Cross Ion: Great pen with some oversights
Written: Dec 28 '03 (Updated Dec 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Dark, smooth writing, small, and cool
Cons: Short and stubby. Sometimes finicky ink delivery
The Bottom Line: The Cross Ion is a great pen. If they can tweak the pen to get past the small design oversights, then they will have a true winner here.
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| mookiekong's Full Review: A.T. CROSS Cross Ion Pens |
Until I got my Fisher Space Pen, the Cross Ion was my running favourite as a writing instrument. I am glad to see that Cross has come back with such an innovative and eye catching design for a pen. It is the physically eye pleasing look of the pen that got me to buy it originally (I saw it in a magazine ad).
When I was a kid, my relatives always used to give me Cross pen and pencil sets. You might know the type I am talking about. The metal pens and pencils that came in a gift box – very exceptional pens and pencils I think, but just a bit “old” for me. The designs screamed of “adult” when I wanted a cool pen. The metal Cross pens were just a nightmare for me because the would get all slippery when my fingers perspired.
I am happy to say that though I am an adult, I still don't like those executive looking Cross pens, but at least now there is a cool Cross pen that I can have. The Cross Ion is one cool designed pen – and though the design is cool, there are some oversights of the design that I will write about later on.
The Cross Ion is a gel ink pen. And because of this, most of us know, the pen will lay down a very dark and smooth line when used. The pen writes exceptionally well. One thing to keep in mind is that the gel ink comes out wet and takes some time to dry, so sometimes you'll get smears when you are writing, just be careful not to run your hand over your writing as you are writing. Also because of the wet nature of gel inks, it tends to bleed through pages – ballpoints don't have this problem. There are trade offs with both types of pens.
When the pen is retracted, it is a short stubby thing that anyone can take an put into their pant pocket without fear of getting stabbed when sitting down. When extended the pen is about an inch longer (somewhere around 4.5”). The Ion has a nice rubbery grip to it that makes holding on the pen easy (without slipping out of my fingers!)
The Ion comes in all sorts of colors that range from “all too bright” to “subtly professional”. I two Ions, the aurora blue/mercury silver and astral white/neptune blue. Both are pretty subtle in their colors.
Once one gets past the looks of the pen and starts writing with it, one will either love the feel or hate it. The pen is pretty thick in diameter, so smaller hands may not get used to it easily. But then for larger hands, the shortness of the pen when extended makes it difficult when writing for long periods of time. The triangular grip seems smart at first, but then feels funny after writing with it for a while. Then there is the shape of the pen barrel: totally round. This makes for a pen that really likes to roll off of a table!
The white pen for me, I tried keeping it on my key chain with the included keyring attachment. But, the ink got messed up when I kept it in my pocket. It started to skip really badly, then stopped working all together. At first I did not think that it was because I was keeping it in my pocket and thought that it dried out. So I got a refill for it and after a day in my pocket, it did the same thing again. I don't keep that pen in my pocket anymore. The blue Ion that I have hands from a lanyard at work and comes in handy. Though, I may switch to the Fisher Space Pen when I get back from my Christmas/New Years vacation. I can keep the Fisher Space Pen in my pocket without worry since the pen has a pressurized ink barrel. Another quirk that I found with the Cross Ion is that after writing for a long period this gob of ink develops on the tip of the pen.
Cross guarantees the mechanical parts of the pen for a lifetime. And this maybe needed. My fiancee's pen's rear cover comes off quite easily and her slider is very loose. Mine has yet to become very loose because I don't use my Ions as much as she does.
Keep in mind that the Ion pen is not inexpensive by all means. When I bought my blue one (after I thought I lost my white one) a few months ago, Cross had dropped the price of the Ion and started throwing in the free lanyard. I paid $25 for my first one and $20 for my second one. The price should still be around $20 right now, look for the packaging that has a free lanyard if you do go searching for an Ion. Colorwise, you'll have a hard time finding some of the popular colors in retail stores, but you can always order it online at cross.com. The refills are not as expensive as Fisher Space Pen refills, but are still quite costly at $2-3 a piece.
But these things aside, the pen performs very well and is a very good pen. I will still use my Ion, but I think I will switch to my Fisher Space Pen for most of my writing, it is a bit more comfortable. The Cross Ion is still a great pen and I think that Cross did a wonderful job at creating a pen for the younger generation of writers. If they can just tweak the pen a little bit to get past the small design oversights, then they will have a true winner here.
Recommended:
Yes
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mookiekong
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Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Reviews written: 68
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Current Mookie Obsession: Apple iPhone 8GB and Fedora 8.
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