When I set out to review the Stabilo Sensor I wondered what to expect from this offering from one of Europe’s market leaders. Would it stand out from the crowd?

The Stabilo Sensor Fineliner has a fine 0.3mm tip which makes using a ruler with this pen simple, ideal if you want to ensure a straight line is achieved even on plain paper or need to use stencils. My writing certainly stayed on track this way.

I found the writing experience a little springy, but guess that is to be expected as the cushioned (sensor) tip adjusts to individual writing pressures & is said to be able to withstand more pressure than other pens without the risk of bending or worse still breaking. The patented micro cushioned tip is encased in metal & also alleged to give a more relaxed feel when writing, something I can’t say was particularly noticeable, but that could be because my thoughts were with the “spring factor” The indented grip section was surprisingly comfortable, as my preference usually lies with a more cushioned feel.

I’d say the appearance of this Stabilo is quite contemporary. The barrel is a 3 tone mix of matt aluminium, black & silver coloured plastic whilst the cap is black & houses a sturdy clip. Available in Blue, Black, Red & Green the colours won’t necessarily stand out in a crowd but the Sensor is reasonably priced & should I decide to take up stencilling this particular fineliner would get a look in.

Stabilo Sensor Fineliner - Written Review

I sometimes wonder what makes people tick, for instance I recently heard of a girl that wanted a more original keepsake than a guest book from her wedding & opted for a set of wishing rocks instead.

If leaving your autograph on a polished stone is something that rocks your boat you will need something to write with. The Stabilo Write-4-all will leave its mark on almost any surface. An all-purpose permanent marker with a sturdy plastic tip & alcohol based ink that’s apparently frost resistant, waterproof, lightfast & an all important factor for rock signing its quick drying.

With a target market from tradespeople like bricklayers & joiners to those wanting to label a few CD’s, I can imagine you’d find the Write-4-all behind the ears of construction workers just as often as the gardener or office worker.

This marker is available in 3 tip sizes medium (1.0mm), fine (0.7mm) & superfine (0.4mm) with a choice of black, blue, green & red ink.

Now for the performance, I tried a fine tip & was pleasantly surprised as the 0.7mm line it produced was as clear & smooth as anything I’d expect from a favourite rollerball. I can also vouch for its waterproof, quick drying properties as my signature is now permanently etched on a favourite pebble that I use as a paper weight. I must admit to being disappointed that a good wash in hot soapy water as soon as I’d written didn’t restore it to its former glory.

The next time I need to mark a box for the freezer or the label on a DVD I’ll reach for a Write-4-all, just need to make a mental note that it’s definitely permanent!

Stabilo Write-4-all Written Review

Stabilo UK won the prestigious British Office Supplies and Services 2012 product of the year award for their Stabilo Smartball ballpoint pen.

The Stabilo Smartball combines an ergonomic ballpoint pen & a stylus which can be used on smart phones, iPads & iPhones etc.

The BOSS Awards were held on October the 18^th 2012 at The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London.

The BOSS (British Office Supplies and Services) Federation is the authoritative body for the UK office products industry.

Every year they hold The BOSS Industry Awards which recognise and reward those in the office supplies industry who have demonstrate real excellence, either as individuals or through the successful performance of their business.

The new Stabilo SMARTball his been created with tech lovers in mind.

This latest offering from the experts in pens for the prolific writer, is more than just a writing instrument.  An innovative design that incorporates a stylus for use on touch screens, created using the abundance of experience gained in ergonomics through working with teachers, scientists & students.

The SMARTball is available for left & right handed users, they each have a black barrel sporting the company logo & there is a choice of orange, cyan (a turquoise blue) & kiwi or lilac features for lefties.  At approximately 15cm in length this is a standard sized pen. The splash of colour is introduced in the pocket clip section, which can be rotated a full 360° there is also a ring between the grip & nib section.  Choose between blue or black ink.

I am checking out a right handed Kiwi SMARTball, which I would call a lemony/lime shade.  The medium 0.5mm ballpoint writes a smooth line & can be refilled.  The characteristic grip section provides the comfort I would expect from Stabilo, & apparently has been said to aid the grip of those with arthritis,  something I am fortunate not to be able to comment on.

