Avant Pro Review

[SaskNapolean]

http://www.thepenhaul.com/avant-pro-review/

 

This is the pen that I use when using a fountain pen is not the best tool for the job. I will just copy and paste my blog post below, but if you want to check out my site, it is linked above.

 

Time to mix it up a little bit. This will be my first review of a… wait for it… non-fountain pen. If you follow me on any social media outlet, or have read any of my other blog posts, you have probably noticed that I only use fountain pens. Well as much as I love fountain pens, I have accepted that sometimes you just need a rollerball/ballpoint/gel pen to get the job done when a fountain pen may be not the best tool. This is usually the only the case at work when I am filling out a carbon copy form or in a meeting with a client since they often ask me for my pen to jot something down quick, so I am not quite comfortable using my fountain pens in those situations.

Price

This pen is available at Staples for quite an affordable price of just under $8. They come with their “Silkscribe” ballpoint refill, but if you want to get the gel refill like I did and will be talking about, it will be a a few bucks more. The “Pro” version of this pen (also comes in “Style” and “Next” body types), also comes in a retractable option, but I opted for the more classy looking capped version.

The Looks

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The way this pen looks was one of the primary reasons why I purchased this pen. I was wandering the pen isle of Staples before I knew the magic of fountain pens, and came across this professional looking pen. It has a solid metal body with a little bit of black trim, so for $8, it was cheap enough to impulse buy, even if it was the most expensive pen purchased at the time. I had already tried the Avant Style pen, a cheaper plastic version (although still attractive), and I was impressed enough to pick up the metal bodied version.

Writing with it in school and at work made me feel like more of a professional, even if my job was at a call center where customers never saw me. It was all about how it made me feel while using it that mattered, which is still the most important part when using a pen in my opinion.

The Clip

The part that I like least about this pen is the clip. It is plastic and cheap looking and has branding, although subtle, that is not far off of those typically found in big box stores.

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Not only does the clip look cheap, but it performs very poorly as well. It has the amount of give and holding power of a cheap Papermate, and worst of all, it bends out of place just as easily. The very first time I decided to take this pen out of the office clipped to the pocket in my pants, it bent outwards and I have not been successful in bending it back yet. I have contemplated buying a replacement just for the cap, but I decided to just leave it at my desk where I never utilize the clips anyways since the clip on the replacement would probably just bend too.

http://i2.wp.com/www.thepenhaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_1571.jpg?resize=640%2C853

Posting

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If you are someone who likes to post their capped pens when they write, I suggest you start looking elsewhere. Just recently, I have found a small sweet spot where I can post the cap without it falling off, but it is not secure at all and will fall off if you even look at it (slight exaggeration). Most of the time when I go to post it, the cap just slides around and doesn’t even come close to staying on. I am debating picking up a retractable one just so I can add a little more practicality to this pen.

Writing Experience

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Now this is where you have to decide whether you are going to go with the gel refill, or stick with the Silkscribe ballpoint refill that comes with it. Basically gel vs. ballpoint. I opted for the gel early on, so lets take a look at how it writes.

Since switching over to fountain pens last April, I have not used many other types of pens, including gel pens. This means that I do not have tons of experience with them and won’t be able to give you guys the best comparisons with other gels pens. Instead, I will just give you my thoughts on how I felt this pen performed coming from a fountain pen world. The packaging for the gel refill says that it is 0.5mm, so it lays down a fairly fine line. However, it still lays down a nice and consistent line that did not skip or glob up on me since day one, even with the long writing session of writing the draft for this post. I have been very happy with it so far.

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The part where it may lose a few points is in the smoothness category. I know I have used pretty smooth gel pens in the past (like the Zebra Sarasa), so I know that I am not completely crazy, but this pen is slightly… scratchy. Not scratchy in a sense where it will tear through paper, but there is definitely feedback, which could be from how fine the tip is. Maybe it is because I am coming from the fountain pen world where you don’t need any pressure to write , but I am noticing a fairly loud sound when it writes. After taking out the refill and writing with it without the pen body (yes it looked silly), I have come to the conclusion that it is moving around very slightly inside the pen, rubbing against the metal components inside. This might just be the gel refill , but it is definitely something to keep in mind.

