Milan P1 Touch Ballpoint and Guerrero Notebook Review

I am very lucky to have made some great friends over the years here at The Pen Addict. This review includes products from two of my favorite world-travelers: Carmen sent me the blue Milan P1 Touch she picked up while in Spain last year, and Hen from Rad and Hungry sent me the black Milan P1 plus a Guerrero Notebook from the STMT X Spain Kit, the final kit from last year’s world tour. Hooray for Spain!

The Milan ballpoints are very nice to write with. The barrel is coated in a very thin rubber which provides a good gripping surface and the entire pen feels solidly constructed. I thought I was going to prefer writing with the blue ink more than the black, but the opposite was actually the case.

Both inks are smooth, but when compared to each other the blue comes out looking very streaky. The black is one of the darker ballpoint inks I have used, almost making me think it is a hybrid ink like the Pentel Vicuna. It is that dark.

The Guerrero Notebook is a nice paperback that looks ideal for schoolwork. Do any of you remember the blue books from school that you had to take your essay exams in? They are a lot like that. The paper is nice and smooth and is set up well for note taking or writing practice.

I don’t travel to Spain very often (ok, never) but these pens and notebooks would be worth picking up if I did. You should give them a try if you ever have the opportunity. Milan does have a small presence in the US so some of you might be able to find their products locally.

New at Kickstarter: P1 by Premier Pen (and Giveaway!)

The P1 by Premier Pen is the latest Kickstarter project to base itself around the popular Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel ink cartridge. I have been fortunate enough to test drive one for the past few days thanks to project founder Steve Black and have come away very impressed.

First and foremost, this pen feels great in the hand. The barrel is constructed from a lightweight aluminum and is the perfect weight and length. It is nowhere near as heavy or bulky as many of the stainless steel barrel options. The black color gives the pen an almost seamless look, and is silky smooth to the touch.

When writing, it is not as dead firm as with the traditional plastic Pilot Hi-Tec-C barrel due to a small gap around the tip opening. I felt a bit of flex when I initially started writing because of that extra space but after a few minutes of use I hardly noticed it. There is also no clip and the cap does not post, so if you absolutely must have those things then this pen is not for you.

I like what I see out of this project and especially like the color barrel options. How slick does that red one look? I even jumped in and backed the limited edition Kickstarter only P1 Green for something different.

As I write this Sunday evening the P1 is already 85% funded one day into the project, so I’m not the only one who loves this design. My guess is that it will be over 100% by the time this post goes live.

Steve likes it a lot too. So much so that he has offered up one P1 Black for me to giveaway here at The Pen Addict. Here is how to enter:

1. 
   

   Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Wednesday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is limited to US residents only.

   
   


2. 
   

   For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.

   
   


3. 
   

   The contest winner will be posted on Thursday, March 1st. The winner will have one week to email me at the address posted in the right sidebar.

   
   

Note: This pen will be part of the production Kickstarter run, so it will ship with the rest of the project. The current estimate is May 2012.

Thank you to Steve for thinking of The Pen Addict readers for this giveaway. Be sure to follow Premier Pen on Facebook for updates and possibly even more giveaways of this very cool pen.

Ink Links

– Baltz Fine Writing Instruments (Good Pens)

– Tools: Confessions os a Pen Nerd (Priscilla Mok)

– Kaweco AL Sport (Pointless Mutterings)

– Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock 0.4 mm Review (Writing Wrong(Handed))

– Sailor HighAce Neo disassembled (Peninkcillin)

– Paper Mate InkJoy 700 RT Review (Office Supply Geek)

– The Hunt Continues (The Well-Appointed Desk)

– No Ordinary Pencil (Blackwing Pages via Pencil Talk)

– Review: PH Notebook (Notebook Stories)

– Sketchbook (Drawing with a Squirrel)

– Stationery Store Series: Branchard Papeterie and Pen Shop, Geneva (Palimpsest)

– County Comm Embassy Pen (Rev. 2) Black (Multi Pen Dimensions)

– Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen (CALIBAN’s Blog)

– De Atramentis Mark Twain Ink (Pocket Blonde)

– Modern Budget Fountain Pens (The Well-Appointed Desk)

– The Uni-ball Vision Needle 0.5 mm Blue (Rhonda Eudaly)

– Style Fit Meister 3 (Julian Kay’s Blog)

– Pen Review: Cross Townsend (Recording Thoughts)

– My afternoon at the 2012 Los Angeles International Pen Show (Note Booker, Esq.)

– Namiki Prera (Greasemonkeyhands)

– Sharpie Show (Gourmet Pens)

– Orange Indien and Kaweco Sport (Drawing with a Squirrel)

– Pelikan Pink (Stationery Traffic)

– Sheaffer Valor Fountain Pen Review (Derek’s Pens & Pencils)

– Rapidograph pens and the Crown Jewels (Supermassive Black Hole A*)