Uni-ball Roller Grip 0.5 mm Blue Review

One piece of information I wish were more readily available is the year a pen was introduced. Very few people care about this other than me, but I think it is useful. I’m guessing this Uni-ball Roller Grip has been around for at least a decade and I would love to say “Introduced in 1998,”.

Why do I care about this all of a sudden? Because this is a pretty darn good pen, and it seems to have been lost in the shuffle over the years. I have been asked to review it several times in the past but it wasn’t until Carmen grabbed me one in Spain that I had one available to review. How funny is that? A great American pen that had to travel across the Atlantic to get reviewed.

It’s not that it is impossible to find in the States, it’s that it is just a pen. From Uni-ball’s perspective, it’s not going to get the same marketing push as the Jetstream or the 207, and therefore isn’t going to be on retail shelves everywhere. It is more of a buy it by the dozen office supply cabinet workhorse.

What I like about the Roller Grip is the ink. It is a liquid ink, but it is not too wet. As long as you don’t hold the tip on the page excessively the bleed is minimal. Uni-ball seems to have improved the overall ink quality over the years as well. It is listed as a pigment based ink that is archival, acid-free, and water-resistant. I had no idea until I read the specs when typing up this post.

Has and old standby become a new favorite? Well, I had a little grin on my face when I was writing this review, sort of a “I can’t believe it is this good” smirk. I think a dozen black are in my future.

Ink Links

– Pilot FriXion Ball Knock Retractable Gel Ink Pen 0.5mm Black (Multi Pen Dimensions)

– StationeryReview Christmas Gift Guide 2011 (StationeryReview)

– My Essential Tools (Kelly Kilmer)

– Review: Stainless Steel Sharpie Pen Fine - Black (Gourmet Pens)

– Introducing… (Keep on Truckin’)

– This is the EDC (Stationery Traffic)

– Pentel Ergonomix Winggrip (Penfan.ru)

– New: Kaweco Special FP and BP (Scription via Instagram)

– Pen Review: Pentel Vicuna 0.7mm Ballpoint Pen (Tiger Pens Blog)

– December Carnival of Pen, Pencil, & Paper (Pocket Blonde)

– Eagle Pencil Company London (Palimpsest)

– 3.2 Million dots, 210 hours and a single pen make one heroic portrait (The Next Web)

– Sailor’s Piston (Cronicas Estilograficas)

– J Herbin Diablo Menthe ink review (Peninkcillin)

– Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen (Good Pens)

– A love affair (owly words)

Tuff-Writer Frontline Series Tactical Pen Review

(Disclosure: I was provided this pen at no charge from Tuff-Writer.)

I love the idea of tactical pens. Their design is extremely appealing to my eye and the highly engineered pen bodies are a pleasure to use. When I was contacted by the PR team that handles the Tuff-Writer account about reviewing one of their pens how could I say no?

They shipped out the Frontline Series Stealth Black Tactical Pen to me a few weeks ago. Having only reviewed one legitimate tactical pen before in the County Comm Embassy Pen I was happy to have another to compare it to.

The first thing I noticed about the Frontline is how long the barrel is. The sharp end really stands out and at 6 1/2 inches it is all business. I couldn’t help but stare at it and wonder what uses it had outside of the desk jockey realm that I inhabit. Very impressive.

The barrel is made from 6061-T6 Aerospace Grade Aluminum. I don’t know what any of those numbers and words mean other than aluminum, but I do know the quality is top notch. There are two different depths of knurling on the barrel. The cut on the body is deeper to allow for better gripping, while on the grip area it is shallower for a more comfortable writing experience. The clip could be a weapon in its own right it is so tight and thick.

From a writing standpoint the stock refill is the Fisher Space Pen 1.0 mm black ballpoint, which is almost mandatory for tactical pens. The pressurized cartridge holds up well in the extreme conditions where this pen is often found.

I’m not taking my Tuff-Writer anywhere other than my desk, but I did show it to a couple of friends who would use it out in the real world and they were impressed by it. One even mentioned he liked it better than his titanium Embassy Pen, especially the sharp “business-end”.

Thanks to Tuff-Writer for sending me this pen for review. Be sure to check out the Frontline Series product page for more specs and details.