Posts filed under Multi Pen

Pilot Ridge Four-Color Ballpoint Multipen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

I haven't ever cared much for multipens. I often find them to be bulky, rattle-y, and the refills can be fiddly and don't hold enough ink. Many times I run out of one color before the rest, and I find myself playing refill roulette. As a child, I thought they were magical, but eventually my inner curmudgeon took over. So when someone says they have a great multipen, my initial thought is "you mean you have a convenient cluster of mediocre pens". I'm just admitting my bias up front, here, because this review should be read through that lens.

The Pilot Ridge is a pretty great multipen. I'm using it more than I thought I would--and it somehow seems to have claimed a permanent residence in a pocket of my carrying case. What has ultimately won me over is that it's a multipen that doesn't look or act anything like a multipen.

For one thing, it's very slender. The main part of the barrel is even slimmer than a Retro 51, and the black model has a sleek matte finish that is smooth and comfortable to hold. The texture provides just the right amount of grip friction. Overall, the pen is very minimalistic and elegant in its simplicity. Despite it's slimness, though, the pen is quite heavy. It packs a lot of pen into its small frame, and I found myself getting some hand fatigue after about thirty minutes of writing. But a multipen isn't likely what one would use for a long writing session, anyway.

Part of its sleekness is the lack of those wing-like slide-clicks that you see on so many multipens. The Ridge uses, instead, a smooth twist mechanism that deploys the different tips in a rotation. It's completely silent, and quickly springs each color forward till you get to the one you want. Admittedly, sometimes it goes too quick, so you have to backtrack--but the twist works in both directions, so once you get the sequence down, you can find your desired color quite efficiently.

One small issue I have with it is that the only way to tell what color you have is to look at the tiny band on the end of each cartridge tip as it pops out. There's very little difference between the blue and green, and in low light, it can even be difficult to tell between the blue and black. I've found myself squinting at it often, and wishing for a better way to indicate the ink color. Another problem with the mechanism is that there is very little pause space between colors, so positioning it in such a way as to keep the tip retracted takes a little fiddling. It would also only take a small agitation for it to move past that between-spot and deploy the tip in a pocket or bag. So I don't recommend this pen for pocket carry.

The thin cartridges are securely housed in the two parts of the barrel. The two sections pull apart to reveal the four D1 cartridges. The cartridges are friction-fit into the revolving mechanism--just pull one out to replace it. They are quite tiny. I haven't run out of any ink yet, but I don't imagine each cartridge has a very long lifespan.

The ink was another pleasant surprise. It's ballpoint ink, but upon first use, it could be mistaken for gel ink. It is very smooth and vibrant with excellent flow. It's Pilot's special Arco ink, formulated with low viscosity, and it just glides. The green still has a little of that washed-out ballpoint ink look, but the red, black, and blue all have more intensity than I've seen in other ballpoint inks. And if you want to add more wild colors to the lineup, it appears to take any D1 refill, so there are lots of other brands and colors to choose from.

I was a little surprised by the price--at $54.50, it seems a bit high. It is definitely well-constructed of quality materials, so it may be my general aversion to multipens clouding my view here, but if someone had handed it to me and asked me to guess the cost, I'd have been way off.

While it isn't something I would have picked out for myself, I think this pen would make an excellent gift--especially for a graduate or a young professional getting their first job or promotion. It would be great to give to a visiting business partner, or a valued assistant or teacher. It's very elegant and professional looking, and super practical. The multi-function is inarguably great for editing, grading, or coding notes. Personally, I have a feeling I'll be ordering some refills at some point, and this may very well be the first multipen that stays in my collection. It brings back some of that old multipen magic, much to my inner curmudgeon's dismay.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Posted on February 2, 2017 and filed under Pilot, Multi Pen, Pen Reviews.

Uni Style Fit Meister Multi Pen Review

Earlier this year, I started using a Uni Style Fit multi-pen to plan and track my work for different projects in a Leuchtturm notebook. I wrote a review of the multi-pen shortly after, stating that the gel refills were some of my favorites. While that was certainly true, I wasn't a huge fan of the standard plastic barrel that I chose to house the refills. Luckily, there's a more "premium" barrel option that features metal materials and a twist mechanism as opposed to the three knock switches that make a lot of noise.

And just like that, the Uni Style Fit Meister became the perfect work log solution for me. The refills are top-notch, and I finally have a barrel to match.

Everything about the original review still holds true when it comes to the refills. These are probably my favorite multi-pen refills. They're incredibly smooth and reliable even at the 0.38mm size. And, surprisingly, they last a long time. I'm getting about 3-4 months of daily use out of these refills. I'm a big fan of them, and I hope you check them out sometime.

The new member of this multi-pen family, however, is the Meister body. This classes up the format from "art tool" to "business pen" for me. The metal adds some weight in all the right places to improve the feeling in the hand while writing, and it looks great in the process. The metal is shiny and catches fingerprints like nobody's business, but it's easy enough to clean. If there were more color options in the lineup, I certainly wouldn't complain.

That being said, I really love the gunmetal color I chose. It looks great and feels nice when writing.

Another improvement over the cheaper body is the refill selector method. In the plastic model, there are three knock-like switches that you can depress to use a certain color refill. On the Meister, you twist the body to roll through the 3 refills. For me, this is a huge improvement. I love how smooth the movement is, and I also like that it's quieter than the plastic model. The mechanism feels great for the price, which is saying a lot.

