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.

 

Review: PaperMate Replay Max

Aside from a few dabblings here and there with Pilot FriXion's, I have pretty much sworn off erasable pens.  They are usually too inconsistent from a writing perspective, don't erase well enough, or more times than not, both of those things.  Unfortunately for the PaperMate Replay Max, it falls into the both of those things category.

I keep threatening to do a bottom five pens post like I have done for the top five, but I just haven't made the time to do it.  If I were to do one tomorrow, I'm pretty sure this pen would be included.  I think it was back in my middle school days when I first used PaperMate's original erasable pen.  It was cool back then, and using this Replay Max reminded me a lot of those days.  That is not a good thing.  I never thought the original erasable pen wrote very well, but I was a kid and who really cares.  I had a PEN, and it ERASES!  I'm only a kid at heart now, and I need my pen to do a lot better job than this one does.  The line is essentially one big skip.  There are so many gaps in my lettering that even Madonna is embarrassed by it.  The barrel is surprisingly comfortable, and the eraser does a good job at what it is supposed to do, but the writing performance is so bad that this pen is almost unusable.

Is there anyone out there that uses an erasable pen on an every day basis?  If so, which model do you use?

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Paper Mate Gel

Grab it and it is going to work - that is the feeling I get when I pick up the very simply named Paper Mate Gel.  These were purchased from the closeout rack at Staples for just $1.50 for a 4-pack containing one each of blue, green, pink, and orange.  I picked the green at random to review, but all of the colors write equally well.  The 0.7mm gel ink cartridge is very smooth - surprisingly so in fact.  The barrel design and feel reminds me a lot of the Uni-Ball Signo 207.  I wonder how much of the underlying design is shared by the two companies since their parent company is Sanford (who also has Sharpie, Parker, and Waterman, among others).  Regardless, this pen is well worth the price.

Review: Paper Mate Flair Ultra Fine

I love the original Paper Mate Flair, so I was excited to see a finer tipped version available on store shelves.  And just like the classic Flair, this pen delivers a great writing experience.  If I am not using a gel pen, then I am usually reaching for a felt tip or plastic tip pen, and this one does a great job.

Labels: Paper Mate Flair, Reviews

Review: Paper Mate Flair

See all sizes of this photo on Flickr.

I have been so busy at work I haven't had a chance to review the new pens I just received, so here is a classic pen I had ready to post.  Look for some of the new ones this coming week.

Labels: Paper Mate Flair, Pens, Reviews