New Products for the New Year - Tools for Writing on the Go
by Diana L. Martin
Here we are - the beginning of a brand new year. I love this time of year because with the new year comes new products and new toys for me to play with and test! Based on the emails I get from all of you, I know that many of you are like me - you’re pen geeks and you love to try out new models. Well today, I have a brand new writing set that you can take with you on the go. It has all the tools you need for jotting down those notes in the car (while you’re parked, of course - no writing while you’re driving).
Introducing the Serve Set 5-in-1 Stationery Set…
This nifty little set has a mechanical pencil, gel ink pen, highlighter, eraser, and extra pencil leads. It comes in two colors - turquoise and pink. They should really call it a 6-in-1 set because you also get a pencil sharpener to use with woodcase pencils.
Let’s look briefly at each of the components in the set.
The included pencil has a thick rubberized barrel with a triangular ergonomic grip, which is great for people with large hands or who just like the larger barrels. It uses 0.7mm lead and has a retractable grip to help prevent breakage. A generous eraser is located under the cap and accessed with a slider control. The pencil is lightweight and feels good in your hand.
The 0.7mm retractable gel ink pen creates thick, bold lines and uses a quick dry ink formula that produced very minimal smears when I tested it. Like the pencil, it’s lightweight and has an ergonomic grip, but the pen is a thinner diameter. Both the pen and pencil have rubberized barrels. I wouldn’t use it for any official business communications because the ink is the same color as the barrel of the pen, but fun colors are nice for personal notes.
The eraser is easy to hold and has a large surface area, which is both good and bad. It should last a long time and erasing large sections will be a breeze, but the large size means that precise erasing will be difficult. For small areas, I suggest using the eraser that’s in the tip of the mechanical pencil. As an added bonus, the bottom of the sharpener opens to reveal a 2-hole pencil sharpener for woodcase pencils!
I won’t spend much time on this one - it’s just your standard liquid ink highlighter. The barrel is thick, so it feels good in my hand. It has a normal chisel point and a visible ink window, which is always good.
Last but not least, is the spare pencil lead/highlighter combo. There is a very generous amount of lead - 28 leads total (0.7mm). The refills dispense from the bottom of the container and the top of the container houses a small chisel tip highlighter. Personally, I find this to be an odd combination - if I need a highlighter, my first thought isn’t going to be “Oh, let me grab my tube of pencil lead.” Maybe it’s just me…..
At the beginning of this article I said it should be called a 6-in-1 but really, since you get two highlighters, we should call it a 7-in-1 set! It’s the perfect on-the-go set with everything you need! The only negative I would give it is that it doesn’t come in or with a travel pouch. The box makes a nice display but isn’t practical for transport.
I give it 4 paperclips!
