pen 87: inc optimus fine point pen

today i'm going with the inc optimus fine point pen. these pens are available at the dollar store in packs of two, and in black or blue ink. the tips are felt, which kind of surprised me, having used them before looking at their specs, i would have thought that the nib would be a permeable plastic tip of some sort, i guess what i'm saying is that the tip is firm and a bit of a surprise, in that, what this particular event has reaffirmed that you don't always have to spend a lot of money on pens, these dollar store pens really hold their own.

to start with, this pen reminds me of the le pen i reviewed back in post 26, the pilot razor back in  post 42, and almost but not quite the sharpie ultra fine point back in post. really though the winner out of any comparison would be to the sharpie pen stylo  in post 34.
the ink is dark, full saturation is usually achieved with one pass of the pen, this does mean that it has a very limited range value between black or white, this pen is probably best used for things like crosshatching or whatever for shading. the pen has consistent flow, is clean - it dries super fast, inks over pencil lines and fairly good glide. this pen would be great for blind contour or contour drawing, detail work over washes, watercolors, acrylics, or just plain sketching or inking the ink has no noticeable bleed or smell and that is a plus that these pens have over the sharpie. another plus is that it looks nice, i think it would be hard to pick it out as the cheap pen when set next to a variety of other pen brands, its pretty snazzy.

i think that i should mention now that after buying a two pack at the dollar store, i went back the next day and purchased several more  packs of these pens, i like them that much, and at $.50 a pen i will probably go back and buy a few more, these pens are that good.

the last thing i'm going to mention here is that the sharpie pen stylo retails between $3-$10 depending on where you buy one, so that's p


otentially 6-20 pens that work just as well for the same amount, i think that alone should make you stop for a moment and think about that. these pens are really one of the best deals that i have found at the dollar tree.

websites:
peachtree playthings

dollar tree

what they say:

Fine strokes in deep black and blue ink are perfect for everything from taking notes to signing checks! Each pen features felt tips and bleed-free ink. Great item for offices, schools, churches, bookstores, and resale. Case includes 36 – 2-ct. packs of inc.® Optimus felt tip pens with caps assorted between packs of black pens with black in, and packs of blue pens with blue ink.