Thursday, September 13, 2012

Zebra Trio

I have reviewed a few Zebra's here at Good Pens in the past. Here's the list and some have even made my top tens.  So, I was pretty stoked when Shoplet.com sent over a pile of the little fellas for review.  I was pretty familiar with this line of office supplies and Zebras and I knew they had a gel version (G 301) but had never written with one.  I like this line of pens,  they look good in combination. Sort of how matching pens and pencils should look.  
I see a lot of pen and pencil sets on eBay and on the pen forums from back in the day and I wish they would not have gone away. In fairness...these are not sold as a set-but if you get creative on your shopping and you can have a nice ballpoint or gel /.5 mechanical "set" that looks nice.  These Zebras are a little bit lighter than I remember mainly because they are not solid metal.  There's enough plastic on the front and the back to lighten the load.
So here they are:  being watched over by Marty.  It's pretty clear, Gel is Gel, BP is ballpoint and 0.5 is the pencil.  What I did not know until I looked in the product guide that they also make a Fountain Pen. What?  Why didn't I know this? (The search has commenced.)
Here's the business end of all three.  I have bigger hands- so writing with these for a long time is a little strenuous.  More-so with the ballpoint than with the gel.  The plastic isn't rubbery at all,  it's a harder plastic that doesn't give a ton of grip but still works because of the knurling.
 Ooh,  Gel, thank you...nicely done.  The ink is thick and puts itself on the paper nicely.  It's pretty close to a true .5 even on bad paper.  Black and consistent= Exactly like I like my coffee. Just my opinion,  but I prefer the gel over the bp for my writing.
 Again,  the ballpoint is a little odd for me, because except for reviews or in extreme emergencies,  I rarely write with a normal ballpoint. Clicking the picture makes this larger and you get a better feel for the way the rubber meets the road.
The other thing I noticed about these pens (and pencils) is that they are really clicky. If I were in a conference room and someone was consistently clicking this thing unconsciously I might have to jump across the table and silence them, but in reality that means a solid working mechanism,  so I won't argue.  So, thanks Shoplet.  They are also kicking off a contest that is fun here.

I will get the winner of the August contest out and change the rules a little for September.  The Tumblr is getting some good stuff on it and there's always Facebook if you like that sort of thing.

Seth

Monday, September 10, 2012

Sunday, September 9, 2012

My Ideal Pen Cup

Click for a better image.   If this were any larger it would just be a 5 gallon bucket.  Odd question...can anyone name that square gray one in the lower right side by the red Sarasa?

Seth

Moonman AKA The Camry

OK,  Camry MIGHT be a little bit of a stretch comparison.   Low cost and will run forever.  The Moonman M2 is a super fun Chines...