Posts filed under Ballpoint

Pilot Acro ILMILY Ballpoint Pen Review

Look, the marketing department deserves to get paid too, ok? I mean, how else can you explain Pilot’s ILMILY stationery lineup? What does ILMILY stand for, you ask? “I Like Me, I Like You.”

ILMILY is a lifestyle stationery collection, featuring products with soothing colors, and designed around themes like positivity, happiness, warmth, and general awesomeness. Ok, I’ll stop having fun with the name now, because Pilot has created a product idea we can all get behind.

The ILMILY lineup features several different products, from pens and markers to paper and pen cases. Pilot releases ILMILY products as a series each season, with each containing various products themed to be used together. For example, the first series in 2021 contained a dozen Pilot Pastel Gel pens, FriXion stamps, journaling stencils, small envelopes, and colorful paper pads. The products are made in limited quantities, with each new season bringing us new stationery goodies.

All products are sold separately, which is how I was able to get the Pilot Acro ILMILY Ballpoint Pen from JetPens. The standard Acroball is a personal favorite of mine, so I was interested to see how this upgraded barrel design compares to the standard.

Writing-wise, it compares perfectly. It was safe to assume as much, seeing how they use the same refill. Acroball ink is Pilot’s version of hybrid ballpoint ink technology, made popular by the Uni-ball Jetstream. I believe it is just as good as Jetstream ink, but Uni simply had 1. A years-long head start, and 2. Far better barrel designs, which place them at the top of the market.

The ILMILY Acroball features an 0.5 mm black ink refill. It is fine, clean, and fun. The upgraded barrel of this specific model features a smooth, shiny barrel, that, while called slim, feels like a standard barrel diameter and width. It is very lightweight, and reasonably plain-looking outside of the faux-chamfer where the barrel unscrews. The knock is very clicky.

The barrel colors I have are Winter Navy and Summer Light Purple. Both are excellent, although my preference lies with the darker model. There are six other barrel colors available as well.

At this point, we have sorted out that this is a good pen, and we all love each other. But what we haven’t sorted out is if this is a pen you should rush out and purchase. At $13.25 each, that answer is clearly no. That is a heck of a premium to pay for aesthetics. It looks awesome, that’s for sure, but the standard Acroball has an arguably better barrel, and an inarguably better grip, and is 1/4th the cost.

I like the fact that Pilot has created the ILMILY lineup. I’ll always take good stationery, with a good story. That said, cost will-be a long term limiting factor for many consumers, especially with quarterly limited releases. But Pilot is taking a different tack, with different marketing, for a different market. I love to see it, and I hope it succeeds.

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

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Posted on March 21, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Pilot, Acroball, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Livework Ballpoint Pen 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 check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

You know how sometimes you just need a pen? Not a writing experience, not anything transcendent or luxurious--you just need to write something down real quick. It happens all the time, right? At least, it does for me. And I don't usually want to unpack and unroll a swath of glorious pens in that moment. One needs a quick -access basic pen sometimes.

But we're pen addicts, so our quick-access basic pen must also be fun in some way. Enter the Livework Ballpoint Pen. It's cute and exciting enough to feel special, inexpensive enough at $2 to be a loaner pen, and can be tossed in a bag or backpack with nary a worry for its survival.

The pen is made from lightweight plastic with a simple plastic clip and click nock. In the hand, it feels like a typical disposable ballpoint, though it is refillable. The refill is $1.50, which is nearly the cost of the pen itself, but is definitely where the cost is balanced on this pen.

The refill is a 0.5 mm with a nice crisp line and smoothly flowing ink. It writes very well and I haven't had any issues with skipping or slow starting. Despite all the fun colors of the pens in this series, the ink is only available in black. The name of the color printed on the pen itself is just the name of the plastic color, which could be a bit confusing if you're expecting that to be the color it writes, as would be the case for most pens.

Ultimately, this is a cute series of pens that are good quality writers that can be that emergency writing utensil you need when you just NEED a pen, but can't bring yourself to settle for a boring one. I think it's great, and I want more colors. And at $2 apiece, I can actually have all the colors, if I want. Maybe not the one called “Mayonnaise" but maybe even that one. It's a simple, low-investment piece that still brings me joy when I'm crossing items off a grocery list or jotting down an appointment time in the back of an envelope.

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

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Posted on February 10, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Livework, Ballpoint, Pen Reviews.

Lamy Xevo Ballpoint Pen Review

The Lamy Xevo is exactly what an entry level pen should be.

When I first saw pictures of the Xevo I was intrigued. Is this a metal barrel? Plastic? Twist mechanism, or knock? $50? $25? I really liked it, but the answer to those questions, plus its performance, would determine how much.

To answer a few of those original questions, this is a plastic barrel pen with a twist mechanism to deploy the refill. And the price? $10.

The Xevo is a Lamy design from top to bottom. If you are into stationery even just a little bit, you can pick a Lamy pen out of a lineup with relative ease. I think that is great. Even the outlier designs - like the Safari or Tipo - are pure Lamy. They have great cohesion throughout the brand.

And they have me spoiled, too. I’m as hard on Lamy as I am on any company, but that is because 1. Everything they do, they do well, and 2. I want more of it. The second part is my problem, and this beloved German brand certainly knows their job better than I do. A boy can dream, right?

I picked up the Light Grey from Goldspot recently, and what I found is a workhorse pen that is great for any writing situation. The plastic barrel is lightweight and comfortable, especially with the triangular grip that you are free to rotate in your hands to your heart’s content. The twist mechanism is solid, with a short, station-to-station engagement. A quick twist clockwise engages the refill, and a quick counter the opposite direction snaps it back.

It should come as no surprise that the clip is great, too. This is Lamy, after all.

Writing wise, the Xevo uses the standard M16 ballpoint found across many Lamy models. It’s a great ballpoint, but you are mostly stuck with it. There is no Parker-style, or Pilot G2 compatibility - only Monteverde makes a matching refill, with a few more ballpoint ink colors than Lamy offers.

The medium black lines from this refill are dark and smooth, and there was no spidering or ink blobbing to speak of. It’s one of the “good ones” as far as ballpoint refill types go.

And the Xevo is one of the good ones as well. It surprised me for many reasons, primarily the quality for the price. It is in the Tipo category, and for my money, that’s a good place to be.

Now, when orange barrel, Lamy???

(I purchased this pen at Goldspot using a 10% off coupon code.)

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