I have reviewed a slew of compact pens recently, and since I have enjoyed many of Ohto's full-sized products, I thought I would give the mini-sized Petit-B Needle-Point ballpoint pen a shot as well. I knew it was going to be tiny when I saw it in the photos at JetPens, but wow, it is REALLY tiny.
Sometimes tiny works out for me, and sometimes it doesn't. In the case of the Petit-B, it doesn't. Visually, this is a great looking pen - Ohto always does a great job with design. But from a functionality standpoint, it misses the boat a little bit. The main issue is that when you unsheath the pen cap and post it on the back of the pen, it does not rest sturdily in my hand. The cap piece is so long, and the end of the pen where it post is so short, it allows for too much play when I am actually trying to write. The pen ends up wobbling around a bit.
At the point where I do get down to writing, I have a hard time getting a solid grip due to the diameter. This is to be expected to some degree with a pen like this, and with some pens I am able to work around that and get comfortable. I had a tough time doing that with the Petit-B. It just ended up being too skinny. The 0.5mm needle-point isn't too bad though, so hopefully they will make a larger version pen that uses a similar cartridge.
Click here for the XL review.
Product Links
Ohto Petit-B Needle-Point Ballpoint Pen - 0.5 mm - Pearl White Body from JetPens
Doane Paper Writing Pad from Doane Paper
