Ohto CR01 Camoflauge Ceramic Rollerball

I was at my local pen shop this evening checking the latest stock, and came across this piece I had never heard of: the Ohto CR01.

Ohto gets mixed reviews, and I too have mixed feelings about the other Ohto pens I've seen. I applaud their drive to innovate though, with their interesting needle tip gel pens and ceramic rollerballs. I like the feeling of the mechanisms on their click pens, which are very unique, solid, and different even between Ohto models, and different from other brands in general. However, they never really had a pen that speaks to me in terms of design, until now.

I couldn't wait to get home before taking photos. The pen came in two different camo colours, as well as solid black. The material feels very ceramic (I'm guessing it's a thick coat of paint on metal).

The snap cap is very secure, and the clip is nice and springy. I'm not a fan of the rubber grip section, because out here in the tropics those can degrade and become sticky (it's removable, but there's not much I could replace it with). The body is very solid and well constructed.

The ceramic rollerball refill is about as smooth as you can get with a 0.5mm tip, and writes exceptionally well. The only fault I'd give it, is that at the beginning it had a bit of ink blobbing, which cleared up after writing with it. The refill seems to be of standard rollerball/gel size, and it perfectly fit my Energel refills as well.

Really liking this pen!