Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Spoke Design Clickstream Review

(This is a guest Post from Sam Alpert. Sam is a geologist, gamer, and general lover of all things with good, clean design. See more from Sam on Instagram @samalpert.)

Brad won’t write this so it falls to me.

If you’re reading this blog you’re probably aware of Spoke Design, Brad’s collaboration with engineer extraordinaire Brian. If not, check it out, they make awesome stuff.

They recently released a new pen called the Clickstream. Here it is in all its glory:

So why would the person who made the pen and runs the website need a review of his own pen? Because this one is different. This one is exceptional, even in a lineup full of home-run designs, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest; Brad won’t say that though, so I will.

What makes it so good? Let me tell you.

First, the shape. Classic, with the Spoke Design cutouts that mark their design language giving it a modern flair. The taper is perfect. I like a narrower grip in my pens, this has a sweet spot for everyone. Narrow at the tip, wider just behind it. No clip interrupting the clean curves, but flattened on six sides to prevent rolling. There’s something here for everyone, without compromise.

Second, the click. It’s incredible. The pen ships with a Soft, Medium, and a Hard spring - I immediately installed the Hard and never looked back. I love a good thunk when I click a pen, and the mechanism they chose for the Clickstream delivers. And again, if you prefer a more Pilot G2-esque click the Medium spring is there for you.

Spoke Clickstream Comparison — *Obligatory lineup compared to some other great pens. Top: Tactile Turn Slim Bolt Action Ti. Bottom: Cortex edition Studio Neat Mark One.*

Third, the material. I chose sand blasted titanium, the most popular choice according to Brad, and I can see why. I have had plenty of pocket knives with this setup, but something about having it on a pen gives it new life. The sandblasting adds just enough texture to the pen to give it a nice, tactile feel, without being rough. Additionally the weight of the titanium is just the best. While the aluminum body version has amazing colors, I’m here for the perfect weight that the titanium brings.

I’ve had many (read dozens) of machined pens come and go, both from Spoke design but also from many others including Tactile Turn and Karas Pen Co. just to name a few. None of them came close to the full package that the Clickstream brings to the party. They all had some minor quibble (too wide, too textured, loose tolerances) that I just can’t find on the Clickstream.

Spoke Clickstream G2 — *The essential comparisons: Top: Retro 51 Tornado Halloween edition. Bottom: Pilot G2.*

The pen ships with either a Schmidt Easyflow 9000 or Ohto Flash Dry refill, but accepts any Parker-style refill (so if you want to spring for the now exorbitantly expensive uniball Jetstream refills you can,) just don’t forget the spacer that ships with the pen to install on the refill, this is part of the secret that takes the tip rattle out of the equation for this pen.

If you absolutely need a clip, or hate all the refill options then I agree, this isn’t the pen for you. But for anyone who just loves a good pen, this could easily be my one pen I use for the rest of my life. It’s that good.

The Spoke Clickstream is $69 for Aluminum, and $89 for Titanium models, and can be found at SpokeDesign.com.

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Posted on February 5, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Spoke Design, Pen Reviews.

Laban 325 Fountain Pen Review

Founded in Taiwan in 1981, Laban has been present in the fountain pen world for a while, but only came on my radar in the last several years. In using the Laban 325, I can only wonder what took me so long?

I’ve had this pen inked up on and off for the past three months, and every time I pick it up and write with it, the same group of words come to mind. Solid. Nice. Pretty. Quality. Fun. What more can I ask for from a pen? Not much. The Pen Addict Review Crew have been reviewing Laban fountain pens since 2019, to generally high praise, and I’m only going to add to the chorus today.

Let’s start with what you see: the barrel. The 325 is on the larger size of the scale, especially given the cap overhang. The design works together as a whole, but the initial visual is that this is a big pen. When in user mode, aka uncapped, the 325 hits the perfect user length at just over five inches. The diameter befits its size, with a tapered section providing a nice grip area.

Aesthetically, the 325 features three distinct visual areas. With this Sun model, both ends use an Ivory marbled acrylic, with the heart of the barrel showing off a beautiful Orange cracked acrylic. Many of the 325’s are designed similarly, with different color acrylics taking prominence on the barrel.

Laban 325 Fountain Pen Safari — *LAMY Safari for scale.*

Gold trim wins the day on the 325, with the clip, finial, barrel and cap bands, and matching gold plating on the steel nib. The nib itself is Laban-branded Jowo #6, and the Medium tip was perfect out of the box. This is an international cartridge/converter filler, and ships with Laban marked on the converter.

