Zebra Mini T3 Ballpoint Pen Review

Mini pens are a tough thing. I think that everybody can benefit from having one for various reasons - wallet carry, pocket carry, purse carry, etc. - but there are equally as many reasons for not carrying one. Most of those arguments are size related, and are valid points. Can I even grip a pen that small? How long will the ink last? Am I just going to lose it? The Zebra Mini T3 Ballpoint doesn’t pretend to solve those problems, but it may be the best of the bunch if you want to give a mini pen a try.

The thing that stands out to me the most is the barrel construction. It is fully metal, and just feels durable. If a pen is going to be this small, I at least want to feel the weight in my hand when I write. On top of that, the default blue ink cartridge pleases me to no end. You can order black, red, and green refills for the Mini T3, but blue ballpoint ink is my favorite. It writes wonderfully.

One minor issue that cropped up from time to time is the knock release in the clip. You press the knock down like normal to write, then to retract the pen you press the end of the clip. Since the pen is a shorter length, I sometimes hit the clip with the cup of my hand if I rotate it when writing. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but I did want to mention it because it happened more than once.

It may not be perfect, but I am not sure what else I could ask for in a mini pen. What do you look for in a mini pen? What other mini pens do I need to check out?

Ink Links

– Fjader Capped Black Chrome Ballpoint Pen (Multi Pen Dimensions)

– Tuff-Writer Frontline Series Tactical Pen (Office Supply Geek)

– Scripto Duo-Point Magazine Pencils (My Supply Room)

– Surprise…Morning Glory Mach 3 (Good Pens)

– Post-it Notes - Original 3”x3” (Stationery Review)

– Woodgrain Post-it Stack (Core77)

– Inside the Lettering Pouch (Keep on Truckin’)

– Norcom Notebook #77073 (Bleistift)

– Palominio Blackwing 602 Pencil (David Seah)

– Stabilo Worker Rollerball Pen Review (Tiger Pens Blog)

– Stephanie's Huge Anniversary Giveaway! (Rhodia Drive)

– Parisian Post-it wars (Quo Vadis Blog)

– KUM Ghost Sharpener and blue 2M Long point sharpener with leadpointers spotlight (Lung Sketching Scrolls)

– A little balance goes a long way (Leigh Reyes)

– Spirit of Wonder Wednesday Review of the Pentel EnerGel-X (Pentel Blog)

– Featured Pen - Danitrio Densho (Pen Paper Inks…Whatever!)

– Pentel Vicuna Multi Pen and Mechanical Pencil (Office Supply Geek)

– Stabilo ‘s Move Easy Left Handed Pen (No Pen Intended)

– Ball Point Pen Paintings by Shane McAdams (The Fox is Black)

– Miscellaneous Pen Porn (Gourmet Pens)

– Post a Stub: Graf von Faber Castell (Palimpseset)

– The Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener (Woodclinched)

– The Fashionary Notebook (Valet)

– Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen (Pocket Blonde)

– Moleskine Monday: The Problem (Notebook Stories)

– Lamy Al-Star (Penfan.ru)

#OnePenOneDay Pilot Precise V7 and Zebra F-701

It has been a few of weeks since my last #OnePenOneDay post, so I wanted to catch up real quick with two pens that recently made it through the challenge.

The Pilot Precise V7 is a Hall of Fame caliber pen. It has made it through decades relatively unchanged, and with good reason - it’s hard to mess with perfection. Known for is smoothness, the V7, along with the fine point V5, is a wonderful writer. They can be found in stores everywhere, and if you like writing with a needle tip liquid ink pen there is no better.

The Zebra F-701 on the other hand, is more of a niche pen, but is starting to gain quite a following. Between just these two pens, I reach for the Zebra 9 out of 10 times. I like the build quality, and the ballpoint ink cartridge is super smooth. This pen just oozes quality and functionality. In fact, the guy who repaired my dishwasher this week was even sporting one (I did toss him a Power Tank to try out).

One pen is established, and the other is an up and comer, but every true pen addict should own one of each.