Artline are well known for their huge range of quality pens & markers. They say that things flow better when you use them! I’m going to see if the Artline Softline 1700 proves them right.
Created by Shachihata, a Japanese Company that sets the highest standards the Artline Softline 1700 is a gel ink rollerball. It’s available in 6 different colours, although only 3 are refillable. A little surprising considering they have been awarded an ISO certification for their environmental management system, but who am I to question? Should you need to do so the refill is easy to change, just turning the nib housing towards you will remove it from the barrel.
The barrel is pretty unimaginative IMO, the stainless steel tip peeps out from beneath a green nose (happens to be the colour I’ve chosen to take for a crawl across the page) that houses the 0.7mm tungsten carbide ball, this makes it very durable which is good news if like me you are heavy handed. The majority of the barrel is transparent, it does provide a space to etch the name & logos. There is also a warning to replace the cap after use, or risk the ink drying out.
The writing experience was fine, I generally like to use gel pens, I find them smoother somehow. If I had a small complaint the grip section could have been a little longer. My fingers did slip into the gap where the grip ends & nib housing begins, leaving me wondering why the gap was there.
The green text was smudge free & the dye stuff ink is water based & glided across the page with ease, the ink colour matched the housing well too.
All in all this was a good all round pen that would be well suited for general writing in the home or office.
