I don’t typically do product reviews, but an e-mail from Santoki recently caught my eye. It’s back-to-school season, and with that comes new opportunities for flair. I like both travel and cute stationery, and their bag tags and pens were right in my wheelhouse. While Santoki provided these items for me for free, my review is honest and my own.
First, let’s talk about the pens. I tried out the LEGO Stationery Gel Pen – 3 Pack. It comes in 3 colors: black, blue, and red. They are true gel pens in that they write smoothly with 0.7mm tips. The ink easily flows and they give my beloved Pilot G2s a run for their money. I pulled a few pens from my desk, and the writing feel is most comparable to Sharpie S-GELs. I tested it out on a few different sheets of paper with varying smoothness, and that flow stayed the same. As someone who switches between Post-its, notebooks, and legal pads as I’m working, the consistent performance is a treat.
The LEGO pens have a square barrel instead of the typical round shape. It takes some getting used to, and even though the angles are blunted, I was still aware of it in my fingers. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, just different. I didn’t test it out for a very long period of time, so I can’t speak to how comfortable it would be for taking notes all day at school or work. The square shape does offer one interesting benefit, however – it doesn’t roll. If you’re working on a less than level surface, that’s a plus.
Each pen can also click together with two 1×4 LEGO plates. What was most unexpected about this is how much fun these plates made the pens. I underestimated how satisfying it would be to click them together and actually play with them. The fidget factor is real. Plus, you can add mini-figures or other things to them, a fact that thrilled the resident tween in my house. I tested the plates out with some random LEGO pieces I had, and the fit beautifully. And if you’re art-inclined, you can connect two or three pens and use them at the same time for a double or triple line effect.
The pens retail for $12.99 for the 3-pack on the Santoki site, which is comparable to other fancy pens I’ve recently bought. It also looks like refills for the pens are easily available in 10-packs online for a reasonable price, which adds to their value.
Now, for the bag tags. I tried out two – the Botanical Orchid and the Star Wars Darth Vader one. The feature the typical LEGO brick design style. Each tag is made of some kind of rubber that appears that it will be able to withstand even the roughest airport baggage handling. If you’ve ever checked a bag and had it come back battered, then you know the strength is a definite plus. It’s very solid construction, and even the small green parts of the orchid are solidly attached and don’t feel flimsy. It would have given me a lot of peace of mind on a recent trip involving diverted and delayed flights.
Both tags are priced at $9.99. If I spotted them in a store, the price would be right to add them to my cart. I recall recently paying something similar for a Sanrio-branded bag tag for my daughter.
The minor issue with the tags comes with the lines for your name and address. Because the items themselves are differently shaped, the spaces to write in the information are limited. I was able to put a full name, address, and phone number with a regular-tipped Sharpie on the Darth Vader tag, but the provided lines weren’t long enough. If you’re going to write your name in, do yourself a favor and extend the lines before writing, or even use a thinner-tipped Sharpie. The orchid tag is what I was most looking forward to, but it has no lines on the back. So be prepared to freehand your information on that one.
If you don’t intend to use the tags for identification and just want to use them to decorate a backpack, the ID issues disappear. They’re durable and stylish additions.
Overall, I was very happy with the pens and bag tags. They were a great balance of novelty and functionality. The pens offer excellent ink flow, and the bag tags offer a pop of style. I’ll be keeping an eye out for them in the future.
You can pick up the pens and the bag tags on the Santoki website.