Daily Arsenal 08.15.2012

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Daily Arsenal 08.13.2012

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"#dailyarsenal @pilotpenusa matte vp with purple ink, and since that isn't work appropriate blue-black sarasa"

Daily Arsenal 08.03.2012

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"#dailyarsenal "

Catching up on paperwork... everything has to be boring blue or black ink... guess this is what i use today.

Daily Arsenal 07.31.2012

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Daily Arsenal 06.25.2012

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"#dailyarsenal "

Zebra Airfit Jell review and Giveaway

I saw on one of my friends page that she had a new Dr. Grip like pen purchase and was intrigued.  Whats this pen?  it looks like a Dr. Grip pen but not?  I've got to have it!  So off to Jetpens I went-- and found the Zebra Airfit Jell pen.  It  is very reasonably priced at $5.00 USD and when you compare it to say a Dr. Grip pen they are priced even better.  Dr. Grip pens retail here for 6-10$ depending on where you are looking for them, so at $5, pretty reasonable.   The pen came fast (really fast) from Jetpens.  Unlike Dr. Grip pens that have a box, or plastic shrink wrap, this pen came unwrapped, no box -- less to throw away.. and less for me to injure myself with the shrink wrap.  

The description of the pen on Jetpen claims that this pen is found "all over Asia" but hard to find in the US.  Apparently its popular because of the grip, and the binder-like clip that allows it to be attached to thicker material.  It also states that there is a "layer of air between the rubber grip and the body of the pen to allow heat conduction from your fingers. Perhaps it's because of the hot weather in Asia, but cool hands seem to be an important factor in Japanese pen design!"  


Aesthetically this pen is lovely, but that is the case with most Japanese pen companies.  There are several colors to choose from, and as I like blue, i went with a light blue version.  clip and the grip section is made of light blue transparent plastic.  The top portion of the pen is a pearlescent white barrel.


The pen does have a clip, and similar to the zebra multipens it does have the binder clip like clip-check the top photo to see what i mean.  I've not used the clip yet but if its anything like the zebra multipen that i own, it will clip this pen to a binder cover, a notebook, etc.   Hopefully it is sturdy - aka I shouldnt drop it to find out :)


 Unlike the grip on the Dr. Grip pens, this pen's grip looks like it has spokes, I don't know if you can tell from the picture below.  The grip is rather comfortable, but has a different feel than the Dr. Grip pens because of the spoke like things.  The Dr. Grip pens' grips are whole rubber, whereas these pens have an air-pocket (hence the spoke like things).  The grip is slightly tacky-- i bet this eventually attracts a lot of fuzz, but the rubber is really pretty comfortable. 

The pen is billed as a 0.5mm tip.  Its a gel ink pen and writes nicely-- I have not had any skips or blips but as I have had this pen for about a day I've not had a lot of opportunity to write with it extensively.   Like the jetstream alpha, this pen is also interchangeable with the Sarsa click pen inks -- so if you wanted a finer line than what you are offered with the standard ink, go ahead and swap with the Sarsa's which come in 0.3mm.

The one grip i have is, why zebra, why would you make a gel ink pen that allows the gel ink to spatter?  I opened the pen to test the Sarsa ink and noticed that the back of the ink cartridge was uncapped as with most gel pens, but where most pens there is no ink ring, with yours you have a blue ink ring.  See below.. its the blue circle in the middle..

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Now I accidentally picked up a 2nd one of these pens so why keep a 2nd one for myself when i can give it away?  Giveaway time!  You are only allowed at max 2 entries, and here is what you need to do.

1. write me a comment about what is your favorite ergo pen and why

2. tweet about this giveaway and post me a link

As before, I will use random.org to determine the winner of this giveaway.  Once I announce the winner, you have 1 week to contact me via email, twitter, etc.  If you do not contact me, then I will pick a new winner.

This giveaway ends on the 16th of June at midnight EST.  Winner will be announced by June 25th.

Where to Purchase?

