Retro 1951 Tornado™ Classic Lacquer Rollerball Pen - Peacock

I have many of these pens in many different colors that I use each day - one for each color of my purses. These are the only ballpoint pens I’ve used for years. And I can buy the pen refills from Amazon too. I also give the brand new pens as gifts. That’s how much I like these pens!

Love writing with this pen. Easy to hold. Very comfortable to write with. Are able to get refills. Wonderful colors.

I purchased my first one I. 2001. I have since purchased easily a dozen as gifts over the years and have 2 for myself. They are solid and will last a lifetime. Love them!

I love the Retro 1951 pens, a color for every occasion. The writing is smooth and balanced what’s not to love.

I like the style and feel of the pen in my hand. It's solid mechanically too, and comes in quite a few colors. The problem for me is it's really a rollerball pen. Many people like rollerballs, and if you do, this is a great rollerball pen. Unfortunately for my style of note-taking and writing, I find a good ballpoint pen better. My writing is a combination of hand printing and linked letters, and rollerballs slow me down and produce uneven thickness in individual letters. I think rollerballs are really better for cursive writers and that's because they glide and flow across the page. I'm just not a cursive writer.I bought this pen because it can be converted to a ballpoint. They'll take a Parker-style ballpoint refill, and I tried a brand-new one in this pen. I didn't like it because it made the feel of the pen's twist mechanism more rigid and less fluid. Both Schmidt and Retro 1951 make a ballpoint refill which fits the pen beautifully. However, their ballpoint refills are the moist gel type which are really closer to a rollerball than a standard ballpoint touch and impression.I only knocked the rating down one star, because it is a nice pen at what I consider a reasonable price. I like, own and use a number of ballpoints that are several times the price of this pen, so my concept of what's a reasonable price may not be yours. I will use this pen occasionally to jot down a few words or sign a check (I write my signature in cursive) because I like the way it looks and feels in my hand, but it will never be a "go-to' or daily use pen for me.

Some folks are very particular, if not picky, about pens, ranging from how they write to how they feel in the hand. I am sort of both. My favorite, I own a few, are Mont Blanc's. They not only write beautifully, but are very well balanced in the hand. However, I do not carry a Mont Blanc on a daily basis, due to work conditions and fear of loss. Instead, I carry a Retro 1951. After trying a number of pens, this pen is the closest I've found, speaking for me of course, that feels as balanced as a Mont Blanc and (big and) will take a Mont Blanc refill. However, I've found that Mont Blanc refills, while write beautifully, do not last long for me. Instead, I use Parker Quink refills which are semi-close to a Mont Blanc quality, yet last many times longer. (Also, I am not knocking the stock Retro 1951 rollerball cartridge, I just prefer a ball point over a rollerball.) I own a number of Retro 1951 pens (like potato chips, you can't just have one) and have found them to be superb daily writing pens. While I would certainly fret if lost or stolen, they are much more affordable than a $200+ pen, plus come in a number of fun colors. I heartily recommend.

A few specs not mentioned:Pen Length: 4.8inchesInk Size: 0.7mmCan use Parker refills.With the stainless steel body and high-gloss lacquer overlay, this is a pen that feels and looks great. The knurled top has a good grip and the twist tension is tight enough to not slip, but also not so tight as to be a nuisance...Very smooth.The pen tip screws on and off easily for refill and the included 0.7mm rollerball writes smoothly on the page with very little drag and the black is a nice deep black...Lefties beware though, with this larger 0.7mm ink size and being rollerball, the ink flows more readily and is that much more prone to southpaw smudging.Overall feel is also very nice. I have big hands (I wear XL gloves) and appreciate the extra thickness and weight of the pen. It has a good balance and the ink flows easily (...A little TOO easily for me actually, being a lefty and this larger ink size means I see more smudging, but that's my own experience).I readily recommend this wonderful pen, with the only caveat (especially for us Lefties) being to look at finding a smaller ink size refill (like 0.5mm or smaller, and/or going ballpoint instead) to better avoid the smudging.

Retro makes a wonder gift for yourself or someone special. And you can have them engraved, which makes it double special