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Uniball Signo Bit 0.7
A+
I tested the needle point. It’s just a great pen. No bleeding. Nice control. The grip is great (except that it’s a little too narrow).
There not much to say except that I love this pen.
The ink is a smear proof gel ink. It produces a nice skip free, consistent thickness line. No ink bleeding. Nick thick ink. The needle point feels very sturdy and won’t break under fast, high pressure writing.
The barrel is nice. It’s clear and it’s easy to see the amount of ink.
My only gripe is that is that the barrel is too narrow and too short. This is a minor criticism. If you have large hands or thick fingers, then this pen is not for you. I hope uniball makes a thicker version of the Bit.
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Pentel Energel RT 0.7
This is a pretty good pen.
The inkflow is really great. I tried the black ink and ink flow was consistent. Skip free. The problem is that the ink is really watery. It takes too long to dry. For those of you who are lefties, you are going to hate this pen. It’s gonna smear. Another problem is the ink soaks right through the paper.
The pen feels good in the hand. But the barrel is standard length, but it feels too long in the hand because the pen tip is short. The rubberized grip is excellent, but not contoured - its flat against the pen barrel.
The appearance of the pen is very conservative. It’s a great pen to have in your pocket when going to the boardroom meeting.
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Bic Velocity Gel RT
The Bic Velocity Gel is an A+ gel pen.
First, the ink flow is smooth dark, with a consistent width line with no skipping. When you write there is no resistance. No scratchiness It’s a perfectly effort free writing experience.
Second, the pen is perfectly comfortably in the hand. The grip is perfectly positioned. It’s contoured nicely to fit a writer’s fingers. The length is pretty standard.
Third, the ink is distinctive. It’s pretty thick, but it doesn’t bleed through paper. I haven’t figured out how they do this. The ink seems water based and washes off pretty easily (so it’s not a “secure ink”).
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Zebra Z Grip Max
This is a gel pen from Zebra. I tested in the medium (0.7) retractable version.
I was not impressed overall.
The inkflow was disappointing. It has a lot of skipping. The line width was not consistent. And, it felt like I was scratching the paper as a I wrote. It’s ink is really below average when compared against the top notch gel pens.
There is one redeeming point. The pen looks great. The rubber grip and fit is comfortable. The pen doesn’t have a window to see the ink resevoir, but I really don’t care about that.
