When I opened my package from Zebra a few weeks back, there was one pen that seemed to stand out above the rest: the Zebra H-301 Stainless Steel Highlighter. While the new M-701 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil and the Regal Roller were impressive in their own right, does it get much cooler than a stainless steel barrel highlighter?
I have posted in the past that I am not a hardcore highlighter user, but I do always have one handy. They are also a little bit difficult to review because how many variables are there with highlighters? There are a few, such as ink color and brightness, bleed, and durability, but there probably isn't a ton of variance between the top brands. But when you slap a stainless steel barrel around a refillable ink cartridge, well then you have a real winner. Not only does the pen look great, and while I haven't highlighted lines and lines, the tip feels tight and durable.
Not to be outdone, the F-301 Stainless Steel line got a new member in the 1.6mm Bold. This is a ballpoint ink pen, and obviously due to its tip size, writes very smoothly. Due to the amount of ink hitting the page, it does leave a few globs behind from time to time, and I did have to wipe it off on a napkin a couple of times as well. It is a nice addition to the product line, but not really my forte.
When you combine the highlighter and the ballpoint pen, they both do a nice job. The ballpoint ink held steady while the highlighter was run over it, with very little to no smearing. I haven't had the chance to test it out with different inks and on different papers, but I see no immediate reason why the highlighter will not do a good job.
Thank you very much to Zebra for sending me these samples of their new 2010 product line for review. You can see all of the new products on their website, and look for these pens and pencils to arrive in stores in late spring.
Click here for the XL review.
