Not too long ago I mentioned the great deal over on Amazon for these Bic Z4 rollerball pens (see the Amazon deal here) which for that price I couldn’t help but pick up a pack for myself.  I was a little surprised with what showed up in my mailbox so I figured I would do a quick review and follow up here today.

So the above picture is what was shown on the Amazon page for these, however the first picture in this review is the pen that I actually received.  I have used the Bic Z4 in the past, but the picture in the Amazon posting showed this uniquely different body styling so I was really interested in trying them out.  Unfortunately what I received though were the ones in the first picture which are only a very slight redesign to the originals that I’ve used years ago.  Not a huge deal but I was excited to see something different.

If you have seen the old versions of the Bic Z4 you will recognize that these newer versions have very similar designs with some very minor changes.  They still retain the same basic size and body shape, the major difference is the color coordinated and non transparent cap and the addition of some updated graphic designs.

Although I’ve always liked the Bic Z4 line of pens, I’ve never been a big fan of the caps.  As you can see the clip is significantly longer than the rest of the cap, maybe by about one third.  It doesn’t impact the writing experience in any way, shape, or form, but it is a little difficult to manage and I occasionally find myself fumbling with it when I uncap the pen or go to post the cap.

The grips on the Bic Z4 are definitely comfortable and provide you with good control of the writing experience, however I did notice that they spin pretty easily, meaning that they don’t seem to be permanently attached to the barrel of the pen.  Not a huge issue, but it does give the pen a little bit of a cheaper feel to it, although at this price thats probably to be expected.  Regardless of the shorter size, they do post firmly and give no indication of being loose or feeling like it might fall off.

Bic Z4 Review Writing Sample:

Writing with the Bic Z4 is overall a pretty nice experience.  The colors are bold and vibrant, and they really don’t show any tendency at all to skip.  I’d actually compare them quite favorably with the Pilot V7 but just not really as smooth as the pen drags across the paper.  The Z4 basically has a more scratchy feel than the V7, but in terms of consistency and the vibrancy of the ink I would say there are pretty close.  You can probably tell from my photo of the Bic Z4 writing sample that the issue (at least on Black n’ Red notebook paper) is that its not exactly in any rush to dry.  Now if you use these on a standard yellow legal pad or simple loose leaf paper you will be much better off with the dry time.  On a similar characteristic, you aren’t going to get much water resistance with these either.  With all of that said though, the Bic Z4 is a great option via Amazon at this price, so if you are ordering something and you need an add on to reach the shipping limit, you won’t regret putting these in your cart to have on hand for quick notes or whatever you need to do with them.

©2016, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.