do
if i laugh
just a little bit hello there welcome to my channel my name is doug and i'm back
with another pen review you'll notice i said pen review and not fountain pen
review that's because today's pen is not a fountain pen excuse me while i whip this out
but a rollerball oh my god what a [ __ ] nightmare i know i know let the derisive laughter ensue
it may be heresy to say but i do use pens that aren't fountain pens
fountain pens are not always convenient here's mine oh no none rose trick pens
and ballpoint pens are a total pain in the ass now i'm afraid your son has cracked his coccyx
but rollerballs are quite acceptable as they can be very smooth and silky riders
smooth as a baby's butt and this new cross edge of mine is not only a smooth rider it's a very
good looking pen with some very cool features that will intrigue the geekiest pen nerds
nerds see if this cross rollerball is on the edge of cool or nerd right now
so it's a day before my birthday and i decided to get myself a present for a long time the only
rollerball i've used has been this cross rollerball i used it for about 15 years
and i had one previously but i lost it and replaced it because i loved it so much it is a
bit slim and i've had a number of cross pins since then fountain pens but this rollerball came across
my staples advertisement probably my facebook page one day and i decided to buy it because
i was so intrigued by it and it's arrived here the day before my birthday so let's open it up
and here it is it's the cross edge
it's a rollerball it cost about fifty dollars and i liked the red but i mostly liked it because of
the geek that i am it's a really kind of a cool gadget so let's see if we can open this up
and there's the pen
and some cross instructions warranty limited lifetime warranty interesting and of course the
pen is made yup you know where and this is called the cross edge formula red and here's the pen
it's a lot lighter than it looks it's actually much lighter than i expected
but it's got this really cool design it's quite short compared to my cross sentry and you can see
that's a bit shorter than that and the top finial is a piece of plastic black plastic but the cool
thing about it is that it's retractable so you pull it out to expose the nib and you click it
back in again it becomes a short compact pen that you can place in your pocket and the clip has a
pivot point on it which is really cool short pen so it'll sit nice and deep in your pocket i will
play with this a little bit and then i'll do a review and what i'd like to do today is go
over the parts and features of this non-fountain pen show some size comparisons some measurements
and then provide a writing sample and after the writing sample please stay tuned as i will talk
about what i like and what i don't like about this rollerball overall this pen is compact and girthy
and as you saw in the unboxing surprisingly light i did expect this pen to be heavier because it
looks like it's made of aluminum and brass whereas the cap and barrel parts of this pen are actually
molded plastic with a metallic look that simulates anodized aluminum of course the cool feature of
this pen is that it retracts to extend the nib and make the pen longer so it has the benefit of being
compact for easy storage in a pocket or a purse and the convenience of one-handed operation like
your standard ball point only this pen retracts with a click rather than extends with a click once
you get the hang of it it's almost irresistible as a fidget device in the hand and with a lifetime
mechanical warranty you can fidget click as much as you like or your co-workers can tolerate
stop it from the top we see a matte black plastic pointed end finial with a tapering
chrome bezel i was disappointed that this wasn't a little silicone rubber dome like this one that
you can use as a stylus on your phone or your tablet the geek cool factor would have
been exponentially higher if i did huh is that a rhetorical point or would you like to do the math
i'd like to do the math
i'd like that too the clip is one of the very cool features of this pen and one that i wish
the other pen companies would copy more yes i said copy not the look but the function
the lever and the fulcrum have been around for about 5000 years and not under any patent of which
i'm aware so why aren't more pen designers doing this in 1853 david m smith of springfield vermont
invented a clothespin with two prongs connected by a fulcrum plus a spring but he's dead and so
is the patent i love it you can squeeze it with one hand open the clip and put it into your pocket
and close it just with one operation very very cool the clip has cross deeply stamped into it
and filled in with black enamel paint and the engineering doesn't end with the fulcrum pin
as there is another pin that matches on the other side but it's not just decorative as that is a
little wheel a little black plastic wheel right in there and that rolls on the inside sleeve
and then clicks into that groove that you see right there when the pen closes
and that keeps the clip from scratching that chrome barrel and also gives it that little
positive click the cap and the barrel are made of molded plastic with a metallic finish
the plastic part of the cap just surrounds a light chrome metal sheath that you can see right there
and under the clip because the plastic part has a rectangular cutout the edges of the cap were cut
with a wavy blade of some sort to give the edges a chevron pattern in the black plastic which is
very attractive and very clever look at how that chevron pattern mirrors in the clip on both sides
so you get this feather-like pattern on both sides i wonder if parker will sue cross for stealing
their feather clip pattern design or would that be rubber made sewing shafer i don't know
i'm confused the top part of the plastic body curves up where the clip extends over the
bottom part of the body and the rounded wide seam between the two which acts as a bit of a cap band
visually it's very attractive and the back of the body has cross finally etched into that plastic
the barrel then curves down to a chamfered edge that separates the chromed plated brass nose
cone of the pen which has a black enamel filled wide groove in the unboxing i didn't know how
