J. Herbin Refillable Rollerball Pen

I received the J. Herbin refillable rollerball pen today. It was a bit smaller than I expected. When capped, it's 4.5" long. Somehow, I expected it to be the same size as it's fountain pen sibling, but that's okay. When you post the cap, it's a standard size. I can use it posted or unposted but it is a bit short, even for smaller hands when used with the cap unposted.I put a Monteverde short international cartridge with purple ink in the pen. The ink flow is good through the ink feed and the pen started writing within a minute or two. It writes very smoothly without skips or ink blurps. Since it does use fountain pen ink, depending on the paper you use, you may get some bleedthrough or ghosting. I haven't seen any feathering yet with testing the pen on different papers. Some of that may be due to the ink. I like that I can use a variety of different inks.The pen uses a standard short international cartridge. If I want to use an ink that I don't have in cartridge form, I can use an empty international short cartridge and fill it with my ink of choice. I would NOT recommend using any shimmer ink with this pen because the glitter in the ink can clog up the roller ball itself. Just about any other ink should work.I know that the converter that comes with the J. Herbin fountain pen is too long to fit in the rollerball pen. The Monteverde mini converter fits perfectly. That gives you an option of a converter if that is your preference.Like other rollerball pens, this does not require much pressure to write with. That is good, especially during long writing sessions.For those who may ask, it cannot be used as an eye dropper pen unless the holes are filled with epoxy.I have been having a lot of fun writing with this pen today. I'm going to use it and put it through its paces. If you are looking for a rollerball pen that is refillable with fountain pen ink (especially for those times when a fountain pen is not the best choice), this little pen may be just what you are looking for. I just ordered four more of these pens so I can have them filled with different ink colors.

Writes like a rollerball, but its ultra smooth and takes very little pressure to put ink on paper. Interesting little pen.Overall (What I think of the product):For someone who already uses a fountain pen, ask first. This pen is a downgrade from a fountain pen.For someone who's never used a fountain pen, or someone who write pages of text (i.e. journal or diary) using a regular pen, this would be a very nice gift/upgrade from a regular pen.If you buy this as a gift, buy one of the J. Herbin Ink Cartridges in the little metal tin. It's the ink they recommend and it comes in a few colors. This way you don't have to worry about getting the right ink converter or buying bottled ink (or the wrong kind of ink). The pen plus the ink cartridges make a complete gift.Picture:First line is a Pilot Red Frixion ball point pen; used as a reference since everyone can get one.Second line is from the J. Herbin pen, using Monteverde Ruby Red ink (a "wet" ink), and an ink converter.Third line is from a regular fountain pen, EF (extra fine) nib.Most interesting part of the picture is the color difference between the rollerball tip and the EF nib fountain pen. Exact same ink, but the rollerball is less intense. If I go over the same line a second time, the rollerball will match the red from the fountain pen. That means the rollerball is putting down *less* ink than my EF nib pen; ink doesn't feel or look thin on paper.Expected (stuff I knew/planned on before buying):No replacement rollerball tip available. Take care of the rollerball tip you get.Shorter and skinnier than most fountain pens, so easy to carry everywhere.Its $10 for the pen; this pen is all about function, and not even a little bit about fashion and it shows (there is a nicer metal version).Its $10 for the pen, the least expensive on Amazon for this type of pen.Short barrel means you can only use the Monteverde mini ink converter for bottled ink. Regular converters are too long.They recommend their own ink cartridges. No stars taken off for not working with standard cartridges --> **Standard international cartridges seemed to fit** I used the Jinhao blue cartridges which work fine with other pen brands. When I kept the pen pointing down for a few days, I saw blue ink leaking inside the barrel (one of the benefits of clear pens). Apparently the cartridge doesn't fit anymore; its used to be friction fit for the sides of the cartridges near the opening and now it's not. Not even sure how that happens. Added a thin layer of rubber cement to the cartridge, now it fits fine. It may due to size tolerance between the brand of cartridge and the pen. I'll try again with a different brand ink cartridge and will update the review (may be a while, this isn't a high priority).Writes like a rollerball; no variation is line width. This is expected because... it's a rollerball.Writes smooth like a rollerball. This is expected because... it's a rollerball.No fancy inks that shimmer and glitter since they *will* clog up inside the rollerball tip. And there is no was to clean a blockage out from behind the rollerball tip.Limiting myself to Monteverde inks (they lubricate), Noodler Eel line of inks (they also lubricate), and Pelikan 4001 to prevent issue with dried ink.Pros (good stuff I found out after I got the pen):Writes with very little pressure like a fountain pen--really wasn't expecting that. Even rollerballs require some downward pressure; on this pen the tip just needs to touch the paper like a fountain pen which is just odd because I keep pressing down by habit.You can write with hard pressure when writing to make carbon copies, like a typical rollerball.Writing pressure doesn't make any difference in amount of ink on paper. Lingering the pen tip in one spot will cause bleeding, same as a fountain pen.*should* work with International standard cartridges (2.6mm bore size, I use a JINHAO cartridge), although they recommend the J. Herbin cartridges. Had an issue, not sure if its the pen or the cartridge; will update review later.Only maintenance is flushing the feed and changing inks, so easy to care for.Rollerball tip is stingy with ink. Not so stingy that it skips, but compared to a fountain pen EF nib, the rollerball tip saves ink and will last a *long* time.Rollerball tip is stingy with ink. Allows you to write on almost any paper with minimal or no bleeding (depending on if you use "wet" or "dry" inks)Cons (negative stuff I found out after receiving the pen):Metal spacer ring between barrel body and rollerball tip is easy to lose, Watch for it when inking up the pen.Rollerball tip is stingy with ink. Colors may not be as intense. See picture. For some people, this isn't a negative thing.No way to clean ink out of the feed/rollerball. You don't want to force water into the feed since the pressure may pop out the ball tip.Switching from the Ruby Red to a blue cartridge, it took a page of dense scribbling to clear out the red from the feed and rollerball. This is *after* I washed the rollerball tip under tepid running water until it was clear.

It's not an amazing pen, but for the price it could be worse I guess. The material is good, it's just clear plastic like any other. It's definitely really small and light, it needs to be posted to write of you have large hands.The big issue with it is the writing experience. Writing with the pen straight up and down makes a weird noise and makes for inconsistent ink flow. Writing at an angle mostly avoids this, but it's still not the smoothest writing. It's also pretty much only designed to use single use cartridges of ink, which by the way it does not come with. It's just empty and doesn't really come with instructions for people who aren't experienced with pens. If you want to fill it with an eyedropper to avoid cartridges, you'll have to seal the holes at the bottom with apoxy. Not a big inconvenience for me, but it's an added step.It's also pretty much impossible to clean the feed. You'll have to clean it as best you can and then write a few sentences on scratch paper to get all the old ink out if you switch.In summary, just get a similarly priced fountain pen like Platinum Preppy or Pilot Kakuno. This pen is hardly worth the purchase, but to be fair it's the only pen like it that I can find.