Uni Limex Ballpoint Pen Review, feat. R.E.M.’s “Sitting Still”

The Uni Boxy 100 is a pen I’ve long admired. It is a classic office supply pen, most likely found on desks and in cabinets across Japan for the last 40 years.

And it’s great. I’d say it is right where it belongs - in the office - but that would be underselling it. Is it the Uni-ball Jetstream? No. Is it better than 9 out of 10 ballpoint pens I’ve used, and worth residing on my desk? Absolutely.

If you are still interested after reading those few words above, then you may find the Uni Limex to be a fun pen to add to your arsenal.

What is Limex? A nearly inexhaustible raw material, often used as a paper or plastic replacement. Now, my stance on stone paper is well known, but this is a different rock altogether. And I dig it.

There is no difference in the Limex barrel shape, design, or functionality over the Boxy, but there is a slight weight difference - 7 grams for the original, 9 grams for the Limex. Still, it is a rather lightweight pen, making it good for nearly any use.

The color of the barrel is great, too, taking on the off-white appearance of its namesake material. I keep inspecting the barrel to see if I see any small, darker bits in the material, and there are none. It’s very clean.

Like the Boxy, the Limex ships with an 0.7 mm standard black ballpoint refill, and I enjoy using it. The lines are clean and sharp, and while there is some slight scratchiness from time to time, it’s remarkably smooth for an 0.7 mm that feels like an 0.5 mm.

As much as I enjoy this pen, there is a kicker. One of the most popular kickers of all, in fact: Price! It’s $3.50, versus the $1.75 of the Boxy. In my original Boxy review, I thought the price was high, and that was from the perspective of buying them as an office pen by the dozen. So of course I think the price is high for the Limex, but it’s different in my mind. This is a singular pen purchase. It’s unique, it’s cool, it has a story, and I’m not trying to stock the entire office with it.

In short, it’s fun. And that’s what I enjoy most about stationery.

If you have some spare time after this short review, fire up your music player of choice and give “Sitting Still” by R.E.M. a listen. I got on an old school R.E.M. kick last week, with the album Murmur in heavy rotation. Days later, and countless internet searches later, “Sitting Still” is still stuck in my head.

Why? It is literal nonsense, while being an absolute banger.

I wanted to use the lyrics for the written part of this review, and if you know anything about this song, then you know that is asking the impossible. That’s what makes it so great. Enjoy!

(I purchased this pen at regular price from Yoseka Stationery)

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Santini Italia Ebonite Classic Libra Voyager Fountain Pen: 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.)

[Santini Italia] is an Italian brand that I was unaware of until recently. Headquartered in Lombardy, Santini makes acrylic and ebonite fountain pens, and all the parts for the pens are made in house, including their 18k nibs and ebonite feeders.

Late in 2020, I read a post or saw an Instagram photo of a Santini pen. Curious, I looked at the website and read about their nibs. I was especially intrigued by the fact that they make their nibs themselves and they offer flexy versions in nib sizes beyond the usual fine, medium, and broad. You can get flexy stubs, cursive italics, and even a "superflexy" nib. Nibs come in 18k yellow gold, solid rose gold, rhodium-plated gold, and even solid white gold upon request. Currently Santini offers nibs in sizes 5 and 6, but a number 8 is on the way.

Being one of the most indecisive people on planet earth, I struggled to choose a pen. Did I want acrylic or ebonite? Which color(s)? The only thing I was certain about was that I wanted a flexy stub nib. I finally decided on an ebonite pen called the Libra Caribbean, but to my dismay, it was sold out. For weeks, I visited the website daily to check for upcoming ebonite editions, but I didn't see any colors I liked as much as the Caribbean. Finally, I purchased one of the acrylic pens. But the next morning, a new color was announced: the Libra Voyager. I contacted customer support, which consists of one woman named Katrina who apparently never sleeps (I contacted her multiple times to ask questions and she was on the chat within a minute, no matter what time it was in Italy). She promptly switched my order to the Voyager and a couple of weeks later, the pen was at my house.

Hoo boy! When I opened the box, I was treated to some beautiful packaging: a black engraved box with bright turquoise ribbon.

Inside I found a warranty card, a pamphlet introducing Santini pens, and a page written with my pen to test the nib.

And then I saw my pen--it was stunning.

Voyager is made of ebonite with swirls of turquoise, blue, black, and magenta. Just look at the patterns on this pen and those swirly finials:

The trims on the pen are bronze. The clip has a roller ball on the end, but it is a stiff clip. I can slip it onto paper, but it might be difficult to clip it to a shirt pocket.

There's a large cap ring engraved with "Santini Italia" in cursive script. The raised lip of the ring is engraved with tiny vertical lines. The piston knob is separated from the body with a plain bronze ring.

The cap unscrews/screws with three twists--easy on and off. The limited edition number is engraved to the right of the clip. Mine is number 15 out of 33.

The body of the pen is tapered at the top and bottom with a slightly thicker barrel. The finials are conical. This is a large pen, measuring 145mm/5.7 inches capped, 135mm/5.3 inches uncapped, and 173mm/6.8 inches posted. It weighs 31 grams un-inked. The grip is 11.4mm at its narrowest and is very comfortable between your fingers. It's slightly hour-glass shaped and flares out closest to the nib so your fingers won't slip. You can see in the third photo below how the Libra Voyager compares in size with an Opus 88, a Leonardo Furore, a Pilot Custom 823, and a Lamy 2000.

The Libra Voyager is a piston-filler with a ratcheting sound that alerts you when you've filled the pen completely. It works smoothly and holds a good quantity of ink.