Even though the body is metal, there's a clear window midway up the pen that allows you to see the refill colors. The "active" color lines up directly with the clip, which makes it easy to see what color you can expect when you start writing. It also makes it easy to rotate and select the color you want. The window is a bit small, so you might have some trouble seeing the colors clearly if you're using similar colors. For me, it's really easy to differentiate between blue, green, and orange.

The clip isn't exceptionally strong, but it gets the job done. It's designed to be slim to match the overall aesthetic of the pen, so that might explain why it isn't overly strong. Still, I've never had any issues with it coming undone once it's clipped to something.

One of the things I haven't taken advantage of with this pen is the ability to add a mechanical pencil unit. This isn't possible with the cheaper plastic model, but the Meister incorporates a click mechanism to advance the lead. You only have the option of 0.5mm lead size for this unit, so keep that in mind if the mechanical pencil is something you'd use in this pen.

I have no problem saying that this is my favorite multi-pen to date, and it gets used every day to plan and track my work day. The Meister body improved the experience by adding a better design and feel to an already useful instrument. Definitely try out the refills, and also keep in mind that the Uni Style bodies also work with the Pilot Acroball multi-pen refills (if you prefer those to the Uni refills).

The Uni Style Fit Meister is available from JetPens in a variety of colors, and keep in mind that they don't come with any refills — you need to buy those separately!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Posted on June 15, 2016 and filed under Uni, Style Fit, Multi Pen, Pen Reviews.

Uni Style Fit 3 Multi Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Just when I thought my curiosity with multi pens was at an end, I find another "need" to fill with a new pen. I've reviewed several multi pens in the past, and they're all pretty similar. Really, it comes down to personal preference. If you have a certain brand of pen or refill that you love, you can probably find it in a multi pen.

Personally, I really love Uni gel pens. I love the UM-151 and UM-138 for how well they write — they're both extremely smooth and dependable. But, they only write in one color unless you carry around several at a time. If only there was a solution for this specific problem...

My work has recently changed so that I'm working for two main clients, and I need to be able to track my time and so forth separately. There are many, many incredible tools online that can handle this modest task, but I'm already in the habit of tracking my day with pen and paper. Hence, the need for a pen that can write in at least two colors (for the two clients), and offer a smooth feel and tiny writing tip.

Enter the Uni Style Fit. This is a multi pen made by Uni, the same maker of the previously mentioned UM-151 and UM-138. In this case, the Uni Style Fit comes in a variety of colors, refill capacities, and materials. You can check out the entire selection at JetPens, but I settled on the Uni Style Fit 3 for my purposes. One color for Client A, another for Client B, and a third for non-work stuff.

Now, I know I own about 6 other multi-pens that fit the requirements for my "need," but I wanted to try the Uni version to see if the refills match up with their other gel pens. Luckily, they certainly do.

Aesthetics

On the outside, the Uni Style Fit doesn't look like much. I went with a silver version, which looks like any other cheap gel pen at first, but then you notice the weird top with three buttons and the clear barrel. The three refills are clearly visible through the barrel, and that's a dead giveaway.

The pen is extremely light, just like most other cheap multi-pens. It doesn't feel fantastic, but that's OK for my purposes. Uni offers other, more expensive models that probably feel better in the hand, but I didn't opt for those in my experiment.

Another thing that annoys me about every multi pen I've tried is the sound of the knock devices. They sound cheap an annoying, and I can never get past it. When I'm writing with the pen, it's fine, but once it's time to open or retract, I cringe a little at the sound.

I typically shy away from multi pens that hold more than 3 cartridges because I'm not a fan of the barrel size required to hold that many refills.

Overall, the pen doesn't feel fantastic, but it's also less than $4 for the body, so you shouldn't expect much.

Writing

I was very pleasantly surprised when I started writing with the pen — the refills I got are smooth and reliable, even at the 0.38mm size.

Each refill is sold separately, so you have the choice of size and color for your pen from the beginning. They don't ship with a boring black or blue cartridge that you have to store somewhere, which I find very appealing. Cartridges are less than $2 a piece, and there are many, many colors to choose from.

Installing the cartridges is a simple task, and once they snap in place, you're ready to write.

For the past year or so, I've been using a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook to track my work and time spent on projects. At the end of the week, this data gets added into a timesheet, which in turn gets me paid. But, once you add in a second timesheet requirement, things get complicated in a hurry.

To keep better track of what tasks go to what timesheet, I chose a bright blue and lime green refill. These contrast so well that I am delighted by how much easier my weekly timesheet task is. The third refill is a bright orange, and I use this for non-work notes or appointments.

The blue and green refills are fantastic — they're smooth, bold, and reliable. I can't tell a difference between these refills and the ones in a UM-151, although I'm sure some can.

The orange refill is a bit more rough, but only slightly so. I've had this problem before with light colored gel refills, and I'm assuming it has something to do with the ink properties for lighter colored inks. It still writes perfectly well, just not as smooth as the other two. Also, it could just be a fluke cartridge. I didn't buy two orange refills to test.

Wrapping up

At the end of my work day, I can look at a page of multi-colored notes that makes it simple to see where my time was spent through the day. I love this solution, and I'm very happy that I can use my favorite gel pens to do it. So far, the Uni Style Fit is my favorite multi pen. I wish they had some more attractive high end offerings (like Zebra), but that's not the case for now. At least they write like a dream, and pen aesthetics don't affect that.

If you like Uni gel pens, this is the multi pen for you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Posted on February 17, 2016 and filed under Uni, Style Fit, Multi Pen, Pen Reviews.