Parker Jotter 60th Anniversary Ballpoint Pen Review

I had a bad time with my first Parker Jotter. Readers had been on me for years to review it and I kept putting it off for one reason or another. Mostly because I kept forgetting to order one. When I finally got it in hand I was not impressed. The ballpoint ink cartridge was terrible, and while yes, I could swap it out for a superior refill, the as-sold impression was not a good one.

Enter the Parker Jotter 60th Anniversary Ballpoint Pen.

Hesitant is how I would describe myself adding this pen to my cart at JetPens. I'm open to second chances though, and really, who could pass up these great barrel colors reminiscent of the heydey of the Jotter. This is a classic pen, recognizable anywhere. Even Don Draper would approve.

I approve this time around too. After using the blue 1.0 mm refill in this model I'm starting to wonder if the 1.0 mm black refill in my first Jotter was a dud. It was horribly scratchy and felt like the tip was diggining into the page. The refill in the 60th Anniversary model was smooth, solid, and clean. Pretty much everything you could ask for in a standard ballpoint refill.

Deciding on which barrel color to go with was not an easy task. I opted for Gray Green, but Pink and Coral were both options, and Whiteness may be the most classic of them all. The Gray Green looks great in person, and all the pens ship in a nice two-tone box, making it perfect for giving to your favorite stationery challenged friend.

All in all, the Parker 60th Anniversary Jotter is an excellent pen. Does it write as well as a Jetstream? No. Is it as good a value as an Acroball? No. But the Jotter has that little something extra that is hard to pinpoint. It's been around for 60 years for a reason, right?

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

Parker IM Liquid Ink Roller Ball Review

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that I'm a sucker for metal barrel writing instruments. This is the reason I flicked the Parker IM rollerball into my cart one day when I was browsing through the different rollerballs on JetPens. It's the only Parker rollerball on JetPens, so I thought I'd give it a try. In short, I love the design and aesthetic of the pen, but not the refill.

Aesthetics

The Parker IM has a really pleasing look and feel. I opted for the gunmetal finish, which is a dark gray with a silver sheen. The accents look like chrome, although they probably aren't real. The clip on the pen has the classic Parker arrow shape, which is a nice touch. My favorite part of the pen is the all-metal grip area – this is a huge plus for me. I love pens with metal grips.

The pen is a little on the heavy side, but it's not noticeable unless writing for more than 20 minutes or so. I usually write with it unposted anyway. The pen looks classy and feels well-built.

And then I tried to write with it.

Writing performance

I was greeted by poor ink flow and a really scratchy sound when I tried to write. It sounded like I was writing with a nail, and the ink trail looked like I was using a ballpoint pen that hadn't been used in a few months. It was skippy and faint. I was perplexed.

A little background info that might be helpful here: I hold my pen in the "standard" grip. The grip rests on my middle finger, and my thumb and index finger hold it in place. The angle of the pen to the page is usually between 40 and 60 degrees. From my knowledge, that's a fairly common and universal grip.

I couldn't write with the Parker unless I held it perpendicular to the page – 90 degrees – any deviation would result in the scratchy sound and feel. This was frustrating, so I put it away for a bit. I wondered if there was something I did wrong. Did this pen have some sort of seal on the tip like some of the gel pens? It didn't look like it.

After fiddling with some other pens, I had an idea. I put the Parker refill through a similar process as smoothing a fountain pen nib. Figure eights and infinity symbols on varying grades of grit while holding it at a 45 degree angle.

To my relief, a few rounds of smoothing produced a better (not perfect) result. It was closer to what I was expecting, but still scratchy. At least the ink was flowing well now. And, wow. This ink flows. It's extremely smooth and bold ink. Parker calls this a "medium" point, but I would call it a bold. It looks like a 1.0 mm line on the page.

My only guess is that I received a refill that wasn't quite ready for retail. Maybe there was too much metal around the roller ball that was causing the problem? Seems like that might be the case since a little grinding made it better.

But really, who's going to do that to a roller ball? These are the types of refills that just work straight away. I considered buying a replacement refill, but decided it wasn't worth it. They're the same price as the Schmidt refills used in the Retro 51s, but I'd much prefer those to the Parker. The Zebra R-301 is only a few bucks and delivers a stellar performance.

Instead, I set out to find another refill that I could retrofit into the body. It's pretty universal and will accept a Pilot G2 size or a Pentel Energel with very little fuss. I used a 0.25" piece of tubing from the kit I received with the Retrakt to provide the right amount of spacing for the refill. Perfect.

Conclusion

I'll continue using the Parker IM, but not with the Parker refill. For now, I have several better options that produce smooth, silent results on the page. Maybe one day I'll try another Parker refill in this pen to see if I got a lemon, but I doubt it.

JetPens sells several colors of the Parker IM roller ball. With the experience I had with it, I can't really recommend it unless you're prepared to do some retrofitting or tuning.

(You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution, Twitter, and App.net.)

Parker Quink Blue Black Ink Review

It's not often I get to use the word portmanteau (unless I'm watching TMZ, of course) but that is exactly what the Quink in Parker Quink is. It is a combination of 'quick', as in quick drying, and 'ink', as in, well, ink. Those two features are what made Parker Quink fountain pen ink so popular in its heyday, but how does it compare to the wide range of inks now available to consumers?

I am a bit of a blue black aficionado so of course I chose Parker's entry into this crowded color field to see how I liked it. The ink is very well behaved, flowing nicely from my TWSBI 1.5 mm stub nib and leaving behind excellent shading characteristics. It dries reasonably quickly as well, although not as quink (see what I did there?) as something like Noodler's Bernanke Blue.

My hold up with falling in love with this ink is the color. With very few exceptions, I like my blue black inks to contain just those two shades. Parker Quink Blue Black has too much green in it for me to use regularly. It is hard to explain, and even hard to see in the pictures, but there is something not as pure about it as say Lamy Blue Black or Pelikan Blue Black, which are two of my favorites.

If the color is to your liking you will love how this ink performs. You will love the price too, and I can see it being many people's workhorse ink. For me, I'll be inking up with something else.

For another take on this classic ink check out the review from Seize the Dave.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)