I am not going to stress about it too much since this pen is used infrequently and for short periods of time. This is another reason why I am considering the retractable option. If I were to be writing long hand with it often, I would probably get a different pen. I didn’t use the Silkscribe ballpoint refill very long, so I can’t comment on how it performs long term, but I will say that compared to most ballpoints that I have used in the past, this one is definitely one of the smoothest.

Final Thoughts

Like I said before, I am a fountain pen user, but understands that they are not always the right tool for the job. For those few tasks where a fountain pen isn’t quite cutting it, this pen does the trick. It looks good, writes good enough, but lacks portability with it’s terrible clip and inability to post. Portability isn’t a concern for me, so I don’t worry about it. Do I recommend this pen as an office pen? Yes. For someone who is planning on using it in the field? Probably not, but you should check out the retractable option.

This will likely be my first and final review of a non-fountain pen as I do not have the same level of excitement with them, but I appreciate the functionality of them.

 

[Zookie]

I have the retractable Avant Pro model, and use it quite often.

The refills, at two 0.5mm for 1USD, are very nice, and I buy as many as I can find.

They are made in Korea, and if someone could tell me who actually makes them, I'd be a very happy guy!

[SaskNapolean]

Two refills for $1 is a steal! They are $3 here in Canada for a pack of two. Avant is Staple's in house brand, but I am not sure if they have their own manufacturing plant for pens, or outsource for someone else to make them with their branding. I will email them inquiring about it and see if I get a response. Will report back!

[Zookie]

Even three bucks isn't bad. They also sell the Style pens for 1 USD per package. They are indeed cheap, but are good looking pens nonetheless. What do you think of the 1.0 refills?

I too use a fountain pen most of the time, but I do like the Avant pens for the rest of my writing.

[SaskNapolean]

The 1.0 ballpoint refills are... decent for being a ballpoint. It is pretty smooth and I would choose it over my the ones from my "pen cup for customers" ballpoint any day, but I still only used it for a week before buying the 0.5 gel refills.

[WriteAway]

An interesting competitor offered by Staples and on their own site are the Poppin brand pens.

 

More expensive than the Avants and much plainer in appearance, Poppins come in both BP and Parker gel models, capped and retractable. There is also a capped metal-bodied model available.

 

Bright colors are their main attraction, but I just picked up 6 of the gels on sale at my local Staples. I've yet to try the refills but they are a similar but different model one might consider.

Edited November 6, 2015 by WriteAway

[Srestrepo1112]

This was the first pen I bought before starting school again. Figuring correctly, that if I liked the pen, I'd be more apt to take notes and study and enjoy doing so. It was awesome, I kept the black 1.0 in there for a while then switched to blue and then u found the gouletpens website and then a lamy safari showed up, followed by a TWSBI Eco and then a TWSBI 580. Needless to say I only use it if I have to I.e. carbon copies but it's still a nice looking/writing pen

[SaskNapolean]

This was the first pen I bought before starting school again. Figuring correctly, that if I liked the pen, I'd be more apt to take notes and study and enjoy doing so. It was awesome, I kept the black 1.0 in there for a while then switched to blue and then u found the gouletpens website and then a lamy safari showed up, followed by a TWSBI Eco and then a TWSBI 580. Needless to say I only use it if I have to I.e. carbon copies but it's still a nice looking/writing pen

 

This is exactly how I got into pens

[SaskNapolean]

An interesting competitor offered by Staples and on their own site are the Poppin brand pens.

 

More expensive than the Avants and much plainer in appearance, Poppins come in both BP and Parker gel models, capped and retractable. There is also a capped metal-bodied model available.

 

Bright colors are their main attraction, but I just picked up 6 of the gels on sale at my local Staples. I've yet to try the refills but they are a similar but different model one might consider.

 

I haven't seen those in my Staples yet. I might have to check those out!