Posts filed under Pen Reviews

White Bear Pens Echo Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Handmade pens? Yes. In beautiful, unique materials? Yes. From a woman-owned shop and new penmaker? Triple yes! Everything about this is good and the pen itself is the best part.

White Bear Pens is a new company founded in 2023 by Mikayla Jackson, who took the journey most of us take: straight down the fountain pen rabbit hole. And then she took it a step further and decided to learn how to make her own pens. She's been touring pen shows all year with a lovely selection of pens in two models: the Ursa and the Echo. I was extremely fortunate to receive an Echo for review. It also came with a custom Rickshaw pen sleeve with the White Bear logo and the softest plush interior to keep the pen safe and cozy.

Handmade pens in fun colors of acrylic are my personal kryptonite, so this was love at first sight. The acrylic is a sparkly blend of pinks, teals, blues, greens, gold, purple, and did I mention sparkle? This is unicorn perfection. There are even fuchsia rings set into the bottom finial and cap band that are so expertly fitted that you can't even feel them--it feels like one smooth piece, even though the construction of such a feature has to be a ton of extra work.

The cap is threaded and the grip section is lightly shaped and flared, giving it a comfortable shape for writing. The cap does not really post--you can put it on fairly shallowly, but I wouldn't want to scratch the material on the threads by trying to force it to post. It has a very nice silver, spring-loaded clip, though, so the cap won't roll away if you set it down. On the top of the cap is an inlay of the White Bear logo, which looks fantastic.

The pen takes either a standard international converter or cartridge, and it does come with a converter. It has a steel nib, this one in an extra fine, engraved with the White Bear logo. White Bear Pens does have their nibs professionally tuned, and it shows. This things writes like a dream. It is super smooth with perfect flow--an absolute pleasure to write with. I was just making lists at first, but I didn't want to stop writing! That's very useful for a gal on a deadline or three!

I am very excited to have experienced one of these early pens from White Bear Pens and I can't wait to see what Mikayla does next!

(This pen was purchased by Brad from White Bear Pens at the 2024 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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Posted on September 19, 2024 by Sarah Read and filed under White Bear Pens, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Leuchtturm1917 Drehriffel Gel Ink Pen Review

The Leuchtturm1917 Drehriffel Gel Ink Pen is a tale of two pens. One pen is a clean, beautiful, classic design that I love using. The other pen is when the gel ink refill hits the page and I want to put it down and move on to something better. But I try again, because the first pen makes me happy.

That happiness for Leuchtturm began in 1920 when the original Drehgriffel was launched. 2020 marked a return for the modern interpretation of the pen, with many design accolades following. Leuchtturm had an instant hit on their hands. Importantly, as you will see later in this review, the new Drehgriffel shipped with a ballpoint ink refill.

The gel ink version followed a year or so later, although it took me until this year to pick up one of my own. The London Graphic Centre turned out to be an epic stop during my Relay 10th Anniversary trip, where I picked up this beautiful Aquamarine model. I put it immediately into the rotation on that trip as I was writing a lot about my adventures, and it was … meh.

*The model number on the refill, BP-G-B-0820.SQ, only exists on the Drehgriffel product page.*

The gel ink refill is nowhere as good as I expected it to be. Who makes this refill? I can’t say for sure. I’d like to say it’s a Schmidt, but I just downloaded their product catalog and they don’t offer gel ink refills, in any shape or size. So your guess is as good as mine. Also, I didn’t discount that I got a dud (it does happen, even to the best,) but I received a lot of feedback on this refill once I shared my experience, and nearly everyone else shared similar experiences.

My expectations from gel ink refills (in any line width,) are that they are smooth, dark, and lay down clean, sharp lines. I don’t think one of those expectations stands above another as the primary feature, but if any one of the three are off it throws the whole experience off. For the Drehgriffel, it’s the clean, sharp lines where this refill primarily fails, with smoothness causing problems, too.

*I don’t expect that you can see what I feel in a static image, but this refill does not spark joy.*

I have a ton of experience writing with gel ink refills, so I know right away when one isn’t up to my standards. Sometimes the refill will work its way into form, but most of the time you get what you get from the jump. This one has never been good - so what do we do? Well, since I love the barrel so much, we change the refill.

I’ll admit, I don’t love doing that, despite being a frequent refill swapper-outer. Why not give yourself a better writing experience? Sometimes I think a pen should stand on its original configuration, especially as far as reviews go. If this is the retail experience, that’s what I want to share, even if I might make the pen “better” for myself going forward.

