[Pen/Pencil Review] A Halloween Rerun
It’s been a weird day – both busy yet unproductive – and it’s yoga night AND I have an essay to submit tomorrow (written just needs a quick editing pass) so little to no time today. So I picked an older pen review of a Halloween Themed novelty pen (that I should see if I can dig out of the Pit of Desk-pair). There’s a whole lot of getting back on track that I need to do now that I no longer have excuses, but for now… A repeat performance…
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This Halloween Season, I’m featuring a novelty pen I found at Walgreens. This one is a “Broom Penâ€. It’s a plastic body that looks like wood with the old fashioned broom end. It called to me from the seasonal aisle.
This inexpensive pen is too much fun. For a ballpoint, it actually writes pretty well. It’s longer than your typical ballpoint. It’s probably 8†long with the broom end, but it isn’t overbalanced that much. It can be a bit unwieldy if you’re not careful, but for a silly pen, it’s darned functional.
The honest part? The broom end sheds. So you’ll get stuff everywhere. But this isn’t about long-term use. It’s about giggling when you use a novelty. It can also be a fun threat. “Don’t make me get out the witch pen!†I’m actually thinking about picking up a couple of more so I still have one or three when they start looking ragged.
For a novelty pen, I really do like this one. It actually has a pretty smooth ink and line. It’s probably a 1.0mm but doesn’t glop much to make it seem like a bigger tip. If you like this kind of thing, it’s fun. And it doesn’t have to be for Halloween, it can be simply an “Autumn†pen. But, yeah…
Now to the numbers:
1. How does it work? – 0.5 It’s decent. For the length and price point, it works pretty well. It’s a ballpoint. It’s a cheap ballpoint. And it is what it is.
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – It’s an inexpensive, plastic, no grip pen. Like the platypus, it doesn’t do much. Because it’s longer than normal, it can overbalance and probably fatigue some for long use..
3. Material – 1 For an inexpensive plastic pen, it’s solidly built. The broomstick end sheds, but come on, to be expected since it’ll get beaten up.
4. Overall Design – 1 -I’m giving it a high mark because it’s the most fun novelty pen I’ve found in a while, and I want more of them. That makes me think it’s got a pretty good overall design.
5. Price Point – .1 – It’s 99 cents at Walgreens. That might be a little high for someone buying something as a novelty for a few weeks. But I don’t think so. I’m willing to pay a buck for something that makes me giggle.
4 out of 5 Bronze Pencils
