Alright, sorry WordPress, but I’ve moved to SquareSpace. The site feels a lot more organic for me and I couldn’t stay away.
You can now find me at www.ionsomnia.com
I hope you like the new site & the content I’ll actually be putting up!
…the Pilot Metropolitan
The Pilot Neapolitan! The delicious new fountain pen for our American fountain pen market. I have been looking forward to its release since FPGeeks blurbed about it a few months ago.
I’ll skip over all the boring facts and jump straight into opinions, ramblings, and poor-quality pictures! (per usual)
I’m a big fan of the discontinued 78G from Pilot. It was averagely sized, cheap, had a screw-cap, and most importantly had one of Pilot’s awesome Fine nibs. But being constructed of thin plastic with very little adornment, it was too insubstantial for me. Unsubstantial. Light. I needed more pen! I’m a big fan of pocket carry, especially pants pocket, so a metal barrel really makes me more at ease. Plus I prefer writing & drawing with heavier pens in general.
Now once the Metro finally popped up on “store shelves” the bottom dropped out, as it was (is) only being offered with a Medium nib. But wait, that section+nib+feed all look totally identical to the 78G. Because they are! Jackpot. I knew I’d be able to easily pull out the boring medium nib and toss in an Extra Fine from the Pilot Penmanship (I call her Penny) or the surprisingly ubiquitous Pilot Plumix italic nib. Seriously, I still can’t believe Staples actually carries those in-store.
Here’s a size comparison between the Prera and Metropolitan. I converted the Prera to an eyedropper, something I cannot recommend with the metal barrel of the Metro.
You’ll also note that the Metro above has a matte section, as opposed to the shiny one in the 78G reference picture. Culled from an awesome and inspiring old thread at FPN, I disassembled my Metro and sanded down the section. This has afforded me a much better grip.
Speaking of grip, the Metro’s clip is actually pretty good. I’ve been clipping the pen to my jeans pocket for the last week and it’s still just as elastic (?), with no indication that it will eventually bend or break. And the clip isn’t so ridiculously tight against the barrel that it only acts as a roll-stop!
A coworker asked me if I was worried that the snap cap would come loose in my pocket. Luckily, Pilot has provided another wonderful threadless cap. It closes with a decided click and opens with a noticeable ploit! I might even venture to say that it’s a better seal than on the Prera, though it doesn’t post as nicely. But who cares? I don’t post!
All in all, the Metropolitan is a steal for $15. One part buttery Japanese medium nib, one part ROBOCOP. And this pen just gets better for those of us who like needlepoints AND modding.
You didn’t really think I was going to end this without linking to RoboCop, did you? For shame.
…The Bolt from KarasKustoms
I have a lot of half-finished drafts I am setting aside to press this:
KarasKustoms (makers of the radical Render K) have a new pen product they’ve released upon the Kickstarter – the Bolt
It’s one of the few click pen offerings I’ve seen, and the only one that’s piqued my interest.
The quick takeaway is a sturdy aluminum <or> brass click pen with a cool design that takes Parker-style refills. It’s designed & made in the USA (obligatory comment to make when today is 9-11) by some cool folks. It takes any Parker-style refill, so you’ll have no problem keeping it inked.
Looking at it closer [looking closer at pictures of it over the internet, rather] I’ve got a few thoughts:
- I like that it’s smooth from tip to clip, meaning it should latch onto and smoothly be extracted from one’s pocket.
- I dislike that there’s no actual “grip” section. I know it’s polarizing, but I would love a knurled section just past the nose cone taper. But that would ruin the aesthetic, I know.
- As someone who likes to watch things work and take them apart, I love that you can see the actual bolt. This will only add to the joy of clicking this pen.
- This is a great jeans pen. Rugged. Sex~ay. And it should take a Fisher Space Pen refill*
- Look at that buff clip. That guy (just like the Render K’s) means business
- Did someone say Parker refill? Shucks. That’s going to require a lot more work to hack in my favorite micro tip gel refills :/
KarasKustoms does great work. I love my Render K. I am probably going to back the Bolt. If you’re normal and don’t have a ridiculous predilection for miniscule writing, you’ll love this pen. It will get the job done every time, and look good doing it.
Look at that > 
Oh, and they already reached their goal, just an hour after launching. And by the time I post this, they’ll be at 200% funded.
*No, I don’t think the Space Pen refill writes well. But yes, I do think it has a purpose, and porpoises that purpose well.
~Images obviously snagged from their Kickstarter
reviewing the PHX
The PHX was my first Kickstarter venture. Sure, call me a Johnny Come Lately, it’s true.
I’d seen the Pen Type-A while it was still live/ongoing/whatever it’s been termed, but I didn’t jump on board. Which is weird. It got me pretty excited. But you know how some people argue that using “pretty” as an adverb is actually a demotion from the default status of the adjective? That’s the kind of pretty excited I was. Because for an awesomely designed shell for the wonderful Hi-Tec-C, I knew it was a pen I wouldn’t use. No cap. No cap? What do you mean you don’t have no cap? Oh, but you have a ?holster? …yay.
