Having recently found myself needing to take copious notes to put together a newsletter, I figured it would be a good opportunity to review the Artline softline 1700.
I don’t know about you but my writing often lapses into scribble the further down the page I get when taking notes. Having never acquired the skill of shorthand the faster my dictator speaks the more illegible my handwriting gets. I also notice a tendency to tighten my grasp on the pen. Writing with the Artline Softline 1700 this became less apparent, my guess is it was due to the soft rubberized grip.
Made by Shachihata, the Japanese Company renowned for its premium pens & markers, the Artline Softline 1700 is a gel inked rollerball. Available in 10 different colours, including 4 bright fluoro shades, the black red & blue are refillable. Considering they have been awarded an ISO certification for their environmental management system, I was a little surprised that only 3 colours are refillable.  Maybe this is something for the future. The web site does state products contain 50% recycled material which is a plus point. 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.
Writing with this pen was OK, but my fingers did tend to lurch past the rubber grip & sat in the clear space between the nib housing, this made it somewhat slippery & I found myself consciously having to adjust my grip which was a little annoying.
The print itself was fine, the pen didn’t smudge, bleed or skip & moved smoothly across the page. The Softline 1700 uses dye stuff ink & water based ink, I was unable to test the web sites suggestion to use for sketching as my matchstick men look nothing like Lowry’s.
To conclude, I found this to be a general purpose pen ideal for home or office use. The clear barrel is useful for viewing the ink level & the safety cap a bonus if you have children making their presence felt whilst following your literary pursuits.
