YSTUDIO Ocean Sustainable Rollerball Pen Review

The YSTUDIO Ocean Sustainable Rollerball Pen was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and, in typical YSTUDIO fashion, they delivered a great product.

YSTUDIO came on the scene several years ago, and gained popularity with their lineup of Brassing pens. The concept was to use an underlying brass barrel and coat it with a matte-like black paint which will wear off with age. My favorite is the Brassing Portable Fountain Pen, which quickly became a mainstay in my collection.

Years later, YSTUDIO added resin models to their product lineup for those who didn’t like the weight of their full-metal pens. These, too, performed well. I reviewed the Resin Fountain Pen, and while there was a converter issue with the early models, it turned into a fast favorite as well.

There is something about those faceted barrels, and YSTUDIO got me again with their most colorful release to date.

The Ocean Sustainable Rollerball series features resin barrel made from reclaimed fishing nets in Taiwan. These plastic nets are recovered, recycled, and transformed into the pens you see here. To read more about this process, YSTUDIO has built a page discussing the steps involved. There is great detail shared here, and is well worth your time.

The finished product is classic YSTUDIO, with a range of barrel colors that pop. I chose Sky Blue, which, according to them, represents “open-mindedness, and a clear and radiant heart.” Ok, maybe you don’t need your pen to hit you in the feels like that, but I do appreciate the story they are trying to tell across the product lineup. Each of the other four colors - Dawn Yellow, Sunset Orange, Evening Purple, and Sea Indigo - has their own story to tell.

From a writing perspective, it’s fantastic. This isn’t a small pen, but it works exceptionally well in the hand due to the plastic barrel fronted by a brass grip section. I love the balance and control this setup provides. The only downside is that the taper of the metal section is smooth, and if you have dry fingers, they may slide down. I tend to grip it a bit further back, as the angle of the grip is steep as well.

Ghosting on the back of the Maurman Mnemosyne A5 Notepad. This is an awesome writing paper, especially for fountain pens, but dark, wide, rollerball pens look like this on many paper types.

Fortunately, the refill in use fits the design of the pen perfectly. The Schmidt 5888F Ceramic Roller in Black features a dark, rich line. The tip is marked as 0.6 mm, but given the traditional water-based rollerball ink, the line on the page is wider. To me, it writes like an 0.7 mm marker tip, which is great if that is your expectation. If not, and you use it on fibrous paper, you will see it bleed and feather on the page.

Refill access through the back of the pen. Easy to twist with your fingernail.

I like this refill as an option, but if I want to switch it up, it is compatible with Pilot G2 refills. That means you have hundreds of options to choose from. I’m sticking with the Schmidt for now, as I like the setup and feel of the pen barrel and ink combination.

Will you like it? As I say with every YSTUDIO pen I review, it may not be for you. They are a favorite brand of mine, but there are things to think about when buying one for yourself. Will I like the barrel shape, and feel? Does the grip work for me? Do I have to change the refill to better fit my style? Finally, is it worth $50, which is the going price for the Ocean Sustainable Rollerball?

My answers to those questions made it one of the easiest purchases of the year. Your mileage may vary.

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

Mike’s Pen Fun Fountain Pen Review

When I’m too busy using the pen instead of reviewing the pen, I know that is a good sign. That’s the case with this Mike’s Pen Fun Fountain Pen that I picked up all the way back in May at the Chicago Pen Show. It has been in my writing rotation for many weeks since, and given the fact that it is recently cleaned and re-inked, I finally decided to give it its proper due.

Mike Green has been making pens at his Minnesota home for the past several years, and has begun sharing them online and at various pen shows throughout the United States. I first met Mike as part of my Twitch community, and was excited to meet him in person this year and check out his craftsmanship. Needless to say, I came away impressed.

Standing in front of his table that Saturday in Chicago, I had incredible difficulty choosing which pen was coming home with me. Mike uses materials from ALL THE MAKERS for his pens. I finally settled on mine, turned from Divine Pens Plus Wicked Wisteria. I mean, how could I not choose this pen?

When buying a pen from an individual maker, especially for the first time, I look for a few things:

• Does the weight and balance fit my hand?
• Does the shape of the grip section work for me?
• How is the acrylic finished? If polished, is shiny and even? If matte, is it consistently smooth?
• Are the threads smooth? Not only the cap threads, but the internal barrel threads as well?

There are exceptions to all of these rules, but this is a good starting point when I’m fortunate enough to be able to handle pens in person.

With Mike’s pens, I was hooked by two things: the rounded ends, and the exceptional polish job. In conjunction, those two things made for a pen that I enjoyed holding, and looking at. After it was in my hands, I went through the rest of my checklist and found a pen that I wanted to come home with.

