Lets do the Jitterbug!

Get your dancing shoes on! The new Bexley Jitterbug! has become the talk of the town and it is easy to get swept up onto the dance floor. According to The Bexley Pen Company, the Jitterbug! design arose from finding a small cache of 70-year-old art deco style clips. The gold clip is paired with 4 exciting acrylic resins to produce a sharp and lively pen design.

As many fountain pen collectors would know, the terms "fountain pen" and "pocket friendly" are usually not found together when discussing a pen design. The Jitterbug, with its 4" size (capped), aims to fill the need for a pocket-sized writing instrument that is high on quality and writing comfort.

For most writers, such a small writing implement is not very comfortable to write with, which is why the Bexley Jitterbug was designed so that when the cap is posted on the back, the pen is a manageable 5 3/8" long from nib to crown. Take a look below at the image of a Jitterbug when compared to a Noodler's Ahab Flex, which is known to be a slightly larger-than-normal sized pen.

Putting the compact features of this pen aside for a moment, lets talk about the acrylic resins chosen for these pens. They are absolutely gorgeous and fit the theme very well. In the case of the red acrylic model (shown below), the material is partially translucent, which adds to the depth and richness of the pen's visual appeal.

There were only two drawbacks to the Jitterbug! that were apparent when reviewing this collection. The first being the filling system. Due to its limited size, the Jitterbug can only use international size ink cartridges or eyedropper directly into the barrel. Sure, the eyedropper route will let you use bottled ink and enable a larger capacity that the pen will hold, but you may come into some excessive flow issues as the ink falls below 1/3 full. The second issue I noticed was more of a pet peeve in that the cap doesn't post as deeply and securely as I would have preferred for such a small pen. When the cap is posted on the backend, it has the ability to be posted on a slight slant, which doesn't feel fully secure. Some people may argue with me on that point, but I have talked with many customers in the past who value a deep, secure posting of the cap.

Despite my own reservations about the pen, the Jitterbugs! have been a hot seller and continue to waltz their way into writer's hearts. If you own a Jitterbug, we would love to hear your thoughts on the design in the comments below. Do you use cartridges or fill via eyedropper? How do you feel about the cap posting and the size in your hand? Drop us a line anytime.