Ink Links

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-- Scripto Ball Point Pens  (My Supply Room)

-- How will you use your new Clairefontaine Twinbook?  (Rhodia Drive)

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-- The Suspect: Foray Rolle' Rollerball Pens with Case  (The School Supplies Sleuth)

-- Ohto Tasche Ceramic Roller Ball  (Prosaic Paradise)

-- Rite in the Rain Notebook  (A Penchant for Paper)

-- Pilot G-Knock Retractable Gel Ink Pen  (Pocket Blonde)

-- Rohrer & Klingner Inks  (La Plume Etoile)

-- What I’m Using Now  (Notebook Stories)

-- Guest Blogger Alex Thornber and his New Everyday Notebook (Rhodia Drive)

-- Review: Ecosystem Blank Journal  (Spiritual Evolution of the Bean)

-- Pilot Acroball Ballpoint 7mm Review  (Office Supply Geek)

Review: Pentel Hybrid Technica 0.5mm Black

I wrote this review many months ago, and somehow it got lost in the shuffle of my Flickr page (by the way, for new readers of The Pen Addict, you can find all of my photos right here).  The Pentel Hybrid Technica is what I like to classify unscientifically as a basic pen.  No fancy features, no Super Ink, nothing other than a good working pen that you can break out and just go to town with.  The Pilot G-2 falls into this category for example, as does the Pilot VBall RT.  What I look for in a pen like this is really just ease of use.  Can it get the job done without annoying me in some way?  The Hybrid Technica comes thisclose, but there is one minor issue I can't overlook - the grip.

The issue here is that the grip is not attached to the pen, via adhesive, or any other way.  I know other pens do this as well, but this one seems especially slick, so much so that the grip actually rotates as I write.  It is like I am at one of those rotating restaurants at the top of a fancy downtown hotel or office building.  Here comes the pen clip...and there it goes again.  Big Ben, Parliament.  It is a really odd felling.  I'm sure I could add some super glue myself if I were so inclined, but I have enough other pens to choose from thank you very much.  It's too bad really, because this pen writes very nicely and I would love to use it more.

Click here for the XL review.

Review: Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.28mm Blue Black

I think I have mentioned it recently either on this blog or in my Twitter feed that I am going to work on reviewing some of the more standard pens that I have never gotten around to posting.  Kind of a "Back to Basics" series.  There are many pens I use on a daily or weekly basis that are of the more standard variety: mostly base colors like black, blue, and blue black, and varying from 0.28mm to 0.7mm in tip size.  The Uni-Ball Signo DX Blue Black is one of these pens that gets lots of use.

This is mostly a note taking pen for me, getting a lot of action when I am at work.  I've shown a few examples of my notes in the past, and I like to write small and use multiple colors of the same pen to mark up any notes I have taken.  This Blue Black is one of my base note taking pens, and I often pair it with a Lime Green Signo DX 0.28mm.  The 0.38mm Signo DX is one of the pens I recommend to new readers the most, but if you are looking for something very fine and sharp (and yes, scratchier), then take a look at the 0.28mm Signo DX.  It is a fantastic pen.

Click here for the XL review.