Ohto Pieni Wooden Body Mini Needle-Point Ballpoint Pen - 0.5 mm - Green Body

My favorite ballpoint - it's compact, the hex body grips nicely, ink doesn't skip and takes minimal pressure. Ink beads up on the tip a bit, but for me this is a feature, because it comes out in my bolder strokes, capitals, etc., adding some line variation like my fountain pen would. I think it improves strokes more often than it makes random inkblots, but it probably depends on your handwriting. It does rattle, and the wood body dents and scratches like a wooden pencil would, but this is a six dollar knock-about pen, not some heirloom piece. After I misplaced mine (it's cheap enough to misplace), I tried to replace it with the Petit-B, which uses the same ink. Very well constructed, but so small that I can't hold it without posting the cap, too skinny and too slick for me to grip comfortably, skips a bit because I have to hold at a more oblique angle, and the convenience of being tiny is totally outweighed by having to open and post the cap. So anyway, I'm getting another one or two of these.

I'm not really so wild about this one. I don't hate it, but the rattling that other reviews have mentioned really is annoying. I have also found that this pen doesn't always start up right away if I haven't used it in a while. I always have to scribble a little to get it going. Its a shame, because it's a really nice looking pen. I just don't find it as functional as I had hoped.

I bought this pen because I enjoy using Ohto's other needle pens. While it writes exactly the same as the other pens, I had to subtract two stars because the plunger on the end is loose when the pen tip is out and makes a really, really irritating rattling noise when you write. I'm no pen connoisseur but this alone is enough to make me not want to use the pen on a regular basis. Such a shame, because it is an attractive pen that feels good in the hand.