Category Archives: Reviews

Review – Monteverde Ceramic Gel Refill

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Some companies are iconic. Some companies have existed for years and have made a lasting impact on all of the products in their market today. Parker is one of these companies. And when my Parker Jotter ran out of ink, and I was trying to find a refill, this became apparent. Because while there aren’t many Parker brand click pen refills to be found in the world (it can be done, and much easier than some other things, but still…) it is quite easy to find a refill that will fit into a Parker pen. In fact, it’s more common to find pens that fit such refills than it is to find a genuine Parker pen now. Monteverde is one such company that makes both refills and pens of the Parker type, and I’ll be looking at the Ceramic Gel refill from them today.

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The body of the refill itself fits perfectly into any Parker-type pen with ease. Printed on the cartridge is enough information to help you buy another and then some.

The ink is a jet black. It takes some time to dry completely, though, and even when it is dry enough to turn the page the ink isn’t completely dry. It sparkles for some time until it fades to a nice black with little to no shading, which I like in a black.

When dry the ink is very water-resistant, with only minimal feathering. Writing is quite smooth, though I chose the fine-tipped version, which is very finicky about the angle at which it is held and will skip if it is even slightly out of alignment. The tip can also upon occasion require a stroke before the ink flows. After this, there are no flow problems to mention.

It’s just a good refill that does what one would expect it to. It performs well, and its smoothness is quite nice. Really, though, the feel is so close to many other gel pen refills that it comes down to a matter of trying most of them and selecting a favorite.

Review – Rhodia 3×4.75(5) Staple Bound Pocket Notebook

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Pocket notebooks are something that, it seems to me, are becoming more of a “thing” again. Whether or not it was just me being unable to find them early in the 2000s, or them not existing in large quantities at the time, I don’t know. Still, I seem to find newer, and possibly better, pocket notebooks all the time, like the Rhodia 3×5 48-page 80g notebook I stumbled across at my local bookstore.

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The color of my notebook is black (it can be orange), with orange lettering printed on, making it look like the Rhodia premium pads, but it contains regular, stark white, 80g Rhodia paper. My particular book is a graph ruling in a light purple that is customary for the brand. I quite like it, but prefer a light blue for graphs. The 3×5″ size makes the book small and convenient to put in any pocket. Being a half-inch shorter on either side to a field notes book, I was surprised at the places this book could go that the latter couldn’t. The 48 pages are quite sufficient for making lists, a few sketches, or even a few stories, and about the right length to prevent the destruction of the book by the time it is completed.

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The cover quality is nice. It is thicker than the paper without being cumbersome, and seems tear- and crease-resistant, though I wouldn’t push it. The ink used to print the logo and info on the back is much more heavy-duty than what is used on the pads and holds up without smearing, chipping, or fading for quite some time. The staple binding is a weakness in some cases, being a bending point, but overall causes little damage since the size is so small. And the paper is typical wonderful Rhodia. It is thick and smooth, taking everything from pencils to fountain pens with no problem. It is an absolute pleasure to write on, though with some liquid inks taking time to dry, one has to be careful. If they are looking for speed, a non-liquid pen should be looked into, but even ballpoints feel great on the paper. Bleed-through and feathering are minimal. Show-through is unfortunately common, and tearing is unlikely but possible if the book is going out on an adventure.

Overall, these little notebooks are a great addition to the pocket notebook collection. They are heavy lifters for their size, and the black ones are fairly covert and classic looking. And, of course, they all but disappear in a pocket. A great little book to look into especially if you think Field Notes are just slightly too large.

Review – Scripto Oops

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Sometimes, when going through life, you find some amazing idea that you can’t believe has been discontinued. I mean, how could they not be making money on that? Of course, there are many reasons for something to disappear, and in the case of what I’m reviewing today, the Scripto Oops, there are plenty of long erasers to take its place. But this one was the first I ran across, and I think it deserves at least a short review.

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The Oops is a pen-like item, with an uncapped cylinder as a push button on the back, and a functional, but not very useful, clip. One the side of the eraser is printed the relevant information for the company and item being used. At the section, the eraser becomes more “triangular” and ridges are added for grip in the facets.
Pushing the button moves plastic claws at the front of the eraser that push forward and then lock in the main eraser part. This mechanism is fairly sturdy, but does break over time. The eraser itself is better than a standard pink eraser, but not as good as gum erasers. In general, it falls well into the white eraser category.

