[Pen/Pencil Review] The Office Depot Multi-Function Pen
This week’s pen review is on a more gimmicky, but useful thing. Office Depot has a store brand “multi-pen” in their back-to-school section. I picked one up on sale, and it’s not bad. For what it is.
This multi-pen isn’t the standard 3 or 4 color pen like BIC makes. This one does have a few more interesting features. This is a blue ballpoint pen, a red ballpoint, a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and a highlighter under the cap.
The barrel comes in fluorescent colors-yellow, pink, etc-with a black rubber grip. The clip is plastic and may break after a while. To accommodate the number of functions means the pen is a thick barrel and may be too wide to be comfortable for some people. It runs about 5.75″ long, which makes it just long enough to sit well in the hand.
Given the limitations from barrel size, the ballpoint parts are a thinner line, probably a 0.7 (which I like). The functions are activated by twisting the barrel. And this is where some of the issues come. I have little trouble with the pen points coming out and staying secure. I’ve had to do some creative work to keep the pencil working. The lead is fed through clicking the bottom portion of the pen. Which means threads can get wonky and make some functionality more of a chore than I think it should be–especially when I’m tired, sinusy, or moving slowly (like today).
The lead reservoir is, by necessity, small and you have to work to put more lead into the pencil. The highlighter is tucked into the top cap, which is a twist off, so you have to be careful not to lose the cap. It’s just the chisel tip of most other highlighters, but it does the job. Mine happened to come with green highlighter ink. I assume the color matches the barrel (more or less).
Since it was a whopping $2. I will cut some slack to this pen because it’s kinda fun, and if you have limited space in a backpack or desk, it can be useful.
To the numbers:
1. How does it work? – 0.5 – It works…it can be awkward to get the tips out sometimes. And I had trouble this morning locking down the pencil and getting the lead advanced.
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – It’s really inexpensive plastic. It doesn’t have the most solid feel to it. It’s also probably on the wide side to be comfortable for long periods of writing.
3. Material – 1 It’s plastic. It’s meant to be disposable. It is what it is.
4. Overall Design – 1 – It’s a decent design. It makes good use of space for the size. It is what it is.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – It runs $1.99. It’s cheap. But no so cheap that if it stops working after a use or two, it’s worth throwing away.
3.5 of 5 bronze pencils.