Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Sakura Ballsign iD 0.4 mm Gel Pen Review

There are four main gel ink pen makers who I trust blindly to provide consistently great pens: Pentel, Pilot, Uni-ball, and Zebra. They all have decades of experience, and their manufacturing and quality control are always on point. While I don’t personally love every single product they make, I know that they are going to be good in the right hands.

Outside of those brands, it can be tough sledding. There is quality out there, but it is tougher to find. Sakura is looking to change that with the Ballsign iD gel ink pen.

If you have been in the stationery world for any length of time, then you are familiar with Sakura. Their Gelly Roll pens were the first gel ink pens on the market in the 1980’s, and their Pigma Micron lineup is the art marker that all others are measured by. But as classic or as great as those two models are, they really haven’t had a difference maker in the standard writing/office supply gel ink pen market. At least, nothing that can hang with the big four above.

The Ballsign iD is Sakura’s first real competitor. The Ballsign name has been around in various iterations for years, but nothing good enough to stick. The Ballsign Knock is a good pen, but even in my review of it five years ago I mentioned it was a tier down from the best. The iD, though? I think it has a chance.

This is a basic looking pen. It’s modern, with clean lines all around the four-sided (two flat, two rounded) barrel, and a bent-over-the-top steel clip that also serves as part of the knock. The plastic nose cone is the weak point of the design, and would have been served better with a metal that matches the clip.

It is comfortable, and writes well. I’m using the 0.4 mm Mysterious Purple refill in this review, which is the name for their Purple Black gel ink. The Ballsign iD also comes with Blue Black, Green Black, Brown Black, and standard Black refill options.

The refill feels like a combination between the Uni-ball Signo RT for the smoothness, and the Zebra Sarasa Clip for the dryness. This is not an overly inky gel pen, and even being 0.4 mm, may not be wet enough for some writers. Juicy the Ballsign is not.

So, does the Ballsign iD belong in the same category as some of the best in the category? No, but it is as close as any Sakura gel ink pen has been. I think the nose cone is an easy design upgrade, and better ink flow from the tip to eliminate the dryness would be a plus. If Sakura can keep on expanding and improving this lineup, then I think they have a competitor on their hands.

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

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Posted on November 15, 2021 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Sakura, Gel, Pen Reviews.

Gioia Partenope Avorio - A Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

You may recall that I recently got a Gioia Partenope Avorio in August as part of my San Francisco Pen Show Haul. I first saw pictures of this when Luxury Brands of America announced on June 1st that they were going to be the exclusive North American distributor for Gioia Pen. I will admit that I didn’t immediately fall in love with it since I don’t usually fall for white/cream-colored pens but the more I saw pictures of it and after I saw it in person in SF, I knew I wanted to get one. I hadn’t heard of Gioia Pen before so I researched their website and thankfully, discovered that my rudimentary Italian skills were enough to get the gist of their background.

Gioia Pen is the brainchild of Fabio Cervasio and the company has been making pens since 2014. He and his team of craftsmen collectively have twenty years of experience making commissioned pens for other brands and industries. In 2020, they decided to release pens under their own brand. Along with the Gioia name, you will often see their tagline of “Writing Emotion”.

The Partenope is one of two models from Gioia; the other one is the Alleria which is a piston filler (the Liberty Island model is a version of the Alleria with the Statue of Liberty motif on the barrel). The name “Partenope” comes from the Ancient Greek word for “Naples”, which is fitting since Gioia Pen is based in Naples, Italy; “Avorio” is the Italian word for “ivory”. The inspiration for the Avorio’s color combination comes from what Naples looks like on a cloudy day.

*Gioia Partenope Avoria atop the black pen box (black box sleeve not shown.)*

I didn’t get a chance to open the pen box until after the show and was pleasantly surprised to find not only the pen, but also a ballpoint adapter as well (more on that later). The barrel and cap of the Partnenope Avorio is an ivory-swirled resin. Both the end cap, which can be unscrewed to accept the converter, and grip section are in a muted, dusty blue color. Above the grip and on the other side of the threads is a band of red, white and green, which are the colors of the Italian flag. One of the things I love about the Avorio is the rose gold trim which looks really good against the muted grey-blue and ivory tones. The rose gold trim is present on the top cap band, clip, the nib, and other thin bands. The cap has the Gioia logo in the same muted blue with the rose gold trim. The top cap band is sizable and is engraved with the skyline of Naples. The clip is springy and works well, although its design may not be everyone’s aesthetic.

*Surprise! A ballpoint attachment as well as the fountain pen.*

*I appreciate the illustrated documentation with English and Italian instructions.*

The ballpoint grip also sports the same color blue as the end cap and has a rose gold, engraved barrel which unscrews from the section to reveal a Parker-style ballpoint refill from Inox. Standard pens aren’t my forte, so I’m guessing it’s a .05 mm point. The refill has a spring which fits easily over the Inox refill, but took a little finesse (ok, a bit more than that) to get the spring to fit past the slight bump in the tips of other Parker-style refills (including an actual Parker refill). You have to get the spring over the bump in order for other refills to fit (I checked this with Parker-style refills from Parker, Monteverde, and Jetstream).

*Partenope with ballpoint grip - I love that this matches the end cap and isn’t a generic color.*

Left: The spring fits over the tip of the Inox refill Middle: Inox refill tip & spring Right:Parker refill tip & spring. The little bump near the base catches on the spring, so you have to get the spring over that bump for it to work.

Like other Italian pens, the Partenope has a removable end cap, which allows you to access the converter without having to unscrew the barrel. The converter’s knob is also rose gold colored and has the Gioia branding etched on it as well. This standard international converter is threaded, which is a nice touch, as this ensures the converter is securely in place. If this converter makes the pen feel too heavy for you (I don’t have this problem at all), you can always substitute it for a threaded K6 converter by Schmidt to lighten up the pen.

