[Pen/Pencil Review] Yookers Yooth 549 Scarlet Red Refillable Fiber Tip Pen
This is the second pen I picked up in New Orleans. This one from Scriptura, which is more in the Garden District. Scriptura is more of a stationary/paper store with a few pens. I was going to pick something up anyway, but this week’s pen caught my eye near the register.
This week’s pen is the Yookers Yooth 549 Scarlet red felt-tip pen. There are four different sizes of fiber tips – from 0.8mm to 1.4mm in .2mm increments. The 549 Scarlet has a resin body with a chrome metal clip and an ergonomic plastic grip. The cap is secure and posts pretty well. The pen is 5.5†long capped and 6.14†with the cap posted.
What is rather unique about this particular pen is that the pen is refillable with fountain pen ink. The fiber tips take standard ink cartridges or a standard ink converter. Scriptura only had one 0.8mm in stock, and it was the demo. I bought the demo because—fine point girl, right here—it had black ink in it. When that ran out I changed to the Private Reserve Vampire Red that I also bought there. That’s where I found a wrinkle. The tip stopped working for me.
I thought maybe it was because I hadn’t used it in a week or so. Yookers is on Facebook and I left a message about this issue and if there’s something I could do. They actually got back to me relatively quickly, moved the question to email, and walked me through the steps to fix it. I took out the Vampire Red and soaked the tip in hot water for 10 minutes then flushed the tip. After that I put a more generic ink in there, all was well. They did say that some pigments can clog a tip. This is one of them. It works just fine now. And the lovely customer service person who talked me through this greeted me from the South of France.
Yookers does sell replacement tips – which I intend to get one or two more. They also have some nicer models that I would also like to try out. The resin ones are quite affordable and they have a luxury line that’s not overly expensive either. Please check them out at Yookers.com.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 – It works like it’s supposed to. The tip is smooth and solid. It doesn’t bend or feel flimsy. The barrel is light but well-balanced. The cap snaps securely. It works well with most inks – now that I know that some don’t work and that if the tip DOES feel like it’s dried out to soak it in hot water. All good
2. Grip and feel – 1 – They make an effort for ergonomics. The grip has an almost spiral grip ridge and there are rounded steps to the tip. It’s a comfortable diameter. It feels good in the hand.
3. Material – 1 – It’s resin and chrome. It’s light but solid and it’s what you pay for.
4. Overall Design – 1 – So the tiny knock is the cap. It takes significant effort to get the cap off. It does post, but I would like some snap to that that isn’t there on this one, but it still posts. I love that it’s refillable with fountain pen ink.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – The Yooth resin pens are $12. That’s not super cheap but it’s not Bad. The nicer, “luxury†ones run between $45 and $55 which is also pretty good. The Yooth link is one for the “everyday carry†collectors. And I’m glad I chose it.
That’s 4.5 of 5 bronze pencils.
