Opinel No 8

For some time now I am looking for a hiking,  general purpose knife. Of course, first time I started searching for one my mind went directly to Crocodile Dundee -That is not a knife, this is a knife..

but using reason I managed to pick an Opinel no 8.
What I want from a hiking knife is to carry it safely (folding is a good starting point), to have a decent size blade (8 cm is good enough) for cutting food with not too much trouble, stainless steel blade because I will be using it to prepare food, a locking system so the blade doe not close on me.

I found in the Opinel all of the requirements above.
Of course, a folding knife is not as strong as a fixed blade, but I will not be alone with my knife in the jungle where I have to hunt to survive. So opting for a folding blade is more practical. A 30 cm blade would be great if I would hunt for bears or crocodiles. But for cutting the bread and buttering it, it makes more sense to use a smaller blade.
I found a lot of fans of the brand and a lot of reviews of the knife. A lot of them say you can not beat the knife at this price point. (I paid 10 dollars for a stainless steel 8 cm blade Opinel).
First, when I opened the package and got my hand on the knife I said, it's priced according to what it offers. The folding mechanism is encased in wood, and this is not a good thing in my opinion. The wood shrinks or expands and this affects the blade unfolding force needed. It can jump from hard to open it (going to break my nails and fingers) to if it's not locked the blade will just swing around.
It is an old design, farmers knife. In my opinion, the company should work a little on the design.

Opinel No 8

The knife didn't come very sharp. So the first thing was to sharpen the blade to an acceptable level. Second thing was putting mineral oil at in the pivoting mechanism several times and braking it in. Several days of opening and closing.

At this point, i consider the knife has not too much not too little friction during blade opening/closing.

Another thing that I do not like is the finish of the fishtail handle. It is too rough on the hand, so I might just sand it down and maybe reshape the back of the handle.
But after a week of having this knife, I started to like it. And I like it for its simplicity the same reason I didn't like it at first. The wood handle, the simple locking system, the classic and beautiful design that survived over all these years.

Review of Parker Urban Premium, a premium ballpoint?

Parker is a well known brand with high quality products. Today I am reviewing the Parker Urban Premium ballpoint. The Parker Urban collection is comprised of mechanical pencil, fountain pen, and ballpoint pen.

Parker is a big brand, known for good quality writing instruments, having in it's range some iconic fountain pens that shaped the industry for many years. If you do a google search on Parker you will be surprised to find out that Parker is the supplier of fountain pens for the royal house of England.

The design of the pen.

It has a interesting design, inspired I think from a bullet (or maybe a sexual device). I'll leave the design for you to judge. Let's call it "urban". It is classy and modern at the same time.

the pen's body is made entirely out of metal. The grip is a smooth shiny metal, thicker towards the middle of the pen. If you tend to grip the pens high you will find that this is quite thick. The most concerning aspect of the grip though is the shiny metal, but I did not have problems with lack of grip. As a disclaimer I do not use the pen for extensive writing sessions. I use it for note taking, a few lines, a page maximum.Though I can see for some people with sweaty or oily hands this could be a more uncomfortable experience. So your millage may vary...

The barrel is made from a colored metal that has groves in it. My version is a plum - brownish color, which in certain light looks like a shiny brown/black. The pen comes in various colors.
The clip has the traditional  Parker arrow shape. It is a nice clip as it seams very secure and strong.

To advance the ballpoint you have to twist the pen. 

Because I use the pen especially for taking quick notes I would prefer for the pan to have a push button mechanism as it is more convenient.

The pen uses a standard Parker refill.

The feel:

The grip is made out of polished metal. It has a substantial thickness at the top and tapers down to the tip. Because of this if you grip your pens high and you have small hands it can be uncomfortable.  The polished metal grip is fine for me, but your experience might be different. As I said, I do not use the pen for long sessions of writing. In general the pen feels good in hand, it has a good weight to it. The ballpoint comes with a standard Parker refill size 1.0. I like the way it writes, it is very smooth, gliding effortlessly over the paper. Because of the weight of the pen you do not need to put extra pressure to write, a "fountain pen" grip is enough.

The pen looks rather well built but at a closer inspection it falls short in some places.

My first complaint about the construction regards the joint between the grip and the barrel. It has a slight wiggle. If you shake the pen in your hand you can also hear the movement of the joint. I consider this a minus, not because it is something you feel when writing but is something you  feel when you first touch the pen and hold it. As a expensive pen, with a body entirely made out of metal, made by a reputable and known writing instrument maker I consider this to be a short coming. In my opinion an expensive pen should look and feel expensive

The other thing that annoys me is the twist of the pen. The twist is not smooth as it should. The feedback is a bit scratchy and it seems off somehow. I would liked a smoother and easier twisting mechanism. Maybe with time the action will improve.

Verdict:

The pen was 45 € which is approximately 50 USD, so it is not a cheap pen. At this price The pen writes incredible I'll give it that. If you like heavy and thick pens (for some the weight is a characteristic of quality) with a premium look this Parker could be a decent contender for a spot in your pencase. But at the same time a Parker Jotter stainless steel would do it's job just as good as the Urban at a lower price point with a more iconic design.

Q&Q sport watch review 2nd update

Today was a roller coaster. I thought I am the luckiest man alive, just to find I am just a regular Joe. This is the last update of the Q&Q sport watches because today was the end of it. Just 10 days before the second year of wearing it.
Why today was a roller coaster, and why I thought I am the luckiest man alive? Well The watch broke, actually the strap broke, and the warranty of the watch ends in just 10 days. Who else had this luck in life, a product needs replacing just 10 days before the end of the warranty. It usually happens just after it is out of warranty. But not today, today I need to buy a lottery ticket. Or do I?
I went to the shop I bought the watch with the warranty to find out that the warranty does not cover the strap just the mechanism. I tried to explain that the strap is part of the watch and can not be replaced because is not a regular strap. I had no luck, apparently, the strap can be changed, but the bring it only on request, it takes a few months and it cost almost as much as the watch.

As I feared when I bought it the custom strap is a bad thing as it's not practical to change it if something happens. But to be fair, most of the sports watches use custom straps that are hard to replace in case of break down. So I can not be to upset on Q&Q. It's just a shame because I really liked it.

I have to find a new sports watch. I am thinking to get the Timex Marathon or the Casio Tough Solar WS200H.

Do you have any suggestions?

If curious about the watch without this glitch check the previous posts: Q&Q review, Q&Q review update

Pelikan Erase, erasable pen

I don't understand why is there a need for a pen that can be erased instead of using a pencil, but for the sake of the test let's go on with the Pelikan erase

TEST #1: Writing

Writing with the pen feels creamy, but the ink is not coming out with consistency. If you take a look at the picture above you can see numerous parts of the text where the pen skipped, or where the line density is different from normal.

Citizen watch from Ebay

The Citizen automatic watch adventure started a couple of months ago when I was browsing on eBay for mechanical vintage watches. I was looking for old soviet watches when I came across a Citizen automatic 21 jewels "reconditioned".

The watch cost me 11.5 $ shipping included.

3 weeks later the watch arrived. It looked just like in pictures.

Q&Q sport watch review update

After 1 year with the Q&Q sports watch, I came back with a photo session and impressions.

Q&Q sport watch review

A short review of the following sports watches form Q&Q (M102J001Y | M010001 |M010J001Y)

Until now to time my laps I used the phone, but since Sunday, I have a running watch. I chose a Q&Q 150 lap memory watch from Q&Q.

Q&Q M102J001Y 150 memory lap