Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm Review

The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner is one of those pens that seems like it has been around forever. It gets a lot of love from artists, students, and just about anyone who uses drawing or art pens. I finally picked up my first one last month to see what all the fuss is about.

I really branched out on my color choice here. Not black, not blue, but gray! I know, I know - there are 30 colors to choose from, but I panicked and went the safe route. Maybe next time I will go with Light Orange or Bordeaux Red.

In using the Triplus Fineliner as my main writing pen for a couple of days I found it did a decent job. The color was sharp, the lines were clean, and it was an all-around good writer. Comparing it to the Sakura Pigma Micron or Uni Pin, the tip on the Fineliner is softer, giving it a slight brush pen feel. It’s clearly not a brush pen, but there is a difference between this pen and some of its counterparts.

While the softer tip will keep me from using it as an every day pen, there is another feature of the Triplus Fineliner that is impressive. Staedtler touts this pen as Dry Safe, meaning you can leave this pen uncapped for days and pick it right back up and start writing. This is normally a huge no-no for drawing pens and I wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it. Well, I saw it, and it worked as advertised. Take a look at the bottom of the written review and you will see my 0-hour, 24-hour, and 72-hour uncapped samples. Three days later and the Triplus Fineliner wrote like I uncapped it for the first time.

Overall, this is a great pen, especially for the price. Do understand though that there is a difference in tip firmness compared to other drawing pens. For me and my writing style it is not a great fit, but for many of you it will be right up your alley.

Dong-A Fine-Tech 0.3 mm Review

I haven’t had the opportunity to review many Dong-A pens and pencils, so when my Twitter friend Rachael mentioned she had a new favorite every day pen and wanted to send me one I was more than happy to put it to the test.

It was pretty obvious when I opened the package what the Dong-A Fine-Tech 0.3 mm gel ink pen is trying to accomplish. It wants to be a Pilot Hi-Tec-C. Aside from a few small design tweaks it is pretty close in the appearance department. If the Fine-Tech could pull off a similar writing performance to the Hi-Tec-C then we might have something here, but unfortunately it falls short.

Since it is clear where this pen is trying to position itself I can’t help but compare it directly to the Hi-Tec-C. The ink flow of the Fine-Tech is nice when it is going well. My lines were clean and sharp and the ink was solid and dark. Where it started to falter was in line consistency. Sometimes the ink flow became too heavy - especially for an 0.3 mm gel - and sometimes it was to light and thin.

This is not a bad pen by any stretch. The Dong-A Fine-Tech sells for about half of what the Pilot Hi-Tec-C does, and in this case you get what you pay for.

Zebra Arbez Piirto Ballpoint Pen 0.7 mm Review

It is great to see manufacturers branch out from the norm and come up with fresh pen and pencil designs. Zebra takes it a step further by holding an annual contest for young designers around the world, and the Zebra Arbez Piirto was the winner of the 2011 event.

The winning design is based around the slim and simple form of an ice pick, which makes sense when you realize the designer is from Finland. It is quite stunning, especially when you consider that part of the design process was to make it as inexpensively as possible. Mission accomplished on all fronts.

Many pens use a rotation or twist mechanism to extend and retract the pen but where the Piirto differs is that the mechanism is in the grip area as opposed to the upper barrel area. It functions quite well and does not get in the way of the writing experience at all.

What does get in the way of the writing experience is the ballpoint ink cartridge. This is your basic cheap ballpoint refill, so set your expectations accordingly. A Zebra Surari refill would make this pen a knockout but would also raise the price, which goes against the reason the Piirto was created.

The Piirto ballpoint is available with black and red ink cartridges as well as a black barrel design. There is even a mechanical pencil version that is designed similarly. While it may not perform like a world beater, the design and price made it an easy choice to add to my collection.