Review: Zebra F-301 0.7mm Ballpoint

Raise your hand if this is your everyday, go to, get it done pen.  I expect more than a few hands will go up for the Zebra F-301 line of pens, and for good reason.  These are exceptionally well made and great looking pens.  For me, I have never quite gotten it with this pen, but it is not for lack of trying.

What I love about this pen is its design.  The sleek stainless steel barrel is great looking, and the barrel length and diameter both hit those just big enough sizes.  The blue plastic in the grip and around the plunger really pop as well.  But as great as it looks, it doesn't quite cut it in the performance department.  The ballpoint ink is standard, and my definition these days of a standard ballpoint is any ballpoint pen that you would pick up that is just laying around.  Something in the non-Jetstream category for sure.  I have a feeling that the look and feel of this pen make the people who use it think that the ink actually performs better than it does.  Does that make sense at all, or just in my head?

More than the ballpoint, I really dislike the hard plastic grip.  It is too firm and too slick for a pen that does require some pressure to write with.  They may not be able to go with a full on squishy gel grip with the barrel diameter limitations, but almost any change in that area would be good.

So, while I am at it, what else would I like to see?  Would it be too much to ask for a Surari branded F-301?  Make it happen Zebra!

Click here for the XL review.

Products used:

Zebra F-301 Stainless Steel Body Retractable Ballpoint Pen - 0.7 mm - Blue from JetPens

Writing Pad from Doane Paper

Review: Seven Year Pen

My wonderful pen friend Carmen hooked me up with this Seven Year Pen that she picked up in NYC a few months back.  I had heard of this pen before but never had the opportunity to try one out, so I am really glad she sent this to me to test.

According to the insert, the Seven Year Pen "can write two meters a day for seven years" due to its jumbo ink cartridge, long-life tip, and high quality parts.  It does seem well made, but compared to most of the pens I use, the medium black ballpoint cartridge doesn't write all that well.  And there lies the fatal flaw with the Seven Year Pen - for a pen to last for seven years, you are going to actually have to want to use it for that long.  When pens like the Jetstream and Acroball write so much better, it would be hard to pick up this pen despite the eco benefits.

I don't want to get too down on this pen at all.  It is a fine pen.  But, if I am to be expected to commit to this pen for the next seven years when it runs out of ink, it is going to have to be an off the charts great pen.  This is more of a novelty item to me.

Click here for the XL review.

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!