# Zen Pen review



## PenWorks (Feb 27, 2008)

Here is the new Zen Pen just released by CSU. You might say it is the cheaper cousin to the Stretch Pen. The Zen pen is available in Chrome 11.99 and 10K & Black Ti for 14.99
The kicker to this pen is the magnetic cap. No threads to mess with, no guessing, should I pull or twist. and posting is a breeze, get the cap anywhere in the neighborhood of the end of the pen and whamo, its posted.

Here is the kit, very simple and to the point. tube that is 3.351" long and takes a 10.5 drill bit for the hole. Matching end couplers, both are the same size, so you can't screw this up. There is no taper to this pen, both ends are .508 where as the Strech pen had a slight taper to it.








Very basic pen turning skills to make this pen. The most difficult part, is drilling the longer hole. Turn and finish just one barrel and assemble. Nothing to align as the cap is metal.
Below are some finished Zen pens in black palm, white horn (ed4copies) and cocobolo (Bill's). If you look closely, I shorten the tube a little on the horn pen to get a slightly more compact look. 







Some of the subtle differences in the Zen & Stretch pens are.
The cap on the Zen pen is plain on the sides and the top, the Stretch as engraving on the side and an emblem stamped on the top.
The biggest difference is no threads on the Zen. I must say the magnetic ring that is inside the cap works really well. I do not see the cap coming apart in your pocket and posting is a breeze. The picture above with the three pens is as close as you can put these pens without them grabing each other from the magnets. Kinda hard to loose the parts when they stick together out of the bag 
The front sections are very different.






So in conclusion as stated in another thread. some will like the looks of this kit and others wont. I think it will have its place in my pen shop. I have already sold several Stretch pens and have had favorable comments on it. I like how the cap works, the magnet is definatly strong enough to keep it together. Now if I only could figure out how to get a fountain pen nib in this pen. I tried every front section and feed I have around here. CSU is not bringing in any FP's at this time. Maybe a little shouting for the cheer leaders around here may change their mind. I am sure a disclaimer needs to go out with this pen because of the magnet in the cap.

Well I'm off to the shop to still figure out how to cram a nib in this pen and shorten it some more


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## thewishman (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for the review, Anthony, and the pictures! The Zen looks good. The nib transition from the body looks pronounced, how does it feel?

Chris


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## tweetfaip (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for the review Anthony!  This looks like it could be a winner - understated and elegant.

The magnetic cap is very interesting.  I haven't seen anything like that before.


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## Dan_F (Feb 27, 2008)

> _Originally posted by thewishman_
> 
> Thanks for the review, Anthony, and the pictures! The Zen looks good. The nib transition from the body looks pronounced, how does it feel?
> 
> Chris



I was wondering about the feel of the transition as well.

Dan


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## PenWorks (Feb 27, 2008)

It could be a concern to some. I found myself holding the pen barrel and not the metal front section. It was more comfortable for me this way. The step on both pens can be a little annoying.


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## scubaman (Feb 27, 2008)

I'm looking forward to getting some in (any day now I'm sure!) and trying them out.  But I have to say I am disappointed in the look - I find it pretty ugly actually...  but I didn't order them for their good looks   I'm really interested in the magnetic closure.  One of these will end up in my pocket for sure, for a real-life test!


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## turned_for_good (Feb 27, 2008)

I'm curious just how much you could shorten this, maybe with modification to the refill.  I think this would make a great purse pen if it could be shortened enough.

Is the magnet in the cap or on the barrel, or both?


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## R2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for your review Anthony. I think that step from nib to barrel would be of some concern.


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## Mather323 (Feb 28, 2008)

Great review, thanks again.


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## Ligget (Feb 28, 2008)

Fantastic review Anthony, I like them![]


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## PenWorks (Feb 28, 2008)

You can shorten it more than I did on this one. The spring is still in the end cap. If you remove the spring, you can knock off a little more. I tried some shorter refills, but a Parker will not work and some of the shorter capless rollers did not fit threw the nib. But I did not spend much time on it. I am sure there is a way to shorten it up considerably more.


The inside of the cap, has a round magnetic ring instead of threads.
The pen's couplers attract the magnetic cap.



> _Originally posted by turned_for_good_
> 
> I'm curious just how much you could shorten this, maybe with modification to the refill.  I think this would make a great purse pen if it could be shortened enough.
> 
> Is the magnet in the cap or on the barrel, or both?


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## Sfolivier (Feb 28, 2008)

Thanks for the review. I already bought a couple of them but they are in the mail and it's great to see more finished pens and to get more details about the kit.

I think the clip might be too ornate for such an otherwise modern kit. I was hoping that the cap could be more easily modified (by exchanging the clip of even turning it out of wood). It seems that either modification would be pretty hard from your pictures. Maybe a wood clip... I don't know... It seems that there is just a little something missing to really make the kit to my liking...

Oh well. I'm still curious about it and the stock kit is still interesting.


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