Freak369's Full Review: BIC Rollerball Pen, Fine Point, 0.7mm, Blue Ink
We were walking from the vehicle to the library to return some books when Annabelle spotted something in the snow. She has hawk-like vision and when she spots something out of the ordinary, she’s quick to investigate. She pulled the marker from the snow, brushed it off and started reading, “bike griproller fine”. I was trying to make my way up the icy steps and didn’t pay much attention to her little ramble figuring she’d found some empty pen or broken pencil that was thrown on the ground instead of in the trash. Later that night when I started the laundry she came running down the steps shouting up a storm, I’d grabbed her clothes from the day to do with the rest of the dirty dud and the ‘marker’ almost ended up in the washer. “Waaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiitttttttttttttt” was the war cry she let out as she made her way down the last set of steps. Thinking that she had more clothes for me I rolled my eyes and waited for her to pitter patter down the last three steps and clear the landing in the basement. No, it wasn’t about getting more clothes into the laundry or even asking me if she could have the last moon pie, she wanted the ‘marker’ back out of her overalls. I’ve never seen her get so hooked on a pen or marker before, she’s into colored pencils, crayons and things with more color. I figured that if she was so into this, I’d better check it out ASAP.
Bic Grip Roller Ball Pen Black Ink 0.7mm Fine Point
In a lot of ways this is like the Z4 from Bic but this roller ball pen offers you more control over the ink flow and has a very nice rubber comfort grip on the finger area. When you see this you might think that the entire outer body of it has the rubber grip feel to it, it doesn’t. The body of it is made of a hard solid plastic so it is going to take a lot to destroy or crack it; even the metal pocket tab on it is securely affixed to it. What I really like about it is that when you go to replace the cap you actually hear the click so you know that without a doubt it is completely closed. Even though this is a roller ball pen, if the cap were to come off of it in a purse or backpack, it will cause a mess. Annabelle was a little reluctant to let me try this out so I had to wait until she dozed off on the couch to pry it out of his hands.
Being a pen junkie I really wanted to see how to this wrote on velum and copy paper and give it the ‘smear test’ to see how quick the ink dried. I am always on the lookout for pens that have good ink flow, dry quickly and don’t feather on paper with a deep grain. This wrote perfectly on copy paper and passed the feathering test with flying colors; I moved on to some scraps of paper that I trimmed off art pieces and was really pleased with it. I knew that if I kept playing around with it, Annabelle wouldn’t be getting it back any time soon. The next morning I struck up a deal with her, I’d take her to the office supply store and get her a brand new one if she’d let me hold on to the one she’d found. No deal, she found it and she wanted to keep it. Since my curiosity had been piqued I did the next best thing and picked up a pack at Target. I really liked the fine line that the roller ball had but when I saw the micro fine [.05] I grabbed a pack of those too but I wasn’t paying attention to the colors and ended up with red instead of black.
If you are looking for an awesome fine roller ball pen, this is definitely one to check out because you get the rubber comfort grip that lets you write for a long time without hand cramps. The ink flow is so smooth that you might have a hard time believing that it is a roller ball. There’s no sputtering or spitting and the ink dries super quick. With some roller ball pens you have this grinding [for lack of a better word] reaction when you are drawing or filling in small areas. Not only is this annoying, it jerks your hand a little as the ball resists the grain of the paper. Sort of like when you are shaving with a dull razor and it catches your hair. The benefit of having this over a felt tip or porous point is that the tip never dulls or dents. This doesn’t have a long tip on it so there’s no chance of it breaking or bending, something that you will have from time to time if you are a heavy writer or press hard.
The Bottom Line
I am really happy with the way this fine line roller ball pen writes. Even though Annabelle refused to give up the original one, the pack that I picked up has really come in handy. I wasn’t sure if these would be something that I’d be able to find at a retail store like Target but they had them in single serve packs, mutli packs and a few boxes. I grabbed the double packs for $1.97 each and have to say that they are more than worth the price. If you like the feel of a roller ball over a porous point pen, give these a try. You get a precision fine tip point that never dulls, a rubber comfort grip area that helps reduce hand cramps and a thick rich ink that doesn’t smear. I’ve used this on a lot of different types of paper and have been really impressed with how it’s written on all of them. If you are a pen junkie this is one that you definitely have to check out.
DETAILS: Grip Roller Ball Pen Rounded barrel for contemporary look. Rubber grip for comfort and control. Strong metal point. Nonrefillable. Dozen. Fin...More at Buy.com
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