Can you have too many colors?

We'll get back to talking pencils in due course but I'd like to bring a bit of color into the mix. About a year ago I took a chance on a set of color pens I'd never heard of before. "100 Unique Fineliners" by Shuttle Art. Unfortunately, real life has kept me from using them until very recently, but I've finally had a chance to take some of them out for a test drive.

As you can see, they aren't kidding about there being 100 unique colors. 

I honestly wasn't expecting much considering the number of pens and the price of $25.99, so it was a very pleasant surprise when they turned out to be quite decent pens. Even after a year of just sitting on the shelf all the ones I've tried have written first time and without any hitch at all.  

Here's a quick drawing I did to demonstrate some of the colors.

Each pattern uses a different color and these are fewer than half the colors in the set. 

The pens generally write okay. To me the feel is similar to the Stabilo Point 88. The tip is said to be 0.4mm, which puts it nominally as the same size as the Point 88. The big draw here is obviously the selection of colors. It is quite impressive, particularly if you feel restricted by the color selection of the Stabilos or the Staedtler Fineliners.

The one issue with the Shuttle Art Fineliners is if you pause for even an instant with the tip on the paper it will start to bleed. For short pauses this amounts to a dot maybe twice the diameter of the normal line so it's not a disaster, but you definitely don't want to go gathering wool with the tip touching the paper. 

As I mentioned, I've only just started using these so I can't speak at all to the lifespan of the tips or how long the ink will last other than to say it doesn't dry out as long as the pens are tightly capped. 

While the housing of each pen is a unique color, there is no labeling at all to indicate which pen is which color and, of course, the color of the plastic housing is frequently only a general indication of the color of the ink.  A color chart is included that lists a number, a color name, and a representation of the color (also frequently not close to reality), but it can be very difficult to correlate a given pen with the chart. 

The pens came in somewhat flimsy trays, ordered like on the chart. Before messing with the pens and getting them hopelessly out of order, I took a permanent black marker and wrote the number from the chart on the corresponding pen. I also scribbled with each pen next to the color block on the chart so there's a sample of the actual color for reference. This gives me a way to link the chart to the pens.

If you like having loads of colors at your disposal I suspect you'll like this set of pens.