YAFA multi-pens have some pluses... and a minus

The kings of multi-pens (or “multipens”) have been Zebra, rOtring, PILOT, Uni, and Platinum. A few other brands have dabbled in them, like Tombow, Mitsubishi, Pentel, and even Sailor. There’s also a brand called YAFA. I had heard of them before, as a writing instrument conglomerate. They bought out Monteverde and Conklin. They are the exclusive distributors of several brands in the USA: Stipula, Marlen, Online, Hugo Boss, Pineider, and Parafernalia. And so, in time, they came to start producing some of their own branded pens, pencils, and multi-pens.

I’d seen several different YAFA multi-pens over the years. They have some made of metal alloys with nice anodizing, and sometimes they come up for sale on Amazon. I’ve been tempted to pick up one, but just never got around to it.

Recently, I had spotted a triple set of YAFA multi-pens, their “quad-point” (4-function pen). It was for sale by a seller on eBay I’d bought from before. So I watched it, dropped a snipe bid, and ended up winning it for a good price. The only one among them that really attracted me is a dark navy colored one with a grid of prominent yellow rubber pips for the grip, reminiscent of the Pentel SMASH. But also, there’s an OHTO 2+1 multi-pen that has a very similar design, with more shallow sized yellow pips.

They’re made pretty well. Nicely weighted. Body must have some brass in it. They have a standard gravity control design, and it looks almost like a rOtring Trio knock-off, based on how they incorporated the release button in the clip.

At first I thought there wasn’t a hidden eraser. The cap was on very tight. But I pulled more and finally wiggled it free (the other two were easier). It’s a very tiny eraser, even more narrow than the ones we find with average vintage mechanical pencils. And the shaft it sits in is a plastic tube. But… at least there’s an eraser when you need it and not a loose cap to worry about falling off.

Some plusses:

  1. The pencil insert doesn’t move upon lead advancement! Every multi-pen I’ve ever used has some movement. Some are slight, others quite exaggerated. But the YAFA? No movement. I love it.
  2. There’s a 3-piece genuine brass chuck inside the pencil insert. Unscrew the nose piece and the chuck is exposed. And there’s a lead retainer inside the nose (I test fitted a piece of lead just to check).
  3. While the stylus is not haptic sensitive (can’t be used with modern cell phones), the size is identical to a D1. So you can stick a substitute ballpoint in there. Perhaps even a pencil replacement (Sarasa), because when deployed and you press the rear, there’s some travel there, perhaps enough to cause lead advancement.

There is one noted drawback… the body aft of the grip section. Well, it’s coated. It’s kind of like one of those rubberized coatings to give a “velvet” feel. Now, it’s not overdone. It doesn’t feel sticky in any way. But… over time, apparently the adhesion of the coating weakens. On the red one, there was a smooth spot. It looks like a scuff sheared off some of that coating. So I went over it with a thumbnail and the coating material slid off without tremendous pressure. Well, OK. I figured on this one, I could just scrape off the coating completely. The material underneath looks good, actually. Just a touch shiny. But there’s a problem. Those labels at the rear? BLACK, 0.5MM, HIGHLIGHTER, STYLUS? They’re printed into that coating. So, when you scrape it off, the labels vanish. Well… of course, one could just use a label maker and print (in tiny font) the labels. Or, use some tape to mask the area leaving small rectangles, and then apply enamel. Still… if you tend to use 2 of the inserts the most, you just memorize them and then the remainder are easy.

Would I recommend buying one? Well… if you get a good price and could use another multi-pen. I paid less than $20 for the 3 (with shipping). At present, Amazon USA has the navy blue one with green pips on it, for just about $14. That’s really not a bad price, for a USA buyer. LINK. I don’t know if that pencil insert could be used on another brand multi-pen. I’m going to check later on to see.

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You’ve A Friend, Amigo!

I don’t know if my studly example is a YAFA; it’s got ‘ADDEX’ printed on the back of the barrel.

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Nice! You have that OHTO 2+1 I mentioned. They’re pretty hard to come by these days. I had a user example, with a good bit of wear and some pin-prick dents (it came in a pencil+pen lot I’d bought). So I kept it in a shopping list notepad. And that’s when tragedy struck. The notepad managed to slip off my shopping cart and I didn’t notice (a reusable bag had been covering it). It fell onto the parking lot asphalt. I drove off, not realizing the pad was missing until later… then I turned around and went back. The pad was there… but it had been run over. The OHTO 2+1 Pro had been flattened. :face_with_raised_eyebrow::unamused: If it had been a rOtring 600 Trio, I’m sure it would’ve survived. Oh well!

:smile: Cool definition of “YAFA”. :joy_cat:

Nice ADDEX. Is that a 3+1? I’m guessing it is, since the 4th position (symbol behind the clip) is used. As you can see on my YAFA versions, the pencil is there marked by “0.5”. I wonder if YAFA outsourced this mulit-pen from another company who in turn also outsourced it to ADDEX with some minor changes, like insert position and paint scheme.

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