Pilot B2P Retractable Gel Pen

Pilot B2P (Bottle-to-Pen) BeGreen 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen

Today’s pen, much like Tuesday’s redux Sarasa SE, is just a redux of the Pilot G2 in an eco-friendly format. However, unlike the Sarasa, I can say that I actually could enjoy using the B2P. While there’s no grip to speak of, the grooves in the side of the pen (reminiscent of the grooves in a water bottle) make the pen easier to keep ahold of.

The ink refill is simply a 0.7mm Pilot G-2 Gel Refill (which is most likely why only 89% of the pen is recycled content), which writes relatively well, but is a bit bolder and smears a little too easy for my liking. As I mentioned above, most of the features of this pen revolves around the fact that it’s the first pen to be made from a recycled water bottle, not around the inventiveness of a new ink system or any other new features. While it was slightly enjoyable to write with, I’m not going to go out and purchase a 20-pack to use at school, work, or just while writing at home, since it’s basically just a Pilot G-2 in a recycled shell. But maybe I can replace the G-2 refill with something more to my liking? Hmm…

Zebra Sarasa SE Model 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen

Zebra Sarasa SE Model 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen

So today, for the first time in this blog’s history (at least to my knowledge), I have managed to be one step ahead of both Dowdy of PenAddict.com as well as Brian of OfficeSupplyGeek.com. Neither of them have yet to review this fine writing instrument, so I shall claim first on it (unlike the 101, which OSG reviewed just hours before I went to post my review).

The pen we are looking at today is basically a standard Zebra Sarasa gel pen which has had several modifications (all which were wanted/decided upon by the consumer, based upon over 50,000 people who were surveyed). The new features include a textured (small raised dots and three liens) grip, engraved metal clip, and the brand and size are painted on the barrel, rather than on the clip (see side-by-side comparison of an original and an SE in the gallery below.

Other than those minor changes, it’s still a Zebra Sarasa. The only things that have truly changed are purely cosmetic. The ink is still the same, and although I like Zebra’s ink, it smears a bit too much for me (being a leftie). The new grip is relatively comfortable, although I’m not perfectly sure about long-time use. Otherwise, I’m not sure I can truly see the point of paying $6.99 for 4 souped up Sarasas. Sorry Zebra, I’m gonna have admit that I don’t really like your Special Edition Sarasas. Better luck next time…

Pentel Tradio Gel Pen Body/Back From Vacation

So, I’m officially back from vacation (one day later than planned)! We had a great time at North Myrtle Beach, even though it was cold. We stayed in the Prince Resort, which afforded us a 3 bedroom/3 bath suite for little more than $100 a night (November – February is the slow season for the beach, and you can even rent suites by the month for as little as $500-600), and we had an awesome ocean-front view. Click here for tons of sunrise pictures.

Now, for today’s review, we have the Pentel Tradio Energel Body. While the ink refill is one that we know and have grown to love, the body is a different critter altogether. The Tradio brand is originally a fountain pen with a plastic nib, allowing you to create various line widths, but in this instance from JetPens.com, the Tradio body has been redesigned to fit the Energel refills.

The body is smooth, and while the color is listed as grey, it’s really more of a slate or grey-brown. It literally is still the same as the original Tradio body, down to the window showing what normally would be the plastic fountain tip. The grip is a semi-transparent plastic which is grooved and actually relatively comfortable to use, even though it’s hard and not gel.

Sanford Uni-ball Deluxe Micro 0.5-0.7mm Rollerball

Sanford Uni-ball Deluxe Micro 0.5-0.7mm Rollerball

So, today we have an interesting pen to take a look at. While I’m not a huge fan of rollerballs, they are the next couple pens that I have up for review (probably because I hold off reviewing them for as long as I possibly can). I picked a pack of these (slightly over-priced) pens at OfficeMax a while back when I had some reward points to spend and I had to buy something before they expired.