This Wicked Wisteria model is fitted with a Jowo #6 nib, but Mike does offer pens with Bock #6 and #8 nibs, plus various gold and titanium options. I almost exclusively buy steel nibs in my maker pens. I prefer the stiffness, not to mention the cost savings.

I regret to inform you that this material, Wicked Wisteria from Divine Pens Plus, is no longer being produced.

Speaking of cost, this clipless model runs $150, with clip and roll stop models starting at $170. That is a fantastic price for craftsmanship of this level. Mike offers pens directly from his website, and at several pen shows throughout the year. As with many small makers, if you see something you like, you better grab it because there may not be another one like it available.

Like this Wicked Wisteria.

(I purchased this pen at regular price at the 2023 Chicago Pen Show. Mike also provided a second pen for giveaway at the same time, which I did for Pen Addict Members earlier this year.)

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Faber-Castell Hexo Rose Fountain 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'm a big fan of fountain pens that can deliver a solid fundamental writing instrument along with unique or delightful design elements for under $50. This has to be a difficult price range to deliver on, and not everyone succeeds. In my experience, the biggest letdowns in this price range usually come in the form of a unique looking pen that just doesn't write well. At $50, you want something that looks nicer than a disposable or $20 entry level pen, but you also want it to write as well as any of the fantastic pens in the lower price bracket (if not better).

The Hexo from Faber-Castell is an entry-level fountain pen with a modern design and fantastic build. The name "Hexo" aligns with the hexagonal shape of the pen body and cap, but the corners are rounded off and smooth to make it comfortable to handle. The Rose color that I have now is a light pink — almost difficult to detect unless there's plenty of light. Otherwise it looks silver or champagne.

The broad matte black clip contrasts the aluminum body well, and also does a great job of keeping the pen attached to things. It's really strong, but easy to use.

One of my favorite features of the Hexo is the mechanism that auto-aligns the cap to the barrel so that the hexagonal lines match. When you design a pen with lines that go from top to bottom, you have to assume that a large portion of buyers will be compelled to make sure those lines always line up, and I really appreciate them thinking ahead and making that process automatic for me. This is accomplished with some small guides on the grip that ensure the cap lines up. The click fitting for the cap also makes this pen easy to uncap/cap, and features a satisfying click to let you know it's capped securely.

On top of the aligning cap, the grip section also has a similar alignment guide for screwing it into the body. Once you reach the end of the threads when screwing the grip onto the body, the final quarter turn positions the grip so that it aligns perfectly with the body. It's hard to explain how satisfying it is to achieve perfect alignment on this pen with zero effort. It's so good that I think it's the biggest selling point of this pen. Faber-Castell has seen the OCD crowd, and they have delivered a fantastic pen for us.

Aside from the design and nifty alignment features, this pen is actually really good at being a writing instrument as well. The steel nib is firm, but provides a crisp line with plenty of feedback. The EF size in my pen is right on target for a European-style nib size. Mine is smooth and required no tuning or tweaking — it wrote well out of the box. The nib and feed provide great flow when writing, and the good seal from the cap means you can uncap and start writing immediately without waiting or scribbling a few lines to get the ink flowing. It's a workhorse in the writing department.

The grip section features a flared shape that provides a nice butt for your fingers to rest into when writing. Something else I appreciate is that the shape is uniform in diameter, meaning this will work well for right- or left-handed writers who use some form of standard-ish grip. The grip provides just enough shape to be useful for many grip styles. Pens that lean into the three-finger tripod grip alienate a lot of people who don't grip pens that way, and the pen is either uncomfortable or unusable. With the Hexo, it's really comfortable, functional, and inclusive.

The light weight body and contoured grip are further complimented by the larger-than-average diameter of the pen, which I find to be more comfortable. Not everyone will agree with me, but I like pens that are a little wider for writing in cursive or for writing for extended periods. All three of these design choices result in a really comfortable writing experience.

The Faber-Castell Hexo is a fantastic entry-level pen from a company that knows a thing or two about stationery. At $42, it’s easy to recommend as a stylish, modern alternative to other sub-$50 pens. The $50 price point has a few "luxury" brand pens that don't deliver on the writing instrument fundamentals, but this is not one of those. This is pen that nails the fundamentals, but also provides some nice extras like the unique design, auto-aligning cap, and wider body. If the Rose color isn't your thing, you can also find this pen in black, silver, bronze, and blue. And, you have a choice of EF, F, M, and B nibs. This is a great pen for gifts, introducing people to fountain pens, or as a nice treat for yourself!

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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