Zebra Sarasa Nano 0.3 mm Gel Ink Pen Review

The Zebra Sarasa Nano Gel Pen caught me slightly off guard. What is Zebra doing here that they aren’t with one of my all-time favorite pens, the Zebra Sarasa Clip?

Let’s explore!

The two obvious differences between the Nano and the classic Clip are aesthetic. The Nano has a solid color barrel (similar to the Vintage Series,) and a metal nose cone, which is new to the series. The clip uses the same excellent Clip of the namesake Zebra model, and the exact same refill.

The only refill tip size available is 0.3 mm, which is perfect for me. The marketing on JetPens calls this pen “Ultra-fine yet delightfully smooth,” which is just asking for trouble. It’s difficult to pin “delightfully smooth” on a pen tip this fine. By nature, it’s not. It almost can’t be. Now, they are relatively smooth to other 0.3 mm tipped pens, but not compared to other, more mainstream, 0.5 mm tip gel ink pens.

“Ultra-fine” is much easier to agree with, and the Nano is. The lines in this group of pens, the Think 4 Color set, are awesome. They are clean and consistent, and the colors-in this case Magenta, Gray, Night Blue, and Viridian-are excellent. Even the light shade of gray is readable on the ivory page of the Write Notepads Engineer Notebook. Night Blue is the easy winner of this group, but I enjoy them all as a collection.

There are four other 4 Color sets available as well, but if you are interested in this pen, I would start with a single color. Why? They cost almost twice as much as the standard Sarasa Clip, for no good reason that I can see.

Metal nose cone premium, maybe? It’s not the “cushioned by an inside spring to absorb shocks as you write” premium, because I can see no technical difference between the Nano and the Clip in that area. Same refill, same spring, same interior design.

$1.75 for the Sarasa Clip, or $3.30 for the Sarasa Nano? The Nano is not a bad pen-not even remotely-but it provides poor value. I’m happy to have this set of four, but I’ll be shopping in the Clip aisle if I’m looking to add to my Sarasa collection.

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

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Zebra G-450 and G-750 Gel Ink Pen Review

Before I left my day job to focus on The Pen Addict full time, I was in the IT field. I was with the same company for around 15 years, 12 of that in the same facility. I knew a lot of people there, and a lot of them knew me as the pen guy.

For the few that were interested past the “oh, that’s nice,” phase, there were two pens that were their favorites: the Pilot G2, and the Zebra F-301.

I understood the love for the G2. Still do. It’s a rock solid gel ink pen that writes smooth and has dark ink. Wide availability on store shelves expanded its popularity. If you liked school supplies when you were a kid, you were prone to grab a pack of G2’s when you saw them, and sung their praises once compared to the general office supplies you were stuck with at work.

The F-301 was different. There is no doubt that it looked cool, and while not near as ubiquitous as the G2, it was reasonably available at office supply stores, if not grocery stores. And F-301 fans? The ones I met were passionate about this little pen. I’m never one to yuck someone’s yum, but let’s just say my feelings were not as strong about this pen as the G2 at the time.

The biggest failure with the design of the F-301 is the grip. It looks great on the shelf, but once you unpack the pen and hold it, it becomes evident how uncomfortable the plastic ridges are on your fingertips. For a quick note it is passable, but any longer writing is out of the question.

Still, the F-301 proved to be popular due to its construction. It is a durable pen, and the refill was good enough. And I’m happy that this pen has been a success for Zebra, because they took what worked well with the F-301 and improved on it. There is a softer grip model in the F-402, and they eventually added gel refill options in the various G-series models, including the two I’m going to talk about today.

The G-450 and the G-750 are a continuation of the F-301 family tree, and pretty darn good ones at that. The G-450 is the shorter of the two pens by just under a half an inch, and features a rubber grip. The G-750 features a similar full-metal exterior, with the addition of a knurled metal grip. It also has a subtle triangle-shaped upper barrel, while the G-450 is essentially round. The G-designation on both pens mean they use gel ink, 0.7 mm black gel ink to be specific.