Uni-balls website lists these as being 0.5mm, but in my experience the line width actually varies slightly between 0.5 and 0.7mm. The ink helps prevent check-washing, is fade- and water-resistant, as well as being acid-free and comes in black, blue, and red. Other than the metallic painted barrel and strip which labels it as “Deluxe”, this pen actually doesn’t have any frills.

On the pro side, it does writer very, very smoothly, but in my opinion, the cons outweight the pros. There’s no grip at all, just black plastic section, the ink occasionally “blots” onto the page (definitely not good for a leftie like me), and it has an extremely slow dry time (about 15 seconds on the Leuchtturm1917 Dot Notebook I tested it on). Not on my “buy again” list…

Sun-Star Knock Free Sharp 0.7mm Mechanical Pencil

Sun-Star Knock Free Sharp 0.7mm Mechanical Pencil

I can already hear it now… “No review?! What’s wrong with you, man?” Well, to be honest, I don’t k now all that much about mechanical pencils, since I’ve always preferred a good old-fashioned cedar pencil (complete with scent whenever you sharpen them) to a mechanical pencil… However, I do occasionally use them at work and whenever they are handier than a regular pencil, so occasionally I like to try them out… So, instead of a “full review”, you get a doodle (on Doane Paper no less) as well as some random musings.

I will admit that I like the Sun-Star Knock Free Sharp because it is shapped like a regular pencil. The body plus the plastic texture remind me of thos pencils we all had during gradeschool, y’know, the ones that seemed to be made mostly of wax without any real wood in them. However, if it wasn’t for the mechanics, I could almost trick my mind into thinking that it was a real pencil. The eraser is non-removable/refillable, which is definitely not really a plus, but I figure, should I happen to like this pencil enough, that with a knife, a regular pencil eraser, and some superglue, we could make something work…

I’m still getting used to the idea of not having to manually advance my pencil lead. In fact, I kind of miss the action of clicking the top or side and feeling the mechanics inside the pencil advance the lead for me… But, I will admit that the auto advance on this pencil works relatively well, although the “advance sleeve” rides a little low on the lead in my opinion…

Bryan over at The Office Supply Geek has an awesome and very detailed review of this fine mechanical pencil, so feel free to stop by there if my musings aren’t enough to sate your curiosity…

Uni-Ball Signo RT 0.7mm Gel Pen – Black

Pen #62.
Uni-Ball Signo RT 0.7mm Gel Pen – Black

Honestly, I must admit that the Signo RT easily makes it onto my “Most Favorite Pens” list. Available in 0.7mm and 0.38mm (at least in most US office supply stores), the Signo RT is a staple pen in my daily arsenal.

The Signo RT features a slim body style with an extremely comfortable foam rubber grip (not too thick, not too thin, but just right). Being a college student, taking notes is not a perogative but a requirement, and these pens are a necessity for anyone writing for long periods of time.

The ink flow is extremely smooth (not unexpected, since Uni-Ball has perfected their line of gel pens, including the 207 series of smooth-writing gels with “Super-Ink”), and there is literally no skipping or scratching… At all… Even with a gel pen, that is almost an unheard of experience.

I heartily reccomend this pen as a beginning to a pen obsession… If you don’t own one yet, go buy one… Now… 🙂

NOTE: Also, discovered the other day that if you’re a fan of the 207 Series from Uni-Ball, the ink cartridges are the same size, so if you’re like me and prefer the Signo RT body style, you can swap them out easily!

49/50 = 4.9/5

Staples Brand Delta Elite 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black

Pen #61.
Staples Brand Delta Elite 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black 

Another one of my recent Staples grabs, I decided that perhaps picking up a store-brand pen might be worth a try… I’m usually pretty leery of store-brand pens, since they seem to be relatively low quality, but I must admit that the Delta Elite performs almost as well as some top-line gel pens. 

