Well, after almost 2 months of inactivity here's a new review. I have plenty of pens to review, I just forget about it or don;t have time to do it.
This time is the Zebra Eco Sarasa Clip 0.7mm, I picked a 2-pack of these at Office Max during a sale they had last week, 25%off their eco products so I could not resist.
This pen is exactly the same as the Asian Sarasa Clip which you can get from JetPens (they now call it the Push Clip), the Sarasa Clip is not found at normal stores here in the US (not that I know of) but the Eco is. The main difference is that the Eco's clip is clear plastic as opposed to the clip of the Asian Clip which is the color of the ink. I feel it to be far more comfortable than the regular Sarasa, which is not bad at all, but the Clip is better.
The interesting part is this. According to their website, the Eco Sarasa is made of 81% post consumer waste, including Polypropylene (good, those grocery bags are filling up our landfills), Polycarbonate from CD's and headlamps and Polyacetal from cassette tape reels, plus the packaging that is 100% post consumer waste.
I feel that this is a good approach on becoming greener, of course, trying to get rid of things like paper magazines or newspapers is outrageous, but the idea of helping the environment using pens made of recyclable materials (which are already recycled) is good and not very expensive (unlike switching your 5.3L V8 Chevy Tahoe for a $45000 Hybrid Tahoe). Also remember that it takes a regular Sarasa cartridge so you can get a 0.4mm or 0.5mm cartridge from Jetpens and still be green enough. Uniball Signo and Pentel Energel / Hybrid Technica refills fit too (I did have a needle point Sarasa for a while)
The downside, it comes only in black, but hey, you can still put other cartridges in there. And the rubber grip tends to collect some lint.
The pictures will appear later since my camera is in my truck and I already feel the symptoms of sleep deprivation.
Showing posts with label gel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gel. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Monday, 4 August 2008
Uni-ball Signo Premier 207 0.7
My second review, another Uniball, this time a high end one.
The Premier is Uni-ball's high end gel pen, it comes in a size that's milimeters longer than the regular 207, it uses the same chrome tip and pocket clip. It is however, thicker, not a lot, but you do feel a difference. The main difference of the Premier is it's soft gel grip, it is a really comfortable grip, not just a rubber cylinder that increases traction, this soft gel grip squeezes depending on how much pressure you apply, and the grip area is thicker than the pen's body, but you can squeeze it to a much smaller diameter. I don't think I have seen a similar grip in pens other than Uni's Premier, Uni Japan (Mitsubishi Pencil Co.) α-gel and a pen marketed as Sensa, which I haven't seen in years.
This pen does come in a higer price, I can't remember exactly, but should be around the $6-7* tag, considerably higher than the regular 207, but once it runs out you can just add a new catridge. It sells in 3 body colors, silver, gold and a weird shade of blue/purple (kinda resembles a color offered in the Ford Explorer back in the late 90s), mine is silver, and all come with a 0.7mm black cartridge. I don't know what's the current situation with them, they might be offered with the 0.7mm now, I think Jetpens sells the 0.5mm ones. But again, you can replace the cartridge with any that fits. This includes
-Uniball Signo cartridges, 0.38, 0.5, 0.7
-Zebra Sarasa cartridges, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0
-Pentel Hybrid / Technica / Energel cartridges, 0.5, 0.7, 0.35 Needle, 0.50 needle, 0.70 needle
If you love needle point pens, the Pentel Hybrid Technica / Energel refill fits like a charm, it requires no modifications at all. I have no idea about the availability of such a refill, down here they only sell the normal refill, so I had to buy several Energels in order to harvest the refills for my 207.
It is also possible to swap nibs to get a needle point with 207 ink, or order 207ND cartridges from Europe, but that comes with a price tag.
Sticking to the original black 0.7 207 refill. This pen is really comfortable, it became my ally for the long chemistry summaries and other long pieces of work. It feels heavier than the 207, however, doesn't feel extremely heavy, a weight that becomes more noticeable with the Pilot G-2 Limited for example. I never tried this one in a school setting, since it's a nice pen that more than one would have wanted to steal, and I have the impression that the grip will attract dust and small particles, which give it a nasty feeling of being dirty, and is only cleanable with alcohol (this happens a lot with the Zebra Airfit pencil), something that would happen in minutes in my pocket.
