Review: Stabilo Cult Dynamic

I had high hopes for the Stabilo Cult Dynamic.  Out of all of the pens Carmen sent me from her European vacation, this one stood out for its unique design.  The look and feel of the barrel are great, but when it was time to get down to business, the writing performance was a huge letdown.

If you have ever held a Lamy Safari, then you are used to the grooves in the grip area where your thumb and index finger go.  On a fountain pen like the Safari that is great, but on non-fountain pens, I normally don't like this grip.  The Cult Dynamic does it well though, and has made me rethink the whole fixed grip area thing.  This one is especially nice since the grip is rubber, and it is interlaced with a molded white plastic that give it a cool look and feel.  But as I alluded to before, it writes so poorly that I don't think I will get much use out of it unless I find a comparable ink refill to swap it out with.

First off, it writes very roughly.  Definitely not a smooth glider across the page.  Sometimes I can look past that, but when you add on inconsistent ink flow, it is just time to put the pen down and move on.  Take a look at the XL photo and you will see how at the top of many letters, the line just goes away.  I could never get past that, even after scribbling a bunch to see if there was something clogging the tip.  Oh well, can't win them all.

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Pilot BeGreen Precise Gel 0.7mm

File this one under "What the heck was I thinking?".  I have already gone on record saying how much I dislike the Pilot P-500 Precise Gel Roller, but I didn't put two and two together when grabbing the environmentally friendly model off of the grocery store shelf.  I was caught in a moment of I need that, and didn't take a moment to really consider what I was buying.

For the uninitiated, the Pilot BeGreen line takes an existing ink cartridge - say the Pilot G-2, or in this case the P-700 - and wraps an eco-friendly barrel around it.  This is a great program, and in cases like the Pilot G-Knock (the eco-friendly G-2), I like the eco barrel even better than the original.  Unfortunately in the case of the Precise, it is the same needle tip gel ink cartridge that I dislike so much.

Looks like this pen is about to be recycled one more time.

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Pilot Birdy Switch Multi Pen + 0.5 mm Pencil

The Pilot Birdy Switch multi pen is designed as a highly portable pen/pencil combo.  With its small diameter, it would make a great choice as an EDC pen, somewhat along the lines of the TEC Pico Pen.  It is a longer and wider than the Pico, but it is sleek enought to fit almost anywhere the Pico would.

At first glance, the Birdy looks just like a skinny mechanical pencil.  With the cap posted on the clip end, that is exactly what it is.  It functions just like a normal mechanical pencil - clicking the cap down extends the lead.  Pop the cap off and post it on the other end and that exposes the ballpoint pen for use.  I was a little concerned with the clip position when using the ballpoint side, but as it turns out, the clip helps out with gripping the pen.  With a barrel this skinny it can be tough to grip while writing, but placing the clip between my thumb and index finger improved my handle on it.

Performance wise, the ballpoint writes very cleanly.  There is nothing I hate more than a clumpy, messy ballpoint, so cleanliness is always a key for me.  The pencil is nice as well, but being the side without the clip, I found I couldn't grip it as well.  One note on the pencil though - there is no eraser.  That phases me none, but I thought I would mention that.  The only other negative I can find it that it is currently out of stock at JetPens.  They do have a button on the page where you can be notified when it is back in stock, so be sure to set that up if you are interested.

Click here for the XL review.