Hello, today I would like to give a short review of Sharpie's new "Pen Grip" pen and "Liquid Pencil".
I was wandering through Wal-Mart recently when I noticed a big Sharpie display with these two new items. The pen looked very attractive and boasted such claims as "won't bleed through paper" and "smudge resistant!" That got me a little excited so I decided to buy a pack. And as for the Liquid Pencil, who wouldn't be impressed by a "pencil" that writes like a pen but is erasable? Despite my painful experiences in the past with erasable pens, I decided to grab a pack of the Liquid Pencils as well. Both were $4.00 for a pack of two. Now on to the reviews...
First, the Pen Grip. Some of you may be familiar with the original Sharpie Pen and the retractable version. Well now Sharpie has released a new pen with a few improvements over their previous releases. First of all, I have to admit that this is the first Sharpie pen I have ever owned, so I'm not very sure of how this one compares to the old ones. So, rather than comparing them and saying how this one has improved, I will just tell you what I think of the new pen.
Like I said earlier, the pen is very stylish and it's attractive design was what first caught my eye. It has a very sleek shape and elegant colors. The midsection of the pen is black with very clean and minimal text. The end and cap are a light silver that match the color of the text. This is a great looking pen that anyone would be proud to hold, even if it does say Sharpie on it.
Pull off the cap and you will find a nice grip about one and a half inch long. The grip feels nice between my fingers. It is firm, yet soft and very slip resistant, making it easy to hold. As for the actual writing, this pen lived up to or beyond my expectations. The ink flows dark and very smooth. Also, the pen lives up to the claims on the packaging of not bleeding through paper or smearing. Although on some papers you can see the writing on the back of the paper, the ink doesn't actually bleed through the paper, and you can still write on both sides of the paper and have no trouble reading either side. This is extremely convenient.
My verdict: Pretty damn good for a $2 pen.
Now, the Liquid Pencil I wasn't so thrilled about. When I bought it and took it home, I was eager to see if I had found a viable replacement for erasable pens, which I have always hated. The ink was never very dark, and it smeared extremely easy. I was confident that the Liquid Pencil by Sharpie would be different. The design of the Liquid Pencil (LP) is nothing special. It looks like any regular disposable pen. No big deal. Aesthetics weren't supposed to be it's selling point anyway. It is retractable and has a grip similar to that of the Pen Grip.
OK, let me just skip to the writing part. As I began testing it out of a piece of paper laying on my desk, I was disappointed to find that it didn't write very smoothly. The lines were inconsistent. Most of the time it didn't write very dark. It was erasable alright, but I discovered the "Liquid Graphite" could just as easily be wiped off the paper with your finger. Not very impressive. I would later on discover that the liquid graphite would flow a lot more smoothly if you held the pencil slightly more upright.
Final verdict: Not as good as I had hoped, but maybe with a little more use I will grow to appreciate it.
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Well, that does it for my review. I hope you found it informative and helpful!
PS: Just found out the pens come if different colors! Awesome!
