Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pens

There is a brand new pen from Zebra over at JetPens, the Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pen, which you may have also seen over at our friends blog, The PenAddict.  According to the product description over at JetPens, the ink in the Zebra Surari combines the smoothness of an oil-based ballpoint pen, with the vibrant colors of a gel ink pen.  The first thing that came to mind as a comparison for these was the popular Uniball Jetstream line which is also a very smooth writing line of pens that is a mix between a ballpoint and gel ink pen.

Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pens

When I loaded up my cart with these at JetPens, I grabbed a majority of .5mm and .7mm and also grabbed on 1.0mm version.  I didn’t go nuts with the color options, but there are plenty to choose from.  In addition to the lineup that I selected which you can see in the photo above, I couldn’t resist grabbing one of the black on black versions, called the Dark Black.  For some reason I’ve had a thing for all black pens, whether its my Monteverde Stealth Fountain Pen, or my Uniball Jetstream Sport, I’ve now got a third pen to add to that subset of my collection.

Close up of Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pen

From a design perspective, the Zebra Surari is what I’d consider a “bright n’ shiny” type pen with lots of color accents, and a glossy finish.  The short clips are made of the plastic that is a bit more stiff that makes that sort of high-pitched “plink” noise if you pull on it and release it quickly.  The grip on the Zebra Surari is rather understated, but very effective and comfortable.  It has a soft smooth rubbery feel with a few grooves laid into the rubber for additional traction.

Zebra Surari emulsion ink pen writing sample - click to enlarge

When I started writing with these pens, I was pretty impressed with how smooth they wrote, even the .5mm point which is usually one of my favorites.  They lay down a nice crisp, clean, and consistent line, much like I would expect, and I would say that they are on par with the quality writing experience of the aforementioned Uniball Jetstream.  The writing sample above was done with my Whitelines graph paper notebook, which is always great for these types of comparison writing samples.

If push comes to shove, there are some minor differences between the writing experience with the Zebra Surari and Uniball Jetstream pens, and a close look by clicking on the writing sample above shows what I think is the biggest difference.  When you click on the larger photo of the writing sample and look towards the end of the page, you will see that there seems to be a pattern where the Zebra has the very minor and very occasional ink splotch.  Conversely, if you look at the Jetstream, there is a very minor hint of some white space where the line is not 100% solid.  On the other side of the coin, you don’t seem to get any white streaks in the line with the Zebra Surari, while you do get some very minor ones with the Jetstream.  So in summary, the hugely over critical comparison shows some minor ink splotches with the Zebra, but a very consistent and solid line.

Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with either pen, it might just come down to your preference for looks and style or your loyalty to one of the two pen manufacturers.  At only $1.50 each, they are definitely worth picking up from Jetpens next time you place an order.

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