Bic Disposable Fountain Pen - A Picture Review

[Sailor Kenshin]

Even if your local Staples has them, they are NOT easy to find. They were placed way below eye level and sort of hidden. Might be worth another look? Or ask store personnel?

[PAKMAN]

Got mine at Staples too. They still had them the other day when I wandered through. They are hard to find among all the other pens.

[mrcharlie]

I saw these (3 pack) a few weeks ago, and grabbed them. I tried the red one first, and within the first couple minutes it malfunctioned; I can't remember if it absolutely flooded, or dried up and wouldn't flow at all, but it was one of those. I immediately formed the opinion that they were junk, which was sad for me because I grew up loving Bic Crystal (but hated Stic) ballpoints.

 

Before I threw them all away, I tried the other two, and they seemed to work ok, so I guess I just got a bad one in my first pack of three.

 

It sounds from this item as if the DOA pen is not a common experience, but it was mine.

[RNHC]

I saw these (3 pack) a few weeks ago, and grabbed them. I tried the red one first, and within the first couple minutes it malfunctioned; I can't remember if it absolutely flooded, or dried up and wouldn't flow at all, but it was one of those. I immediately formed the opinion that they were junk, which was sad for me because I grew up loving Bic Crystal (but hated Stic) ballpoints.

 

Same here. The red one I have didn't flow at all initially. I dipped the nib in the water for a second and then it started to write. Perhaps your red one "dried" out and just need some moisture to get it going again?

[bwidjaja]

Thanks for the review, now I got to get myself some of these.

[savingbirds]

Nice Vpen/Varisty alternative. I wish my local Staples had anywhere as near as a pen variety as yours...

[Altruism]

Did anyone try to disassemble one of these pens? I know it's suppose to be disposable, but so are your cheapo ballpoints but with enough boredom in class I was able to disassemble just about any cheapo ballpoint. I was just wondering the same for this pen (not only that it'd make it refillable too!)

[RNHC]

Did anyone try to disassemble one of these pens? I know it's suppose to be disposable, but so are your cheapo ballpoints but with enough boredom in class I was able to disassemble just about any cheapo ballpoint. I was just wondering the same for this pen (not only that it'd make it refillable too!)

 

Check out post #53 by Vulcan1066. It sounds like you can pop out the nib and refill it.

[fourseamer]

In the last couple of days, I bought two 3-pen blister packs of Pilot Varsities and Bic Disposables. In short, I'm amazed at how well both models write and will pursue refilling.

 

I was amazed at how smoothly the Varsities wrote. The black is a medium-fine, but the blue and purple are wet mediums. The latter two also are voluptuous colors: a deep blue and rich purple. The black is a somewhat lighter shade with a greenish tint. There is a fair amount of water resistance.

 

The Bic Disposables I bought today are terrific too. Not quite as smooth as the Varsities but smooth enough. I like that the pens are a little larger and heftier in the hand. My black Bic writes a true medium line, and the black ink is pretty good and dark. Better than the Varsity, but that may be a product of increased flow between the two. The blue Bic is a lighter true blue that looks like something you'd get from their ubiquitous rollerballs. Goes down with a reddish indigo look, but it dries to a light, down-the-middle blue.

 

Then there's the red Bic Disposable. Like everyone else, mine is a slow starter that writes a peachy pink color. Hah, I was prepared for it, and it still made me laugh. Closer inspection of the feed beneath the nib shows that this ink might have problems drying out as it departs the section and nears its ultimate destination. I will probably attempt to empty this pen of its ink first, but I am going to save the ink and experiment with it. I'm curious what it's malfunction is and what if any solution there may be to its blooper color. Surely Bic didn't have this funky highlighter color in mind during design and early production of these pens. But that's the fickle nature of red ink for you; this may explain why Pilot ships a purple inked pen in it's 3-pack instead of a red one.

 

The end caps on my Bic Disposables have a reeded edge that says, "Hey, take me for a spin and see what's inside." I'm going to try like hell to remove mine and see if I can retrofit these pens for solid eyedropper use. I'm less enthusiastic for a vacuum or syringe fill from the front/nib side of the pen.

Edited April 22, 2012 by fourseamer

[ParkerNutter]

Fwiw - you can mail order the BICs off Amazon, if they're not at your local Staples. Also saw some listed on eBay.

 

I haven't found them at the one local store I checked, but I plan on looking at another store soon.

