Posts filed under Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell Textliner 38 Highlighter Review

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

These days, highlighters aren't essential to my workflows or journaling practice, but they're still fun to play with. I've always enjoyed adding a bright pop of color to printed or written notes, though I'm not sure the extra color actually aids in studying later. Either way, I think the more colors you have available for highlighting, the better. With the Faber-Castell Textliner 38 6-pack, you get plenty of options to differentiate your callouts.

The Textliner 38 is a slim body highlighter that features ultra fluorescent ink colors. The slim body is easy to handle and control when marking over text, and you also have the option of two different line widths due to the chisel tip. With the 6-pack, you get yellow, red, purple, pink, green, and blue color options, and they're all appropriately loud hues.

The chisel tips on these highlighters work really well. The broad side is about 4mm wide and the narrow side is just 1.5mm. Both sides are really sharp and lay down crisp lines.

The colors of each marker are fantastic, but I'm a little bummed with how dark the purple is on paper. I'd like it to be just a little lighter, but it's still perfectly usable as-is.

I haven't had any trouble with ink smearing under the highlighter with printed out pages, but some fountain pen inks or rollerball inks smear and feather a bit when using these highlighters over them. It's not a drastic amount of smear, but it's worth noting. If you only plan on using these highlighters in textbooks and printed notes, you should be fine.

Another thing I like about these highlighters is the shape. The slim shape is similar to a large bodied fountain pen, so it fits easily into sleeves, pouches, pockets, and cases designed for regular pens. There are plenty of highlighters out there that have a non-standard shape, and those can be problematic to store and carry. These highlighters don't share that problem, and they also have a handy pocket clip in case you need to attach them to something.

These Faber-Castell Textliner 38 highlighters work great, and I'd recommend them to anyone that needs a variety of colors for highlighting notes, textbooks, or their own handwritten notes or plans. Six colors is a great variety, but you can also buy an 8-pack for around $10 (Amazon affiliate link) that includes an extra yellow highlighter plus a nice orange one as well!

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

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Posted on December 7, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Faber-Castell, Highlighter, Pen Reviews.

Faber-Castell Fast Gel Z 0.5 mm Gel Ink Pen Review

(This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.)

How important is the grip when choosing a pen?

For some, it is the first or second consideration. If you fall into that category, then you will want to read on for my thoughts on the Faber-Castell Fast Gel Z ink pen.

Before I dig into the grip, let’s talk about the first thing I want to know about any traditional ink pen: the writing performance. How does it write? In this case, pretty well!

I shouldn’t be surprised, as Faber-Castell has been making pens for decades, and have been in business as a stationer for centuries. Yes, literally. But I have far more experience with their fountain pens and inks-even pencils-that I do their standard pens.

The Fast Gel Z, along with many other recent Faber-Castell products, were sent to me by Faber-Castell Malaysia, who had a strong belief that I would like what they are selling. And so far, they have been right. This pen is an 0.5 mm black gel pen with a needle tip, and writes very well. The ink is dark and smooth, although the lines need to be slightly sharper if it were to crack any Top 5 Gel Ink Pens list.

That’s rare air, as I don’t even rate the Pilot G2 or the Sharpie S-Gel that high either, but I would rate those two pens ahead of this one.

That line sharpness is a real differentiator at the 0.5 mm tip size, and finer. If you aren’t a tiny print writer like myself, I think you will enjoy this pen, or it’s 0.7 mm tip relative. Heck, I’ve really enjoyed it myself when I want to leave some dark marks on the page.

As far as that Fast Dry time claim? Yeah, it’s pretty good. I lined it up against the Uni-ball Signo DX 0.5 MM, Pilot G2 0.5 mm, and Pentel Energel 0.5 mm, and, despite being the widest, wettest line, the Faber-Castell had the lightest smudge mark in my quick dry time test.

While writing with the Fast Gel Z is good, the grip makes the feel of the pen great. This is the softest, most comfortable gel or ballpoint ink grip I’ve tested in recent memory. It’s soft and cushioned, and you can feel it give under your grip with each word. I love it. I do wonder how it will hold up over extended use, but I see no reason that it wouldn’t outlast the refill in essentially the same condition it started in.

The Fast Gel Z is currently available on Amazon for around $17 for a 10-pack of pens, which is accurately priced in my mind. This is a good, solid, middle of the pack gel ink pen, with a couple of minor features (soft grip, fast drying) that may push certain users toward it as opposed to the competition.

(Faber-Castell Malaysia provided this pen at no charge for the purposes of this review.)

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Posted on October 31, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Faber-Castell, Gel, Pen Reviews.

Faber Castell RX Gel Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold! Links in the below post are Amazon Affiliate links.)

Faber Castell has a real winner with these RX Gel pens in their lineup. While the pen body isn't the greatest, the refill more than makes up for it.

This 5-pack comes with gold, pink, purple, blue, and green. The pen bodies are plastic in a color that matches the ink. The clips, which are part of the click mechanism, are white plastic. The click is extremely satisfying, but it's loud. It's a fidget dream, but it will irritate everyone nearby. The plastic body has a very slight triangular shape with a gently ridged grip section. It's very light and not very well finished. There are rough edges and plastic spurs at the nosecone and a number of flaws in the plastic itself. There's also an overall flimsy feel to the pen. That all sounds kind of awful, but the lifespan of gel pens is short enough that I don't need them to be too nice. I'm also not likely using them for a long writing session--just for quick planner notes or lists.

Despite the kinda awful body, the refills in this pen make them worth looking into. What I want when I reach for a gel pen is smooth, bold, saturated ink. This ticks all the boxes. The colors are bright and bold, the tip glides like butter, and the .7mm line is great for writing or coloring. It's easy to forget the rattling clip and rough build when a pen writes in a way that's so satisfying. Of course, given that awesome ink flow, these are going to run out of ink quickly and they're not refillable.

This ink is also fade-proof and waterproof, and it's available in a wide variety of colors and in other line widths, .5mm and .38mm. I've had no issues with ink drying out, leaking, or clumping.

This pack sells for around $8.50, though that price may vary by store. I think that's a very reasonable, affordable price, given the great ink and flimsy build. Individual pens come in under $2 each. The price and ink are what earn my recommendation for these. Gel pens with nice refillable bodies are often my preference, but they're likely pricey, and the refills cost as much--and produce as much landfill waste--as these disposable versions.

If gel pens are your jam, these are definitely worth a try.

((Faber-Castell Malaysia provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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