Comparing these two pens is difficult because there is not much that separates them from each other. The G-450 rubber grip is the superior of the two, which is hard for me to say as a knurled grip fan. The G-750 knurling is so fine and tight that the grip feels smooth. That’s not how I ever want to describe knurling. There has to be some grab in there, and there isn’t.

I will say that the nose cone design of the G-750 catches my eye. It has four angled steps down towards the tip of the pen, which allows for a great view of the tip and the page you are writing on. There’s nothing wrong with the front-end shape of the G-450, but the G-750 had me inspecting it, wondering why I liked it so much.

With matching 0.7 mm black gel ink refills, there is obviously no difference in writing performance between the two. The ink is dark, and the tip is smooth on the page. There are minimal swappable refill options for these pens, but JetPens does list a few, including 0.5 mm choices. I don’t think you will be successful hacking refills into either of these barrels, as the interior barrel opening for the refill is narrow. In fact, I had a hard time putting the refill back in one of the pens when I removed it for inspection.

Between the two, the G-450 is the clear winner. The grip is more comfortable, and combined with the shorter length, it felt better in my hand while writing. Plus, it is $7.00, while the G-750 runs $9.50.

If you like gel ink pens with upgraded metal barrels, I think you will be happy with either of these options from Zebra. Myself, I’m happy that they keep building and iterating on an interesting product lineup that differentiates them from the competition. I hope that continues.

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

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Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel 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 check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

This limited edition glitter fest from Pilot's FriXion line is sure to delight fans of the erasable gel ink. I have mentioned before that I am not one of those fans, but even I am taken in by the Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel Pen.

It's not really a surprise that the FriXion ink makes me uncomfortable. I'm a librarian and an author--the idea of writing that disappears is literally the thing I have nightmares about. The fact that the ink's appearance is thermally controlled, and I live in a thermally brutal place, adds to that anxiety. As I write this, the outside temperature is -19 degrees. And that's not the coldest it's been today. Needless to say, whatever I erase is not going to stay erased, if I use these pens.

That being said, if you live in a moderate climate, or you are writing something that never needs to leave your home, but also doesn't need to be preserved or archival in any way--these are really fun pens.

They're also very well made. The bodies are sturdy plastic in a pearlescent white that gradients to a clear portion at the middle. There is a white rubber grip section and a frosted clear nose cone. The clip is clear plastic that is very subtly tinted the color of the pen's ink, which is very helpful while in keeping with the overall aesthetic. The gel eraser on top looks like a wee frosted bubble. There is quite a bit of branding on the pen, but it's tastefully done and not visible when you're holding the pen to write. They're cute and classy at the same time.

The clip is also the tip deployment mechanism. It slides down with an addictively satisfying click, and then depresses to retract. Because the clip does so much for this pen, it does rattle a bit, which can be heard and felt when writing. But these pens weren't made for extensive writing. They're very much accent pens.

The tint in these inks is very subtle, so the colors appear pastel, but with plenty of expressive glitter to make it pop. The 0.7mm tip and generously flowy ink also help make the paler colors readable (though notably difficult to photograph). It should be noted, however, that the glitter does not erase. Just the color. So any erased areas of your writing will still be disco-ready even after you've FriXion-ified the text.

I still struggle with the use case for these pens a little. I don't want to use them for anything I intend to keep, so they're good for lists, as long as those lists stay on my desk and aren't like grocery lists that need to be carried out of the house. They're great for chore lists, and add a bit of fun sparkle to an otherwise mundane task. And they're good for coloring or doodles, or general stress-relief. They're just fun, and who doesn't need more fun in their life?

They aren't inexpensive, though. Individual colors are available for $3.80 on JetPens, and this set of 6 costs $22.80. For me, that puts them a bit on the steep side, but in the "it's worth it if it's worth it to you" category. If you like FriXions and love glitter, you probably need these.

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

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!