Writing comfort is perfect for me. To say that I don’t notice the pen when writing is a high compliment. When I’m putting ink on the page, I want nothing more to get into the flow. I don’t want to think about the pen, nib, ink, or paper. The 325 allows for that.

Should you consider trying out a Laban fountain pen, specifically the 325? At $128, it doesn’t have a lot of price competition. The entire $75 to $150 range is honestly a bit confusing. Benu, Narwhal, and Opus 88 do well here, fancy Kaweco’s live here, maybe some solid maker pens. The 325 is one of the lower priced Laban pens, and has some of the Leonardo Momento Zero feel to it for around $40 less. So yes, I think they are compelling.

*L’Ecritoire ink, from Paris. Courtesy of a pen friend.*

Laban makes several different styles of pens in their lineup, and given the feel and functionality of the 325, I’m interested in moving on up the price bracket to see if the value proposition continues to hold. Seems like a good plan for 2025.

(This pen was provided by Luxury Brands USA at no charge for purposes of this review.)

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Posted on January 27, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Laban, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Zebra Sarasa Nano Vintage Color Set Review

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

The Zebra Sarasa gel ink pens are well-known to anyone in this community, and it's for good reason. They feature vibrant colors, smooth flowing gel ink, and a nifty spring clip for attaching the pen to things. When I received a pack of Sarasa Nano pens, I was curious to find out what made them different than the standard Sarasa Clip version. While the Nano line is a bit more premium, they still use the same refills.

The Zebra Sarasa Nano line's main difference is the clever internal spring that provides a nice suspension for the refill to ride on while you write. In practice, this makes the pen feel like a smoother instrument when writing thanks to the small amount of give the spring affords when exerting pressure on the tip. Aside from this, the Nano also has a premium metal nose cone and a completely black body (unlike the transparent body of the Sarasa Clip).

Another key difference from the Sarasa Clip line is the tip size selection. For the Sarasa Nano Vintage Color set I have, you only have one choice: 0.38mm. There are some other Nano pens that have matching body colors and use a 0.3mm tip, but for all the pens with a black body, they all use a 0.38mm tip size. Compare this to the standard Sarasa Clip line, which offers options from 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, and a handful of 1.0mm tips.

Luckily, you can swap in any standard Sarasa refill in the Nano body if you want to use the fancy spring suspension system on larger tip size refills.

So, how does the Nano perform compared to other pens that don't include a shock absorber? It's a subtle difference, but it's definitely noticeable — especially if you are comparing with other 0.38mm pens at the same time. With any small tip size pen, it can feel like the refill is a bit scratchy given the tiny size. For me, I tend to be a bit heavy-handed, so this scratchy feeling is something I can agree with on typical small tip pens I use. With the Nano, it doesn't feel as scratchy or like I'm writing with a stiff nail.

If you press the tip of the refill against the page and apply pressure, you can see the refill retract slightly as the spring absorbs the resistance. When writing, it's extremely subtle to the point that you don't realize it's happening. I assume that this is by design — if you could actually feel the tip springing while you write, that would be incredibly distracting and would require you to alter your writing style a bit. The pressure is just right for normal writing.

Aside from the satin-finish metal nose cone and internal spring system, this is a standard Sarasa. The clip is largely the same — the only difference is the shape of the clip is a bit more petit compared to the standard Clip line.

The five colors that are included in the Vintage Colors Set (for $12.50) are Cassis Black (dark red), Green Black, Blue Black, Blue Gray, and Sepia Black. There is also a "Basic" color set that includes what I think to be the better color combination (pink, red, orange, blue, and black). The Vintage colors are all dark, but the blue black, green black, and sepia black are incredibly hard to tell apart. For me, the colors in this set do not excite me. But, for other people, this could be a great color combination that they love! That's the beauty of stationery.

The final difference I'll point out between the standard Sarasa Clip and the Nano is price. At JetPens, the standard Sarasa Clip is $1.75. The Nano, however, is $2.95. This is likely due to a variety of factors, such as the extra bits for the spring suspension, the metal nose cone, and the fact that (I believe) the Nano is a newer product. Still, when you remember that both pens use the same refills, it's a bit difficult for me to swallow the large price gap. I'm a huge fan of the Sarasa Clip body — I think they're really comfortable and work great. For me, the Nano body and shock absorber don't do much for me. For almost twice the price, it doesn't make sense. The shock absorbing body is novel, but I can also adjust my writing style to suite the standard Sarasa with little effort.

The Zebra Sarasa Nano is an interesting product, but I'm not sure it differentiates itself enough from the standard line to justify its existence. I'd love to hear other opinions about the Nano and how it works better for you than the standard Sarasa! For me, I'm happy to stick with my dozens of Sarasa Clips for the time being.

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

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