Posts filed under Ballpoint

Lamy Noto Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It can be easy to disregard pens that fall into the more mundane or sundry category after you've been exposed to and used much higher-end pens. Even ballpoints can be an elevated writing experience thanks to all the custom makers that design pen bodies around popular refills. Still, it's always interesting to me what these large pen makers can come up with on the other side of the price spectrum.

The Lamy Noto is a modern and sleek ballpoint pen that delivers a great writing experience at a fair price. The white body and matte silver grip are an attractive combo, and the three-sided shape adds to the stylish aesthetic. It won't be everyone's cup of their preferred hot beverage, but it will definitely capture the attention of many people whether they like stationery or not.

Even though the Noto is made entirely of plastic materials, it looks and feels really sturdy and well-made. Lamy has a long track record of making durable pens, so this one can likely be expected to last a while. The silver grip is a smooth texture, but the triple-sided shape of the grip offers plenty of traction for your fingers when holding the pen. It isn't Lamy's typical grip section, which I'm sure many people will see as a positive attribute over the more opinionated shape you'll find on the Safari.

The clip on the Noto is fairly small — both in size and also in the capacity for what it can clip to due to the space between the clip and pen body. It's pretty flexible and can expand a bit to attach to thicker materials, but I wouldn't do that often as it seems like the thin material might grow weak over time. For what it is, it does the job. In order to stick to the slim profile, I understand (and appreciate) the small clip design. Just don't expect it to pull double duty as a pry bar or anything.

The click mechanism is exceptionally smooth and quiet. For me, if a clicky pen doesn't have a satisfying and thocky sound, then it should be silent. The Noto does this well. The nock mechanism or spring require a healthy dose of force to operate, which adds to the feel that this pen is more premium than the price tag suggests.

The only branding for this pen is a debossed Lamy logo on the barrel opposite the clip. On this white body, it's really easy to miss the logo. It's really well done, and given the matte finish of the other color options, I'd expect the logo to be unobtrusive on those as well.

The Noto uses a Lamy M16 refill, and comes with a black medium cartridge in the pen. The M16 is a proprietary size, so there aren't many options. From Lamy, you can buy fine, medium, or broad sizes in black, blue, red, or green. Each refill is $6 a piece, so not the cheapest option out there (for those of us in the US, at least).

The M16 isn't my favorite ballpoint refill out there, but it's certainly a decent refill. It doesn't provide as crisp or dark a line as I prefer, but it's completely acceptable and reliable. You can certainly do much worse in terms of default ballpoint refills. This one starts up almost immediately and doesn't have any skipping or burping issues that some ballpoint refills have. It's a great refill, and that's good news because it's the only kind that works in this pen (out of the box, anyway). Still, it would be awesome if Lamy used a more generic and widely available cartridge shape.

The Lamy Noto is under $12 USD, which is a great deal for what you get. The refill cost is more than half the cost of the pen, and I'm honestly impressed with the quality and feel that Lamy squeeze out of the pen body and mechanics once you discount the cost of the refill. The price is low enough that you can pick one up on a whim if you happen to like the aesthetic, while also being confident that it will be a reliable and comfortable writer.

If the white and silver combo isn't your jam, there's also a blackout version and a navy/silver version.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Posted on January 3, 2024 and filed under Lamy, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Parker 51 Teal Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Parker 51 is one of the most popular and well-known vintage fountain pens from the 20th century, and for good reason. Along with Esterbrook, these pens were ubiquitous and high-quality tools that many people carried and relied on every day. Go to any pen show today, and you'll see a fair few Parker 51s on the show tables.

The pen we're looking at today isn't the vintage fountain pen, though. This is a modern ballpoint pen that takes a few style cues from the classic fountain pen design that made Parker famous. The Parker 51 Teal ballpoint pen is lightweight and elegant, and definitely makes you think of the classic Parker 51 that it borrows its name from. It uses a typical Parker style refill and comes with Parker's Quink refill with black ink.

The biggest similarity to the original Parker 51 is the cap. It's nearly identical to the fountain pen version in style, except the cap doesn't come off the ballpoint pen. Instead, the cap is a twist mechanism to extend and retract the refill tip. The body of the pen is made of a lightweight acrylic material that looks less like the original due to the smaller diameter and long taper to the tip. Twisting the cap is a smooth and satisfying motion. When retracted the refill, you don't even have to twist it manually. Just get it started, and it will finish retracting on its own due to the spring at the tip of the barrel.

Writing with the pen is also a nice experience. The grip is comfortable and the pen is easy to control thanks to the light weight and good balance. The metal cap adds just enough heft to the tall end of the pen to provide a great sense of balance when holding the pen in a 3-finger grip.

