Review: Zebra M-701 Mechanical Pencil

The Zebra M-701 Mechanical Pencil is another new for 2010 product sent to me by Zebra, and a highly anticipated one at that.  I mentioned in my Zebra Regal Roller review earlier this week that I was glad to see Zebra branch out with some new pen designs, but the M-701 is based on a pen design that is already perfect, so I am glad they didn't mess with that.

The Zebra F-701 ballpoint uses the same steel barrel design and is very popular, so the M-701 compliments it nicely.  The beautiful steel barrel and the knurled metal grip are the same as the F-701.  Everything is the same as a matter of fact, with the obvious difference being that this is an 0.7mm lead pencil.  The feel and the weight between the two are essentially identical.  The mechanics of the M-701 are solid - there are no loose or rattling parts when writing or extending the lead.

Pairing this pencil with the F-701 ballpoint is a given.  They look great and work great, and make me feel like I should go engineer something right now.  Look for these and other new Zebra products on store shelves this spring.

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Muji Gel Retractable 0.38mm Orange

My great pen friend Carmen hooked me up with a bunch of Muji Gel ink pens a few months ago, and I am just now getting the time to break them all down.  She was kind enough to send several different colors (plus extra refills) that I haven't used before, including this great looking orange.

One of the cool things about the Muji refills it that includes the entire ink cartridge, plus the plunger.  So what you see in orange in the picture to the left is the full refill.  The plunger cap serves as the tip cover until you are ready to pop it in the barrel, where you take it off and snap it into the other side of the cartridge.  This makes having several colors available for easy swapping a decent option.  The clear barrels are nice and sturdy, making them my preferred Muji option over the regular capped Muji Gel, which is a more lightweight option.

On the performance side of the ledger, it doesn't get much better.  If you read the written review, you will see that I compare this pen favorably to the Uni-Ball Signo RT 0.38mm gel ink pen.  I think the comparison is spot on.  If I closed my eyes I would have a tough time telling the difference I think.  The Muji may be a little more scratchy, but the trade off is fair in my book for such a sharp line.

I will work on getting samples up of the other Muji Gel colors that I have.  They are all as equally nice as this one.

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Zebra Regal Roller NR5 0.5mm Needle Tip

Thanks to the fine folks at Zebra Pens, I have a slew of samples from their new 2010 product lines in hand, and the Regal Roller stood out as the first that I wanted to try.  The design of this pen is beautiful, and I am glad to see Zebra stepping it up a notch in that department.  Their previous designs chose minimalism over flash, and while that serves many of their products well, it is nice to see them branch out a little with the Regal line.

Not only is this a great looking pen, it may be one of the smoothest writing liquid ink needle tip pens I have used.  That is saying a lot when comparing it to similar pens like the Pilot Precise V5, which is hugely popular and successful.  I tend to get a little excited about new products and ooh and ahh a bit, and maybe cut the pens more slack than I would if I had spent months and months using them, but I could tell a difference with this pen immediately.  I started writing with it and had to stop after a few lines to check and make sure that this wasn't a gel ink pen, because that is what it felt like.  It wrote so well it confused me a little bit.

If there is one knock on the pen, I have to say it would be the grip area.  It is not the same smooth plastic that the barrel is made of, but rather a section of brushed plastic with some small ridges.  It isn't bad, and the more I used it the more I got used to it, but I would have preferred just the same plastic as the barrel, but maybe that is too V5 like.

I can't wait for this pen to hit the store shelves so I can pick up a few more.  Best part - It comes in eight colors: the standard black, blue, red, and green, plus pink, light blue, orange and brown.  I love the fact that these colors are available right out of the gate instead of wondering if there are any non-standard colors in the pipeline.

Thanks again to Zebra for sending me this pen to review, and stay tuned for more new Zebra product reviews in the coming weeks.

Click here for the XL review.