Moving on to the stylus, Stabilo claim it is a must have for all those with smart phones, iPads & kindles, I took it through its paces on an iPhone.

The tip is approximately 5mm in diameter, probably smaller than the average fingertip.  As with most things I have seen negative as well as positive comments, one of which is that a finger tip is more accurate.  I just can’t agree, when I’m in a hurry, without a stylus I often find myself touching letters either side of my intended choice.  In my experience texting at speed was definitely more accurate using the SMARTball, just my personal opinion you understand.  I didn’t find a lot of pressure was necessary, this was helpful for freehand writing & basic drawing.  On a few occasions I did need a second tap on icons for them to open, but it was certainly not the norm.

My conclusion is that the SMARTball could be a good choice for those that need to combine digital with analogue, good old fashioned writing or note taking with frequent touchscreen use, with the added bonus of a clean smudge free screen.

Stabilo have recently launched their latest pen the Smartball which combines a ballpoint pen & a stylus which can be used on smartphones & tablets. Below is the official  video for the Stabilo Smartball in the UK.

The Stabilo Smartball has a clean modern design with their trademark ergonomic grip for relaxed and comfortable writing. It is available in a choice of three different colour combinations for right handed writers and in an attractive black and lilac combination for left handed writers.

Since its launch earlier this year in the UK it is already proving to be a huge hit and it’s not too difficult to see why. A stylus on its own for smart phones can cost anything from £6.00 to £15.00. The Smartball has an RRP of only £10.49 and can be bought a lot cheaper online in many specialist pen stores including at our very own Tiger Pens store.

We have given Kim who reviews pens for the Tiger Pens blog a Stabillo Smartball pen to put it through its paces, and we will post her full review here shortly.

When thinking about felt pens, I visualise school children in the classroom adding colour to their masterpieces.  If you looked in a few pencil cases I wonder how many contain a Stabilo Greenpoint Sign Pen.

With the legendary orange & white stripe barrel, the cap, end cap & sturdy clip are colour coded with the ink inside.  These pens are available in black, blue red, green, lilac & turquoise & the strong tip is 0.8mm wide.

The target market appears to be school children, office workers & teachers,  Stabilo suggest they can be used for soft writing, colouring & highlighting.  When I used the Stabilo Greenpoint my first impression was that it would be more suited to drawing or colouring than writing.

As I’ve mentioned before I couldn’t draw a picture if my life depended on it, so I ploughed ahead & started to write.  Given a choice a medium tip would always be my preference, however this 0.8mm tip produced a line that looked just too wide.  The lack of a grip combined with the hexagonal barrel did not feel comfortable & unfortunately the writing experience was not enjoyable.

Made from 98% recycled plastic this pen is certainly up there with the best examples in the environmentally friendly camp.  Stabilo’s Green line is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  There are other companies keen to be green, Pilot markers in the Begreen range are one example & are made from around 76% recycled material, on the other hand many don’t appear to have joined the green brigade at all as yet.

If I needed to write labels or make entries in a scrapbook, the Stabilo Greenpoint Sign pen may come in useful.  In my opinion, for what it’s worth, I still feel they would be more suited to drawing or colouring.  If I were a few years ooh OK then decades younger, I’d be more than happy to have one of each colour in my pencil case.

Stabilo Greenpoint Sign Pen Review

Mention the name Stabilo & the first thing that comes to my mind are highlighter pens.  I learned recently that these are not all this company produce.  Needing to make notes on a black & white document I picked up a red Stabilo Worker rollerball with a medium 0.8mm tip from a local store.

Those of us who do a lot of writing, including students & office workers will probably be aware that ergonomics, the study of designing accessories & tools that suit us mortals, are an important factor.  This is a issue in all walks of life, I know from personal experience that if your chair is not the correct height, your PC monitor or keyboard are not positioned correctly it can lead to a number of issues.

With regards to writing, taking into account the needs of the person having the correct posture when writing will

Help protect against cramp

Reduce fatigue

Stabilo have worked with scientist, teachers & children to develop a range of ergonomically designed pens.

