Review: Pentel Selfit 0.7mm Ballpoint

It isn't very often that I get caught offguard by a pen, but the perfomance of the Pentel Selfit really took my by surprise.  Being just an afterthouhgt in a recent JetPens order, the Selfit has jumped up near the top of the list as far as traditional ballpoint pens go, and not just because of its very cool grip.

The grip itself is the main selling point of this pen.  I hesitate buying a pen for just the grip technology - I want it to write well too - but Pentel did a nice job here.  The grip feels like a tight silcone that molds to your fingers as you shuffle them around the grip.  It is acually made up of thousands of tiny gel beads, making it feels soft and comfortable without being overly squishy.

As nice as the grip is, what I am really enjoying about this pen is how well the 0.7mm black ballpoint refill writes.  I was taken aback by how neat, clean, and consistenly this pen writes.  Be sure to expand the XL picture below and tell me if you have one that writes this nice.  While the specialty ink ballpoints - Uni-Ball JetStream, Pilot Acroball, Zebra Surari - still reign supreme in my pen arsenal, this is about the best traditional ballpoint I can recall using.

Click here for the XL review.

Products used:

Pentel Selfit Silicone Gel Grip Ballpoint Pen - 0.7 mm - Sky Blue Grip from JetPens

Writing Pad from Doane Paper

Review: Pentel Hybrid Technica 0.5mm Fluorescent Orange

Color me very very surprised by this one - in a good way of course.  The Pentel Hybrid Technica is a pen I have used before with varying degrees of success, but this fluorescent orange model really impressed me.  The way the ink performs on the paper is great.  The gel ink is neat and clean, making for some impressive lines, and the ink color is FLUORESCENT ORANGE!

Now, there are plenty of other bright ink pens that may works as well as this pen (there is a Uni-Ball Signo DX in pink that comes to mind), but this Pentel is just downright fun to use.  I don't know that I would use it for strictly note taking, but as a highlighter alternative, it is just about perfect.  I am an underliner as opposed to a highlighter anyway, so this pen fits my needs.  In fact, this pen is part of the "Go Team" that I carry with me in my main pen case.

Fluorescent pink and yellow will be on their way from JetPens shortly.

Click here for the XL review.