Tag Archives: junk

Review: Ohto Horizon “Needle” Point Pen

My feelings on this pen are really really mixed. I’ll do my usual start with the good then tell you about the bad.

I’m required to use black ink for the clinical notes at my internship. as far as pen use for reviews go, it’s an ideal location. I write, a lot, every day that I’m there. The location is mostly paper based, and most of my notes are done on good old paper forms. My supervisor required black ink, which she states is a legal thing, but is really a matter of preference and professionalism.* I’m not suggesting I’d like to write in teal sparkly ink** but merely pointing out that I go through a ton of black ink. I blew through the included OHTO cart as if it never existed. I’ve since worked on hacking the pen and all the photos include the hacked carts and NOT the original “needle” point refill.Ohto Horizon

The Ohto 0.5mm cart was decent, but hardly a needle point. It is called a needle point not because it’s super thin, but because of how it’s shaped, slightly deceptive. It writes well enough, but it is a typical oil based roller ball ink. Pretty standard.

The pen itself is solid metal that is lightweight but not too light. It is actually pretty comfortable to use for longer form writing. It is metal and paint, so if you sweat as you write you might find it slippery, if like me you have dry hands, it’s fine. It looks as though it is made of brass, which is then enameled with really nice metallic colors. It is pretty. all the colors I looked at were nice. I picked up the dark teal because I’m a fan of teal. The nock, clip, and tip are all chromed. The nock and tip are made of machined brass which is then chrome coated. The knock is satisfying and makes a nice clicking noise when depressed. The point is retracted by pressing a small side button near the logo. Over all it’s not bad, in theory.20160131_145714

Onto the bad now. The nock makes an awful grinding metal on metal noise if it’s twisted around. Think nails on a chalk board. Yeesh. Awful. If you use replacement Ohto refills the tip of the refill rattles around in the tip as you write and is annoying. The clip is a piece of shite. Initially the clip is too tight to clip to anything, even the lapel and pocket of a thin dress shirt. Eventually, it stretches out to clip to anything, and then the pen fall off your lapel and into the sink as you wash your hands.*** I suspect that the clip will soon break off the pen and be more useless than it is now. Another point of frustration, the tip unscrews as I walk and use it. I find myself needing to tighten it repeatedly over the course of a day. This is ridiculous. I’ve tightened the tip with a rubber band to get extra grip, and even a pair of pliers. No go, the threads are just not machined well.

You can see the hacked Dr Grip refill here.

You can see the hacked Dr Grip refill here.

To solve the problem of the oddly priced refills I immediately tried to see what refills I can stuff into this baby. I found that with a minimal amount of work, including using a file to grind out the tip to accommodate the thicker refill, cutting 5mm off the spring, and chopping a piece off the refill that I can use a Pilot Dr. Grip gel ink refill. This is far too much work for a pen that is going to fall apart pretty quickly. Sure it’s pretty, but it’s not great.Ohto Horizon

This pen suffers from what I describe as Ohto’s half assing everything. Ohto has some seriously pretty products but they ridiculously half ass their products. This could be  a great pen and sell for a few bucks more if they machined the threads for the tip better, machined the tip itself better, used a better nock, and didn’t put on a cheap BIC clic clip. I get compliments on this pen all the time, people like it. I was drawn to how it looked and then realized it was an Ohto and almost put it back. Except it’s soooo pretty, that color and the hexagonal to round body. It is all so nice, except they just execute it badly. This isn’t the only time I’ve been burned by a REALLY  pretty Ohto product- remember that pretty pretty lead holder that looked like a #2 fat pencil? Again loose manufacturing tolerances with lot’s of slop lead to rattling that drives me nuts.Ohto Horizon

I picked up this pen at a Japanese gift shop in Cambridge, MA for $9.99.

Addendum: I’ve been using this pen consistently at my internship now for quite a few weeks. It’s comfortable and does the job. Hacked with e DR Grip refill, it writes quite nicely. The Clip has loosened to the point that I no longer clip it to my lapel or into my pocket. The knock has also gotten sloppier as I’ve used it. Some point in the near future the clip will fall off, there is no if but only when. Additionally, the nock also feels as though it is near failure. The small button used to retract the tip becomes crooked in use, and there is no reason for  it to do so. I suspect that the nock will seize.

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Review: Uniball Air

Here is another pen that if I’d reviewed it when I first purchased it would have received a better review than after about a month of on and off use. I resist my urge to again rant and rave against drive by beauty reviews that are pretty but lack a substantive amount of use to back the reviewer’s claims.

I picked up a 3-pack with red, blue, and black capped pens. The pen body is made of translucent plastic the same shade as the pen which is then covered in a print. The print is in black and gray and looks to me like a generalized idea of black carbon fiber… The pattern is slightly raised and feels nice. The cap is smoke colored with an inset attached to the clip matching the ink. The cap secures over the business end with a nice click. It posts deeply and I have no fear of losing it.UNI Air

The pen is lightweight and well balanced both posted and unposted.  I found that the grip section was slippery in longer writing sessions and that I could feel the coordinating colored bit. Something about this annoyed me. I think mostly that the section was slippery and thus I had to  adjust my grip frequently. I am not a sweaty hand person, I use metal and plastic sectioned pens all the time with no issues. So this was not a matter of my hand but the slick nature of the plastic.UNI Air UNI Air

The pen tips glide over every surface I’ve used them on and I think this is due to the huge ink flow. These pens are gushers. Using them in my comp books meant I had bleed and show through everywhere. This is less of an issue with these books as I don’t use the reverse of the page other than writing brief notes about things I need to address later or ideas for edits. But it does show how much the pens saturate the paper as well as how much ink is wasted. The pens were only available at target in the large 0.7 but I’d put them on most paper at a 1mm. The ink really spreads out. This is anything but a fine tip.UNI Air

These pens are so smooth that you can almost feel the ink being pushed out of the tip. My wife described these as a combination in feel of a gel ink and a fiber tipped pen, and I think that is an apt description. I did not like these for writing very much because they felt so weird, BUT they were really nice for drawing and the ink is waterproof. The high flow of ink really lent the pens to doodles and sketching. But again, because of the flow, lingering anywhere on a page will cause bleed through. These really flow so wet that writing on regular paper is akin to writing on toilet paper.

I really liked the shade of red and blue that was offered in the 3-pack. The red is a nice bright red, perfect for marking up edits. The blue is a wonderful shade that is both bright and bold. The black is deep and dark.UNI Air

Overall, I don’t really them much. I also think they are overpriced. With the ink flow being so high, I’ve used a quarter of the black already and can see myself blowing through this one if I used it more frequently very quickly. At $7.99 for 3 at Target, or $5 at Staples, and $6.57 at Walmort, or a whopping $12 on amazon, these are just not a value. Especially when you consider how quickly they squirt ink onto the page. Also, they are a little ugly. Actually, a lot ugly. The futuristic design will appeal to high school kids and possibly dudes, maybe dudebros. The slick grip was also uncomfortable even with my cool dry hands. If you must buy these, get them while they are on back-to-school sale for $5 at Staples.

There are much better options at better prices- the Uniball 207/307 or Signo gives you better feel and the same quality ink with a better grip, ink flow, and look.