The Stabilo Worker has a self grip that completely covers the pen, ensuring it is comfortable to hold.  This high quality rollerball has a silver tip which aids  a smooth writing experience with liquid ink technology.  I like the way that it is contoured to be narrow close to the tip, wider in the middle & then narrows again, making it fit snugly in my hand.

Some of the benefits include

• Money back guarantee – in the unlikely event that you are dissatisfied in any way
• Fast drying ink
• Complies with REACH (Registration Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals)
• Assists accurate handwriting on all qualities of paper
• Only use solvents made of over 80% water

These liquid ink pens are available in Green Red, blue & black, the Stabilo worker has an ink level indicator which will ensure that you don’t run out of your favourite colour mid sentence.  Whilst it is a long lasting product, when it reaches the end of its life, you can be assured that when disposed of it can be recycled.

All in all a pen with a bold fetching design, that is comfortable to use & will stand out in a crowded desk tidy.

Stabilo Worker Review

Over the past few years the simple shape of pens and pencils has been evolving as there has been greater consideration that humans are not all the same. At the simplest level there are right-handed people and there are those who favour the left-hand and instruments and tools such as scissors have been adapted to cope with the demands of both.

This has extended to children learning to write. Since right-handers are the majority, teaching in the past has always concentrated upon a style that suits them and we have all seen left –handed people writing in the most contorted positions to achieve the same result.

The main problem for those who write left-handed is that as English is written from right to left, they end up pushing the nib or ballpoint along the paper whereas for right-handers, the nib naturally flows away from them and there is no great pressure in writing.

The introduction of Stabilo ‘S Move Easy Left-Handed Rollerball has been an exciting development in pen design for left-handers particularly The company studied the most comfortable and efficient position for the left-hand to write most effectively and moulded the pen body to fit the position exactlythen moulding the pen body to exactly.

But it is not only about helping left-handed children or adults to write comfortably or clearly. We know that computer users can suffer from Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) and this is a recognised injury but consider those who might suffer from Arthritis, Tendonitis or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and the difficulty they face using a pen.

To alleviate the problem there is the Yoropen that was designed specifically for comfortable and stress free writing. Its angled head makes it easier for the user to see what he is writing and there is a finger support that prevents the fingers slipping down the pen so that a more relaxed grip is used.

Just recently we noted another design on a pen that at present appears to only be available is the US and that is the EzGgrip developed by Dexterity Technologies Corporation (www.dextek.com) As the name suggests it is very easy to grip and you only use one finger for writing pressure instead of the usual three squeezing and pushing sideways and down creating a very light touch  helping considerably those whose suffer from the painful problems mentioned earlier. One student user of the pen sated that it helped his ‘’ Quasimodian callous from constant note-taking’ – no we don’t know what he meant but is sounds painful!!!

It seems that the shape of pens will never be simple again and we would be delighted to hear from anybody who has found writing painful and difficult and used one of the pens discussed to tell us what they thought.

Stabilo are currently running a promotion on their Point 88 Fineliner Pens and we have special packs on sale at Half the RRP in the Tiger Pens Online Store.

Stabilo have also kindly given us two Colourparade sets of twenty Point 88 pens with an RRP of £22.99 each and two packs of six Point 88 pens with an RRP of £6.99 each to give away.

To win simply leave a comment below and we will choose a winner at random from the comments section.

The first two comments drawn will win the Stabilo Colourparade set of 20 pens and the next two comments will win the pack of 6 pens.

If you comment more than once only your first comment will be entered in the draw. The competition is open to all and we will ship internationally if the winner is from outside of the UK.

The competition closes on Saturday 23^rd April 2011 and we will announce who the winners are a couple of days later.

The winners will have one week to claim their prize please email us your address using the details in the contact us at the top of the blog.

Good luck everyone!

Congratulations to Hazel who is the winner of the Ltd Edition Stabilo Boss Mugs Giveaway. Well done they are a great prize, and you can now let everyone know who the boss is.

To claim your prize

• Please leave a comment on this post
• Email us your address using the details in the Contact Us link at the top of the page
• You have one week to claim your prize

Thank you to everyone who entered Stabilo Ltd Edition Mugs are still available in the Tiger Pens online store for those who wish to purchase one..

Look out for more great prizes and giveaways in the near future.