to get into this pen to change the refill but i quickly found this nose cone unscrews to allow you
to extract the cross refill and the spring that powers the mechanism lives here in the nose cone
the inner sleeve collar is also chromed brass so the threads are metal on metal which is nice let's
take a look at the refill while we're here it is a standard cross medium which is 0.7 millimeters
and it's an eight five two three or a 10 21 depending on which number you look at and it is
of course made in china no surprise there and is what cross calls the gel rolling ball refill a 0.5
millimeter fine point gel rolling ball refill is also available but harder to find than the medium
if you're partial to ball points rather than gel rolling ball pins you can also use the cross jumbo
ballpoint refill instead but be warned if you do you will have literally hundreds of fountain pen
enthusiasts giggling behind your back let's put this back together again and then we'll move on
to another very cool feature the cool mechanism if you pull on the top half of the pen it slides
up and extends the nib at the same time this opposite direction mechanism is really nice the
one-handed operation is wonderfully convenient and as i said earlier very addictive when you extend
it it clicks softly into an interior groove which helps keep the nib from pushing back into the pen
when you're right and when you close it with your thumb the roller clip rolls into that groove uh in
the inner chrome sleeve or with a solid click in all it's a very sleek machine it's well designed
and engineered i bought this pen at staples for 48.99 canadian plus tax the cross edge is at least
a decade old design and available in four standard colors and has a few more interesting variations
from all matte black to some interesting combinations of colors with blackout trim now
let's look at some size comparisons and here is the cross edge rollerball with a cross century 2
medalist rollerball across 14 karat gold classic sentry ballpoint a pen bbs 380 rollerball and a
gibson j200 rotor ball but of course now let's look at them posted or extended and here they
are posted and or extended and currently i don't have a refill in my 14 karat gold cross
and the pen bbs 380 can be either a fountain pen or a rollerball you get both nibs when you buy the
380. now let's look at some measurements and i'll be back with a writing sample
and we're back with the writing portion of the review
this is clairefontaine 90 gsm paper and this
is the cross
edge
and it is a medium
rollerball
let's check the wetness hey it's a rollerball it's a little bit wet just a little bit and the ink
of course is cross
gel black
i think it comes in a variety of colors like black and what blue yeah blue and the line this
nib makes is in fact exactly as it advertised 0.7 millimeters and that is a medium and for our quote
so what do i like and what do i not like about this rollerball well i use this cross
metalist century 2 roller ball for at least 15 years every day at work i loved how smooth
the rollerball worked and the classy chrome and gold look the only thing i didn't like about
this pen was how slim it is when i rediscovered fountain pens after retiring from teaching for
35 years i put the cross aside and rarely used it and this new to me cross edge has rekindled
my love for the cross rollerball cartridge it's the closest thing to a smooth fountain pen nib on
paper no pressure at all but let's talk about the edge itself so chuckle all you like but i
love this pen i know it's made in china but these days what isn't i know people have been bemoaning
the loss of these american icons to what they consider cheap and shoddy design engineering and
manufacturing in china cross shaffer and parker may produce most of their writing instruments in
china today but that doesn't mean they've lost all of their design and engineering ingenuity if this
pen is any indication not only is this pen very attractive to look at and fun to play with with
its cool telescopic design but the engineering design of this pen is also very detailed and
clever the spring lever clip design the little roller at the end of that clip and the outer
and inner sleeve mechanism that simultaneously extends the length of the pen to full size
while extending the nib are all hallmarks of a very clever design and function thinking
i'm not surprised that this model has been around for a decade i love the look and the balance and
the feel of this pen in the hand the thickness and the function of this pen i especially
love the one-handed operation i can do this all day so it's one-handed operation to open
and close and put back into your pocket very very cool i know that the fugitives one arm men would
love this pen he swear that you saw him a man with one arm running from the direction of your house
there are only two things that i don't like so much about this pen one is that the tapered design
it's very nicely girthy i like that and it tapers rather sharply and this plastic is a bit slippery
so while you're writing i tend to slide down a little bit but i find that these grooves on
the back when it's extended actually hold the pen in my grip fairly nicely so i've sort of adjusted
my grip on this pen to overcome that the second thing is that this little finial on the top isn't
a stylus for an ipad or or a touch screen of some sort that would have made this the ultimate killer
geek tactical multi-function transformer of a pen and there you have it please tune in tomorrow when
i'll be showing you how to disassemble these two pens hondian n6 and the hongdian n7 piston fillers
with this cool new tool that i've received and i'll show you where to get that and how to take
apart and maintain these two piston fillers also please look in the description at the
link for gold spot pens as i am now an affiliate of the online store and we shop online at gold
spot pens using my link i'll get five percent in support of my channel and i thank you i thank you
and you can join as a member of my channel too for only 99 cents a month and i guarantee i'll answer
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is posted and that just leaves it for me to say thank you for watching and that's all she wrote
i made this