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Overall, I love the thing, and use it when I remember it’s around (and not lost in my pen cup). For art, I do tend to use higher-quality erasers, but for everyday use this is a great one and it fills all the roles needed with minimal streaking and removes enough pencil. It’s just a shame they don’t make them anymore.

Review – Poquitos Part 2 – Monteverde Ballpoint/Stylus and Fountain Pen

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I had the regular Yafa brand Poquitos for quite some time before ever even hearing about the brand Monteverde, which is one of the many brands of “inexpensive” luxury pens that Yafa owns. Monteverde mainly has their own line of pens that could be completely separated from Yafa, but recently I discovered Monteverde was releasing a set of pens under the same name and similarly styled to the Yafa Poquito. This, of course, confused me, until I found out the companies’ relationship. The two Monteverde Poquitos have both similarities and differences when compared to the regular Yafa versions. Let’s take a look.

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First up is the fountain pen, which is styled very similarly to the original Poquito, but because it is a fountain pen, it is slightly larger, a little longer, and about twice as thick. The tip of the cap has the same “stylus” as on the smaller pens, and the clip is almost identical. The pen is also made of brass, but seems to be painted better, and Poquito is written right on the cap.

Being a fountain pen, it accepts cartridges (of the standard international variety), but there are no converters designed for it. Some small converters can be finagled into working, but none are advertised as doing so. The nib (which is only available in medium) and feed are relatively dry, but that is the case with many pens with similar nib and feed types (plastic, iridium point, German made) and many inks are designed to work well with this type of pen. The section is stainless steel (I think) and gets slick upon prolonged use. And the pen is too short to hold comfortably without posting. But the pen is still super small, and is absolutely ideal for taking quick notes provided one finds an ink that works well with it.

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In addition to their release of the fountain pen, Monteverde also released a new version of the regular ballpoint Poquito, called the Poquito Stylus (and funnily enough, they also released the Poquito Stylus XL which is almost the size of the Largo). The pen has the same writing and mechanism end as the Yafa Poquito (which is the only part that the Poquitos share). But on the other end, a touch-screen stylus of average size replaces the old hard “stylus” point, which was really useless. This new stylus works quite well, though it can be a bit broad at times. The clip design has also changed. It works just as well, and looks a little nicer, in my opinion, but is more likely to damage the item it is clipped onto. The ballpoint itself is identical to the older pen, with refills being the same.

Overall, the Monteverde versions of the Poquito pens are quite small, and quite functional. They haven’t really fixed any of the problems with the standard Yafa versions, but the added benefits of a fountain pen and stylus (for the people that like to use them) are great. All of the Poquitos are hardy little pens that serve well, and can go almost anywhere. The Monteverde versions just add a little more style and a little more usage variation.

Review – Poquitos Part 1 – Yafa Ballpoint and Pencil

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Some things are better small, and the Yafa Poquito, being one of the first pens I got, proved that to me. It was exceptional for my small hands at the time. But how does the set compare now?

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The Yafa Poquito pens have metal bodies that come in various colors. The top of the pen is a bit of a rounded-off cone, and the top of the pencil has a small steel button. The clips are tight and almost identical, with the pen’s being pointed, and the pencil’s being round. The bodies of both utensils taper from the middle to each end, with the center band being separate in the pen and attached to the mechanism in the pencil. The metal tip of the pencil is also part of the mechanism, whereas in the pen it is part of the body. The bodies are quite solid, but the paint will wear off with time and a bit of use. Consider getting a silver or brass one to fix that if you mind.

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The pencil takes .7mm lead, and what it comes with it fairly standard, sometimes broken in transit. The mechanism is easy to use and quite sturdy. It would stand up to a bit of abuse. There is no play once the lead has been extruded, it doesn’t have “shocks” as it were, but the mechanism is separate from the pen body, and this creates a squeak now and then.

The pen is a smooth-writing fine cartridge. It is a ballpoint so there are occasional globs and hard starts. If left out for some time, the pen will be quite hard to start, but in this case a while is so long a time that one would expect it to. When it does flow, it is very smooth, and has almost no issues. It is not quite black, and waterproof, as most ballpoint blacks are.

The Poquitos pack quite a bit of punch for their size, being less than 4 inches long (and they still manage to fit relatively comfortably in the hand). And while they do have some flaws, they are far from from deal-breaking for having a pen or pencil there when you really need it. They serve best as backups and are miles ahead of small pens that don’t allow one to comfortably hold them or have very little ink. I’d say that in that category, Poquitos are at least worth a look.