Posts filed under Gel

Uni-ball One F Gel Pen 0.5 mm Earth Texture Color Series Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, Root Rot, is now available for pre-order!)

Uni-ball has some of the best gel ink around, especially if you like your colors bold. The pigmented gel in the Uni-ball One is formulated to sit on top of the paper, so there's no bleeding or feathering, and you get the full effect of the color. It also has a fast dry time and doesn't smudge, making it great for lefties or swift writers. That also makes it ideal for quick notes, like planner appointments, class notes, or meeting notes. Or anything? I mean, really, this is just good ink.

So if you have an excellent ink and you want to take things up a level, what do you do? You put that great ink in a cool new pen body. The Earth Texture Color Series from Uni does this very well. These speckle-patterned special editions come in six colors: grey, white, brown, pink, green, and blue. This is the Grassland Green version, which is a lovely pale shade of green with grey and tan speckles on it. It's just a color effect--the word "texture" in the name is somewhat misleading, as the finish on these pens is a smooth matte. The speckle effect is worked through the plastic, so it shows some dimension. It's a lovely finish that looks almost like natural stone.

The plastic body feels very good in the hand, and it's a sturdy, well-made pen. It is deliberately weighted toward the tip, and the pen body is wider than a standard size, which makes it extra comfortable for long writing sessions. It does not, however, have a grip section, or any grippy texture at all, so some slipping can happen.

The pen has Uni's levered clip, which opens very wide, like a baby crocodile, to hold onto book covers or even a whole stack of paper. The click mechanism is very sturdy and satisfying. One of my favorite things about the Uni clicks is that the spring is attached inside the pen, so when you unscrew the body to change the cartridge, the wee spring does not go shooting into the air, or fall out and get lost. And this is definitely a pen worth refilling.

So, a great ink in a nice, refillable, attractive and ergonomic pen body. Awesome. I don't know what you'd expect to pay for such a thing, but I bet it's more than $4.95. I would have guessed at least twice that, if not three times. And if you pick a Uni-Ball One F from the standard series instead of the Earth series, it's only $4.50. I think that's a stellar deal.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on May 2, 2024 by Sarah Read and filed under Uni-Ball, Gel, Pen Reviews.

Pilot ILMILY Nuance Gel Pen Review

Very few things in my stationery life get me more excited than a gel ink pen with a fine line and a unique ink color. The Pilot ILMILY Nuance Gel Ink Pen combines those things perfectly, and packages them into a great barrel.

Review over, right? Not so fast.

As a fan of Pilot’s highly Instagramable ILMILY (I Love Me, I Love You,) product lineup, I somehow had missed the launch of the Nuance. It wasn’t until a friend included one in a care package of awesomeness to me that I tried one out, and I was immediately hooked.

That pen in question, the Nuance Black Yellow, made me giddy. As I alluded to up top, an 0.5 mm gel ink pen, and in a color as weird as Black Yellow, really gets me going. It wrote well, and the barrel was cool and comfortable. Immediately, I asked, “Are there more?”

Yes, Brad, there are more. Many more.

One of the fun ideas I’ve seen pen companies tackle over the past several years is the idea of “Black+” ink formulations. My all-time favorite is Uni-ball’s Signo DX in Lavender Black (0.38 mm please, and thank you.) Uni-ball expanded on that idea with their BLX formulation in other pen lineups, and brands like Pentel and Sakura dabble in a more limited capacity. These colors take the very business-like black ink formulation and add a hint of other colors to the mix.

Pilot took that “hint” of added color directly into the product name of this lineup. The colors are nuanced on the page, often requiring closer inspection to see the alternate shade come through. They are there, to be sure, but set your expectations accordingly.

In my writing samples, I made sure to mix in the Black ink of the Pilot G2 0.5 mm pen as a baseline. The Nuance lineup also has a Black-only ink pen, but I wasn’t compelled to purchase that one. I did purchase the remainder of the colors, minus Black Brown, which was simply an oversight on my part.

The beauty of these inks is that you can get away with using them in settings where Black ink is the expectation. You and I can have our little secret, ok? I think Black Red and Black Yellow have the most noticeable undertones, and therefore are my favorites. Black Green is the least interesting, and Black Blue and Black Violet land in the middle. Other brands do those combinations better.

It’s almost impossible to see through a computer screen, but the writing order is Pilot G2 Black, Nuance Black Blue, Black Violet, Black Red, Black Green, Black Yellow, and then back to the Black G2 down the page.

If you know what to expect going in to the ILMLIY Nuance series, you will be happy with the results. That is, if you want to pay over $4 per pen. That is at the top of the price range for a gel ink pen, but that is where Pilot has placed this premium brand. At that price I can’t recommend the entire set, but if you like them, pick out one or two of the more interesting colors. Or, pro tip, grab the refills for half the price and use them in Pilot G2 compatible pens. Taps forehead.

I’m glad the Pilot ILMILY series exists. Yes, it is premium priced, but it gives them a platform to experiment outside of their normal product lineups. I’m always for that.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on October 23, 2023 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Pilot, ILMILY, Gel, Pen Reviews.

Faber-Castell Fast Gel Z 0.5 mm Gel Ink Pen Review

(This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.)

How important is the grip when choosing a pen?

For some, it is the first or second consideration. If you fall into that category, then you will want to read on for my thoughts on the Faber-Castell Fast Gel Z ink pen.

Before I dig into the grip, let’s talk about the first thing I want to know about any traditional ink pen: the writing performance. How does it write? In this case, pretty well!

I shouldn’t be surprised, as Faber-Castell has been making pens for decades, and have been in business as a stationer for centuries. Yes, literally. But I have far more experience with their fountain pens and inks-even pencils-that I do their standard pens.

The Fast Gel Z, along with many other recent Faber-Castell products, were sent to me by Faber-Castell Malaysia, who had a strong belief that I would like what they are selling. And so far, they have been right. This pen is an 0.5 mm black gel pen with a needle tip, and writes very well. The ink is dark and smooth, although the lines need to be slightly sharper if it were to crack any Top 5 Gel Ink Pens list.

That’s rare air, as I don’t even rate the Pilot G2 or the Sharpie S-Gel that high either, but I would rate those two pens ahead of this one.

That line sharpness is a real differentiator at the 0.5 mm tip size, and finer. If you aren’t a tiny print writer like myself, I think you will enjoy this pen, or it’s 0.7 mm tip relative. Heck, I’ve really enjoyed it myself when I want to leave some dark marks on the page.

As far as that Fast Dry time claim? Yeah, it’s pretty good. I lined it up against the Uni-ball Signo DX 0.5 MM, Pilot G2 0.5 mm, and Pentel Energel 0.5 mm, and, despite being the widest, wettest line, the Faber-Castell had the lightest smudge mark in my quick dry time test.

While writing with the Fast Gel Z is good, the grip makes the feel of the pen great. This is the softest, most comfortable gel or ballpoint ink grip I’ve tested in recent memory. It’s soft and cushioned, and you can feel it give under your grip with each word. I love it. I do wonder how it will hold up over extended use, but I see no reason that it wouldn’t outlast the refill in essentially the same condition it started in.

The Fast Gel Z is currently available on Amazon for around $17 for a 10-pack of pens, which is accurately priced in my mind. This is a good, solid, middle of the pack gel ink pen, with a couple of minor features (soft grip, fast drying) that may push certain users toward it as opposed to the competition.

(Faber-Castell Malaysia provided this pen at no charge for the purposes of this review.)

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