I just knew it wouldn’t fit into my lifestyle.
Then the Render K busted on the scene. This really got my juices flowing. Real cap, real clip, some knurling tossed in for good measure – an aesthetic I could get behind 100%. It’s ruggedly classy! I really have no excuse why I didn’t back this. I’d feel bad about it, if they didn’t blow way past their goal. I’ll probably end up picking one of these up from their direct site, because I really like what they’ve produced.
But neither of those products is what I’m trying to talk about now
By the time the PHX came up, I was clearly ready to back a Kickstarter barrel for the Hi-Tec-C. There were a few things that roped me in quick and made me feel secure:
- Touted Balance = sustained comfortable use
- Stainless Steel = Heft = conforming to that weight->value concept many pen fiends have
- Additional compatibility with the Signo DX
- Only $20. Whoa, cheapest Hi-Tec-C barrel yet!
Adding on to that, Chad & Joe listened to feedback during the project and made available a threaded back plug replacement for posting the cap.
So I backed the project, tacked on the additional$3 for the threaded back plug, and went about life.
It arrived in the mail towards the end of May, much to my excitement. It came with a nice, durable pocket sleeve.
Now these Kickstarter crews are doing a great job with very thorough presentation of their product, so you know a lot more about the product before buying it than is the case for most purchases (at least in the pen department).
But what can’t you tell from the interets, regarding the PHX?
The first thing I noticed was how much less I had to apply pressure to the page. Due to the barrel’s significant weight, I can use a very light grip. This is especially nice for sketching. I can get a smooth dark line with zero force. I know this is mostly the Hi-Tec-C at work, but weight of the PHX does make a difference.
One of the things I’d worried about was the threads getting in the way of my grip or irritating my finger tips. Totally not the case, even when I’m holding the pen right on the threads. Speaking of grip, the barrel is really smooth. I’ve read a lot of minor gripes that hands just slip off this pen. I don’t know what kind of grip these people are using, because it’s definitely not an issue for me.
One of my hopes was that I would feel cooler while using this pen. It absolutely has that effect.
An effect I wasn’t expecting is how much safer I would feel from criminals. I don’t normally carry around tactical pens, but I’m pretty sure the PHX fits into the bludgeon category. But be warned: if you’re ever sneaking into, well… anything, try not to drop it. The PHX is LOUD. Even just rolling around on my desk, I keep thinking a rail car is pulling up beside me.
So are there any real cons to this pen?
I do have some small issues to note. Posting this pen makes it unwieldy and very off-balance. I feel a lot more tension in my wrist when writing with the PHX posted, and it becomes unpleasant to use. Also, unthreading the cap from the back plug has a tendency to loosen the plug from the body of the pen. Whoops! Luckily, I’m not big on posting in the first place.
(Chad&Joe note that using fabric/grippy thing to tighten the back plug more securely will prevent the cap from unthreading the plug)
Also, I find that the cap doesn’t always thread smoothly onto the front of the pen. Maybe I’m just inept, but there have been times where I’m actually looking at what I’m doing and the cap still won’t thread on smoothly the first try.
Another thing to note is that this really isn’t an EDC pen. Which is exactly how I’ve been using it. But it’s too heavy not to notice in any pocket, and if you don’t use the sleeve, the PHX is a danger to anything else held within your pockets.
But those are minor issues. I’ve had the PHX for a month now, and it’s held the lion’s share of my attention. I’m really glad I backed it, and I look forward to when Chad & Joe’s next project arrives at my door.
on multi-pen inserts, tape, and gardening
That’s the Uni Style Fit gel ink cartridge, with tape around it to work smoothly in the 701. You can move the “tape stop” closer to or farther from the tip, depending on how smooth you want the click action to be.
This simple method works on a lot of pens. And with all the cool kid multi-pen refills: Coleto, Sliccies, Style-Fit. It’s actually a problem, how many different barrels you can do this to. I ended up in this ridiculous spiral, grabbing any decent-to-nice barrel from my drawers and doing some test drives. A few of them weren’t really worth modding in the first place, like this random Staples executive-esque pen. It’s not terrible, but having a solid insert can really only elevate it but so much.
Some of these attempts at least turned complete disasters into decent pens to keep around. The Pentel Client is actually a solid barrel, both in design and construction. It’s not going to win awards, but it’s a good choice around the office; it looks classy but you don’t mind if the boss picks it up. Unfortunately, the three of them I had lying around were filled with the worst Parker-esque ballpoint refill. It was just garbage. So having reputable refills really flipped these pens around.
And finally, there were some barrels that just shined. The Zebra Expandz is a cool pen by default. The same F refill as the 701 (and 301, 402, Spiral, etc…) is in there, being quite so average. The rest of the pen is solid (heavy enough), sharp lookin’, and a great mini-pen. But when I tossed a mandarin orange Style Fit refill, it became my secret garden. Pen.
