The Pen Addict

Zebra Surari 0.7mm Blue Review

(This is a guest review by Thomas Newman. You can follow Thomas on Twitter @ThomasNewman.)

Hello everyone, my name is Thomas, and Brad has been so kind as to let me contribute some guest reviews. I work as an ad copywriter currently, and worked 3 years as an office supply department head at a college bookstore, so needless to say, I love a good pen. (and run-on sentences)

Even though Mr. Pen Addict himself, and another guest writer have reviewed the Surari, I felt I had to share my thoughts on it as well. Brad sent me a few different pens to review, but since I love this pen so much, I decided to do it first. If I had to describe the Zebra Surari 0.7mm in one word, it would be “fantastic.” Not only is this pen easy to write with, it’s well made, an super cheap.  When I throw out words like “fantastic” in reference to a pen, it isn’t without serious consideration.

I like to think that everyone has a favorite writing utensil, but few people spend as much time deciding what to carry, or can list several reasons why they choose a particular pen or pencil as I do. Not only does the Surari’s ink dry quickly like a ballpoint pen, it writes as if it were a gel pen. Now I don’t know how “revolutionary” (according to Jetpens.com) it is, but it sure does rock. I write in a fairly weird way in that I constantly rest the side of my hand on the paper and it drags across the page as I write. Due to this, I am constantly cursing pens that leave an ink smear on my hand at the end of the day. The Surari’s “Emulsion Ink” alleviates this problem.

I mentioned earlier that this pen is quite cheap. I mean that of course in price terms, not in quality. The Zebra Surari will cost you a mere $1.65. You read that right; it’s not a typo. This is especially great for users who want various colors of ink. Speaking of multiple ink colors, JetPens offers a plethora of ink choices that even include florescent colors, and different barrel colors. The tip sizes provide even more options as you can purchase the Surari in 0.5, 0.7, or 1.0mm versions.

I have changed my writing instrument of choice tons of times while I was in college, but I have never stuck with one as long as I have with this Zebra. If you want a great, affordable, everyday use pen, look no further.

Zebra Surari 4 Color Multi Pen Video Review

This is a guest post by Bryan Gushikawa.

  

Multi pens are hugely popular and exist in many different formats and styles. This pen basically combines a best-of-both-worlds concept (the gel smoothness with ballpoint ink) with the utility of multiple colors. Aimed at office workers and students, this pen seeks to get people hooked not only on color, but also on performance.

The appearance of the Zebra Surari 4C is sort of a standard style. Translucent barrel, elastomer grip, and ink selection up top. The addition of a spring-loaded clip is a godsend to people who clip to journals and shirt pockets. Although it doesn't have the same visual impressiveness as a Ferrari, it's stylish enough to be at home in the classroom, office or coffee shop. The click mechanism is tight, but sometimes the clip clicker has to be pushed a little hard to stay down. The thicker barrel of the pen fits well in the hand and offers more comfort than skinny pens might.

Where the 4C shines is in the performance department. The Surari ink is an even match for the Jetstream and the colors are rich and vibrant. Zebra's Sarasa gel ink is legendary for smoothness and the 4C Surari ink is likewise smooth. It's like writing on icy glass with a butter-coated Teflon stick. Seriously. It doesn't blob or skip and is a real joy to write with.

Any problems with this pen? Not really, although with similar offerings from Zebra's competition, you might be wondering what sets this pen apart enough to make it worth a purchase. Well, the answer is that there IS nothing really distinct, but this pen is an excellent enough performer in its class to merit a top score...you'd compare other pens to this one. A DEFINITE recommend!

I am glad I have one of these (thanks, Jetpens!) and I'd encourage everyone to go ahead and get one. You'll thank me for it once you write with it!

