(So here is a review without writing sample) J. Herbin Refillable Roller Ball Pen is a light-weight and short (just a bit longer than Pilot Petit) pen that takes standard international cartridges. I caught the nifty little thing at ISellpens.com when it was on sale for 6 bucks but it went back to $9.6 (so the seller that offers the best deal right now is Jetpens).
The pen is is a made of a slightly frosted plastic, it would take some degree of abuse (without showing too much of the wear and tear), the clip is pretty stiff and cap gives a crisp and secure click closure. There is three small holes at the end of the barrel so you need to get those taken-care of before converting the pen into an eye-dropper.
The pen is is a made of a slightly frosted plastic, it would take some degree of abuse (without showing too much of the wear and tear), the clip is pretty stiff and cap gives a crisp and secure click closure. There is three small holes at the end of the barrel so you need to get those taken-care of before converting the pen into an eye-dropper.
The grip section is made of a clearer plastic that shows the feed. Inside the feed, there seems to be a white cotton cord for the ink to diffuse through (it later got clogged by Noodler's No.41 brown, a ink with pigment that settles into small flakes).
There is a protruded ring (probably there so the tip will fit the inner sleeve inside the cap) that cuts my hand a little, but it wasn't too big of a deal (at least I prefer this over the trigonal grip). Bumped or not, prolonged writing session is not as comfortable
since the pen is a bit too light, as I prefer heavier one
that rests by itself.
When I first got the pen, I intend to use it with a waterproof brown ink, as a cheaper alternative to buying the brown Sakura Pigma Micron. Syringe-filled with Noodler's No.41 Brown (the culprit), it worked pretty well during the first few days, laying down a consistent and thin (around 0.5mm) line with a bit of shading...Then it just got clogged. I tried to revive it with flushes and days of (just water) soaking but it has never been the same...
Verdit: It's a good pen (while it lasted), just play safe and use watery inks for it.