Either of my favorite Parker-style options - the Jetstream SXR-600 or Ohto Flash Dry - make for a great choice. I’ll probably mix one of those into this barrel since this refill has to go, but what saved my love for the Drehgriffel lineup as a whole was a second model I picked up - with the stock ballpoint refill.

I mean, we're sitting here, and we're in here talking about gel ink. I mean, listen, we're talking about gel ink. Not the ballpoints! Not the ballpoints! Not the ballpoints! We're talking about gel ink. Not the ballpoints, not the ballpoints, we're talking about gel ink, man. I mean, how silly is that? We're talking about gel ink.

It’s time to talk more about ballpoint ink. And how, in this case, the Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel ballpoint is the better choice.

Should we talk about the pen barrel now? Definitely, because this is not a pen shape that is for everybody. I love thin barrels and lightweight pens. The Drehgriffel is both of those things, plus has a reasonably long front nose cone and taper, which shrinks the diameter further the lower you grip it. Again, these are all things that work for me, along with the twist-to-deploy refill mechanism. Any one of those things could be a dealbreaker for many users.

The other dealbreaker could be the price. At $27.50, this is an expensive pen, especially on the store shelf next to a rainbow of Leuchtturm1917 notebooks. For an aluminum barrel pen with a brass tip and solid twist mechanism, the price is fair in my book - especially with all of the fun color options.

I had fun with this review, and I’ll continue to have fun with the Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel gel ink pen, but with a different refill. The ballpoint stays. The ballpoint always stays.

(I bought this pen at the London Graphic Centre at regular retail price.)

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Posted on September 16, 2024 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Leuchtturm, Drehgriffel, Pen Reviews.

Andhand Aspect Retractable Pen Review

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

There's always room for more retractable pens that fit the ubiquitous Parker-style refill, but the pen I'm looking at today is also designed to fit the Schmidt P8126/7 refill. This isn't something that every Parker-style pen offers, and it's quite the treat.

The Andhand Aspect retractable pen is a custom pocket pen that features a faceted body and custom click mechanism that operates either a Parker-style refill or one of Schmidt's Capless cartridges, which we probably all came to know through Retro51's Tornado pens.

According to Andhand, the Aspect is 100% aluminum, including all of the click mechanism components. That means this pen will last a really long time with hardly any maintenance. Despite being all metal, the click motion is actually really smooth and satisfying to operate. The click mechanism moves about 9mm or 0.3 inches when operated, so it's not the shortest click, but that extra room just adds to the nice feel. Once extended, the nock doesn't extend all the way back up, so retracted the refill doesn't require as much distance to activate the click mechanism. It's a difference that comes down to a couple of millimeters, but it's enough of a difference that your fingers can tell whether the pen is extending or retracting without needing visual confirmation.

When the pen isn't in use, the faceted sides of the body keep it still on flat surfaces. It will roll a bit if you set it down with some horizontal momentum, but it quickly settles to a stationary position. There isn't a clip on this pen, so the faceted sides offer dual-purpose as a nice aesthetic touch and a way to keep the pen from rolling away.

This is a small pocket pen, but it's just long enough to be comfortable for most people when writing. I normally hold pens with a three-finger tripod grip, so the butt of the pen rests on the part of my hand where my thumb attaches. It works for me and my grip, but I can see this being a problem for people that have a different way of gripping pens — particularly anyone who uses a five-finger grip where the pinky rests on the nose of the pen and the index finger is on the butt of the pen. This is actually the grip that I naturally used when first learning to write (and before I decided to force myself to learn the more "traditional" grip style), and it's barely long enough to make that position comfortable and secure. Different hand sizes will make this an iffy position. If you already know how you do with pocket pens, you should have a good idea of whether or not this size will work for your hand.

As far as branding, there's a single, small logo on the side of the pen close to the click mechanism. It's easy to miss, but does a good job of letting you know where the pen came from.

In order to replace the refill, simply unscrew the nose cone. It's an easy process and different types of refills have worked really well for me so far.

The version I have is called the Forest Green colorway, which is a lovely matte green/brown color with a little bit of reflective material that adds a soft shine when the flat faceted sides are facing a light source. The green shade isn't dark enough for me to consider it a forest green — this looks more like a medium green with silver added in for the shiny effect. I love the color of the pen, don't get me wrong. I just don't associate this color with forest green like the name suggests. Either way, don't let the name of the color dissuade you! And if green isn't your thing, there are several other color options to choose from.

And while you're on their site, check out the other pens and office gadgets they offer. There are lots of unique and interesting things, and they look to all share the same high quality materials and craftsmanship as this Aspect pen.

At $56 USD, I think this is a great value/cost ratio. It looks great, feels good in the hand, and will last longer than me if properly looked after. Plus, your refill options are quite abundant.

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

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