Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Kolo Tino Brass Fountain Pen Review

The Kolo Tino has been making the rounds on the Stationery Internet™, and yes, I received one too. I’ve had mine in use for the past week, and I’ll say this: it makes for a perfect review product because I have a lot to say about it. Let’s dig in!

The Kolo Tino is designed by Tino Valentinitsch, an industrial designer from Vienna, Austria, in collaboration with Peter Dunn, founder of Kolo. As a brand, Kolo began in 1998, and was acquired by Topdrawer in 2016. Topdrawer is a subsidiary of Itoya, Japan, and has several brick and mortar retail locations around the world. For our purposes, Topdrawer is the distributor of the Kolo lineup, which is why you see the brand being carried by several retailers in our space.

Kolo Tino Brass Fountain Pen Barrel — *That patina doing work.*

The Kolo Tino Brass Fountain Pen is a stunner to look at. This model is small and sleek, featuring a triangular shaped barrel with rounded ridges. The barrel tapers into a torpedo shape on the front, and has aluminum extension on the back for posting the cap. Aesthetically, it looks spectacular, although I do wonder about the left-handed orientation of the stamped Kolo wordmark. If the designer is left-handed and just went for it that would be awesome!

Kolo Tino Grip — *I stopped mid-writing to take a few pics of my grip, and where it hits on the barrel step.*

Once uncapped, the Kolo Tino runs into some challenges. The triangular barrel design gives way to a cylindrical, tapered grip section. This leaves quite a drop from the barrel to the section - more on the ridges, less on the flat sides. A traditional writing grip will find its way up the flat sides, but not without some challenge finding comfort in the step down to the grip. The barrel edge in that area is chamfered so it’s not cutting into your hands, but it is still Brass, and noticeable. Non-traditional grips could have more of a challenge in this area.

For me, the only way to grip the pen is to have some part of my fingers over that step down. I could grip lower, but that puts me too close to the nib. I could go higher, above the step, but that puts me too far away.

I could have some #DealWithIt grace in this area of the pen if it was usable unposted. For me, and my very average sized hands, it’s not. The Kolo Tino is too short to clear the cusp of my hand between my thumb and forefinger, making it awkward to write with for more than a short note.

Kolo Tino Unposted — *Too short to use uncapped.*

When posted, the Brass cap attached to the Brass barrel makes the pen too heavy, and too unbalanced. I also don’t care for the aesthetic of the posting connection, but that’s just a me thing. I’d prefer a more seamless posting.

Kolo Tino Posted — *Better posted, but now unbalanced.*

Given the weight of the Brass pen - which checks in at 69 grams - this was always a possibility. That’s why I’m interested in how both the Acrylic and full Aluminum barrels feel in hand. The lighter weight of those models (21g and 27g, respectively,) could make the grip section more passable, and less of an interference.

Kolo Tino Comparison — *Comparison (L to R): Kaweco Steel Sport, Kolo Tino Brass, Sailor Pro Gear Mini.*

The Kolo Tino is fitted with a Schmidt #5 Steel nib, and uses Short International cartridges, and compatible converters. My Medium nib was perfect out of the box, and nice to use, especially with my selection of Graf von Faber-Castell Viper Green. I nailed the color, I must say.

Priced at $150 for Brass, Aluminum, and Standard Acrylic barrels ($195 for Specialty Acrylic,) the Kolo Tino provides nice value for what it offers. The material and construction are top notch, but that said, will you be able to use it given its extreme grip section? For me, the Brass model is too much of an ask to use over comparable pens. At a minimum, I’d be looking to try before buying to see how it will works for you.

I’ll be doing the same once I can test out an Acrylic barrel, which I hope to in the next couple of months. I think that would be worth a bit of a follow-up to this post and see how it compares. The design of the Kolo Tino interesting enough to see if they iterate on it and make it more of a universal user, instead of a specific fit.

(Topdrawer sent me this pen at no charge for purposes of this review.)

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Posted on May 26, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Kolo, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Writech Dual Color Multi Pens 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I believe I'm on the record somewhere as saying I don't care for multi pens. I've had to eat those words a few times, and here I am snacking on them again. Of course, it's not as bad as when Brad used to say he didn't care for fountain pens. But still--it's just not true anymore. Really, as with all things, it was just a matter of finding the ones that work for me. We can put these ones on that list.

The Writech Dual Color Multi Pens have been a staple for me since they arrived. As the name implies, they have two colors in each pen: Black, and a colorful color. In this set, the Vintage colors, I have Burgundy, Dark Blue, Lilac and Milk Tea. The colors are lovely and subtle, and it's fantastic having two in each pen. Having the two colors is enough to allow for some useful color coding in notes or in my planner. And by limiting the colors to two, you get full-sized cartridges of each, so you don't run out too quickly and the pen doesn't become oversized. As much as I love having a ton of colors on hand, having a pen that is as thick as a broom handle, stuffed with tiny cartridges that run out in a week, is one of the things that turned me off of multi pens. Another multi pen pet peeve of mine is the way the cartridges sometimes rattle around inside when you're writing--and these don't do that, either. Basically, these pens do all the great things that multi pens are useful for, and none for the things that can be annoying.

The ink in these pens is very smooth and well saturated. I've had no issues with skipping or blobing. The 0.5 mm tip lays down a good line, and it's visible even in the fainter colors. The ink doesn't bleed or feather. It's a water-based gel ink that dries quickly and is water-resistant, though there is no indication as to whether or not it is archival.

The pen build is a standard side-click pen, but with a clicky slider on each side. The plastic nub of the clicky slider is the color of the ink that it activates--black plastic for the black ink, and colorful plastic for the colorful ink. The plastic of the pen body is also the color of the colorful ink that it has, so it's easy to see what pen you're reaching for. The pen also has a plastic clip. The clip is a little bulky, but it's functional.

There is really only one glaring disadvantage to these pens, and that is that they are not refillable. In theory, one could put new cartridges in the pens, but refills of the fun colors are not currently available. I hope that changes eventually.

This set of four double-pens costs $8.25 at JetPens and individual pens are available for $2.20. That's a pack of four pens for less than a single multi pen of most brands. I believe that's about the best price one can get for a good quality multi pen. Or even a bad quality one, for that matter. Happily, this one is a good one. I've used enough good ones now that I'm going to have to stop saying I dislike multi pens. Turns out I love them.

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

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Posted on May 15, 2025 by Sarah Read and filed under Writech, Multi Pen, Pen Reviews.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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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