Lamy AL-Star Ballpoint Limited Edition Black - Pen Review

The name of this thing is kind of a mouthful, but it is pretty sweet.  I've been eyeing the plastic Safari ballpoints for awhile and never took the bait, but when I saw this one I knew it was on the list to purchase.  I found this one on Amazon for $20 (plus some shipping) which I thought was a smoking deal and the company out of the UK that was selling it got it to my door in about a week.  Kudos to them for sure! 

Good weight and balance, and the metal barrel gives this pen a great feel.  The matte black finish of the Limited Edition looks really good.  I really enjoy the smoky plastic see-through part of the pen as it has been tastefully done.  The color makes it subtle enough to where it doesn't seem cheap that they made it out of plastic, but the plastic is thick and high quality and fits in with the overall build of the pen.  

 My thoughts about this plastic part are that they did it not so much for aesthetic, but due to manufacturing processes?  To make the part out of metal would require specialized casting or machining which would add to cost; just a hunch. 

Instead of doing the bold LAMY stamp into the barrel like they usually do, on the Al-Star, the LAMY is more of a subtle outline.  This looks classy to me 

I swapped out the refill with the Monteverde L132BU which replaces the Lamy M16 refill.  This was done on recommendation from Mary at From the Pen Cup in a review she did last year.  Thanks Mary!  The Monteverde is much smoother than the Lamy I've found, and I got it in blue which suits me better.

A feature I like about this pen is that they resized and repositioned the iconic Safari clip.  It is considerably smaller and sits a bit lower on the pen making it a better fit for shirt pockets.  When I put a regular Safari in my pocket it sometimes feels like the clip is barely hanging on because there is about a half inch left of "clip space" towards the top.  I'm not knocking on the Safari clip (because that would be blasphemy), but I find that I appreciate that Lamy did this on the retractable ballpoint versions. 

Being the same diameter as the regular Safari, these fit well into The Cube or The Block  found in The Clicky Trading Post.  Another shot below of the clip comparisons...

The knock has good stiff click to it that is enjoyable to use.  Very enjoyable!  My only concern long term with this pen is the rubber accordion cover over the knock that might be prone to splitting or drying out over time.  I guess we'll see, but I'd imagine the part might be replaceable through Lamy if needed.  

I'd have to say that I am extremely pleased with this purchase.

Zebra Z-Mulsion LX 1.0mm - Pen Review

Hmmmm.... now, isn't that a great start to a pen review?  Perhaps the tone of the review is already set with a "hmmm". 

I saw the Zebra Z-Mulsion LX online through Staples and figured I'd put in an order to have one sent to my local store for me to pick up in a couple of days.  On a side note, honestly, if you buy something from Staples.com, this is the best way to do it because the shipping is free (although travel to the store is not).  Make it an on the way home pickup and its pretty much free. 

My first impression of the pen even before I used it was that I really dislike the name.   I think it is a weird slogan-like name that just doesn't work for me.  Especially on a metal Zebra barrel, they could stick with their "part number" style like they do with literally all of their other steel pens (give it a look) like the F-701, F-402, G-301, etc.  They could put Z-402 or something for Z-Mulsion (if they really like the idea of calling their ink this).  The metal barrels with the letter/number name makes it seem like you're writing with some sort of aircraft part which is cool.  It adds a small touch of class and quality to a pretty cheap pen.  Z-Mulsion just doesn't do it for me.

The pen writes smooth, as in very little drag, but it is really globby.  This could be due to the large size of 1.0mm.  The tip of the refill also seems to wiggle a bit which makes me consciously think about trying to write neatly.  This is a big red flag that this will not be a pen I will use ongoing.  It makes the experience poor and my handwriting suffers because of it.

I've also included a picture of my glob smears to clean off the tip from writing only one page... it felt like I had to clean off the tip of the pen after only a few lines just to continue writing with it. 

Glob Smears...yay.

The build of the pen also seems like a hodge podge of parts with varying ranges of color, material, and build quality.  The barrel is steel, but has kind of a yellowy hue to it, and in contrast to the chromed clip (feels cheap), knock, and tip, it just looks thrown together.  There is the Z-Mulsion "droplet" symbol on both the clip and stamped on the back; I think this a little too much branding.  I really am not digging this pen, am I?  : )   

I did some comparisons with a few other hybrids I had laying around: the Uni-Ball Jetstream in 0.7mm and the Pilot Acroball also in a 0.7mm.  Out of the three, I'm going to have to crown the Jetstream as my favorite hybrid so far. 

Based on my experience, I would not recommend this pen to someone, nor will I likely use one again.  With such good competition out there for a great hybrid pen, Zebra kind of dropped the ball on this one in my opinion.

Pilot Down Force - Pen Review

 Pilot has jumped on the bandwagon of the pressurized writing experience in hopes, I'm sure, of competing with a few of the better known favorites, the Fisher Space Pen, or the Tombow Airpress, to name a couple.  Their offering is called the Down Force; sounds pretty intense, right?  Like a storm or something.

There is one thing I really like about this pen, and that is the plastic knurled grip section.  It is more of a subtle knurling and is rather appealing.  I even liked the choice to put the three grip rings in the knurling; nice touch.  I would love to see this exact knurling grip pattern on a metal pen.   The barrel of the Down Force is pretty wide, sort of like the Dr. Grip, but not uncomfortable.  

At Staples, you can only get it in black with a grey/smoky clip, but on JetPens, they offer it in some pretty wild colors like orange, green, or yellow.  I think the black suits it fine, but again, wish they offered a metal barrel version.  I have a thing for metal pens.

Now, there is one thing that I absolutely abhor about this pen: the clip.  Oh my is this thing an ugly monstrosity.  A bit dramatic?...  Well, I just really don't like it at all.  In my opinion they took a superb barrel design and attached this thing to it.  It is a smokey clear color against a cool matte black plastic that just doesn't work well.  I wish they'd have made a sleeker clip like Dr. Grip FullBlack (will review one like this soon).         

The clip is functional though as it serves as the means of retracting the tip and knock as to not allow you to clip an open pen to your shirt/overalls/pants.  In all honesty, I feel this feature on any pen is kind of silly; I get that the pen manufacturer is "trying to do us a favor" from not allowing us to mess up our shirt, but I feel that most people can handle the responsibility of pushing in the knock to retract the pen.  Although, they do make pocket protectors still.   

I think Pilot did a pretty good job with the ink, although I haven't tested it in the crazy upside down positions, or on a wet surface.  It puts down a fine line that I'd even wager to be better and cleaner than the Fisher Space pen in the fine width.  I prefer the medium Fisher, but the Pilot is neat and precise while writing.  I'll have to look and see if they make a blue ink...

The synopsis: 

 Pros: knurling, ink flow/line width

Cons: the really ugly clip

Worth $7?  Meh.  If you wanted a "cheap", but nice, knurled pressurized pen, buy a Zebra F-701 which is compatible with the Fisher refill and is only about $7.