rOtring 600 Ballpoint - Lava Pen Review

May 25, 2013

Upon visiting Scottsdale Pen, I noticed tucked back in the display what appeared to be a rOtring 600 Ballpoint pen in the Lava finish. Although used, I was instantly intrigued as it looked to be in tip-top shape…

There is something about the rOtring brand that is just captivating. The design and build quality kind of draws you in. Even Jay at the pen shop said that from his observations the rOtring brand has almost a “cult following”; I’m drinking the Kool-Aid!

It wasn’t until I reviewed the price tag that my jaw literally dropped; in a good way. I’ve looked online at the rOtring 600s before in the Lava finish, but since they are a discontinued product they tend to fetch between $150 to $300 for them. Personally, this seems crazy in my mind. When I saw the price tag said $30 (yes, $30) I knew that it was going home with me.

I swapped out the old rOtring refill with a Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 in blue (great refill) which meshed the great build of the pen with a now better writing experience.

Old rOtrings have a solid weight that is well balanced. This is only my second rOtring so I'm not an "expert" on these old pens, but I'm impressed for sure.

The Lava finish is pretty cool and very different than anything I've used on a pen before. To be somewhat honest, I wonder why they decided on this finish in the first place? Trying to imagine the design meeting where they said, "we should make it look like lava"...

With the hexagonal, angular barrel, the matte finish adds some awesome texture visually to the pen. Overall, a beautiful and interesting pen that I'm happy to have stumbled upon.

Glowing Delrin Render K "Quicky" Post

May 24, 2013

This could be a reason all on its own to buy a Delrin Render K....

I had a crazy idea about the pen being translucent plastic; could double as a glow stick in a pinch? Not really, but the fact that it can "glow" is pretty cool.

From what they tell me, the guys at Karas Kustoms have just a few of these still laying around in the back that are available for purchase from their blog if anyone was interested.

Paper Mate Flair, Brown ("The UPS Edition?") - Pen Review

May 22, 2013

Ah, the old Paper Mate Flair. What a classic. For about a year I was hooked on using the Flair for all my writing. Felt tip pens are just great to write with! They make your handwriting look more expressive, and especially neat when you write in all caps...

I was perusing a local Staples and stumbled upon a Paper Mate display in the aisle. It was full of loose pens of about a dozen different colors; I picked up probably 4 or 5. Usually to buy them in a color requires either buying them in all red (not necessary as I'm not grading spelling tests for a living), in a 12 pack, or you have to buy a four pack with black, blue, red, and green. For some reason the brown one called to me...

The brown color looks like it could be the "UPS" edition of the Flair. One thing that Paper Mate does well is match the ink color to the barrel color. Seems like a silly thing, but is just well played. There are some cheap pens that you write with that don't even come close.

The Flair has a really simple design that is comfortable to write with. The tips start to break down pretty quick, but at less than $2 per pen it isn't really a big deal.

I hadn't bought a flair for awhile and Paper Mate appears to have changed the barrel design. They used to have these sharp grooves down the whole body of the pen (I'll post a comparison if I have an old one laying around) that would eventually get kind of nasty with the oils from your hands. A little graphic, sorry, but still gross... The new barrel design is completely smooth which prevents the nasties from diluting the writing experience. The pen feels like it is made from a cheaper plastic, but the change overall is for the better.