Milan P1 Touch Ballpoint and Guerrero Notebook Review

I am very lucky to have made some great friends over the years here at The Pen Addict. This review includes products from two of my favorite world-travelers: Carmen sent me the blue Milan P1 Touch she picked up while in Spain last year, and Hen from Rad and Hungry sent me the black Milan P1 plus a Guerrero Notebook from the STMT X Spain Kit, the final kit from last year’s world tour. Hooray for Spain!

The Milan ballpoints are very nice to write with. The barrel is coated in a very thin rubber which provides a good gripping surface and the entire pen feels solidly constructed. I thought I was going to prefer writing with the blue ink more than the black, but the opposite was actually the case.

Both inks are smooth, but when compared to each other the blue comes out looking very streaky. The black is one of the darker ballpoint inks I have used, almost making me think it is a hybrid ink like the Pentel Vicuna. It is that dark.

The Guerrero Notebook is a nice paperback that looks ideal for schoolwork. Do any of you remember the blue books from school that you had to take your essay exams in? They are a lot like that. The paper is nice and smooth and is set up well for note taking or writing practice.

I don’t travel to Spain very often (ok, never) but these pens and notebooks would be worth picking up if I did. You should give them a try if you ever have the opportunity. Milan does have a small presence in the US so some of you might be able to find their products locally.

Uni-ball Woodnote 0.38 mm Blue Review

Brian did a great job in his review of the orange Uni-ball Woodnote and I wanted to add in my thoughts using the blue ink model as an example. This is one pen with a very wide range of pros and cons.

I thought this was a fantastic looking pen when I first saw it arrive at JetPens. The natural wooden body is striking against the bright colored plastic and it uses the Uni-ball Style Fit refills so you know it writes very well.

The pen barrel is very light though, and is narrow in diameter. I was actually surprised at how small it was when I got it. It is along the lines of the Pentel Slicci diameter-wise and even lighter. It would make for a good portable pen if you are willing to let the barrel get dinged up and add some character.

One issue I have with the Woodnote is where the wood barrel meets the plastic tip. As you might imagine, where the hex of the barrel meets the round tip section there are some rough edges. Of course, that is exactly where I grip the pen and it doesn’t feel great. If you grip the pen higher than me you should be in good shape.

If Ikea designed a pen I think it would look a lot like the Woodnote.

Paper Mate InkJoy 500 RT 1.0 mm Blue Review

The Paper Mate InkJoy is the most recent store-shelf pen to receive a big marketing push. Advertisements and store displays are abundant, as are PR pitches to mark the launch of Paper Mate’s Revolutionary New Ink System. But how revolutionary is it?

On a scale of 1 to 10 it checks in at about a 0.

Special ink blends are the new black. Uni-ball has used this technology for years in their Jetstream line. Pilot and Zebra followed up more recently with hybrids of their own - the Acroball and Surari, respectively. Formulating an ink to give you smooth, consistent lines is neither new, nor revolutionary. Unfortunately for Paper Mate, all of the other companies do it better.

There is not a lot of bad to say about the InkJoy 500 RT that I reviewed. There is not much good to say either. It is just a pen. I use that phrase to describe pens that are average and offer nothing new or exciting. It writes smoothly (as every 1.0 mm pen should) and starts quickly, but the lines are not as crisp and clean as marketed. There is plenty of white space as if it were your basic generic ballpoint. It has that wonderful ballpoint ink aroma as well.

Regardless of what I think about this pen, Paper Mate will do well with the InkJoy. I bought this pen at Walmart, where Paper Mate has taken over approximately 25% of the pen section. That is where the problem lies. There is nothing new or interesting on the store shelves where the vast majority of consumers shop. The last big change in that section was when the Sharpie Pen started making waves, which was over two years ago.

The pace of innovation in mass-market pens is extremely slow. Inroads are being made by a few manufacturers, and let’s face it, I am not their target customer. The Paper Mate InkJoy is a prime example of that.

Say hello to your moms new favorite pen.