A Coincidence Yields a Pentel Energel

Last Sunday, I had a friend tell me that I had to give Pentel Energels a try. He was confident that it was the best pen out there. So, on Monday, I started googling for other people's opinions on the pen, and I found this review. Since the blogger was offering a free one, I figured I'd take him up on his offer. While I'm no pen expert, here are my impressions of my new Pentel Energel 0.7 mm Needle Tip Retractable pen (that's a mouthful):

• Clicking mechanism: In this post 9/11 era, everyone has a heightened awareness of what is going on around them, especially when travelling. I fear that if I clicked this pen open or shut in an airplane that the people around me would think I was cocking a handgun. Part of the reason for all the racket when its clicked open or closed is that the pen is engineered with a mechanism to automatically retract the point when the clip is pulled on (thus preventing you from putting your "loaded" pen in your shirt pocket). I've seen this feature on other pens and mechanical pencils, but it was never quite as loud as this pen is.
• Pocket protecting mechanism: As described above, this mechanism is to prevent you from ruining your shirts. I think it is more accurate to say that it will limit the damage, but it won't completely save you. From my own testing (luckily I'm wearing a darker dress shirt today), the open pen makes its way most of the way down my pocket before the safety mechanism retracts the point. With a white shirt, I'm sure that the marks that could be left behind would show through.
• Ergonomics: The barrel is just a little bit wider than most pens I use. It's got a rubber grip that provides no cushioning, just grip.
• Writing quality: The ink flows smoothly. Line width and weight varies according to how fast the pen is moving, but for normal writing the ink delivery is consistent. The tip operates smoothly.
• Ink quality: Since I work in a lab, I was interested in how quickly the ink dries and how it would stand up to the 2 most common chemicals in the lab: water and ethanol. I was actually shocked by how quickly the ink dries. I would say it is dry within a second of hitting the paper. I was unable to smear it with either water or ethanol, so it would make for a great lab pen.
• Moleskine writing: I tested the pen out in my moleskine as well. I still haven't found the right pen for moleskine writing. Most of them bleed through (or at least show through too much). This pen wrote nicely in the notebook, but showed through just like the others. Maybe I should just find a notebook with thicker paper than keep trying to find a pen that won't show through so much.

Overall, it's a very nice pen. 0.7 mm is a bit wider than I prefer, but there are 0.5 mm Energels out there that I'll have to compare with this one.