Sharpie Pen S-Gel 0.7 mm Pen Review

Back to School season often brings new pens to the store shelf. While Sharpie’s newest entrant, the S-Gel, has been around for months, only over the summer did we seem them infiltrate the stationery world at scale.

I grabbed a 4-pack of 0.7 mm pens from Amazon (two black gel, one each of blue and red,) to test, but if my grocery store shelves are any indication, you should be able to easily find them in the 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm tip sizes as well. Sharpie’s new Roller is also available as part of the big push we are seeing from the brand.

As many of us pen addicts already know, and as Sharpie is about to find out, the long-time stalwarts of the gel pen section of the store occupy that space for a reason. The Pilot G2, Uni-ball Signo, and Pentel EnerGel are household names, so Sharpie has their work cut out if they want to displace any or all of that trio.

So how does the Sharpie S-Gel stack up against some of the best gel ink pens of the past decade? Not very well.

The worst thing a pen can be is inconsistent, and that is what I am getting from this batch of pens. The black 0.7 mm is especially poor, with a nose cone I can feel scratching the page as the tip rolls across it. This makes for a scratchy, wide line, and a poor experience.

The blue gel pen is the antithesis of the black. In fact it is quite good and reminds me of the Pilot G2, which is a good experience to shoot for. The red gel pen is close to the blue - a little more scratchy, but nowhere as bad as the black.

With the variance I am seeing between the three colors and how they feel on the page, I would be hesitant to recommend these over any of the three excellent choices I mentioned above.

Being under the Sharpie umbrella gives these pens a leg up in marketing, but the performance isn’t there. I think the style is lacking a bit as well. I understand that making a great $2 gel ink pen at scale is difficult, but how about letting loose a little bit?

Sharpie doesn’t hesitate to do that with their permanent marker lineup. How about bringing some of that aesthetic into the gel pen world, instead of designing a pen that looks like every other pen it is competing against? Or maybe design something completely different and off the wall. We already have what they are trying to sell us, and better versions at that.

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Scribo Feel Amarena Fountain Pen with Fine Flex Nib: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Scribo is an Italian company founded by former employees of Omas. Their signature pen is the Scribo Feel, which originally came in two colors: grey-blue and blue-black. Recently, they've expanded their colors, one of which is a rich burgundy called Amarena.

The Scribo Feel comes in a grey-blue box with a magnetic closure. It folds up to reveal a cotton/leather pen case, which can hold two pens and has a pocket with a soft cleaning cloth.

The pen is large, measuring 5.9 inches/150mm capped and 5.31 inches/135mm uncapped. Supposedly it can be posted, but the cap doesn't feel secure posted and it makes the pen unwieldy. Capped it weighs a solid 31.87 grams; uncapped it weighs 20.62 grams (both weights were measured with the pen inked). Although the pen is large, the grip is only 11.32mm, which makes it comfortable in the hand. I like girthy pens, and the Scribo's shape and size suits me perfectly. People with small hands or who prefer lighter pens should try this pen in person before purchasing.

The Amarena is made of burgundy resin hand turned from a single rod. There are twelve facets, which are meant to evoke a Doric column. In addition, both the cap and barrel have convex shapes called entasis, also derived from columns.

Ruthenium accents adorn the pen. The cap finial is a ruthenium coin with a quill inscribed on the surface.

The spring-loaded clip curves to match the cap.

The cap ring is engraved with "Scribo" and "Feel the Writing."

Another slim ring adorns the barrel above the piston knob. The piston mechanism is metal.

Uncapped, you'll notice a distinct drop from the barrel to the grip section. This does not create any discomfort, however, because the barrel of the pen rests between your thumb and pointer finger and your fingertips settle near the nib.

The piston mechanism works smoothly and the pen holds 1.4 ml of ink.

This pen has a 14k ruthenium plated fine flex nib and an ebonite feed. It's not the most beautiful nib, engraved with "Feel the Flex" and "Scribo." I'd prefer scrollwork or the minimalist design of the old Omas nibs.

The nib itself is excellent. It writes smoothly with or without flex and offers generous ink flow.

This is an example of writing without flex:

The fine line without flex expands to about 1mm with flex. It's possible that you could get an even broader line if you pressed harder, but since this pen is on loan, I didn't want to risk it. The pictures that follow demonstrate writing with flex.

I wanted to compare the Scribo flex nib with my vintage celluloid Montblanc 146, which has an oblique medium flex nib, because flex-lovers always want to know how modern flex nibs compare to vintage ones.

As you'd expect, the Montblanc nib is considerably softer than the Scribo nib. Plus, because the Montblanc is a medium nib, it starts with a wider line unflexed so it doesn't demonstrate as much variation when flexed.

The Scribo nib is pretty darn good. It flexes to about 1mm, and bounces back quickly. Because it starts fine, the variation between the line when the nib is unflexed and when it is flexed is much more obvious.

