Friday 28 November 2008

Uni-Ball Vision Needle Fine



A new addition to Uniball's lineup. It is available as Fine and Micro and in a variety of colors.

Contrary to what The Pen Addict did, I have to say that it is a really good pen, no bleed, almost no feathering and good feeling. The key is in the paper, it will perform miserably if you use 15/16lb regular paper, it will be barely decent with 20lb bond paper, and the best performance so far is in the Staples Eco-Easy Paper Pads, probably because of the paper composition (it's mainly a cellulose obtained from sugarcane bagasse), the only problem is that the ink doesn't dry out very fast, so you can have disastrous results (lefties, don't even try it).

I got a 4 pack of black ones at Walmart, and yes, the performance was bad at first, until I tried the Staples paper, which gave really good results.

The pen itself is a normal Vision, just that the graphics are different, the needle tip of course, and the end cap is from the UB Boxy, the Asia-Pacific version of the eye/Vision. The large cap with the clip is a new design.

Monday 17 November 2008

Staples Eco-Friendly Writing Pads


Well, during a trip to Staples yesterday I stopped at the writing pads section and found a new product, some Staples brand Eco-Friendly Writing Pads, while taking a closer look the paper looked good quality, so I decided to get a 2-pack, after all, at $1.99+tax, $1/pad is decent.

After arriving home I decided to open one and check it, well, the paper is really good. Even though it feels as light as 15/16 lb paper, pens glide like it were 20 lb, and feathering is almost nonexistant. It has a slight bright and smooth texture which makes it feel so good.

The big deal in these pads is that the paper is made from sugarcane waste (bagasse), which is rich in cellulose, it is not recycled paper itself, just made from waste, and for being made out of waste, it is good. I assume that because of this material the paper looks different, I might be wrong though, but I don't care much for that.

Also, I find myself taking notes in class very often and then re-copying them neatly, because while you are rushing in class, everything is scratched, rewritten, fast drawings, etc, so the idea of spending $1 in a pad that might end up in the recycle can doesn't seem that bad, unlike throwing away a $3 Doane Paper pad for example. The only bad thing is that the back of the pad is thin cardboard, unlike many pads that have thick, rigid backs.

The pad has 50 sheets and comes in both letter size and a smaller one.

Here's the page for the letter size one http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p4__253774_Business_Supplies_0_10051_SC1:CG10:CL140569 the website only has it in a 12-pack, so if you don't want 12, then stop by a Staples.

I finally have pictures for the blog, they will be up soon, together with 4 reviews.