New Pens! : A Follow Up Post

Check out the new pens I scored today.
Here's what I picked up, all of them are 0.5mm:

• 3 Zebra Sarasa Clip pens in cobalt blue, red orange, and light pink.  
• 5 Pilot Juice pens in black, blue, red, and green. 
• 2 Uni-ball Jetstream black in pens in the apricot & sky blue barrels.  

I looked up the prices for each pens online, and I bought all except the Pilot juice pens at a price less than the online retailer's selling price.  Not bad, if you ask me!

I can't wait to start writing with them.

New pens!

I checked the Ichiban Kan, a Japanese dollar store, on my usual Sunday trip into the city and saw that they carried both new Zebra Sarasa colors in 0.5mm and the uni-ball jetstream pens in 0.5mm! They also started carrying Pilot Juice pens.

I couldn't resist and bought a few of each.
Check in later this week for their reviews !

Review: Pilot Neo-Gel, Gel Ink Roller Ball Pen - 0.7mm

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Overall Look	7
Writing Smoothness	5
Overall Value	6
Overall Rating	6

I found a dozen of these pens in my room and figured I've test them out in a review.

Since I found these in an unmarked box, mostly untouched, I don't believe that I had bought them myself. (otherwise, I would have used them already! hah)  My guess is that someone in my family or a friend bought these and gave them to me for whatever reason.  But anyway, back to the review. 

At first glance, I was not that impressed with these pens. 
In comparison to my other pens, which also have clear barrels, there is just something about the Pilot Neo-Gel that is unappealing to me. 

Maybe its the colored plastic of the caps.  Maybe its the caps themselves (the curve of the clip bothers me a bit). Whatever it is exactly, I would not have picked these up if I was browsing the pen section at an office supply store.

One of the first things I noticed when writing with the Pilot Neo-Gel pen was a strange scratching sound.
It doesn't happen every time I write, but it happens more often than not. It's probably because it is a roller ball pen.
Aside from the scratching noise, in my normal cursive handwriting, this pen does not cut it. 

It may be partly because when I write, I don't put much pressure on the point but even when printing the ink skips or does not lay down a solid line. 

For a 0.7mm point, I knew it was going to be thicker than I normally write with, but for some reason the lines made with the Pilot Neo-Gel seem bigger.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who bought these.
But Looking online, these pens are available in 12-count boxes for $13. 
Not a bad price, but I would not spend my money on them.  

I definitely won't be using these to take notes or anything.
The Pilot Neo-Gel is the kind of pen I would lend out to people that I knew would not return it to me. 

That is how much I dislike this pen.

But if you like gel ink pens and are have a habit of losing pens frequently, these pens aren't the worst pens you can choose.

Souvenir & Novelty Pens from Disney Land

This is sort of a late post, but I spent my President's Day weekend on vacation in Disneyland. 
My family visits often, so I don't always notice what is being sold in the gift shops.
But with this blog in mind, I made it a point to check out to the kinds of character and souvenir pens the stores carried.  


Click the jump to see what kind of pens I found ! 

Review: Zebra F-301 Ballpoint Pen - 0.7mm

Overall Look	8
Writing Smoothness	10
Overall Value	7
Overall Rating	8

Looking for a ballpoint pen that is both durable and reliable?
Then check these out! 

Unlike pens I've previously reviews, the F-301 sports a slim, stainless steel body; this feature makes these pens extra durable but still light enough to carry around in your bag. The grip is plastic and it's color matches the color of the ink. Though the metal body and plastic grip look great, it is not so great when using this pen for extended amounts of time.  In my experience, using the pen becomes a little uncomfortable because the grip is just plastic and not cushioned as with rubber grips.  But hey, maybe that's just from the way I hold my writing utensils?

For a ball point pen, the ink flows really smoothly from the point and doesn't smear!
These pens have yet to fail me by skipping either, which happens often when I use ball point pens. Another thing that I like about these pens is that when writing with it, there is a sort of weight behind it.  I'm not sure how to describe it exactly, but it feels like you have something in your hand whereas some of my pens are very light and feel like there is nothing there!

0.7mm is the finest point available for the Zebra F-301; the other available sizes are 1.0mm and 1.6mm, which are much too thick for my liking. I was comparing the line made from these pens to my 0.7mm Uni-Jetstream, the only difference is that the Jetstream makes a more precise line. 


