[dandelion]

I've been very curious on trying this or the standard bulletproof ink for a while, and Inka's excellent review of this ink made me buy it instead of just thinking about it.

I've wanted a non-smearing, bullet proof ink for long, since I often highlight or comment my own notes (I guess it has something to do with studying Law). I also like clean, plain black for notetaking - as a base for comments etc. I've tried to do a fair review, but this is simply the best ink I've used for my kind of notetaking. The only real con is the terrible nibcreep, but I can stand that because of the overwhelming positive features about this ink.

I've highlighted some parts of the review with my Firefly (the scan misrepresents it quite badly, but I guess that is common when scanning highlighting inks) loaded in a Lamy Vista. It looks quite spectacular in the Vista, which cheers me up during writing sessions.

When winter arrives here next time (hopefully not until the middle of November) I'll do a special freeze-proof review of this ink. I'll bring some with me when we're heading North to my husbands relatives around Christmas.

Very happy regards from dandelion

This post has been edited by dandelion: 06 May 2009 - 01:21 PM

[Inka]

I'm very happy I was able to help, and that my review was accurate.
I love my Polar Black ink and my Polar Blue, still blending the two together for a nice blue-black in my daily carry pen/s.
Polar inks seems to look best when written from finer nibs, tend to get a little faded when B nibs are used.
Since my daily-use/carry pens are generally a M nib and more often finer, they're perfect for me and super slick writers.

I've been tempted to fill an e-d pen with some Polar ink, place it in an old cup just in case the pen bursts and put it in my freezer that stays a fairly constant 0 degrees F, just to see what happens.
I had thought of putting a cheap demonstrator pen filled with Polar Black in a baggie, then a paper cup filled with water, freeze, peel off the paper and take pics writing with the pen frozen in a solid block of ice.
If I can still write with a pen frozen solid in ice, I think it will take anything the winters down south can throw at me [it does drop below freezing down here in winter, contrary to what many believe].
That should be a fun and interesting test of freeze-resistance, plus an interesting topic for FPN.

[bwnewton]

Great review.

I recently switched from the regular Noodler's BP Black to the Polar Black and am very satisfied. I use it in my Lamy Safari EF.

I also recently tried the Polar Brown in my Dollar 717i demonstrator to use for underlining & margin notes in books. The flow in this pen wasn't great & including some skipping even after thinning a bit with distilled water. So, I switched back to Private Reserve Copper Burst for underlining. The Polar Brown, however, does work great in my old Parker 88.

[Inka]

I also recently tried the Polar Brown in my Dollar 717i demonstrator to use for underlining & margin notes in books. The flow in this pen wasn't great & including some skipping even after thinning a bit with distilled water... The Polar Brown, however, does work great in my old Parker 88.

Interesting, really.
I have the blue $ Demonstrator pen and use nothing but Polar inks in it now, having no problems like you've described.
I find that my Polar Brown settles a bit in the bottle, a white outline/ring seen when inverted [no idea yet what the white substance is but it's in both of the two bottles I have].
If I turn the bottles over, use a swirling motion to remix [splashing/swirling the ink against the bottom], the white [whatever it is] reconstitutes into the ink and works perfectly for me in all pens I've tried it in including the $ pen.
Normally I keep pure Polar Blue in my blue $ Demonstrator, maybe just a "blue" thing but I did try the Polar Brown in it and had no issues like yours.
I did notice that the Polar Brown lubricates so well that a tiny amount [like a drop] gets past the plunger seal and settles behind the gasket, whereas my non-Polar inks rarely do.
It really lubricates the piston-fillers nicely, including my piston converters.
I love the Polar inks and have all 3 colors now [Blue was my first, then the Black and the Brown]; I only wish I could afford to buy each one by the caseload.


Oh yeah, I too get some nib creep on certain pen nibs when using Polar inks, usually the nibs with decorative etching on the top surface are the worst but still not too creepy.
That doesn't bother me, since the ink works so well in general and is the slickest, most permanent stuff I've ever tried [Polar Blue seems to be the slickest out of the 3, I have no idea why].
As permanent as Polar inks are, they seem to wash off my fingers easily with a drop of Dawn dish washing liquid and a little scrubbing with a sponge.
A little tougher than some inks to flush from my pens and converters but it does fully rinse out when needed and has not yet stained any of my converters or see-through pen barrels with use.

[ethernautrix]

Thank you for the informative and helpful review, Dandelion!

[zquilts]

This is the only black I use - in a Safari with an EF nib for drawing. Good stuff!