[Pen/Pencil Review] Zebra Sarasa Mark On - 0.4mm Red Ink
Originally published at Rhonda Eudaly. You can comment here or there.
This week’s pen review is a basic, workhorse type pen with some fun little details. It’s the Zebra Sarasa Mark On Gell Pen - in a 0.4mm point and red gel ink - because they’re good like that. I picked this one up on a JetPens in a impulse shopping order.
The Sarasa Study has a nice, red gel ink. This one comes in the 0.5mm as well as the 0.4mm point with a metal, cone tip. The plunger is red translucent plastic with a clear barrel with a red and white grid pattern overlay with a logo and something in Japanese on the barrel. The barrel threading is on the inside, making the barrel smooth and ridgeless for extra comfort. The rubberized grip is a nearly see through red so you can kinda see the ink inside. The logo Mark On has a light green overlay to indicate highlighting.
This pen is about 5.5″ long retracted and about 5.75″ long with the tip extended. This is a typical length for a retractable pen, and it’s well balanced and has a decent diameter.
One of the fun details on this pen is its ink claim. The red is nice and the point doesn’t skip, but this is touted as having a specially formulated gel ink that has a greater water resistance and is resistant to smearing when you highlight over it. There’s a caveat on this - if you’re an aggressive highlighting person - like you scrub the highlighter over a written passage more than once, it will still smear a little bit.
The clip is the other fun detail. They call it a “binder clip”. It’s a spring-loaded, hard plastic clip matching the ink color. It is break-resistant and strong. It does secure well to a wide range of materials. This pen is refillable and economical for a good quality workhorse pen.
The Numbers.
1. How does it work? - 1 - This is a solid, utility pen. It’s inexpensive. It comes in the three primary colors and has a good solid line with smooth ink. The “claim to fame” is to keep highlighting from smearing. This isn’t as important as it once was, but it works if you’re not overly aggressive which is something really cool.
2. Look and feel - 1 - It’s average length with a good diameter. The grip is comfortable. The line is thin but strong. The binder clip is one of my favorite things.
3. Material - 1 - It’s a mostly plastic utility pen. It is what it is, and it’s solid for what it is. The clip is metal and plastic and strong.
4. Overall Design - 1 - It’s okay. It’s functional. It’s an average length retractable pen with some fun details. And if you’re not aggressive with a highlighter, it totally doesn’t smear handwritten notes.
5. Price Point - 0.5 - These things are relatively inexpensive - though have to be ordered through JetPens. They’re about $2.95 for the pen. The two-packs of refills run $1.45. So you can pretty much use these for the long term. Not sure if the refills have the productivity markings. The ink runs in blue, black and red.