And this is where we run into my first complaint with the pen. I just said that writing with the pen is a nice experience, but that's only true if you swap out the refill first. The included Parker Quink refill is garbage and should be immediately discarded. The ink is difficult to start, splotchy once it's running, and is a very unsatisfying light-black hue. Even jotting down quick notes is frustrating due to how terrible the ink flow is. I have to redraw characters way too often due to bad ink flow. In an age where many manufacturers have fantastic ballpoint ink refill options, I really don't understand how Parker are still producing Quink refills that write so poorly. An updated, fantastic Quink refill would be an exceptional nod to the heritage of Parker.

Throw in a better refill, and this is a great pen that I've really enjoyed using. It feels more premium than a Parker Jotter, and it's also easier to control since it's a bit longer and has a larger diameter. At least, it's better for my hands and how I grip the pen. In fact, it's really similar in length to the Jotter XL, which is also a great pen (assuming you replace the refill).

Luckily, there are so many great refill options for this category. Parker style refills are abundant, and there are some truly fantastic ballpoint (and gel!) refills that you should try out and keep on hand.

My next complaint with this pen is the price. I understand that this pen has some additional prestige given the Parker 51 name, but I don't believe the pen delivers enough aesthetic or usability value to justify a retail price of $79. The Parker Jotter can be had for around $20, and the larger Jotter XL is around $35, and they're all metal. You get the same refill with all three, so just factor in the cost of a replacement refill as part of the overall total. When using this pen, it feels like a $40 pen.

Vanness Pens sells the Parker 51 ballpoint for just $63, which is way better than the suggested retail from Parker. If you're a big fan of the Parker 51 pen and this throwback ballpoint speaks to you, you'll be really happy with it because they did a great job of translating the classic design to a modern ballpoint package. If you're looking for a good ballpoint pen that uses Parker style refills, look elsewhere. The Jotter or Jotter XL are a great place to start, but the world is your oyster when it comes to Parker style pens. So many great options to choose from!


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Posted on August 16, 2023 and filed under Parker 51, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

The Pen That Started It All

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Some of you may know that my FP journey started with the Pilot Metropolitan, Platinum Preppies (yes, all 7 of them cuz I couldn’t pick a color) and Lamy Safari – all arriving on May 31, 2017. But did you know I’ve been a pen fan long before that? Yup, it’s true! Ever since I was a kid, I loved the Sanrio store (I was a My Melody and Little Twin Stars girl), as well as any office supply store, or heck, even the stationery aisle at the grocery or local drug store! In fact, I once got in deep trouble for stealing coins out of my older brother’s piggy bank just so I could buy pens and pretty paper at the Sanrio store - I didn’t do that again!

At some point in middle school, I got a Sheaffer calligraphy kit, which I used until it eventually ran out of ink (so you just popped in a different color cartridge) or until it just stopped writing altogether. They weren’t nearly as exciting as the cute Sanrio pens that I used to get, and they didn’t write as well either! So that was the end of fountain pens for me (or so I thought, ha!), but not the end of my love for pens and paper!

All throughout college, I loved buying notebooks that had my school logo and in lots of different colors. And at my various jobs, I would always raid the supply closet looking for the best pens and the sticky notes in all the different sizes. At some point after college, I stumbled across a Levenger catalog. Oh my gosh! A catalog of pens and papers and binders and desk accessories!! I was in heaven! Of course I was shocked at how much pens cost, but this was like discovering a Victoria’s Secret catalog but for pen and stationery geeks like me! I don’t remember any of the other pens in the catalog because I was only fixated on one pen.

It was a ballpoint.

Gasp!!! Yeah, that’s right. Not a fountain pen, not even a gel pen or rollerball. And no, it wasn’t a Bic Cristal! I fell in love with the Rotring Newton! Something about the faceted metal barrel and the little red ring (did you know that “Rot ring” means “red ring” in German?) just hit all the buttons! And I remember that it took me months to be comfortable spending $30 on a pen. Shocking, I know! I loved the pen once I got it but I was afraid to use it at work because it was so expensive so it stayed at home where I would only use it occasionally. I’ve lost and found it many times over the course of several moves and was so relieved to have found it again while cleaning the garage recently.

Rotring Newton with Private Reserve Parker-style refill in Purple on Hobonichi Weeks, 52 gsm Tomoe River paper.

I have long since replaced the original refill but now that I’ve found it again, I keep it within arm’s reach at my desk. It makes me happy knowing that this has survived so many moves and drops on the floor, and I can still click this pen to my heart’s content. This pen will always have a special place in my heart as being the pen that started it all.


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 16, 2023 and filed under Rotring, Ballpoint.