Posts filed under Ballpoint

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Review

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Continuing in my personal quest to collect as many green things as I can this year, I've been using the Ritma from Monteverde as my pen for taking notes at my desk during the workday. The Ritma is a minimal design that looks great and is easy to use.

It doesn't matter how many amazing fountain pens I have in my collection — I always have room in my daily kit for a humble ballpoint pen. They don't write as well or produce anywhere near the level of beautiful and nuanced lines as my fountain pens, but they're so simple. They utilitarian in a way that fountain pens often struggle. They require little maintenance and can take a lot of punishment. What they gain in utilitarianism, they certainly lose in style and customization.

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen

For a ballpoint to be comfortable for me to use, I'm looking for a few things: a good refill, a comfortable grip, and a balanced weight. At first glance, I didn't think the Ritma would be comfortable to use, but I let the pretty green color convince me to give it a try anyway — and I'm glad I did! It's actually a really comfortable pen to use.

The nose of the pen is shiny and looks like it would be a fingerprint magnet, but it doesn't actually attract a lot of fingerprints. And, when I see a shiny surface finish like this, I automatically assume that it will be slippery to handle and won't work well for writing more than a few words before I get annoyed with the unstable grip. This isn't the case with the Ritma. Whatever finish Monteverde used for the grip are is fantastic. It provides plenty of grip and friction even after writing for a while. This is good news because the nose/grip section is long enough that most people will only grip it by this area instead of the more textured barrel area.

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Clip

The other factor that makes this pen comfortable to use is the balanced weight. It's not a super lightweight pen — it has some heft, but not so much to cause fatigue after a short period. When holding the pen, it feels like the center of gravity is close to the grip area, with just enough weight at the top of the pen to provide a nice balance when writing so that you have excellent control of the tip. I was surprised by how well it balanced in my hand once I held in my normal writing grip. According to the specifications, the pen is a combination of steel and aluminum. I'm guessing the grip is steel, and the outside of the body is aluminum. The steel materials add an appropriate amount of weight in all the right spots.

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Twist

To achieve a minimal look, the Ritma uses a twist mechanism to control the refill extension. A half rotation of the grip section is all it takes to extend or retract the refill. You can do this one-handed, but it requires you to do some minor hand gymnastics to shuffle the pen orientation back and forth to operate the twist mechanism and then return to writing position. I normally use both hands to open/close the pen, but I wish it was a bit easier to operate with one hand. This is where the click mechanism wins in use, but they don't look as sleek as this one!

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Refill

Writing with the Ritma is a great experience. The balance is great for my standard three-finger grip, and I don't feel fatigue after writing a couple of pages non-stop. The refill that ships with the Ritma is a black Monteverde P1, but the pen will accept any Parker-style refill. There are many, many fantastic options in this format, which is another win for the Ritma. You can easily swap in another ballpoint refill (I prefer the Schmidt EasyFlow 9000) or even a gel refill. While the Monteverde refill is good and reliable, I prefer the Schmidt refill because it's smoother and darker. Again, it's great that the pen accepts such a ubiquitous refill so that you can swap in your favorite refill if you want.

Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Comparison

The Monteverde Ritma is $36, and this feels like a good price for what you get. It feels like a high-quality product when you handle it and write with it, and it looks great too. It's subtle enough to be at home in a professional setting, but it's also sturdy enough to be used in a portable setup with no problems. If you like the design, then this is a great ballpoint pen to pick up for yourself or as a gift. And, if you don't like the green there are several other colors to choose from too!

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Monteverde Ritma Ballpoint Pen Writing
Posted on May 14, 2025 and filed under Monteverde, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Pen Review

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's that time of year again: annual edition color schemes for Lamy's Safari and Al-Star pen lines. For 2025, we have several lovely options to choose from, and I decided to give the Aubergine Al-Star a whirl since the yellow-green section was calling out to me. While some people lean more toward either the Safari or Al-Star, I just tend to follow the colors that I like. They're both great pen designs in my book!

The Aubergine edition of the Al-Star is a dusty gray-purple body paired with a yellow-green translucent section and black hardware. When looking at the images online, I couldn't decide if I really liked the body color, but the section is what really got me. I'm a sucker for bright translucent anything.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Pen

I was hoping that the body would be a more striking color in person, but I was a bit disappointed by it. It's a unique color for sure, but it doesn't match up with my idea of aubergine. Here's a color swatch and then a photo of various aubergine fruits from around the world. I'm not crazy, right? Aubergine wasn't a great name for this color.

Naming issues aside, it's still a bit of a dull color in my eyes. There's a small hint of purple, but this is mostly a dark gray body. Despite the underwhelming body color, the section easily saves the pen for me. It's a bright, fluorescent color that just begs to be picked up and used or turned around in your hand to let the light do fun things to the material.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Grip

The cone is a matte black metal, the nock plunger is a soft black material, and the clip is Lamy's standard glossy black material. Nothing crazy, and I think they could have had a little bit more fun with either the clip color or the nose color (or both??). Oh well! The other Al-Star option for this year, Denim, also seems to have missed an opportunity to really capitalize on the fun colors, but it's also quite a looker.