Zebra's F-301 can be bought in any major office supply store.  I bought these from Staples for about $4, and they came in a 2 pack. 


Overall, Zebra manufactures pretty solid pens, and the F-301 is no different. 
Not my favorite pens to use, but 10/10, would recommend.

Review: Uni-ball Jetstream Standard Ballpoint Pen - 0.38mm and 0.7mm

Overall Look	7
Writing Smoothness	9
Overall Value	10
Overall Rating	8

I acquired both these pens last year; it was love at first write! Not totally in love with their look, but they write incredibly well.  These pens are honestly my favorite pens to use everyday. 
The barrels are made of plastic and are very light weight. Depending on the point size you want, the barrels do come in different pastel colors, white, or black. If you haven't noticed from my pen collection yet, I'm a huge fan of colors. And had I not been gifted the 0.38mm pen, I would have definitely opted for the apricot colored body.

The rubber grip is comfortable when writing. On the colored barrels, the grips are little translucent and can look a dirty at times.  But they are easily cleaned with a little alcohol.
The reason I only awarded these pens a 7, is because the barrels look a little too large for my tastes.  But the look of this pen does not take away from how well this pen writes.

When writing with the 0.7mm pen, the point just glides across the paper.  The ink, on both pens, is super smooth.  I haven't had problems with ink clumping or bleeding on the paper.  The only complaint I have with my 0.38mm pen is that when I first started using it, it scratched and skipped a bit.  But this is common with super fine point pens, and it is no longer an issue.

Of the two sizes, I like the 0.38mm better.  0.7mm is just a tad too thick for my liking.  Once I finish either of these, I will be checking out the 0.5mm Jetstream pen, which should be more my style. 








My one serious complaint about these pens is that they don't hold as much ink as I would like them to.  The ink reservoirs are shorter than some of my other pens, for sure. But fear not! Ink refills can be purchased for these pens, if you'd rather refill than buy a new pen.

As for the price, I believe I paid around $4 for the blue bodied 0.7mm pen, but these pens can be found online for cheaper (~$2.50)

The Uni-ball Jetstream pens are great pens for both pen enthusiasts like myself, and those just looking for a good pen to write with.  Definitely check them out!

Hey Krista! What's in your pencil case?

Seeing as how my blog about pens, it only makes sense to show off the pens I carry around in my pencil case, right?

Click below to see the kinds of pens & other writing utensils I use the most!

Review: Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Ink Pen - 0.5mm

Overall Look	10
Writing Smoothness	9
Overall Value	9
Overall Rating	9

I bought the 10 color pen set from Jetpens.com at the beginning of last year with the intention of using them to help organize my class notes, but they easily became my favorite pens for everyday use.

What first attracted me to these pens were their vibrant colors -- there are 29 colors to choose from. Though I use black ink the most, my most frequently used colors magenta pink and blue green.  

Against the clear plastic of the body, the different colors definitely stands out.

The pen’s plastic barrel makes it durable and light weight.  And the matching rubber grip not only adds to the pop of color, but is comfortable for long periods of writing. Another great feature of this pen is the flexible clip that allows it to clip onto thicker objects without breaking.  


For a long time, I didn’t particularly like writing with gel ink pens because they tended to smear.  But with the Sarasa Clip, the water based ink flows smoothly and doesn’t scratch the paper like some other pens.  Honestly, I have very little problems with skipping or having the ink run dry in the middle of writing a sentence while using these pens. The only complaint I may have is that letters look way close together when writing in cursive with the 0.5mm pens, but its mostly because my handwriting is really small. 

I have only used the 0.5mm pens, but Sarasa Clip pens are also available in 0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.7mm, and 1.0mm (metallic colors only). 
And if you’re one to hate wasting pens once the ink is finished, refills are available for black, blue, black-blue, and red 



As previously mentioned, I purchased my pens online from Jetpens.com.  


You can purchase the set of 10 pens for $20 or a singular pen for $2.20.  


If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, these pens are available at Maido Stationary stores. 

In store, individual pens cost about $2.50.

At Maido's online website, you can buy individual pens for $1.50. 


Each of the websites offer free shipping on orders over $25!

If there is a Japanese dollar store in your area, you may want to check them out too.
I bought a couple of my pens from the Ichi Ban Kan at the Tanforan mall in San Bruno. 

 

Hope you enjoyed this review!

Maybe the Sarasa Clip will become one of your favorites too!