The Delta Elite came in a two-pack (blue and gray) and features a transparent barrel with a blue background (paper perhaps? I didn’t really feel like totally deconstructing the pen). The grip is slightly triangular in shape and thin, but still generally comfortable. My main beef with this pen is the fact that it’s a little bulky. I’m more of a fan of thinner pens (think the Uni Style Fit single body “chopstick”), cause the larger ones seem to cause my hands to cramp up more quickly. Still, a rather decent pen for the money… 

40/50 = 4/5
 

 

 

Pentel Hyper-G 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black, Blue, Red, and Violet

Pen #60.
Pentel Hyper-G 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black, Blue, Red, Violet

So, another Pentel review… I’m not sure what it is, but I seem to have a lot of Pentel pens lying around. Not that they’re my favorites, but simply cause they seem to be the ones I find most often on sale. I picked these up at my local Staples and decided to give them a try.

In this four-pack assortment came a black, blue, red, and violet pen. I immediately passed the violet on to my girlfriend (who has a nice start on a collection of violet and pink pens), since it was really just another ink color and kept the other three to review. The ink in these gels is dark and dries pretty quickly, and the ink flow is very smooth with very little skip and scratch.

While I love the grip (don’t know if the pictures do it justice), with all it’s contours and comfort, there’s one thing that just about ruins it for me… From the edge of the barrel tip extending on up to just above the lip of the grip is a plastic ridge about 1/8″ high, making it hard to hold the pen in any position but the one obviously “designed”. Definitely a turn-off for me, since I’m left-handed and tend to hold my pens differently…

40/45 = 4.4/5

The Offending “Ridge”

Pentel Rolly C4 0.7mm Ballpoint Multi-Pen – Black, Blue, Red, and Green

Pen #59.
Pentel Rolly C4 0.7mm Ballpoint Multi-Pen – Black, Blue, Red, and Green 

As I was picking out some free stuff from Staples (gotta love Reward programs), I noticed the Rolly C4 hanging on the shelf. Well, I hadn’t ever seen it before, so I assumed it was a new item that they had just started carrying. So, of course, I picked one up… 

The Pentel Rolly C4 features four different ballpoint ink colors (black, blue, red, and green) and it’s 0.7mm tips write relatively smoothly, albeit a little light for my taste. The ink also wasn’t very dark (if you’ll look at the review form you’ll notice you can hardly even see the green at all). 

My main problem with this pen was design. The grip ends suddenly (with a cliffhanger edge) instead of tapering to meet the tip of the barrel. Also, the mechanics don’t seem very sturdy. While I was writing with selected tip, if I pressed down very hard (almost a necessity with a ballpoint) the ink cartridge would flex and bend inside the barrel, causing weird writing angles, wrist strain, and scratching…

 

Final Score: 36/50 = 3.6/5

 

 

 

Bic Triumph 537RT 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black, Blue, and Red

Pen #58.
Bic Triumph 537RT 0.7mm Retractable Gel Pen – Black, Blue, and Red

So, time for our first review using the new review scale/form. Let’s see how it goes…

I picked these up at Staples the other day (at $6.99 for a pack of four, they were a little pricey) while picking up some school supplies for my younger siblings. I had purchased/reviewed the 537R Rollerballs before and was kinda looking forward to reviewing these and seeing how they compared.

I will admit, that I really love the design on these much more than I did the design of the 537R. Featuring a partially transparent barrel, allowing you to visibly check the ink supply, ending in the grip on the business end and a silver-ish line pattern on the plunger end, it definitely seems to be in better taste. The 537RT also features a nice rubber grip traction-enhancing grooves as well as a metal clip and transparent plunger.

The ink performed well, writing smoothly without any skipping or scratching (although there was a bit of white lining at first, perhaps due to the fact that it was brand new). One thing I did notice was that the ink was dark… The blue almost seemed like a black-blue and the red, while not dark, was very vibrant and eye-catching. With a three-second drying time, it’s also pretty good for lefties…

While these were a little pricey, they were ultimately worth the money in my opinion. Definitely would recommend these and most likely will be adding them to my daily-use pens…

Final Score: 43/50  =  4.3 out of 5 Stars…