Writing with the Al-Star ballpoint is a mediocre experience. The Lamy M16 refill is decent, but my main gripe with every one I try is that they take a little too long to start working after they've been idle for more than a few minutes. It's normal for ballpoint to take a second to wake up, but the M16 takes longer than most. It wouldn't be so bad if there were other options available to swap out the M16, but that's not the case. Lamy's proprietary refill is just about the only player in the market, outside of Monteverde's options, which aren't much better.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Refill

Personal gripes aside, the M16 refill is totally capable and works fine 99% of the time. I'm just spoiled by some of the other ballpoint options out there. I'll be (un)patiently waiting for Lamy to release M16 refills that use the Jetstream's ink formula.

If you've ever used a Lamy Safari or Al-Start before, then you'll know how this pen feels in the hand. The grip section has a unique shape that favors the standard tripod grip — index, thumb, and middle — to hold the pen steady when writing. This doesn't work for everyone, and means that it's not a great option for people that use different grips that are incompatible with this type of grip design. For me, I can use a standard tripod grip after a little adjustment period, and the Al-Star/Safari is comfortable for me after that. I just have to keep myself from subconsciously rotating the pen a bit when I reset my grip after a few words or sentences.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Comparison

One of the things I love about the ballpoint versions of these pens has always been the covered nock mechanism. I love the squishy accordion-like design and the unique feel it produces when extending or retracting the tip.

Overall, the Aubergine is a fun color for the Al-Star. Yes, I wish they would have made better choices regarding the body color, but it's still a winner for me due to the grip section. If it speaks to you, then grab one! As always, they're available as ballpoints, fountain pens, mechanical pencils, and rollerballs.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Writing
Posted on April 23, 2025 and filed under Lamy, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Pentel Calme 0.5 mm Ballpoint Pen Review

Pentel Calme 0.5 mm Ballpoint Pen Review

It took me a while to come around to the Pentel Calme Ballpoint Pen. Why? Competition.

The $1 to $3 pen market is outrageously competitive, often to our benefit. Companies are willing to invest in barrel designs and ink formulations, all in an effort to make a name on the store shelves, and eventually our shopping carts.

The Calme is a fantastic pen. The barrel is super comfortable, including a half-length of the pen rubberized grip area. The knock is integrated to the clip, and it is smooth and quiet. You won’t be able to annoy your office mates with this one. And I love this limited Mauve Pink edition.

Pentel Calme 0.5 mm Ballpoint Pen

Writing-wise, the Calme uses Pentel’s Vicuna ink, their hybrid ballpoint ink formulation - aka, their uniball Jetstream competitor. This a solid refill. The lines are sharp, and mostly clean. Honestly, I have no complaints.

Except that other pens exist.

There were three pens I immediately wanted to put up against the Pentel Calme: the Zebra Blen 0.5 mm Ballpoint, uniball Jetstream 0.5 mm Ballpoint, and the uniball Jetstream Lite Touch 0.5 mm Ballpoint. To go ahead and spoil the results, I’d take all three of those pens over the Calme.

Pentel Calme Comparison

L to R: Pentel Calme, Zebra BLen, uniball Jetstream 4+1, uniball Jetstream Lite Touch.

The Zebra BLen is the closest in writing performance. 0.5 mm pens write fine lines to begin with, but Ballpoints - as compared to Gel and Rollerball inks - leave an even finer line. Both the Calme and the BLen have excellent fine lines, but I found the BLen more comfortable to hold, and have even quieter mechanics, which is a feature Zebra focused on for this pen.

Putting the Calme up against the Jetstream is where the ink begins to separate the pens. The writing experience is better with the Jetstream. The ink is smoother, darker, and cleaner. There is a reason this is my favorite Ballpoint pen. I will say that I might like the Calme barrel over the standard Jetstream Sport, but not by a wide margin.

Pentel Calme Writing

The pen that makes all of these pens obsolete is the uniball Jetstream Lite Touch. uniball created a true step up in ink quality and color, and the only issue right now is availability. You can find them at importers like JetPens in the US, but not yet on the store shelves outside of Japan. Hopefully that changes in the next year or two because it is that good.

Where does that put the Pentel Calme at the end of the day? As I said before, it’s a good pen in a competitive category. If I were making a tier list, it would land in the B-tier through no fault of its own. It’s simply up against A-tier (BLen and Jetstream,) and S-tier (Jetstream Lite Touch,) competition.

At $2.50, I like it enough to own and use when the feeling hits, but I won’t need a stash of them around the house.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Pentel Calme Ballpoint
Posted on February 10, 2025 and filed under Pentel, Calme, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.