Skip to main content

Monami 153 Ballpoint Pen review

 This is a bit of fun. I got one of these just to try it out. Bit of a classic design from over in Korea. You might have seen one of these pens before... probably branded with a company logo on it if you work in financial services or pharmaceuticals. 

Basically instead of a press once to engage the nib and once again to retract you click once to engage and then knock the little plastic clip in to retract the pen.

I picked a 1mm version of the pen because it comes in a cool yellow colour. It writes...well... it writes like a 25p ballpoint okay! Get it over here.

It has that annoying slight flex that you get from all cheaper ballpoint pens. Being a bit of a fusspot I find that the end of the pen is a little too long for my tastes. I find I want to hold the hexagonal barrel for a little more grip but then it feels like you holding the pen miles from the end. 

If a Bic is too basic for you and you want a little bit of a talking point around Korea's most popular pen then this is the one for you. Tell your friends that as of 2013 this pen had sold more than 3.6 billion units. 

Personally, I couldn't possibly use this as a daily writer. It does make good chaff to keep my wife away from my more treasured stuff. :D

If you want an upgraded version you could be tempted by the 153 ID which has an all-metal body. I actually really like the matte black one. This one also uses Parker G2 refills so it should write a lot better. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Staedtler Mars Lumograph Pencil Review

Thanks for checking out the latest in my series of wood case pencil reviews. Next up is the Mars Lumograph from Staedtler. Yes, that's right our friends over in Germany make a mean pencil. Or is it that mean? Let me get something off my chest first. I love the blue - it's so... Staedtler. One thing that bothers me though is the white print on the barrel. It wears off very quickly. The made in Germany bit has rubbed off. It's available in 20 grades of lead which is the most out of any pencils I've reviewed so far, which is great! You can find yourself forgiving the lack of a robust finish when the price is taken into account. I'd put this pencil at a mid-range tier as at the time of writing it's £1.54 over on Cult Pens - I'm not affiliated with them by the way I just think they are a great shop. Buy some stuff from them and you will find out why - So you can get two of these for one Tombow Mono or a Hi-Uni. To write with it doesn't feel like it's lay...

Platinum Pro-Use 171 Mechanical Pencil Review

The Platinum Pro-Use Mechanical Pencil is a little beauty. Competitively priced - it's well under the price of an all-metal offering like the Rotring 600/800. I picked up the 0.3mm version as I'm moving over to preferring 0.3 over 0.5 these days. Even though it does have a tendency to make me write really small! So, what featured does this thing boast? It's got a mechanism to shorten the lead sleeve so you can choose how much lead sticks out over the end of the barrel - that also means it can be made "pocket safe". It has another cushioning mechanism as well which gives the lead a little bit of bounce.  It's not an all metal body though... the knurled grip is metal though - I really love a knurled grip! This is not the best knurling I've felt because that accolade goes to the Rotring 800 but it's not the worst and any knurling is better than none. There is a lead indicator as well which works really well. I've seen it written on Reddit etc. that th...

The Tombow Mono 100 Pencil Review

This is an extremely quick review of the Tombow Mono 100 pencil. Love this thing - the lead feels better for me in comparison to the Caran d'Ache Swiss Wood I have also reviewed. It's softer and darker. The paint finish is sooo shiny. Take a look at the end of the pencil too - the barrel is hexagonal but the end is actually round. Same as a Mitsubishi Hi-Uni - is it a thing? Hexagonal barrel + round end = quality? Price-wise you're looking at £2.57 at the time of writing over at Cult Pens - that really puts it in the high end. It puts it in the snatch it away from your wife-that's-gonna-chew-it end. They are made in Vietnam, you might expect Japan but it's Vietnam as per the stamp on the barrel. Sorry, you can't actually see that detail in my images - my phone camera is a bit old and besides half of it's sharpened off. It's supposed to have a darker more contrasting lead than comparable pencils but I'd say it was just comparable really, the eye of ...