I have an older and discontinued Zebra SL-F1. It’s a collapsible pen that is overbuilt for what it is. I think the original price tag was $6 or $7. I don’t even remember where I got it. I keep this pen in a Witz Waterproof case along with some other small items, like bandages, a compressed towelette, etc. The entire point of this kit is to have a very small 1st aid kit for cuts and scrapes, along with thread, a needle. A post it note, and a pen – for life’s little emergencies. So this pen lives there and must continue to live in this case.

I wanted a very small pen for my A7 notebook. This pen is not only VERY small, it is extremely thin, but too long for my Witz case, too long for my wallet, and not very comfortable to hold.

On top of that, it’s retractable, but the mechanism is gritty, and when I tried to put the Jetstream refill into it, it wouldn’t work. The Jetstream refill kept hanging up on the nose cone for some reason.

So I popped the Jetstream refill into the collapsible pen. This T-3 pen has similar ink, it’s very smooth, and it fits in my notepad nicely, the only issue is it’s not easy to write with and while the collapsible pen feels nicer than it’s cost, the T-3 feels like I overpaid.

After using it for a few notes… I guess it’s growing on me. I really like that it can fit in my notebook without bending the pages up..