(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.)
It's that time of year again. Magic is in the air, the scent is on the breeze: school supplies. So I thought I'd focus on a study tool this week. Namely, this lovely set of Zebra Justfit Double-Sided Highlighters.
This is a nice, practical set to have. The pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue colors make for a good variety for color coding notes. There are also other colors available in open stock, if you need or prefer. The chisel tip (4 mm) at one end and bullet tip (1.2 mm) at the other make it easy to highlight different kinds of texts and add notes as you go. The chisel end has a very narrow profile that makes the felt quite flexible. It's almost like a brush the way it flexes as you move. It's what makes this highlighter unique, and I think it's a nice feature. It allows you to hold the pen at different angles or write over curved surfaces and still get crisp, even lines. I worry that it will wear out, though. I recall, in my school days, running through my highlighters quite quickly, so maybe the tip will outlast the ink supply. These are not refillable, so it doesn't need to last forever.
The highlighters have a white plastic body with the center band and both caps indicating the color. The clip is fairly sturdy and has enough of a gap that you can use it as a bookmark (the highlighter's hidden second purpose in life). The caps snap shut very securely. The bodies are a good diameter, so they'll be comfortable for those long study sessions where it seems like every word of your textbook is important.
The ink is pigmented, water-based, and water-resistant. I didn't do a coffee spill test, though. It performed very well over different kinds of writing: pencil, ballpoint, rollerball, gel pen, and fountain pen. It did well over inkjet and laser printed text. It did seem to cause the liquid inks to fuzz a bit, but they weren't smeared. It worked well in books and textbooks and magazines, and was fast-drying even on coated papers. I did see some issues with bleed- and show-through on thin paper and cheap copy paper. Bleed-through with highlighters is the actual worst, because then you waste time trying to remember what was important about the text that only appears highlighted but is actually just behind the text that you really highlighted. So for lightweight or cheap papers, maybe stick to a pencil highlighter.
The colors themselves are standard and bright. They aren't as eye-searingly neon as some highlighters I've tried, but they're enough to attract attention. I find the lower saturation highlighters to be easier to study with, since there isn't as much eye strain.
This set of five sells for $6.75. More than what you'd pay for a big box store set, maybe, but not by much--and cheaper than a number of high-quality brands. I think these are perfectly practical tools. They may not scream "exciting stationery" but highlighters are the secret heroes of the school supply world, and this is a very solid set. They teach us how to remind ourselves about what's important so we can let the rest go. Life skills in addition to study skills! I think it's safe to say we could all use some of these.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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