Liquid Fog: Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Pen with Gray Ink

There are three different workhorse gel-ink pens that make it into my daily arsenal for writing. They are the Pilot G-2, the Uniball Signo Micro 207 and the Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Pen. One of these is invariable clipped into my pocket, snuggled against a Field Notes Memo Book. Usually the ink is black and the point ranges from 0.5 to 0.7.

Yep, that's how I roll most days.

Occasionally though, I get a little crazy and decide to try something a bit out-of-bounds . . . micro tips, blue, red, and even (gasp!) green ink. Scandalous, I know.

The Zebra Sarasa Push Clip is available in a variety of colors and, at a mere $1.50 each, the price is right for me to get out of my box and try some different colors. Perusing the choices, I thought that gray would definitely be something out of the ordinary. You may call it bland - I choose to think of it as liquid fog.

First a word about the pen itself. Regardless of the color ink you select (black, blue-black, blue, red, tea brown, two shades of green, purple and several others) the Zebra Sarasa Push Clip is a well-designed writing tool with a particularly clever bit: the clip is spring-loaded and can serve as a binder clip. Nice! Ink is delivered through a 0.4 retractable tip that provides a smooth writing experience. The plastic barrel (made of recycled materials) feels sturdy and is quite comfortable to grip. For an inexpensive pen, it is a very nice writing instrument.


Now to the gray ink. Certainly, it goes down very smoothly; but I found it difficult to see against the paper - a Doane Paper writing pad. As you can see in the rather poor quality Blackberry-cam photo (the top line), it is very light compared to a micro-tip blue-black ink or even a #2 pencil. Given that the ink is not erasable, I'm not sure that gray is the most practical of ink choices. A #1 pencil would provide a similar gray shade and would have the advantage of being correctable. That's the practical side of me talking. There is still something appealing about this gray ink. It has an ethereal quality to it - it's there, but just. It is so subtle you can almost miss it on the paper.

Oh who am I kidding - it's so doggone light you can barely read it! (So much for my inner poet.) I'm sure that such a light shade of ink has appeal to some folks, but my aging eyes do much better with a shade I can actually read! My recommendation? Load up on several Zebra Sarasa Push Clip pens - they're fantastic. Get a 10 pack with assorted colors. But leave the gray ink to the maudlin poets.

Pardon me while I listen to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Curmudgeonly yours,
John

Liquid Fog: Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Pen with Gray Ink