Ink Links

The Pen Addict is excited be hosting the February Carnival of Pen, Pencil, and Paper. To make a submission to the Carnival follow this link and fill out the submission form. Thank you for your participation!

-- De Atrementis Steel Blue (Inkdependence!)

-- Waterman Hemisphere (Informal Scribble)

-- Pens and Pencils (sammaritan12)

-- Sloane Crosley's Yearly Date With the Planner (Notebook Stories)

-- Field Notes Expedition: Extreme Memo Books (JetPens Blog)

-- Family Portrait (V) (Cronicas Estilograficas)

-- Pilot Razor Point II (Economy Pens)

-- Zebra Dual Tip Permanent Marker meets its cousins (The Well-Appointed Desk)

-- The Evernote Smart Moleskine (Leigh Reyes)

-- Pen Shows: The Philadelphia 2013 Pen Show Wishlist! (Anderson Pens)

-- Follow the Leaders: Faber-Castell e-motion Fountain Pen (From the Pen Cup)

-- Review: Doane Paper (Fountain Pen Quest)

-- Pen Porn: Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen (MacSparky)

-- An Afternoon with Tsuchihashi san (Scription)

-- Clairefontaine Crok Book Plain Notebook (The Well-Appointed Desk)

-- Pilot Iroshizuku: Kon-Peki (Ed Jelley)

-- Edison Pearl Bulb Filler Review (Inktronics)

-- What's In My Pencase (Scription)

Pilot Acroball 2013 US Version

A few weeks back I was discussing the results of my Field Notes Expedition Edition ink testing on Twitter. The conversation covered the pens that were working well, and of course, the ones that were not. I didn't test every pen at my disposal but tested at least one sample of most ink types. I mentioned that hybrid ballpoint inks worked the best, and that caught the eye of @PilotPenUSA, who touted the Pilot Acroball as a great fit.

Being the fan of the Acroball that I am I inquired if that meant it would finally be making its way to the US. The answer was yes, and soon - March of this year to be exact. They also offered to send me some samples, which you see pictured above.

Fortunately for the US market Pliot decided to keep the barrel design and grip used in the original Japanese model. I am a fan of both, and wish some of these elements would find their way into the old and stale Pilot G2 design. The white barrel/pastel accent color scheme leaves a little to be desired (all are black ink) but at least they are offering the 0.7 mm tip. The black barrels you see in the pic are marked with an "M" on the clip as opposed to the 1.0 mm which they are. I'm not sure why that isn't consistent across the product line.

Regardless, this is a great pen that hopefully more people will have access to in a couple of months. I highly recommend it and thanks to Pilot Pen for providing me with these samples.

Here are a few of my previous Pilot Acroball reviews if you want to read why I enjoy this pen so much:

Pilot Acroball 0.7 mm Blue

Pilot Acroball 0.5 mm Blue

Pilot Acroball 3 Color Multi Pen

(P.S. - I'll pass out if the 0.5 mm or Multi Pen ever make it to the States. Your move Pilot.)

The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 37 - Off The Deep End

In Episode 37 of The Pen Addict Podcast Myke and I cover several follow-up items from the past couple of episodes, including notes on Platignum fountain pens and Myke's take on the Field Notes Expedition Edition which finally finished its expedition across the Atlantic.

We go a bit off the tracks at that point, but purposely so. I discuss some of the strange and funny pens I have come across, including one in particular that boggles the mind.

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