Customer Reviews

Bic Crystal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(39)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(50)

 

 

Since taking delivery of my pen I have been very happy with the quality of ink deposition on the various types of paper that I have used. On the first day when I excitedly unwrapped my pen (thanks for the high quality packaging Amazon!) I just couldn't contain my excitement and went around finding things to write on, like the shopping list on the notice board in our kitchen, the Post-it notes next to the phone, and on my favourite lined A4 pad at the side of my desk.

My pen is the transparent type with a blue lid. I selected this one in preference to the orange type because I like to be able to see how much ink I have left so that I can put in another order before I finally run out.

When the initial excitement of taking delivery of my new pen started to wear off I realised that I shouldn't just write for the fun of it, this should be a serious enterprise, so by the second day of ownership I started to take a little more care of what I wrote. I used it to sign three letters, and in each case was perfectly happy with the neatness of handwriting that I was able to achieve.

I have a helpful tip for you that you might not know about - if you let the ink dry for a few seconds you can avoid the smudging that sometimes happens if you rub the ink immediately after writing. Fortunately the ink used in this particular Bic pen seems to dry very quickly.

On the third day of ownership I went on a trip to London and took my pen carefully packed away in my brief case, but I needn't have worried, this isn't some temperamental ink pen that leaks when you store it at the wrong angle. I sat at my meeting and confidently removed the cap from my pen and it wrote flawlessly, almost immediately.

I notice that the barrel of the pen has been crafted very carefully to fit in the pen holder down the edge of my Filofax. It's not so grippy so that it is hard to remove when I want to make a quick note, and yet not so loose that it falls out too easily when I open my Filofax in a hurry. Maybe the choice of surface texture on the pen has some part to play here, because it seems that the inside of the leather grip on the pen holder in my Filofax has just the right level of adhesion that I can be confident when I need to reach in and get my pen it's going to be just where I left it!

Today is the fourth day of ownership of my pen, and I have to say I'm starting to treat it like an old friend. I walk around the office with it clipped in to my shirt pocket and someone in the accounts department actually asked to borrow it while we were both standing at the photocopier. Would you believe it, they actually tried to walk away with my pen! They were very embarrassed when I called after them as they walked down the corridor and asked for it back. You will be happy to know that it is now back, safe and sound in my top pocket, ready and waiting to start writing again.

In summary, I would happily recommend this pen to anyone who is planning on writing on paper. If you are considering a writing implement for some other surface such as writing on a CD, or other non-porous substances then another pen might be better suited, but if it's just plain old paper then I think you will probably be well served by this particular model.

Worked fine with my right hand, but when I came to use my left hand my writing came out looking like the work of a complete imbecile. I can only assume Bic have created a right-handed only pen, and would caution left-handers to "try before you buy".

I've found I can chew this pen for at least two working days, rarely do I end up with a mouthful of ink. A+++ highly tasty. It seems you can also write with it too.

The Bic pen is an excellent writing tool but has other uses that warrant mentioning as one of the many many side benefits to ownership of this fine writing implement. For example, I am surprised that none of my fellow reviewers have drawn attention to the Bic pen's sterling qualities as a tube through which tiny quantities of spittle impregnated paper can be fired at a tremendous rate of speed and with excellent accuracy thanks to the high quality rifling on the interior of the pen's body.
For those new to this tremendously fun pastime, simply remove the little black cap at the end, remove the ink tube, tear a small piece of paper and chew it in your mouth until it achieves the desired consistency. Place the paper ball on the tip of your tongue, take a deep breath and concentrate the full force of your exhalation on the small piece of wet paper, thereby forcing it along the pipe, out the orifice and in the direction of your target. My favourite story? The day I fired two consecutive paper balls through a Bic pen and planted one on each lens of my Teacher's spectacles!
Reassembling the component elements of the pen returns to you the wondrous pen it truly is.
Enjoy!!!

While this pen is functional and easy to use, a downside is it only supports one default font (that appears to be user specific?). I have tried multiple times to access Helvetica, Times New Roman, Impact etc. to no avail... I don't even see any input buttons.

The default font is pretty shoddy looking, resembling Comic Sans.

An update would be appreciated Bic!

I bought this in all good faith as someone told me that this pen would be mightier than a sword, well after spending half an hour toying with it I have realised that they obviously have never encountered automatic weapons.

Bic has sold out, man! Big Time! I remember back in the day before every trendy mallrat was using bic pens and sporting their bic gear from Hot Topic, and back then it was all about the writing and the ink quality! Only me and a few other true fans knew about Bic, and they were like an oasis in a desert of overproduced, flash-in-the-pan, paint-by-numbers pens with no soul. Our little fan club was like a family and we really had something special. We all looked forward to their next new model and we went to every trade show appearance and got to hang out with Bic representitives and it was all cool. Then the company got greedy when a bunch of slick-talking suits moved in and convinced them to compromise their vision to appeal to a more mainstream customer base in order to sell more units. Then Paris Hilton and Britney Spears started running around town with Bics it became all about the image. Now all the jocks who used to beat me up in school for using Bic all write with them now. This new model is utter garbage compared to their old stuff. Most of the bandwagon jumpers who claim to be all about them don't even know about their old models, but act like they're the biggest fans, and it really cheeses me off sometimes because I was there from the beginning, before it was cool. Why do people have to ruin every good thing that comes along? I hate people and I wish they would all just die. They're all just sheep. I'm better because I ignore all the trends and the fake people. Bic, you have betrayed me and turned your back on your true fans. Your stock prices may be soaring, but you've lost your edge. And in the end, when the industry has used you up and tossed you away like yesterday's garbage, I hope it was worth it. As for me, I'm going to go pick me up some Signos and write bad, melodramatic poetry down at the coffee shop. At least Signos knows how to treat their fans.

You'd think, with all of the new anti-obscenity laws, that this pen would have a V-chip installed. It DOESN'T!!!!! You should see some of the filthy words and drawings that my children were able to write with this product. I am going to file a formal complaint with the FCC.

Buyer (with young children) Beware!!!!

Initially I wasn't impressed with this product. BE WARNED THERE IS NO CD SUPPORT which means you won't be able to install the latest Ubuntu build into the firmware. There's also no WiFi. You can send as many packets to this pen as you like, but it ignores them - although to be fair this could be a security issue.

Also missing is support for 3G, EDGE, GPRS, GPS, Bluetooth, HDMI, HDCD, DVD-R, DVD+R DL, USB, SATA, IDE, RAID, DVI-D, WEP, WAP, POP, IMAP, HTTP, FTP, DHCP, ASCII, T9, ASP, ISDN, ADSL, AVI, MP3, MP4, JPG, GIF, TIF, PSD, PDF, DOC, BOFH, RGB, CMYK and YMCA.

Some of these were a serious disappointment on what's clearly billed as a writing device. At first I thought the writing features were just vapourware and wouldn't appear until after a BIOS update.

But then I discovered an undocumented hack which turns the Bic Crystal into a portal creation device.

Now I'm very pleased with my purchase. And so is my weighted companion cube.

A happy ending then - as long as you don't mind if your portal rims come in any colour you like, as long as they're black.

Aside from that minor quibble - thumbs up Bic. (Or if not up, in whatever direction local gravity happens to be pointing.)

I purchased this biro to test out the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword. Having challenged a black belt Kendo champion to a fight I am now down to one arm and I think the bic got stepped on - so the old saying is a load of rubbish.