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Pilot Easytouch Pro Medium
This is Pilot’s version of the well regarded uni-ball Jetstream RT. It comes pretty close. I give it a B+.
I tested a blue ink RT. Very smooth inkflow (just a touch less smooth than the Jetstream). No skipping. Solid crisp line. The barrel is nice. It’s rubberized and fits well in the hand.
I have one complaint. The barrel does not have a window to see the ink level. Any premium pen like this should have an ink level window as a standard feature.
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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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Pilot Precise V7 RT Needle Tip
This pen gets an A. I tested the blue needle tip.
I really love this pen. I am normally not a fan of needle tips, but this one has caught my attention.
It produces an even, skip free line. The movement over paper is reasonably smooth for a needle tip. The grip is rubberized and is comfortable. The barrel length is standard. The pen styling is fairly conservative and reasonable for the office. The blue ink, which I tested, is a dark purple-blue. It gives the writing some gravitas.
The ink is watery, but the needle tip minimizes bleed through the paper. It’s a water-based ink and washed off neatly from your hands.
I do have some concerns about the durability of the needle tip. I’ll be testing it pretty vigorously, so we’ll see if those concerns are valid.
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Bic Triumph 730R 0.7mm
The Bic Triumph get an A-.
So, I am not as enamored with this pen as many other bloggers. I tested the 0.7 roller in black.
Let’s talk about some of the good things about the pen. First, the ink flow is smooth and consistent. It lays down a nice thick powerful line. Second, the pen is absolutely gorgeous. It looks great. It’s the perfect length. It’s got nice metal accents and a sturdy clip. Third, it’s refillable. That’s a nice touch. Fourth, the pen is super smooth on paper. The pen accelerates nicely as I write.
But, it’s got a bunch of weaknesses. First, the ink just bleeds right through paper. A pen this expensive just shouldn’t bleed so easily. They should be using a thicker liquid ink preparation. Second, the barrel is too narrow. This pen becomes uncomfortable will long use. Third, the grip is plastic and not the nice rubber grips that premium pens should always have.
I want to like this pen. I will try the 0.5 needle tip in the future and report back. I also want to see this pen in an RT version with a rubber grip. There is a lot of potential here. With a little refinement, the Bic Triumph could become one of the world’s great pens (in the same class as the Jetstream and the G2).
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Bic Z4 Rollerball
The Bic Z4 0.7 Roller is a B+.
I tested the green roller from Staples. It was on sale for Fifty cents.
I like the pen. The ink flow is pretty consistent. It skips slightly if I try to write fast. If I write at regular speed, though, the line is even and skipfree.
The ink is watery. It easily bleeds through the paper. It gets absorbed quickly enough that I think that lefties could use the pen without any problem.
One nice feature of the pen is that it glides smoothly over the paper. It is not scratchy at all.
The pen is shorter than most. It feels great in the hand. It has thick rubber grip over the barrel.
Overall a pretty decent pen.
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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.
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http://bictriumph.com
I’m very eager to try this pen out.
