What did she bring me #4 Pilot Frixion

What Did She Bring Me? usually involves asking my wife to go out and "pick up a pen." No questions asked and at this point now she just rolls her eyes and throws a new pen on my desk in a day or two. I think with this one, she was kind of messing with me.

You lefties will appreciate the way these pens are facing. In fact, this might be a first, I usually face my pen points to the left. In this case, it would have made the writing on the cap upside down. (odd) The tribal graphics seem a little out of place to me, but apparently the marketing works, because she bought them.

When I first opened these I didn't notice the little nub here. But I am a smart(ish) guy and I quickly realized that's the eraser (palm to forehead.) Oh... cool, these are eraserable. I should have read the packaging. I had my doubts.

So I took the three pens and started writing "This is a mistake" and then began erasing words. I was pretty impressed with how well the ink just disappeared. I erased these about 10 seconds after writing and yes, that pink is pink...like bubblegum pink. My kingdom for some blue ink. It's rare that something in the new pen world impresses me...but this actually worked.

My favorite eraser chewed through this ink with no problem as well. I am not sure if and or where these will fit into my daily pen world. I might actually go back and buy some blue and black to have because these colors are a little strong (by strong I mean horribly bright) for me, but overall, I am glad these showed up on my desk.

What did she bring me...Episode #2 and a Giveaway

This is episode #2 of just asking my wife to just "pick up a pen for me." No questions asked, no guidance and then I review it.
Yesterday I found a 3 pack of Pilot Precise V5 "Begreen" pens sitting on my desk with a receipt for about $3.49 from Target. It's my second green pen, I also reviewed the V Corn here. Sweet!


Other than having a massive green logo on the side, I really like this pen. Don't worry, the other side is solid black. The packaging says "xfine 0.5" but it really feels like a .4 or even a 3.5. Much finer than I expected. I am very pleasantly surprised at the thin lines this was putting down. The packaging says that the pens is 89.2% made from recycled content and refills are available.  I really like it.  It's going into the rotation.



In the spirit of reduce, reuse, recycle....and since there were 3 in the pack...I have a small and very unofficial giveaway. (Meaning, don't sue me, I am making this up as I go along.)  I just counted all the pens on my desk and emailed that number to my buddy Matt. The rules are simple, leave a comment on this post with how many pens you think I had on my desk. To the person who guesses the closest, I will fire off one of these pens to you.

The Fine Print:

The Price is Right Rules are in place...closest without going over. One entry per person and Matt is sworn to secrecy (you can try, but no amount of torture will break him) and he is also exempt from the giveaway. Feel free to bring the funny for a chance at another pen and all this ends on Wednesday at 8:00 AM Eastern*. Good luck!

*update,  I will name the winner(s) in my Wednesday morning post. 

** update #2:  "On my desk" includes pens in cups as well as just sitting on my desk.  Adjust your guess if needed

What did she bring me? Episode #1

Zebra F-701 from Staples



If you are just joining in, I asked my wife to pick up a pen for me, no questions asked... for a review. I have a cabinet full of vintage fountain pens, perfect gel rollers, brush pens and now I own a  shiny new ball-point.


Click for a better view.

To her credit, it looks like a nice pen. It's metal, sturdy, slim and with a knurled grip. I just am not sure I will ever use it. I love a heavy line of ink and this one seems like it's not putting out the effort. The one thing I did notice is that when writing, it is extremely smooth compared to the thin pens I have been writing with and it says .7 but the line feels much thinner to me.



The receipt says 6.00 and to me that seems expensive for what you get, In my mind, that's half a bottle of Noodlers, or 4 Sarasa's,I only did a few tests with this, but I will give it a day of writing just to be sure.