Zebra Arbez Piirto Ballpoint Pen 0.7 mm Review

It is great to see manufacturers branch out from the norm and come up with fresh pen and pencil designs. Zebra takes it a step further by holding an annual contest for young designers around the world, and the Zebra Arbez Piirto was the winner of the 2011 event.

The winning design is based around the slim and simple form of an ice pick, which makes sense when you realize the designer is from Finland. It is quite stunning, especially when you consider that part of the design process was to make it as inexpensively as possible. Mission accomplished on all fronts.

Many pens use a rotation or twist mechanism to extend and retract the pen but where the Piirto differs is that the mechanism is in the grip area as opposed to the upper barrel area. It functions quite well and does not get in the way of the writing experience at all.

What does get in the way of the writing experience is the ballpoint ink cartridge. This is your basic cheap ballpoint refill, so set your expectations accordingly. A Zebra Surari refill would make this pen a knockout but would also raise the price, which goes against the reason the Piirto was created.

The Piirto ballpoint is available with black and red ink cartridges as well as a black barrel design. There is even a mechanical pencil version that is designed similarly. While it may not perform like a world beater, the design and price made it an easy choice to add to my collection.

Identify This Old School Pilot Ballpoint

Pen Addict reader Yohan doesn't want me go to all of this trouble to help him identify his pen, but I am more than happy to share it with the masses. I know as well as anyone how important some of the pens we grew up with are, if nothing else for sentimental reasons.

The pictures below are great, showing a classic retractable ballpoint design and the Pilot holographic sticker. Yohan originally bought this pen growing up in Indonesia, and used it heavily in the early 90's.

Can anyone come up with a model number for this Pilot ballpoint?

Zebra Mini T3 Ballpoint Pen Review

Mini pens are a tough thing. I think that everybody can benefit from having one for various reasons - wallet carry, pocket carry, purse carry, etc. - but there are equally as many reasons for not carrying one. Most of those arguments are size related, and are valid points. Can I even grip a pen that small? How long will the ink last? Am I just going to lose it? The Zebra Mini T3 Ballpoint doesn’t pretend to solve those problems, but it may be the best of the bunch if you want to give a mini pen a try.

The thing that stands out to me the most is the barrel construction. It is fully metal, and just feels durable. If a pen is going to be this small, I at least want to feel the weight in my hand when I write. On top of that, the default blue ink cartridge pleases me to no end. You can order black, red, and green refills for the Mini T3, but blue ballpoint ink is my favorite. It writes wonderfully.

One minor issue that cropped up from time to time is the knock release in the clip. You press the knock down like normal to write, then to retract the pen you press the end of the clip. Since the pen is a shorter length, I sometimes hit the clip with the cup of my hand if I rotate it when writing. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but I did want to mention it because it happened more than once.

It may not be perfect, but I am not sure what else I could ask for in a mini pen. What do you look for in a mini pen? What other mini pens do I need to check out?