*Rose gold details in the cap, end cap, nib and converter.*

*Rose gold and engraving make this a classy looking converter.*

Gioia uses Jowo 6 nibs engraved with their branding and the nib sizes range from EF to 1.5 stub. And as mentioned above, the pen wrote beautifully out of the box and at every writing session. The ballpoint is alright, nothing to write home about, but it works without problems and the pen is still comfortable with the ballpoint grip.

Since inking this pen up in early September, I have used it a total of 8 times, which doesn’t sound like much, but there were a couple marathon writing sessions, resulting in one reinking. I inked it up with Akkerman 07 KoninginneNach Blauw which matches the pen’s blue tone quite nicely once the ink is dry. The pen wrote nicely right out of the box and hasn’t needed priming at any point. I looked at my logs (thank you, Fountain Pen Companion!) and saw that there was a 3 week stretch between uses (oops, lol) and I didn’t have any problems when I resumed writing. There is an inner cap sleeve which minimizes evaporation and helps with keeping the pen ready to write.

*Writing sample on 90 gsm Clairefontaine Triomphe paper.*

*Another writing sample on 52gsm Hobonichi Weeks.*

The Partenope is a comfortable pen. The slightly girthy grip has a taper, which flares out near the nib, which keeps fingers from slipping. It is not a particularly heavy pen by itself, but the cap is almost half the weight of the entire pen. Contrast that with the Leonardo Momento Zero where the cap is less than a third of the weight. Without the cap, I would say it is in the same ballpark size and weightwise with the LMZ and Pelikan M800. Keep in mind that the Partenope numbers below include about half a converter’s worth of ink.

Partenope (pen+cap) - 1.593 oz/45.17 g vs 0.928 oz/26.35 gfor the LMZ

Partenope (cap only) - 0.736 oz/20.86 g vs 0.286 oz/8.13 g

Partenope (pen only) - 0.858 oz/24.33 g vs 0.643 oz/18.25 g

*Comparison with Lamy 2000, Leonardo Momento Zero, Pelikan M800, Gioia Partenope, Pilot 823, Platinum 3776, TWSBI ALR.*

Pro:

Lovely pen with matching ballpoint grip/refill
Quality details (threaded converter, matching trim)
Good nib
Good value

Neutral:

Clip design may not be for everyone
Wide cap band design may not suit everyone’s aesthetic
Ballpoint refill is ok.

Con:

The pen is very backheavy if you post your pens.
Pen may be too girthy if you prefer slimmer pens

In short, I am glad I picked the Gioia Partenope Avorio as one of my birthday pens because I really enjoy looking at and writing with it. The Partenope is a great value (moreso because it has the added ballpoint) at $240 MSRP ($173 street price), or 156EU. Knowing that ink won’t dry out if I go a few weeks between uses gives me peace of mind since I ink up a lot of pens. And even though I’m not much of a ballpoint user, having that option makes this a really great choice for someone who likes both fountain pens and ballpoints.

(Disclaimer: I picked up this pen for my birthday directly from Luxury Brands of America at the SF Show as it had not yet been sent to their vendors. All pens are my own and I have not been compensated by any of the brands included in this article.)

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Posted on November 12, 2021 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Gioia, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Edison x Goldspot Pens Newark Orion Nebula Diamondcast Fountain Pen Review

I’m trying to place the Edison x Goldspot Pens Newark Orion Nebula in context with all of the other fountain pens that are new to me this year. Why? Because I think it is my favorite.

For starters, the Goldspot exclusive Newark model, made by Edison Pen Co., reminds me of one of my favorite Edison models, the Beaumont. The Beaumont is a smaller, lighter fountain pen, and the Newark is designed along similar lines, with a touch more barrel length and a different grip section design than its pen partner.

In my hand, this leads to a perfect writing experience. I talk about this with other pen models, in that the design allows the writing instrument to morph into an extension of your hand when writing. Not every pen I own feels this way. That’s ok, I love pens that don’t fit this description as well. But the ones that do are in a different category. I know they are great from the moment I pick them up.

This shape isn’t for everyone. My tastes lie in the small and lightweight realm. Others have a better writing experience with big and bulky pens. The design, shape, and weight of the pen play into how enjoyable your writing experience can be.

I’m writing a lot right now, and the Newark has been a workhorse. It is fitted with a stock steel EF Jowo nib, and inked with Van Dieman’s Devil’s Kitchen - a dark turquoise ink.

Why this ink? I’m so glad you asked!

Have you seen this barrel material? I had wanted to try the Newark model since launch for all of the reasons listed above. And once I saw it available in this Diamondcast Orion Nebula? Insta-buy.

Diamondcast is a product from McKenzie Penworks, who designed this material in conjunction with Edison and Goldspot exclusively for this pen. The depths of space are explored, with purple and turquoise swirls making me wonder if there really is life out there somewhere.

Ok, maybe that’s a little much. But this material is awesome, and I love using this pen.

With the Diamondcast material, this limited edition Newark is $225 at Goldspot. Two other standard acrylic Newark models - DC Battery Blue and AC High Voltage Green - are priced at $169. Is the Diamoncast material worth the upgrade? To me it is, but it is admittedly a sizable increase over two other great looking materials in their own right. All of the prices seem in line with their respective offerings.

While the material is a knockout, that doesn’t mean a thing if the pen isn’t enjoyable to use. I see the Newark being a workhorse model for me, and one I may even look at adding another of down the line if the design is as inspiring as this one.

(I purchased this product from Goldspot using my 10% off discount code. Do you need the code for your next purchase? Email me! .)

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