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#OnePenOneDay Zebra Surari 0.5mm

The Zebra Surari is one of those pens I like but never spend that much time with, so it was a perfect selection for the #OnePenOneDay project. I got a good day of usage out of it, and found it to be as solid as ever. Compared to the Uni-Ball JetStream and Pilot Acroball, the ink tends to blob on some letters a bit more, but it may write smoother than its competition. Depending on what day it is, I'm likely to have a different answer on which one of the three is my favorite.

Review: Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pen 0.5 Black

Hello, viewers of the Pen Addict! My name is Amy, and I'll also be contributing reviews here along with Kalina. As a current undergraduate student at a university in southern California, I hope other fellow students find my reviews useful as I wish for practicality and portability in pens and stationery. Recently, however, I've been getting into fountain pens, so I'll be giving an amateur view on these wonderful instruments and their related items as well.

The Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pen 0.5 mm Black with dark black body can be purchased from JetPens.

Brad recently reviewed (and gave away for free) Zebra Surari Emulsion ink pens. However, I really wanted to try it particularly because I do not like ballpoint pens yet want oil-based ink. I also am an undergraduate researcher in a lab at my school, and the rule apparently is to use ballpoints in lab notebooks because the ink is waterproof. Yet being stubborn, I still use gel pens but I just tape plastic over my notes to prevent the ink from bleeding everywhere when in contact with water. Hence, when Zebra combined gel and ballpoint pens, I knew I had to have it.

That being said, onto the review.

I'm really serious about wanting this ink to handle basically any chemical that my lab has.  Therefore, I treated this ink to a small variety of chemicals popularly found in the lab (and household) and compared it to a generic (borrowed) ball point pen and Pilot Hi-Tec ink. These chemicals are water, ethanol (aka hand sanitizer), and isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol).

 

Zebra Emulsion Ink resists the most to modification by a variety of common chemicals compared to oil-based ballpoint pen ink and gel pen ink.

As you can see above, the Zebra Surari resisted the most to all of the treatments! The most popular things found in the lab are water and ethanol, and there are negligible changes to the emulsion ink when smeared with these chemicals. The oil-based ink of ball point pens seems to fail when treated with alcohol, while the gel pen ink of Pilot Hi-Tec is terribly smudged when treated with water.

As for the writing experience, sometimes I really feel like I'm just writing with a ballpoint pen but whatever is coming out of the pen is just gel pen ink. I think it's probably because it looks and feels like a ballpoint pen with the thick barrel and ergonomically textured rubber grip (which just seems ballpoint pen -ish to me based on my past experiences with ballpoint pens). Yet, the tip looks like that of a gel pen and the ink lays down on the paper like a gel pen. Regardless, it writes very smoothly as expected from a ballpoint and the ink is absolutely amazing. Additionally, the 0.5 mm  pen does not really seem to write a 0.5 mm line. In my opinion, it's very comparable to a 0.3 - 0.4 mm line, which is great for me because I love fine lines.

The Zebra Surari writes a pretty fine line for a 0.5 mm pen.

In the end, this is a great pen for a student because of its oil based ink and its thin lines (which is especially great for taking notes in textbooks). The price at $1.50 is perfect for the starving-college student budget and amazing if you look at the value of the pen. However, this pen is not as reminiscent of a gel pen as I would like, perhaps due to the design of the pen. I'd really love Zebra to work in developing other pens that use this emulsion ink but are comparable and simple in design to Pilot Hi-Tecs or Pentel Sliccis. I think it'd be a real competitor to these popular staples, yet may pose problem for their Zebra Sarsas (and therefore this may not really happen except in my dreams). ):

The Zebra Surari can be found on JetPens here.

This review was done on a Rhodia Dotpad No. 16.

Giveaway: Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pens

Sold HERE.

Reviewed HERE.

Given away RIGHT HERE!

When I bought my batch of Zebra Surari pens from JetPens, I made sure I got enough to spread the wealth around a bit.  After I squirreled away a couple for myself, I still had nine left over, so I am going to give away three pens to each of three winners of this giveaway.  Here are the standard 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 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, July 16th.  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!