sound good?  Lets make it official:

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 three winners 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 winners.

3. The contest winners will be posted on Friday, November 5th.  The winners 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!