Moleskine Click Roller Pen 0.5 mm Review

I have knocked Moleskine for ages for the lack of value in their product offerings but their gel ink pens keep sucking me back in. At $15 they are way overpriced - it feels like a $5 pen, if that - but the ink cartridge is the best I’ve tried in ages and I find myself using it all of the time.

The Click Roller isn’t my favorite of the three I own. That honor goes to the Classic Roller, which made a surprise appearance on my last Top 5 list. I thought the Click might take the top spot, but I have trouble with the knock sticking when I want to retract the pen. I’ve taken it apart in an effort to adjust it but it still sticks way too much.

Congratulations Moleskine on manufacturing a product I enjoy using.

Moleskine Classic Roller Pen Review

Moleskine fans have been clamoring for accessories such as pens and pencils to match their favorite black notebooks for years and Moleskine finally delivered. I personally wasn’t too anxious to try them since I am not a big Moleskine user but the Classic Roller Pen is a very nice addition to the product line.

I had low expectations of this pen prior to reviewing it but it has turned out to be one of the best writing pens I own. The big red flag for many is the rectangular shape of the barrel. It doesn’t look like it would be comfortable to hold, especially for any length of time. When I first picked up the pen it felt odd but after a few lines I didn’t notice it was different from any other pen. Granted, I have a standard writing grip and you might find the barrel design a deal breaker depending on how you hold the pen.

The thing that made me forget about the rectangular barrel is how nice the gel ink cartridge is. I haven’t used a pen this smooth and consistent since I don’t know when. The 0.5 mm tip is a pleasure to write with. It is on par with the Pentel EnerGel for smoothness and is not as wet. As I was writing I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but it never did. Impressive performance.

The unique pen clip is designed to attach to the cover of your Moleskine, but it will work on other hard cover notebooks as well. It is the lone metal piece of the barrel, with the remainder being a lightweight plastic. I would have preferred a little more weight to the barrel but it is fine overall.

At $14.95 this is not a throwaway pen so you will need to decide if it is going to suit your writing style. There are two 0.5 mm refills and six 0.7 mm refills so there are additional options to choose from down the line if you want to switch it up. I enjoy writing with mine and plan to make it a major part of my writing arsenal.

For another look at the Moleskine Classic Roller check out Brian’s review at Office Supply Geek.

Moleskine Memo Cards Review

After my Levenger Note Cards review last week, I figured I would back it up with these Moleskine Memo Cards pretty quickly. While they both appeal to the same audience, they are both very different when comparing the two directly.

The Moleskine Memo Cards come packaged 20 to a pack, with 10 gridded cards and 10 lined cards. Unlike the Levenger cards, they are printed on both sides. They measure 3 /12" x 5 1/2" and also have rounded corners, which I really like as a design element on these cards. One of the issues I have always had with Moleskine products is the poor quality of the paper, and if you have used a Moleskine product before, then you are familiar with how these memo cards perform.

The micro tip pens like the Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.25mm gel ink pens perform poorly, as do many of the finer gel ink pens (although the Signo DX 0.38mm is not bad), but the wider gel ink pens and the liquid ink pens do a nice job. What really surprised me was how well my fountain pens performed. While I would have a tough time even using them on the Levenger cards, I thought they were great on the Moleskine cards. Who knew?

But now for the real kicker - the price. Holy cow are these expensive. My 20 pack was $8.95 at Amazon, making them nearly 8 times more expensive than the Levenger cards. While there are several things I like about these Moleskine cards, there is no way I could justify that price in any quantity. Heck, I'm scared to use the remaining ones I have in case certain retailers start taking them as a form of payment.

Out of the higher end note cards, I still need to try out the Exacompta (I have some on order), but right now the Levenger cards are looking like the winner.