Ohto Graphic Liner Needle Point Drawing Pen 03 Review

The Ohto Graphic Liner Needle Point Drawing Pen is one of those pens that caught me off guard - in a very good way. I wasn’t paying attention when I ordered it to be honest. I thought it was another plastic tip drawing pen but when I received it I realized just how wrong I was.

The Ohto Graphic Liner is actually a metal-tipped drawing pen, somewhat of a cross between a Sakura Pigma Micron in ink quality and properties and a Pentel EnerGel Euro Needle in style. It is a little bit hard to explain but it works wonderfully. I went with the 03 thinking it had an 0.3 mm tip, but that is a little misleading. From one of the reviews at JetPens, here is how the tip widths line up:

005 = 0.3 mm

01 = 0.4 mm

02 = 0.5 mm

03 = 0.7 mm

05 = 1 mm

1 = ? (could not find this one)

I would say the 03 translates into right around an 0.7 mm so the list is probably accurate. That is too wide for me, but I was so impressed with this pen that I can’t wait to try a few of the smaller tip sizes. Too bad they have been out of stock for months.

Uni Live Pigment Sign Pen Extra Fine Blue Review

I have talked about the Uni Live Sign Pen on many occasions but only recently realized I never posted my review of it. This is a new to me offering from Uni but is actually an older style of pen and may have been available in Japan for a while. Pentel is well known for its Sign Pen that has been around for decades - is the Uni Live a worthy competitor?

It is more than worthy in my book. In fact, it is one of my favorite pens I have tried in a while. While it has a slightly different tip style, it reminds me of when I first tried the Sharpie Pen. The porous-style tip leaves a sharp line and the blue ink is deep and solid. So far, the tip seems to be retaining its shape well too.

It is hard to put my finger on it but there is something about this type of pen that really appeals to me. It is inexpensive, looks good, feels good, has a few color options (I have the black and red ink models as well), and comes in several widths. What’s not to love?

Platinum Mini Ballpoint Pen with Capacitive Stylus Review

I mentioned in last week’s podcast that I had tried out a new pen + stylus combo that I did not like, and the Platinum Mini Ballpoint Pen with Capacitive Stylus is the guilty party. The concept is good, but there are just too many flaws to make this a pen worth using.

To cut right to the chase, my main issue is the stylus performance. First off, it is very non-responsive on my touch screen devices. It took 2–3 taps to register on my iPad without a screen protector and 3–5 taps on my iPhone with an Otter Box built in screen protector. Swiping? Don’t even ask.

Secondly, and possibly the cause of the first issue, is that the stylus is on top of the pen knock. I didn’t give it a passing thought when ordering the pen, but the knock spring is not strong enough to prevent the stylus from receding a large amount when trying to use it. It is like squish, squish, squish every tap. It was frustrating after about five seconds of use.

The pen itself is not so bad. The slim design is great for portability, and the 0.5 mm ballpoint writes very well. It’s a shame that the stylus performance is not up to par. I think JetPens agrees - I have never seen a pen move from New Arrivals to Close-Out so quickly.