I picked up one of these, literally, at the bookstore when I was signing my credit card receipt. Yes, I stole it. The clerk was busy bagging up my things and I couldn’t help but marvel at the color of the pen and the rubber comfort grip at the base of it. Normally I don’t steal pens from people or places of business because I know how much it sucks to have pens ‘walk away’ but I tell you, I just couldn’t help myself. My moment of pen bliss was quickly dashed, as soon as we walked out of the store Annabelle shot me a scowl and said, “You stole that pen, stealing is wrong”. A slight wave of shame washed over me as I put off my trip into TJ Maxx and headed for Staples. Scouring the pen section I found a pack of these, picked them up [yes, they were paid for] and made my way back to the book store to return the pen. I found the clerk that rang me up and handed the pen back to her making up an excuse that I must have forgotten to give it back to her. She laughed and said it wasn’t a big deal, someone left it there ... if it weren’t for Annabelle’s guilt trip, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

PaperMate ComfortMate Grip Purple Retractable Pen

So what exactly is it about this pen that made me steal it [and return it]? First off, purple pens aren’t all that common these days. Gel and felt tip pens have almost cornered the market when it comes to color assortments so finding a regular stick type pen in any color outside the normal black, red and blue variety is a nice find. The shade is perky and light, when you see it you know that it’s purple ... not too dark, not too light. For the most part this is a ‘clump free’ pen; if you are making lines with a triangle or T-square you might get a little bit of build up around the tip but that is easy to wipe off. As far as the appearance of the pen; some people think that they look junky or cheap but I like the frosted color on the barrel. Since this is retractable there's no cap to lose but you do have to remember to click it before you stick it in your backpack. As far as the ink flow goes, it’s even as long as you are writing on smooth paper, like most stick pens if you are writing on a hard surface or on only one sheet of paper the line will be thinner, write in a notebook or on a stack of sheets and you’ll get a thicker line from it.

About the only down side to these is that after you write with them for a while you get a gunk build up around the tip of it. This doesn’t smear or fall off, it just builds up until it really gets on your nerves. All you have to do to solve this problem is wipe it off on a piece of paper towel, don’t try to work it off on a piece of paper, all that is going to do is make a mess. The rubber comfort grip doesn’t attract dirt like some other pens that have these on them. It’s not the best pen on the market; the rubber comfort grip section is loosely attached to the barrel and after a while it starts to wiggle around a little but it doesn’t effect the way that you write. These are not refillable and chances are you will lose them [or they’ll get stolen] before they run out of ink. So far I haven’t come across these in a color assortment pack, only the five pack but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t out there somewhere.

Price

As I mentioned, the first one was ‘borrowed’ from the bookstore but I did buy a pack of five at Staples for $1.59. Try getting any type of quality pen for that price - let alone five of them. They aren’t the most sophisticated looking things, if anything they look rather junky, if you would see them on the counter and didn’t see the PaperMate logo on the barrel you’d probably think they were the pens that you buy in bulk for ten cents a piece. They are more than adequate for letter writing, taking notes or making up shopping lists but there is no way you would want to use these for artistic purposes. For the price you can’t go wrong with these, you get five pens that write for an incredibly long time for a price that is truly affordable.

The Bottom Line

I am really happy with the way that these write; you can expect to get a little bit of build up on the tip if you are writing for long periods of time but the color of the ink more than makes up for that. These are inexpensive, fun to use and last an incredibly long time. If you are looking for a purple pen but don’t want a gel or felt tip, this is a great pick. This is a fun pen to have around when you want a break from black or blue inks and it’s great if you need something to use on carbon copies of forms with multiple layers. You can find these in most of the larger office supply stores like Staples, Office Max and online at Shoplet.


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


PaperMate products...
Fingermate, X-Tend, "Eraser Mate" Erasable Black Ink Pen, ComfortMate Black, Flair Felt Tip Pens, Pendulum Black

Pilot products ...
G2 Retractable Gel Ink Rollerball, Easy Touch Retractable Ball Point Pen, V Ball Rollerball Pen, P500 Gel Ink Roller Ball Pen, Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen

Sanford products ...
Liquid Expresso Porous Point Pen, Liquid Expresso Neon, UniBall Metallic Colors Gel Impact Violet, UniBall Gel Impact Retractable Pen Black Ink

Sanford Uni Ball...
Red Micro Fine, Black Micro Fine, Blue Micro Fine, Vision Passion Pink, Vision Majestic Purple, Vision Evergreen, Vision Exact Black, Signo Gel Pens







Recommended: Yes