It also seems to me that Uni-ball is marketing this as a pen that's more suited to a serious user who wants a good pen, one that looks serious but doesn't come with the price tag of a Montblanc, these people tend to have a pen that just gets refilled over and over again and is well cared for, instead of buy by the dozen marketing that is more suited to the regular Signo (or buy by the truckload like the Gelstick). In fact, I have only seen it packaged in single units and in some stores only. Its existence in Mexico is limited, perhaps none unless you buy them in the US and bring them down (such was my case back in February) and I haven't seen it in Panama.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one to have on my desk, but for everyday use I'd probably pick a regular 207 since I would be less worried about losing them or using them in dangerous places (labs for example). If my fears of it picking up dust and dirt are confirmed, I would completely confine this pen to desk use, since I store pens in the place that is more handy, whether that's my pocket, between the buttons of a polo, somewhere in my bag, etc. This one would make a good companion for a serious event (like a conference, Model UN, real UN important meetings, etc) since it looks good, professional and it's cheap (you are not immune to lose a pen in those cases so it's better to lose a Premier than a Montblanc)
The Premier is Uni-ball's high end gel pen, it comes in a size that's milimeters longer than the regular 207, it uses the same chrome tip and pocket clip. It is however, thicker, not a lot, but you do feel a difference. The main difference of the Premier is it's soft gel grip, it is a really comfortable grip, not just a rubber cylinder that increases traction, this soft gel grip squeezes depending on how much pressure you apply, and the grip area is thicker than the pen's body, but you can squeeze it to a much smaller diameter. I don't think I have seen a similar grip in pens other than Uni's Premier, Uni Japan (Mitsubishi Pencil Co.) α-gel and a pen marketed as Sensa, which I haven't seen in years.
This pen does come in a higer price, I can't remember exactly, but should be around the $6-7* tag, considerably higher than the regular 207, but once it runs out you can just add a new catridge. It sells in 3 body colors, silver, gold and a weird shade of blue/purple (kinda resembles a color offered in the Ford Explorer back in the late 90s), mine is silver, and all come with a 0.7mm black cartridge. I don't know what's the current situation with them, they might be offered with the 0.7mm now, I think Jetpens sells the 0.5mm ones. But again, you can replace the cartridge with any that fits. This includes
-Uniball Signo cartridges, 0.38, 0.5, 0.7
-Zebra Sarasa cartridges, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0
-Pentel Hybrid / Technica / Energel cartridges, 0.5, 0.7, 0.35 Needle, 0.50 needle, 0.70 needle
If you love needle point pens, the Pentel Hybrid Technica / Energel refill fits like a charm, it requires no modifications at all. I have no idea about the availability of such a refill, down here they only sell the normal refill, so I had to buy several Energels in order to harvest the refills for my 207.
It is also possible to swap nibs to get a needle point with 207 ink, or order 207ND cartridges from Europe, but that comes with a price tag.
Sticking to the original black 0.7 207 refill. This pen is really comfortable, it became my ally for the long chemistry summaries and other long pieces of work. It feels heavier than the 207, however, doesn't feel extremely heavy, a weight that becomes more noticeable with the Pilot G-2 Limited for example. I never tried this one in a school setting, since it's a nice pen that more than one would have wanted to steal, and I have the impression that the grip will attract dust and small particles, which give it a nasty feeling of being dirty, and is only cleanable with alcohol (this happens a lot with the Zebra Airfit pencil), something that would happen in minutes in my pocket.
It also seems to me that Uni-ball is marketing this as a pen that's more suited to a serious user who wants a good pen, one that looks serious but doesn't come with the price tag of a Montblanc, these people tend to have a pen that just gets refilled over and over again and is well cared for, instead of buy by the dozen marketing that is more suited to the regular Signo (or buy by the truckload like the Gelstick). In fact, I have only seen it packaged in single units and in some stores only. Its existence in Mexico is limited, perhaps none unless you buy them in the US and bring them down (such was my case back in February) and I haven't seen it in Panama.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one to have on my desk, but for everyday use I'd probably pick a regular 207 since I would be less worried about losing them or using them in dangerous places (labs for example). If my fears of it picking up dust and dirt are confirmed, I would completely confine this pen to desk use, since I store pens in the place that is more handy, whether that's my pocket, between the buttons of a polo, somewhere in my bag, etc. This one would make a good companion for a serious event (like a conference, Model UN, real UN important meetings, etc) since it looks good, professional and it's cheap (you are not immune to lose a pen in those cases so it's better to lose a Premier than a Montblanc)
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