• Jetpens $5.00
• Stationary Art (Ball Point version) $2.45

Other Reviews

• Cat Lo
• Pen Addict (Ball point pen review)
• Office Supply Geek
• No Pen Intended (Has really great photos of the grip)

Multi Pen that i own review

First of all, sorry for the formatting--- trying to get this post scheduled prior to me leaving for the honeymoon and i cant get the pictures to line up properly :(

Currently, I only own ballpoint multipens, potentially a coleto in the future but for now all of these are ball point pens.

Originally this was titled, Dr. Grip multi review; however, i decided since i was doing writing samples from the all, perhaps i would change it to a multi-pen pen review.  I love Dr Grip pens, mostly because of the ergo grips that they offer.  So i can usually be counted to have multiple Dr. Grip products. But, browsing on Jetpens in the last couple of years has made it hard for me to resist random ergo gripped products. I saw my original Dr. Grip pen multi in HK, and couldnt resist. I ended up paying about 10-11 USD for the pen, and wished that i opted to get the stylus tip. I cant find that particular tip here in the States, but know that it exists.  The pen is i believe aluminium, and pretty heavy.  The weight distribution is towards the bottom, and held in the hand it is very comfortable.  As with most multigrip pens the pen does make a clicking noise as i write, but I wouldn't say it is very distracting.

Then the boy took my pen for a test run, and I didnt get my pen back... so I had to find an alternative... to Jetpens i went!  I found the Dr Grip 4+1 multis and found a cheaper option than the one i originally had.  Well, if this worked I could get the boy one and steal my pen back AND get a new pen..what's to lose here?  So i got the 4+1 light for almost half the price in a pretty baby blue and neon green- neon green for the boy and baby blue for me.   The pen is made of a sturdy plastic with again the distinctive Dr. Grip ergo grip.  The pen, because it is made of plastic is rather light.  Every time i pick up this pen, I have to readjust myself to the fact that this pen is uber light.   It writes well, doesnt have the clicking sound i hear with the more expensive Dr Grip multi, but has the same writing style.  The inks are vibrant and clear to read, so is the pencil.

For both the Dr. grips, the eraser is hidden under the cap, you just pull the cap off and there's a small eraser that you can use.


 I love my original Dr. Grip Multipen but then browsing on jetpens.... I saw the zebra clip pen. It was touted similar to the Dr. Grip pen, ergo grip, same 4 colors, with the 0.5mm pencil and eraser at the top of the pen but with the added benefit of the spring loaded clip which would allow for one to clip a thick stack of papers together. Well, that is interesting... i take notebooks to meetings, lots of pads-- well that would be nice to have.  The zebra pens are i believe a pearlized finish plastic pen.  Slightly lighter than the more expensive Dr. Grip pen. So i got one... the problem was however, the boy accidentally dropped it one day on a tiled floor maybe a foot up.. probably less, and the clip broke.  Well, i was heartbroken, the perfect pen, broken in 1 months time.  The boy was sad, because I was sad and offered to superglue the clip back on.   Yes, superglue did work, but now i could no longer use the clip because I was afraid it would snap off--it was just glued on.  So i bought a 2nd zebra clip, which i keep far away from the boy these days.  You can see in the below photo the clip in action, clipped on my checkbook cover.   It does clip a pretty full Rhodia 13 pad.  I didnt take a picture of it but did just try it.  The pencil works just fine -- similar to the Dr. Grip pens. The eraser is there underneath that silver colored cap.





I use each of the pens regularly, but recently since i've gotten into fountain pens, the pens are languishing until I need to grab something fast for a paper I'm reading, or to hilight protocols that I am working on.    Overall the metal looking pens are the ones i use more often, so the expensive Dr grip pen and the Zebra clip pens.  Those pens are also more professional looking so taking them to meetings is a better option than the cheaper (plastic) looking Dr. Grip pen.  I tend to have one of the plastic ones in bags that i take to the labs more often than the metal ones.   The metal ones do go to professional meetings with me to take notes, hilight talks, etc.