Voyager comes with a solid 18k rose gold nib (it is not plated). It is decorated with scroll work, a large "S", the date 1988, and the gold content. It's a beautiful, classic looking nib.

My nib is a flexy stub with an ebonite feed. Before inking the pen, I took macro photos of the nib, as I always do, to check the tine alignment. Unfortunately, the tines are slightly misaligned, which is disappointing. I hoped that I wouldn't notice the misalignment while writing, but I can. The nib hard starts occasionally and there's some skipping on downstrokes. If I can get over my chickenhood, I might try to realign the tines myself.

Aside from this, the nib is juicy (just like I like them), writes (mostly) smoothly, and has just the right amount of flex. It's bouncy when you write without flex, but just a tiny bit of pressure gives you excellent line variation. I did not attempt to flex the nib to its maximum, but when flexed, the line is roughly 1mm. Unflexed it is 0.5mm.

The pen is very well balanced. I wrote a six-page letter without any fatigue. I love how it makes my handwriting look, with good line variation, shading, and consistent letter size. The ink used in these examples is Robert Oster Tranquility.

Santini Italia [Classic Ebonite] fountain pens cost €359 (=$435 depending on exchange rates) with free shipping world wide. Their [acrylic pens] are priced at €259 (=$314), and there's a [faceted ebonite line] that ranges between €500 and €550 (=$606 and $667). They also make several limited edition pens that are created with a variety of materials, including enamel and overlays.

Some collectors have wondered why there's a €100 difference between the acrylic models and the classic ebonite models. Isn't ebonite just hard rubber? Why pay a premium for it? As it turns out, there's ebonite and there's ebonite. In other words, the kind of ebonite Santini uses is "high quality certificate German ebonite," and it is, therefore, more expensive. I absolutely think it is worth it.

I am thrilled with my Santini Libra Voyager. The pen is exquisitely beautiful and the workmanship is top notch. The ebonite warms to my hand and the pen is a comfortable writer. I love the flexy stub nib except for those slightly misaligned tines. I highly recommend Santini Italia to you, especially if you want to try some unique in-house nibs.

One thing to keep in mind if you do decide to purchase a fountain pen from Santini, is that the popular ebonite models sell out lightning fast. This is because they make small runs of pens (33 pieces in each ebonite color). If you see an ebonite pen you want, buy it promptly. If there's one that is listed as "coming soon," contact customer service to reserve it.

(I purchased the Santini Libra Voyager with my own funds.)

Gravitas Twist Skittle Matt Ballpoint Pen Review

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

It's been a while since I've gotten my hands on a new machined pen, so the Gravitas Twist Skittle is a great change of pace. Gravitas is a company run by Ben Walsh out of Ireland, where he focuses on making unique and high-end writing instruments. If the Twist is an indication of the rest of the product line, then you don't have to worry about the quality and functionality at all.

The Twist Skittle is a special edition of the Twist that features a stainless body with a titanium nitride rainbow PVD coating that makes this pen pop. I mean, holy cow the exterior of this pen is just glorious. I can't help but pick it up and stare at all the pretty colors that shift and change so seamlessly across the surface of the pen. From blue, green, purple, and a little red, you can almost taste the rainbow. I really can't get over how awesome this pen looks. As a piece of desk art, I'm really in love with it.

The twist mechanism on the top of the pen is smooth and enjoyable to use. It makes a nice sound (Gravitas describe as a snick snick) when you extend or retract the refill, and it works flawlessly. The refill included with the pen is a Schmidt P900 M blue, which works perfectly fine. I would have been more pleased if it was an EasyFlow 9000 since that's my favorite Parker-style ballpoint refill, but the P900 does a great job. Plus, it's really easy to swap out this refill for any other Parker-style refill you prefer.

There's no clip on this pen (keeps from distracting your eye from the beautiful colors), but it does have a flat surface on one side of the pen to keep it from rolling across your desk. This flat side also adds a little grip texture when writing, and I think it adds a nice pop of visual interest along the side of the pen.

Now let's get to the not-so-great aspect of this pen: the weight. At 82 grams, this is hefty. I don't just find it slightly uncomfortable — it's incredibly difficult to yield properly, and I found a new muscle in my arm that I only use when writing because using this pen made that muscle tired after a couple of minutes writing. That's never happened to me before, and I think it speaks to the practical usability of this pen. It's just not for me. It looks splendid on my desk, and I pick it up to marvel at the colors quite often, but I'm not actually using it to write. Such a shame. I'm not sure why the main material is stainless steel — I imagine it has something to do with providing a suitable surface for the titanium nitride coating, but it just adds so much weight to the point of making it unpleasant to use as a pen. I'm very disappointed by this, but not enough to keep it away from my desk!

The overall size and shape of the pen is really exquisite, and I'm glad they offer an aluminum version that clocks in at just 34 grams — less than half the weight of the steel version. This is a much more comfortable weight for a pen, and I'm really curious how it feels in the hand. The shape of the pen carries a lot of weight above the standard grip area, and I think the aluminum version would feel just right. Unfortunately, you can't get the rainbow finish on the aluminum version! Alas, the compromises we have to make.

At €65 (about $80 USD), the Gravitas Twist Skittle not a cheap pen, but I think it's a fair price for the quality of materials, design, and function. The pen I have is the matte version, but there's also a slightly-more-shiny polished version for the same price. The aluminum version is €5 cheaper and comes in silver, black, blue, and rose gold. These would make great gifts!

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

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