Ink Links

– Review: The Paper Mate Retractable Ballpoint Profile 1.4b (512 Pixels)

– Review of the 4Sevens Titanium Tactical Pen (ThruMyLens)

– Tombow Object Rollerball Pen Matte Black (Multi Pen Dimensions)

– Noodler's Ink Ahab Fountain Pen Lapis Inferno Flex Nib (No Pen Intended)

– Review: Miquel Rius Red Soft Bound Journal (Gourmet Pens)

– Signature Gutenberg Notebooks by Daycraft (Plannerisms)

– Stormtrooper defeated by Jinhao X750 (Peninkcillin)

– Stabilo LeftRight (Bleistift)

– Pentel Fluorescent Marker (A Penchant for Paper)

– Insanely Great (nemu*nemu)

– Cplay Sevenroll Leather Pencil Case (Pocket Blonde)

– Adventures in dusting: Pilot Cavalier Hi-Tec-C 0.4mm (From the Pen Cup)

– Review: Lamy Studio rollerball, stainless steel finish (Note Booker, Esq.)

– It'€™s a robot! No, it'€™s a pencil sharpener! (Woodclinched)

– Ahh…Pen Satisfaction (Stacey Creates)

– Handmade Moleskine iPhone Case (Penned House)

– Stabilo GREENcolors Set of 12 colored pencils review (Lung Sketching Scrolls)

– Notebook papers (Pens and Paper via Rhodia Drive)

– Glass Pens (Leigh Reyes)

– Muji (Penfan.ru)

– Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Pen Spotting (Palimpsest)

– BIC Pocket Pen (My Supply Room)

– Guest Post: Vintage Pens (Quo Vadis Blog)

– Alvin Draft-Tec Retrac .5 (Economy Pens)

– PHX-1 : Design Tool Set (The Leaky Pen)

– Island Towns (M.C. Barrett Concept Art)

Dong-A Fine-Tech 0.3 mm Review

I haven’t had the opportunity to review many Dong-A pens and pencils, so when my Twitter friend Rachael mentioned she had a new favorite every day pen and wanted to send me one I was more than happy to put it to the test.

It was pretty obvious when I opened the package what the Dong-A Fine-Tech 0.3 mm gel ink pen is trying to accomplish. It wants to be a Pilot Hi-Tec-C. Aside from a few small design tweaks it is pretty close in the appearance department. If the Fine-Tech could pull off a similar writing performance to the Hi-Tec-C then we might have something here, but unfortunately it falls short.

Since it is clear where this pen is trying to position itself I can’t help but compare it directly to the Hi-Tec-C. The ink flow of the Fine-Tech is nice when it is going well. My lines were clean and sharp and the ink was solid and dark. Where it started to falter was in line consistency. Sometimes the ink flow became too heavy - especially for an 0.3 mm gel - and sometimes it was to light and thin.

This is not a bad pen by any stretch. The Dong-A Fine-Tech sells for about half of what the Pilot Hi-Tec-C does, and in this case you get what you pay for.

Zebra Arbez Piirto Ballpoint Pen 0.7 mm Review

It is great to see manufacturers branch out from the norm and come up with fresh pen and pencil designs. Zebra takes it a step further by holding an annual contest for young designers around the world, and the Zebra Arbez Piirto was the winner of the 2011 event.

The winning design is based around the slim and simple form of an ice pick, which makes sense when you realize the designer is from Finland. It is quite stunning, especially when you consider that part of the design process was to make it as inexpensively as possible. Mission accomplished on all fronts.

Many pens use a rotation or twist mechanism to extend and retract the pen but where the Piirto differs is that the mechanism is in the grip area as opposed to the upper barrel area. It functions quite well and does not get in the way of the writing experience at all.

What does get in the way of the writing experience is the ballpoint ink cartridge. This is your basic cheap ballpoint refill, so set your expectations accordingly. A Zebra Surari refill would make this pen a knockout but would also raise the price, which goes against the reason the Piirto was created.

The Piirto ballpoint is available with black and red ink cartridges as well as a black barrel design. There is even a mechanical pencil version that is designed similarly. While it may not perform like a world beater, the design and price made it an easy choice to add to my collection.