The Rotring Tikky was something that I really wanted to try out because I was getting a little tired of my standard Staedtler Pigment Liner and wanted to try something new. I picked it due to the positive reviews on JetPens and it being cheaper than the Pigment Liner.
One thing that I was a little surprised about was the relatively consistent lines. I had previously read some reviews on the Tikky from different pen bloggers and some had mentioned that the line was pretty inconsistent for them and was mainly based on the amount of pressure when writing. I found that not to be the case for me and can only wonder whether they have since improved it, as most of the reviews date back a couple of years.
The clip is really stiff and will properly secure the pen. I kept this in both my Nock Co. Sinclair, my jeans pocket and my shirt pocket and the clip still holds firm. I was a little worried that the jeans pocket would warp the clip a little bit due to how thick the material was, but it turns out that the clip is much more solid than I thought. That being said, it is really easy to scuff up and as you might be able to see in the picture above, the edges are really scratched, but it doesn’t take away one bit from the durability.
One thing that I really loved about the Tikky was the grip. Initially, I was a little skeptical at how well it would perform due to it being so thin. I was pleasantly surprised by how grippy it was, as the texture provides a decent amount of purchase on the pen, regardless of my sweaty hands. It was pretty consistent and comfortable during longer writing sessions and I practically never had to readjust my grip.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with my decision to get the Rotring Tikky as the Staedtler Pigment Liner was my go-to for a long time and this was a nice change of pace. The two are quite similar, but the Rotring shines through due to minute, but highly effective changes, thereby improving the writing experience. I particularly like the grip sections and the clip design of the Tikky as it gives the pen a versatility that the Pigment Liner doesn’t have. On the other hand, I found that note-taking was a little difficult.
In one of my classes, all of our quizzes are done on cheap printer paper. Using this pen for quizzes quickly became a hassle and it was almost impossible to use with the amount of bleed-through. I can get away with writing on cheap paper with the Sakura Pigma Micron, Staedtler Pigment liner and nearly all the other felt-tip pens I’ve reviewed so far. The Tikky just didn’t play well with cheaper paper and I was restricted to using it on Rhodia and Maruman notebooks. It’s the one thing that keeps this pen behind the Pigment Liner on my Top 5 list, but I would definitely rate it higher than the Pigma Micron.
The Passionate Penman 