I have been faithfully in love with the Bic Z4 Needle point rollerball pens for years. I haven't had to order any for a while as I generally keep my "pen pantry" well-stocked. I just ordered two dozen of them and after pulling the first one out of the box and trying it out, I am deeply disappointed (as only a fellow pen lover could understand). They look different - with the silver soft grip rather than the black as before, but more important, they write and dispense the ink differently. It has free flowing ink - probably always did, but this seems to flow freer and withmore liquidity than before. I use these for everything - for my business, for my personal writing, including my journals (I use those cheap black and white marbled covered school type ruled paper books) and the paper seems to soak the ink up too quickly which negates the ultra fine line feature because the line thickens more with the extra flow. Also - the tip seems to stick out slightly farther - just a little - maybe 1-2mm, but it doesn't feel as smooth as the old ones - it feels slightly scratchy to my senses. Bottom line (no pun intended)...I don't like how they've changed it and am now looking for a replacement.