Oh you guys
You know I can’t resist this
New Kickstarter project from the PHX guys! They may not know it, but this is absolutely what I’m all about. Titanium + stylus + significant compatibility. And it looks like they’ve smoothed out a lot of the issues I have with the PHX (review post ETA tomorrow)
Zebra F-701
Fall, 2011: So I’d seen the F-701 in stores for a while, but never really paid attention to it. Sure, it’s shiny and classy looking, but it was in the ballpoint section. And for the most part of the last two years, I’ve been trying to avoid ballpoints (other than you, Jetstream *wink*) at all costs.
Then The Pen Addict put out another blurb about it, I think this was back in September. He mentioned going for the 701 more often than the Pilot Precise V7, and that’s all it took. I picked one up after work and immediately loved it. The construction of it is pretty impressive. I could care less about the “plastic ring” by which so many reviewers seem to be profoundly insulted. Seriously, I spent six bucks on this pen, it’s ok if there’s a small plastic embellishment in one little area. It has heft (compared to the typical plastic barrel), it feels dense, and the click is smooth.
On to the F refill. I’ll admit that it’s actually a pretty decent ballpoint. If I were just using the pen to doodle or write casual notes, I could leave it in there and be happy. But I had to find something even better to put in there. So I began my search!
I ended up ruling out most of my preferred cartridges, because they all flared out too quickly. I ended up with 3 possibilities: the Pilot hi-tec-c slim knock, the Zebra TechnoLine, and the Uni Style-Fit. Because the Style-Fit cartridges aren’t designed with a lip/ridge for a spring to push against, I knew it would take a bit more work to mod them. So I’ve set that aside as a future project. The Hi-Tec-C was the most interesting to add in, because…well…Hi-Tec-C. The Slim Knock line seems to be missing a little something from the classic version, and it doesn’t come in as many colors, but it’s still a champ. I did some basic tape-up models and knew it would work. Then I ordered my own refills, so that I could cut them and glue them, which I would not do to my wife’s pen supply.
Once I got my order in from JetPens, I got out my exacto knife and cut off, I think 2mm?, from the back end of the Slim Knock cartridge. Then I grabbed the back cap off the default F-Refill. Now here I realized that the cap would not go smoothly into the Slim Knock’s rear, so I found a worthless ballpoint refill sitting in one of my Reject cups, cut a ‘transition’ piece off, put the cap in one end, and taped it up tight to the back of the Slim Knock. There was a little trial & error to get the lengths just right. But once I did, it all came together perfectly.
Later that day I ran out, picked up a second F701, and modded another Slim Knock cartridge to go in that one as well. One black 0.3mm, one blue 0.4mm. I love this couple. Until I ran them dry, they were easily my favorite pen(s) to use. It’s an incredible combination, taking the best from these two manufacturers.
Spring 2012: I’ve made it work using Coleto and Style-Fit refills. This makes things a lot simpler. These multi-pen refills are available in much greater variety. The only additional step needed is to make a “spring-stop,” but this is pretty easy with a swatch of tape wrapped around the refill.
The JetPens Experience (Part I)
So back in May I finally placed my first order with JetPens
Upon delivery, I was tickled.
In my first order, I wanted redundancy for two reasons. First, I wanted to build up a workforce of reliable better pens. Second, I wanted to do some QC on these new pens so that if I did end up talking about them, I’d have a decent base for my opinions, rather than unknowingly writing about a positive or negative outlier.
Regardless of the repetition, I was quite excited to line these puppies up and ready them for a relay race.
The only problem with this new cast was that it was going to push out some of the old crew. And I’d already been working diligently to completely use up a bunch of less interesting pens over the last couple weeks:
So I ended up emptying all the remaining pens on my desk into a drawer, and putting only my new pens at free arm’s reach.
<missing pic, thanks droid :(>
TBC…
Subsonic (V2)
I’ve been running Subsonic for a while now, and it’s been amazing. Not having to regularly sync my old Droid is great. Mobile streaming has been fantastic, and the web interface is even a bit nicer. Setting up accounts for friends is awesome, and I’m constantly making them sample my changing tastes, in an effort to quell my rants.
I’ve been putting Subsonic through it’s paces, that’s for sure. Allowing last.fm scrobbling on a user account basis is rad.
I signed up for a Google Music [beta] invite a week back, and got my invite today. I just set it up. It’s only mildly different from Subsonic, though I guess the main benefit is that my computer doesn’t have to be up and running as the server. Still, I have a feeling I’ll stick with Subsonic. But I might as well hop on this Google project and help them test it, and of course get in on the ground floor ;)
Subsonic!
After having it bookmarked to do for 6 months, I finally set up my Subsonic server tonight. It took so little time, I feel like an idiot. Already making user accounts for friends before they even know about my plan to force my music on them.
Now I just have to restructure my music directory to a universal naming convention. I’m sure I can find a MediaMonkey script or such…
Good thing I also accidentally increased my plan with my ISP tonight, I’m going to need that extra upload capability with all the sharing I’ll be doing.