Posts filed under Ballpoint

Pentel Calme 0.5 mm Ballpoint Pen Review

It took me a while to come around to the Pentel Calme Ballpoint Pen. Why? Competition.

The $1 to $3 pen market is outrageously competitive, often to our benefit. Companies are willing to invest in barrel designs and ink formulations, all in an effort to make a name on the store shelves, and eventually our shopping carts.

The Calme is a fantastic pen. The barrel is super comfortable, including a half-length of the pen rubberized grip area. The knock is integrated to the clip, and it is smooth and quiet. You won’t be able to annoy your office mates with this one. And I love this limited Mauve Pink edition.

Writing-wise, the Calme uses Pentel’s Vicuna ink, their hybrid ballpoint ink formulation - aka, their uniball Jetstream competitor. This a solid refill. The lines are sharp, and mostly clean. Honestly, I have no complaints.

Except that other pens exist.

There were three pens I immediately wanted to put up against the Pentel Calme: the Zebra Blen 0.5 mm Ballpoint, uniball Jetstream 0.5 mm Ballpoint, and the uniball Jetstream Lite Touch 0.5 mm Ballpoint. To go ahead and spoil the results, I’d take all three of those pens over the Calme.

Pentel Calme Comparison — *L to R: Pentel Calme, Zebra BLen, uniball Jetstream 4+1, uniball Jetstream Lite Touch.*

The Zebra BLen is the closest in writing performance. 0.5 mm pens write fine lines to begin with, but Ballpoints - as compared to Gel and Rollerball inks - leave an even finer line. Both the Calme and the BLen have excellent fine lines, but I found the BLen more comfortable to hold, and have even quieter mechanics, which is a feature Zebra focused on for this pen.

Putting the Calme up against the Jetstream is where the ink begins to separate the pens. The writing experience is better with the Jetstream. The ink is smoother, darker, and cleaner. There is a reason this is my favorite Ballpoint pen. I will say that I might like the Calme barrel over the standard Jetstream Sport, but not by a wide margin.

The pen that makes all of these pens obsolete is the uniball Jetstream Lite Touch. uniball created a true step up in ink quality and color, and the only issue right now is availability. You can find them at importers like JetPens in the US, but not yet on the store shelves outside of Japan. Hopefully that changes in the next year or two because it is that good.

Where does that put the Pentel Calme at the end of the day? As I said before, it’s a good pen in a competitive category. If I were making a tier list, it would land in the B-tier through no fault of its own. It’s simply up against A-tier (BLen and Jetstream,) and S-tier (Jetstream Lite Touch,) competition.

At $2.50, I like it enough to own and use when the feeling hits, but I won’t need a stash of them around the house.

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

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Posted on February 10, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Pentel, Calme, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Lamy Safari Ballpoint Piña Colada Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

At this point in the year, summer vacations are winding down and everyone is settling in for the last big push before the end of year holidays are upon us. When I think of piña coladas, I instantly associate that with beach-side vacations and carefree living. While the 2024 special edition Safari can't replicate that experience, it can certainly lighten the mood with these bright colors.

The Lamy Safari Piña Colada is a light blue and bright yellow color combo that I haven't been able to put down. I'm using the ballpoint version, though you can get this in fountain pen, rollerball, and pencil variants as well.

If you've ever used a Lamy Safari ballpoint before, then there's nothing new here aside from the unique color combination. The refill included inside is Lamy's proprietary M16 medium point with black ink. As far as ballpoint refills go, the M16 is decent, but not my favorite. Unfortunately, there aren't other refills that you can easily drop-in to replace the M16, but Lamy do offer some other point sizes and color options for the refill.

The body of the Piña Colada is a light blue with a touch of green. There's a clear finish on the body that catches the light. The clear finish also provides a nice feel when writing, but can cause some oil build-up after writing for a while. The pen is easy to wipe down, though!

The accents (nose cone, bellows/nock, and clip) are all a matte bright yellow color that goes perfectly with the light blue-green body.

The squishy bellows mechanism requires a good amount of force to operate, but it's so satisfying to use, just like any other Lamy Safari ballpoint. I love the bellows cover — it would be easy to identify this pen as a Lamy just from the clip shape, but the squishy accordion nock is another signature clue.

The grip section is a three-sided contour that provides three flattened areas for resting your fingers. This works well for how I grip the pen, but it might not be to everyone's liking. The nose cone is long enough that you can even grip the upper part if needed for more control.

The only branding on the pen is a LAMY logo debossed into the side of the body right under the bellows and opposite the clip. It's subtle and can be easy to miss in low light. The clip is strong and will keep the pen secured to whatever you clip it to.

At $16, this Piña Colada special edition Safari is a good deal on a classic pen. For me, this was a compulsive purchase just because of the colors. The fact that it's a great writing instrument is just a bonus. If these colors speak to you, be sure to pick one up before they're gone!

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on August 21, 2024 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Lamy, Safari, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

OHTO Minimo Ballpoint Pen 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 Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

The wee OHTO Minimo Ballpoint Pen takes the cake as the miniest of minimal travel. The 3.7 mm diameter and 3.5 inch length makes this pen about the size of a Q-tip, minus the fluff. It slides into a clear plastic sleeve that is attached to a plastic card that fits easily in a wallet pocket.

Typically, even when I'm traveling light, I have a decent pen on me. At the very least, my Spoke Roady is always in my wallet, and then there's usually at least one other pen within arm's reach. So why do I need the world's tiniest pen? Because it's cute, that's why.

I figured this would be a last-resort pen--the emergency, better-than-nothing pen, but it's actually a decent writer. Not terribly comfortable, but a perfectly decent choice for making quick notes.

The pen's body is plastic, and while it's sturdy, there's just not enough of it to be really strong. It does feel delicate in the hand, and I wouldn't want to be too rough with it. It has a thin, flexible metal clip, silver metal accents, and the teeniest click mechanism ever. The click deploys the ballpoint tip, and you're ready to write very small notes. To retract the tip, press on the little bump of wire exposed on the side of the pen.

You probably won't want to write for a long time with this pen, but if you should manage to write out the ink supply, this pen is actually refillable. It takes a standard D1 refill, which are available from many brands in a bunch of fun colors. The pen itself is available in several colors. I picked black, but there's also orange, green, and pink.

There's not a whole lot to this pen. Its whole deal is just being the most simple version of a simple tool that you might need while on the go. And while it will totally fit in your wallet, it won't drain it. This wee treasure is only $7.50 at JetPens, which is fair, I think. It could be less--there are bigger pens for a third of that cost--but the specialty parts that have to exist just for this one pen likely explain that difference. Pretty much every millimeter (few as there are) of this beauty is proprietary, I'd imagine.

What am I going to do with this strange wee thing? It's going in my work badge. It will be the perfect tool for when I need to make a quick note when I'm running around my library, four floors away from my desk and pen cup. And I think it's perfect for the hardcore minimalist travelers who want to lighten the load at all costs and may only need a pen for customs forms and singing up for adventures. Hooray for tiny pens!

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

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