 

Also, I bought my Varsity pens at the local Office Depot. OD list the Varsity on the website, but local store availability varies.

 

(posted in case somebody reading this thread wonders where to find them)

[ParkerNutter]

Follow up to my previous post - I tried another local Staples today and easily found the BIC pens hanging right next to the Varsity and Plumix pens. There was also a fairly cheap "calligraphy" pen set in there with them.

 

Anyway, if you are looking for the BIC pens at a Staples, try looking in the pen area that is labeled "Specialty", just as shown in the first post of this thread. You should see them hanging there somewhere. The store here had the two-pack of black pens and the three-pack in black, blue and red. Based on the comments in this thread, I bought the black pens.

 

So far, the ones I bought are working fine. Nibs seem very smooth. Not sure about the ink, but I am going to carry the pen for a few days and evaluate them.

[32t]

Could the Bic be filled with the same vaccum trick as the Varsity? (no need to pull the feed)

 

It most definitely can be filled using the syringe vacuum method. In all liquid ink pen designs, as ink comes out thru the nib, air must go in to take its place else after awhile, a vacuum is created and the ink wont flow to the nib.

 

The syringe vacuum method makes use of this very same air channel to send new ink into the ink chamber. The theory is to remove air from inside the ink chamber thereby creating a vacuum, then cover the air equalizer hole with ink and release the vacuum. As the vacuum is released, ink is now pulled into the chamber.

 

One difficulty with this method is finding a syringe that conveniently fits tightly over a pen's section.

 

Another challenge is guessing whether the new ink going into the pen can be mixed with the old ink in the pen. For some ink combinations, chemical reaction happens and slime is produced which jams up everthing. Or the old ink repels the new ink and prevents the new ink from going into the feed/nib.

 

I found a way to fill a Varsity using a plastic tube instead of a syringe. It was much easier than to find tubing that was the right size. If you are interested check out my post in--refill pilot varsity?

[ParkerNutter]

So, I've been carrying the BIC (black ink) with me daily for about a week now.

 

I have not found any problems with it, except I wish it was a tad longer and had a little more heft to it.

 

Eh, for a $2.50 FP, do I really have a right to complain about that?

 

I've finally seen the very slight "greenish tint" of the black ink that was alluded to in earlier posts.

Are we certain this ink isn't actually a blue-black variant? That would be my inclination.

 

My pen has one of the smoothest steel nibs I can ever remember using. Very wide sweet spot.

[ExcaliburZ]

Can someone post a picture of the inks on paper?

[inkstainedruth]

Well, my local Staples now carries the BICs. There was an open blister pack and I took a look at them a bit closely. The red pen seemed to be leaking (this wasn't nib creep, AFAIK, because it didn't seem to be coming from the slit -- this was small droplets of ink, on the flat part of the nib, that were as if someone had opened the package, pulled out the pen, and tried waving it around to see whether it would splatter).

They may be cheap, but OTOH they may be cheap. I decided to pass (at least for now); I also passed on the $8.99 Plumix pens, because they look as if they're designed for kids (and because the purple one didn't seem to have a purple ink cartridge.... :roflmho: ).

I'm going to take another stab at getting the Varsity started again; if it doesn't, or doesn't write consistently, I may (when I get a chance, which won't be for at least a few weeks) try watching the video for taking it apart and refilling it. In the meantime, I have other pens (several of which need to be flushed and/or refilled).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[32t]

I bought a 3 pack of theses and found the sharp corner on the edge of the body very uncomfortable to hold. I put them in the lathe and chamfered the edge. This made a world of difference. Now I can hold them long enough to use up the ink and see if I can get them refilled.

[fiberdrunk]

Can someone post a picture of the inks on paper?

 

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8577183733_84d2df69fe_z.jpg

 

I'm coming late to this thread. Just bought a 3-pack of these pens this week at Staples. I'm trying to figure out how to refill it with my own ink. I haven't been successful pulling the nib feed off yet.

 

The red looks a tad too pink in the scan. Both the red and blue inks are a bit on the thin side, while the black is fairly opaque and dark. The black has some water resistance though it's not entirely waterproof.

Edited March 21, 2013 by fiberdrunk

[carlos.q]

I just bought a 3-pack from Wal-Mart! :embarrassed_smile:

[IKWarren]

My cap keeps popping off and getting my backpack all inky.

[32t]

My cap keeps popping off and getting my backpack all inky.

 

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