Both nibs performed well when I did calligraphy (please forgive the shaky lines--I'm still learning):

I am pleased with how well the Scribo flex nib performed. I encountered absolutely no railroading or skipping, even when flexing the nib. The nib doesn't feel mushy like the Omas flex nibs. It's bouncy and offers good feedback when flexed.

I've been wanting to try the Scribo Feel ever since it was announced, so I was thrilled when Vanness sent Pen Addict the loaner pen. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of these pens straight away . . . if they weren't so expensive. The Scribo Amarena with flex nib costs $760. That's a pretty penny for a resin fountain pen. But you are getting a piston filler (with metal threads) and a beautifully designed fountain pen with excellent ink capacity and a flex nib.

I'm debating about purchasing a Scribo Feel. Now that they are offering more choices of color and material, I may succumb to the temptation. It's a well-crafted pen and the flex nib is superior.

You can purchase Scribo Feel fountain pens from Vanness Pens in Amarena, Mediterraneo (teal green), Blue-Black, Grey-Blue, or Grigio-Notte (grey with black trim).

(Vanness Pens loaned this product to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Ohto Blooom Multi Pen Review

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

I've always had an affinity for multi pens, which has led me to quite the collection of both low cost and more premium multi pens from various manufacturers. From what I've seen, there are two main ways for selecting the different refills inside multi pens: individual slide buttons and rotation systems. With the former, simply press down the slide with the color/component you want to use. To retract, just half-press a different slide. With the latter, you rotate the grip section to cycle through the different refill components. But, one of my favorite and most magical types of multi pens is the kind that rely on gravity to make a refill selection.

These are much more rare, but I think they're the coolest. The Ohto Blooom is one of these, and it's available at a really good price. If you're unfamiliar with this type of multi pen, the basic premise is that you hold the pen parallel to the floor (or horizontally) and make sure the refill you want is positioned at the lowest part of the pen. To help you with this, the manufacturers print the color/component names on the opposite side of the pen barrel. So, if I'm looking at the pen and the "RED" label is on top, the red refill will come out when I press the nock.

The other cool thing about this style of multi pen is that they almost always use a separate button to retract the refill. In the case of the Blooom, there's a small black button on the top of the clip that makes a satisfying click/clunk when the refill springs back into the pen body.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you understand how to select the different refills inside the pen, it's such a fun and magical experience every time. I have no idea what's actually inside the pen that allows this all to work, but I imagine it's some kind of round gate that only allows one refill to pass through when the nock is pressed — the one closer to the earth's core!

Once the novelty of the selector mechanism has worn off (that's an over-statement, as it never completely wears off), you notice how sleek and slim this pen is. It's similar to size and diameter as a normal single refill gel pen, which is quite a feat. Most multi pens have a fairly large diameter in order to accommodate all the refill choices. The body is made entirely of metal, and the color options are vibrant and unique. I went with the Denim Blue option, and I'm really happy with the color. I'm not a huge fan of super-dark interpretations of navy, and this color features a lot of cobalt and dark green tones that add a lot of visual interest to the pen. Given the complexity of the color, it also shifts and changes a bit in different light.

There's minimal branding on the pen — only the name is printed on the middle of the body section, and there aren't any other markings or symbols on the pen besides the refill color/component indicators. The clip is very stiff and strong. It can be quite a challenge to fit it over anything thicker than a nylon pocket sleeve, shirt sleeve, or thin jacket pocket. Fitting it over a jeans pocket is quite snug, but it can be done.

The grip section has a subtle but effective milled texture. The grooves are shallow but provide just enough feedback to give great control of the pen when writing.

What really surprised me about this pen is the refills. It ships with 0.7mm black and red ballpoint ink refills and a 0.5mm mechanical pencil component. I was expecting tepid results from the ballpoint refills, but it didn't stop me from purchasing the pen because the D1 refill size means you can customize this pen from a large assortment of D1 gel refills. But, I was shocked when I started writing with the included ink refills. I was convinced I was writing with a gel refill and double-checked the JetPens product page at least twice to make sure there weren't different varieties of the pen that shipped with gel refills instead. These ballpoint refills are smooth and crisp. They're on the same level as Jetstream or Acroball ink. I've been really impressed by these. They're also really well-priced compared to other D1 refills. At just $2, they're a great deal. You can imagine (and will probably experience the same) my dismay when I realized that Ohto only offers the two refills that are shipped in this pen: 0.7mm black and red. Why, Ohto?! These are great refills that deserve more variety, and I don't understand why they haven't expanded this excellent little product. Maybe it's part of their plan — I certainly hope so.

The 0.5mm mechanical pencil component works exactly as you'd expect. There's also a tiny little eraser hidden under the nock cap.

Now, let's get to maybe my favorite part of this pen: the price. Gravity-operated multi pens are generally on the more premium end of the price spectrum, but the Ohto Blooom is only $28, and that includes the refills. This is an exceptional deal, and makes this pen a great treat or gift. It serves dual purposes as a writing instrument and a fidget toy!

You can pick up your own Ohto Blooom in Denim Blue as seen here, or you can choose from Ice White, Fade Red, and Iron Gray.

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

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