Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Ranga Premium Ebonite Abhimanyu Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

(Note: We listed the pen model incorrectly in the original post and have updated the name and product links accordingly. -Brad)

The only thing that frustrates me about this pen is that, no matter how many photos I take, I can't seem to quite capture how awesome it looks in person. The Ranga Abhimanyu from Peyton Street Pens has beautiful depth of color. This red and black colorway has swirls that look like an active lava flow. The ebonite is smooth, and the body and cap feel substantial and strong.

The cap screws off to reveal a grip section in the same ebonite material. It's nicely shaped with a taper that ends in a flair that keeps the fingers from slipping. This model has no clip, and both finials are gently shaped to a point. The overall shape reminds me of a Nakaya Piccolo, though this solid ebonite is much heavier. The Ranga isn't uncomfortably heavy, though. It's very well balanced and comfortable to write with, even for long writing sessions.

The grip unscrews from the body to access the converter. It takes a standard international cartridge or converter, but the pen can also be eyedroppered. The body threads are long, so it takes lots of unscrewing to access the ink chamber, and those threads come pre-greased, so it's ready to ink right away.

Once inked, it's revealed that this is not just a pretty pen. I really enjoyed writing with it. The nib is a #6 steel nib. This one is marked as a Fine, but Peyton Street Pens offers a number of sizes as well as some grinds. This one has a fine cursive italic grind on it, done by in-house nib grinder Nivardo Sanchez. The writing has great character, and the downstrokes are wider than the cross strokes. I might be slightly biased, because that is my favorite flavor of nib grind, but I adore the way it writes. It has a nice flow, it's super smooth, and I have had no issues with the pen drying out, even when I let it sit for a few days without use.

This model of pen comes in a variety of colors, from simple elegance to gloriously wacky. The price ranges from $72 to $105 depending on size, plus another $25 if you would like a custom nib grind, which is a very fair price. It's probably a little low, but don't tell them that; I might need a second one.

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

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Posted on July 6, 2023 by Sarah Read and filed under Peyton Street Pens, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Lamy Balloon Rollerball Review

The proof of concept period is complete, which means it is time for Lamy to finish the transformation of the Balloon Rollerball into the Vista Fountain Pen.

I first reviewed the Balloon over a decade ago, and the tale of two pens that was present in that design - great barrel, poor refill - unfortunately continues on in their latest version of this colorful pen. That’s what gets me the most about the Balloon: it’s a stunner! At least to look at. Writing? Not so much.

The Lamy T11 rollerball refill is the single worst proprietary refill they make, in a sea of other good to great proprietary refills. That was my primary complaint with the previous model. Given the usage of the same refill, I had hoped to see some performance improvements over the years, but my hope was misplaced.

The medium blue refill is inconsistent. That’s the long and short of it. A good rollerball line should be consistent and smooth, laying down a saturated ink color. The line from the Lamy T11 is so inconsistent, repeatedly going from thin line to thick, that I would almost say it is skipping. That’s a word I’ve never used in relation to a rollerball refill. It’s a bad writing experience, to be kind.

Odds were that this would be the expected result of the writing experience, but that’s not why I bought this pen to review. I bought it for the barrel.

Even though the Balloon uses the same terrible refill it always has, Lamy made some changes to the barrel design. Primarily focusing on the cap, they changed the clip to the famed Lamy wire clip, including the addition of a separate finial cap to slot the clip into.

Kind of looks like a Lamy Vista, doesn’t it?

My dream for Lamy has long been to upgrade the Vista fountain pen lineup to include transparent color barrels. Fun colors, as seen in the Balloon for years. Currently, Blue, Lime, and Pink are part of the rotation. Imagine Purple, or Orange? The technology to manufacture this type of barrel is obviously available, and now parts to match have been added to the lineup. So I have to ask: when, Lamy?

Soon, I hope.

Until then, I would avoid the Lamy Balloon, despite the cool looks, and the reasonable $18 price tag. The writing experience isn’t worth it.

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

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Posted on June 19, 2023 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Lamy, Balloon, Rollerball, Pen Reviews.

Sakura Mixline Highlighter Review

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

When it comes to highlighters, I certainly wouldn't consider myself a power user. Most weeks, I don't even use a highlighter. But I still understand the value and purpose that highlighters provide for so many people every day. They're essential in stationery, but you'd be remiss to think that all highlighters are the same. I thought I had seen it all, but the Sakura Mixline has shown me a new trick that I'm still not sure I need.

The Sakura Mixline is a combination highlighter and fineliner that also packs in a hidden feature on the highlighter side. Along with a chisel tip highlighter, there's a small fineliner tip nestled on the bottom side of the chisel tip. So, when you highlight something, you also underline it with the fineliner tip. Amazing! To make it stand out even more, the two tips are different colors that provide a nice contrast on the page.

The back side of the pen has a dedicated fineliner tip, which is the same color as the underliner. Thankfully, the fineliner tip colors are darker, making them easy to write with and see on the page. You can even highlight them with the highlighter color on the other end of the pen to create more visual contrast. All of the colors work together quite well.

These lightweight pens are easy to stow in bags, and there's a clip on the larger highlighter cap so you can securely store them on a pocket. Even though the caps are different sizes, they can somehow post on each other! I didn't think this would work, but Sakura thought this one through. Last thing you need is to lose a small cap for a pen that will dry out quickly if left uncapped for an extended period.

So, how well does this highlighter system work? Do you have to hold it just right to get the optimal highlighter shade and underline on the page? In short, no. It's pretty forgiving and easy to use as long as you use a firm pressure and focus on keeping the angle correct. I was able to get perfect highlight + underline every time I tried after a few practice tries.

A downside of this firm pressure is that it can cause some smudging on certain inks that you're highlighting over. It isn't major in my testing, but it's noticeable.

The fineliners on the back of the pen work great. The lines are really crisp and the colors are bright while being dark enough to easily read.

The colors can be difficult to list out since there are two different colors in three places on each pen. Here's how the Juicy 3-pack colors work:

Yellow highlighter with blue-green underline and fineliner
Blue highlighter with orange underline and fineliner
Coral red highlighter with red underline and fineliner

The colors all contrast well and make a great set. If you need more colors, Sakura offer a Natural pack with three more combinations.

This is a really cool product. I know it's not something I'll reach for because it's a highlighter that also underlines stuff. I'll reach for it because it's a great fineliner tip and a great highlighter. I really don't have any use for underlining stuff that I'm already highlighting. But stationery doesn't exist to fulfill my limited uses — there's obviously a market for this product, and I love that there can be such nichè products in this hobby. It's awesome knowing that this highlighter fits someone's needs exactly for what they want to do.

At $9 for the 3-pack, these are on-par with other highlighter packs. Time will tell how long the ink lasts, but the tips seem very durable. I'm sure the ink will run out before the tips wear down. If you don't want the 3-pack, you can also purchase these pens individually, though the price is a little higher at $3.30 each.

I hope that this review finds someone that needs this product that wasn't aware of its existence before. If you need a highlighter that simultaneously underlines, Sakura have you covered!

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

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