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.

pen 86: inc r-2 rollerball

i suppose that i should start off today with a note of questionable interest and that little tidbit was that i finally found the official website for inc brand pens. unfortunately the peachtree playthings website is colorful but woefully bereft of any actual information when it comes to their stationary line, all that was available is a gallery of pictures that show these products in their packaging and it's model name.today's pen, the inc r2 rollerball, is one of those pens that i feel confident comparing to a pen produced by a more mainstream pen company, in this case it is the bic z4+ roller. this pen does a few things well, at fifty cents you might really want to take a look at it. first it lays down a lot of ink, and fast. this pen is good for things like inking over pencil lines, filling large areas of black and to a lesser degree writing. i say to a lesser degree because this pen is a little messy, while the ink does dry fast it will bleed through the paper, especially when making multiple passes over the same area which you might have to do as the pen does have a tendency to have inconsistent ink flow, its skips and stutters. the glide is fair to poor but if you like a pen that interacts with the paper this is not necessarily a bad thing, really it depends on your preference. the price, again, is $.50 versus the $2 price tag of the z4+ and with the way they use ink, it might be in your best interest to save yourself $1.50 a pen... just saying is all.

websites: 
www.dollartree.com
www.peachtreeplaythings.com

what they say:

Controlled ink flow system helps you write smoothly and rubber grip by the pen tip provides maximum control! Great item for offices, schools, and resale. Case includes 48 – 2-ct. packs of Inc® R-2™ 0.7mm rollerball cap pens with black ink.

Long lasting ink supply Controlled ink flow system helps you write smooth and skip-free Soft comfort grip provides maximum control and helps prevent writing fatigue

pen 85: inc clipclick

yet another gem from the dollar store, these pens, the inc clipclick comes in a package of eight pens making them a whopping twelve-and-a-half cents a pen. i wasn't able to find an official web page for this pen so i decided to post the retailer instead.

the pen that this reminds me of the most is the pentel-bk420 - pen #30 - in that it suffers the same basic design flaw with the retraction device. anyone with large hands run into the problem that the clip is triggered while writing and drawing and this makes for an extremely  annoying constant pain in the neck. at first i thought that this would be a universal problem but after having several friends try this pen out, it seems that the women especially do not seem to have this problem. ultimately i solved this flaw in the same way i did for the bk420, i simply snapped the clip off of the pen.

aside from the clip the clipclick is a solid pen, it flows well, but has a good bite, it doesn't skip or stutter, i does not have the problem of ink buildup on the tip of the pen and the ink dries fairly quickly and has a good range of value between of gray to black depending on pressure, and building up with techniques like hatching, crosshatching, or just building up layers of in over multiple passes. - it is a very clean pen. the clipclick does sport a rubberized comfort grip that makes drawing with this pen slightly more comfortable.
all said and done this pen is inexpensive, solid construction, and qualities involving things like overall performance aspects of the click clip, i would say there are better pens out there, no doubt, but these pens are dirt cheap and perform as well as many of their analogues made by other companies. and is these happen to walk away from your desk, you're really only out a few pennies.

i would say that, if you have the chance to try them out go for it, it's a dollar.

(edit: since the whole point of this project was to illustrate what these pens can do with out doing photoshop magic. that said, if you would like to see what this became you can see it here)

website:
dollar tree

what they say:
Rubberized textured comfort grip design keeps the pen from slipping from or tiring your hand. Smooth, bold ink flow allows the pen to move with ease and consistency. Great item for offices, schools, and resale. Case includes 36 – 8-ct. packs of Inc.® Clipclick™ black ball-point (1.0mm) pens.

the pen that this reminds me of the most is the pentel-bk420 - pen #30 - in that it suffers the same basic design flaw with the retraction device. anyone with large hands run into the problem that the clip is triggered while writing and drawing and this makes for an extremely  annoying constant pain in the neck. at first i thought that this would be a universal problem but after having several friends try this pen out, it seems that the women especially do not seem to have this problem. ultimately i solved this flaw in the same way i did for the bk420, i simply snapped the clip off of the pen.

aside from the clip the clipclick is a solid pen, it flows well, but has a good bite, it doesn't skip or stutter, i does not have the problem of ink buildup on the tip of the pen and the ink dries fairly quickly and has a good range of value between of gray to black depending on pressure, and building up with techniques like hatching, crosshatching, or just building up layers of in over multiple passes. - it is a very clean pen. the clipclick does sport a rubberized comfort grip that makes drawing with this pen slightly more comfortable.
all said and done this pen is inexpensive, solid construction, and qualities involving things like overall performance aspects of the click clip, i would say there are better pens out there, no doubt, but these pens are dirt cheap and perform as well as many of their analogues made by other companies. and is these happen to walk away from your desk, you're really only out a few pennies.

i would say that, if you have the chance to try them out go for it, it's a dollar.


website:
dollar tree

what they say:
Rubberized textured comfort grip design keeps the pen from slipping from or tiring your hand. Smooth, bold ink flow allows the pen to move with ease and consistency. Great item for offices, schools, and resale. Case includes 36 – 8-ct. packs of Inc.® Clipclick™ black ball-point (1.0mm) pens.