Parker IM Roller Ball Review

For a blog that reviews pens you would think that I would have reviewed a Parker or two over the years, but it hasn’t happened until now. The Parker IM Roller Ball is my first foray into the Parker market, and one of the first Parkers carried by JetPens.

Before I get into the review, let me tell you why it has taken me so long to try out a Parker. It is pretty simple really - there are no viable sub 0.5mm refills. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. This is not Parkers fault. In this category of pen, it’s not even easy to find refills under 0.7mm, although it can be done. This is what the mass market consumer wants, and by gosh, that is what they are going to get.

I’m here to change that, one micro tip at a time.

Before I go off on one of my anti-mainstream rants, let me give this pen a proper review, because I was pleasantly surprised by it. First off, the barrel is serious business. Weighing in at 1.27 oz. (a basic Pilot Hi-Tec-C is 0.37 oz. for comparison), is has a nice heft in the hand, but is not too heavy to where you will tire of writing with it. The black matte finish with chrome accents - including the famous arrow clip - are sharp looking.

The ink cartridge is an 0.7mm liquid ink cartridge. It works great if that is your preferred writing ink, but I am going to be looking at swapping it for a gel ink refill. There were no issues with this ink though. Just take a look at the writing sample above and you will see how nice it is.

If you handed me this pen blindly and asked me how much it cost based on feel and performance alone, I would have guessed $40-$50. At just $15, it feels like a steal, and might turn me into a Parker user after all.

Zebra Regal Liquid Ink NR5 Review

(This is a guest post by Brian Gushikawa)

Zebra is best known for their Steel series of pens and pencils, but they also make a full line of gel and ballpoint pens. This pen is an entry into their rollerball line and directly competes with offerings from Pilot and Mitsubishi/Uniball. The Regal Liquid Ink NR5 is a needle point rollerball with a large ink reservoir and a good feel to it. It's a disposable way to carry around a good daily writer that won't let down its user.

Smoothness: Wonderful! Feels like a fountain pen! This pen doesn't suffer from the scratchiness that most fine point pens do.

Grip and Balance: The front section is ridged plastic which offers tactile feedback, but isn't soft elastomer like some other grips. The balance when posted is average and adequate.

Ink Flow: A standard finned flow regulator with (most likely) a fiber core flow controller provides a consistent flow with no skips or blotches.

Build Quality: Very good! Surprising, considering the disposable nature of this pen. The heft is good and the pen feels a little bit better than a Pilot Precise V5.

Capacity: The entire back of the pen is an ink tank, so there's a LOT of ink there!!

Clip: Very strong metal clip attached to a plastic cap. It's not as durable as a fountain pen clip, but it's fine for everyday use.

Post: The friction-fitted cap posts well and doesn't rattle.

Overall: You'd be hard pressed to find a nicer rollerball at the price point than the NR5. The needle tip allows for precision writing and the ink is a nice, dark shade of black. I'd say that this pen is a definite recommend as a backup for a fountain pen.

Pilot FriXion Light Fluorescent Ink Erasable Highlighter Review

I get a ton of highlighter questions, but I haven’t provided many answers of late. Let’s knock one of them out today, shall we?

The Pilot FriXion Highlighter has been around for a while, but I only just recently got my hands on one to test out. Like all of the Pilot FriXion pens, this one sports a very well designed barrel. It is sharp looking and comfortable to hold. My initial reaction to the ink color is that it is darker than I like to use regularly in a highlighter, but in the photo it doesn’t look so bad.

Since the main feature of this pen is its erasability, I tested it out over a few different inks. The top line shows the Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.7mm gel ink pen, and you can tell pretty quickly it doesn’t play nice with gel inks. I tried to let the ink dry a bit, but still jumped the gun I think. The friction based eraser got into the ink too much and came out looking terrible.

The other two inks did much better. The pigment ink of the Uni Pin worked very well with this highlighter, as did the hybrid ballpoint ink of the Pilot Acroball. You can see a little bit of ink spread in those two samples, but they are more in line with my expectations.

What I didn’t test, and where I foresee no issues, is with textbooks. It doesn’t take much effort to erase the ink, so I don’t believe it will be a problem erasing over printed text.

The Kokuyo Beetle Tip remains my favorite highlighter, but the Pilot FriXion is a nice option if you are looking for erasable ink.