Reviews Written by car...

  A very smooth writer..., April 27, 2013

A very smooth writer with a very fine line. And beautiful to look at. (Note that I write with a very light hand, so the tiny point is plenty sturdy enough for me.) The hotel-style crest is maybe a little silly, but it plus the faceted cap (which posts aesthetically) plus the overall style just makes it nicer than the average pen to have lying around on the desk or whip out for note-taking in meetings.

  Contrary to the other..., April 15, 2012

Contrary to the other reviews, I'm having a terrible experience with this pen. I've cleaned it, changed inks, and it still writes "dry" to the point of not writing at all unless I scribble a bit with it to get it started--not only every time I uncap it, but sometimes every time I pause a bit to move down to the next line. I purchased it as a gift, and I'm glad I decided to load the cartridge and check it out before giving it.

I'll give it one more try with the wettest inks I have before I declare it completely defective, but after fussing with it for two days, I'm not sure it's worth spending a lot more time on this pen.

  A soft, somewhat broad..., March 1, 2012

A soft, somewhat broad brush tip that's great for shading pen and ink drawings. Easy to control, not too dark, not too light. Another nice pen from Kuretake.

  Pros: Nice fine line,..., February 23, 2012

Pros: Nice fine line, lovely bluish dove grey ink. "Extra Fine" really is EF. I imagine it works great for writing characters with many detailed strokes.

Cons: These pens (well, refills, but I use them just as pens) tend to get blobs of ink on the tip while capped, no matter how they're stored. On some papers, they take an extremely long time to dry completely. I seem to be using up the ink very quickly, sketching rather than writing.

YMMV: The pen holders look weird with the refill sticking out the back. I'm not sure whether the blobbing problem has to do with something like the heat/pressure from using the refills without a holder. If I were more motivated to test them, I'd experiment, but I don't care for the holders and I like a narrow pen, and this is working well enough.

Overall: I love this soft grey for sketching and for fine, small writing, and it hasn't blobbed yet. It's functional enough to get a middle-of-the-road, 3-star review.

  OK little doodling pen...., February 11, 2012

OK little doodling pen. It's cheap and it has a moderately fine line--after a page of drawing it settled down from that fresh-out-of-the-cap fineness. Supposedly it will survive for days on the desert of my desk when I forget to put the cap back on, so, THAT's its main selling point for me. It simply puts down a line, to frills, no thrills, and ok also for note taking. The slate grey ink is nice to work with, the triangular shape is easy on the fingers (YMMV: I like a narrower body on a pen...maybe it helps me focus on the line...). At this price, I won't worry about losing it or using it up (or knocking the cap off) if I toss it in my bag for random sketches.

  For me, there's no such..., February 11, 2012

For me, there's no such thing as too fine a line. This is another super-fine pen to love. A little scratchy, a little dry, and the tip feels a little delicate--but no more than to be expected. The Kuretake Tegami Letter Pen super-fine refill edges this one out because it's smoother and less dry with easier line variation, even using rapid strokes (I don't have the Tegami nearby to compare, so I'm going from memory on this). But I like this one enough to pick up the black and the grey too. I'm enjoying it for intricate doodles and warmups, detailed crosshatching and small lettering. The sepia has maybe a little more grey in it than some variations on the colour.

Not waterproof!

I didn't purchase the holder (I think the way the refill pokes out the back is unattractive, except maybe for the "starry night with glitter" black holder, since it matches the glittery black ink reservoir), but I have no trouble using the refill alone as a pen. Larger hands may want the holder for convenience, and it does come in nifty colours.

  Lasted two extremely..., January 3, 2012

Lasted two extremely brief uses then the ink flow stopped, and I haven't been able to revive it. I see that other people have had the same problem with this line of pens. Too unreliable.

  Mine got leaky after..., October 11, 2011

Mine got leaky after I took it on an international flight, but I had no complaints beforehand. I like its flexibility from super-fine to a thicker brush stroke, and enjoy it enormously for comic drawing. I also own it in black ink--and use them both just as pens, not as refills. On their own, they are a bit slender and require a delicate hand.

  I picked this up for..., May 2, 2011

I picked this up for lettering work, but, except for larger lettering, I think I'll prefer this for drawing. I usually like a more fine and precise line and a drier pen, but pair this pen with a smooth paper (like Rhodia) and it's great fun for fast doodles. The variation in line width from moderately fine to rather thick gives a lot of dynamism with a light tough. After minimal drying time, it handles erasing of underlying pencil lines well (if you don't go overboard scrubbing at it with the eraser). I don't necessarily find this ink to be blacker than any other similar pen. I haven't used it long enough to know how it'll hold up in the long run, so I can't give it a 5 out of 5. But for a loose, free style of drawing, I recommend this one a lot.

  In spite of the previous..., April 1, 2011

In spite of the previous bad review, I had heard so many good things about this ink being "bold and black," I had to try it for myself. It's an incredibly smooth-writing ink. After using the same nib awhile, I could write about four lines of rapid cursive on a single good dip. And it has an oddly floral scent. But it's not an "intense" black in any sense of the word, on either a smooth or a toothy paper, and even a very wet line is no darker than charcoal grey. I'm almost tempted to buy a bottle from another source to see if it's any blacker. I'll be interested to see if this ink darkens over time the way Diamine Registrar's ink goes from blue-black to black. I'll try to remember to amend my review if, in a week or two, I have a page of rich black writing instead of the dark grey it is now. It gets extra points in my rating for its history and reputation for being long lasting, because I like that sort of thing.