Posts filed under Pilot

Pilot Acroball T 0.3 mm Ballpoint Pen Review

What the difference between the Pilot Acroball and the Uni-ball Jetstream?

Marketing.

I’m a Jetstream super fan. Always have been, and always will be as long as they keep executing each pen to perfection. That said, if I were to take a blind writing test with the Jetstream refill and the Acroball refill in neutral barrels I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference in pure writing performance.

The Pilot Acroball is every bit the Jetstream’s equal in performance. In popularity? The Acroball is Pilot’s forgotten pen.

From day one, it didn’t seem that Pilot believed in this pen. In Japan, it launched as the Acroball and featured bright colored barrels that stood out on the shelf. In the US, it launched as the Easy Touch Pro, which looked as boring as the name. It doesn’t get more generic than that.

Under the hood, both the pens used the same great Acroball ink, a hybrid ballpoint ink made specifically to compete with the Jetstream. And it did! The ink performance is outstanding, but if a tree fell in the woods and … well, you get the point.

The Pilot G2 is the best selling gel ink pen in the world, which Pilot will not hesitate to mention. The Pilot FriXion is the best erasable gel ink pen on the market by a wide margin, and has the product line to prove it. The Pilot V-Series rollerball pens have been around for decades, are loved, and are supported by Pilot in various marketing campaigns.

The Pilot Acroball? It exists.

That’s not to say Pilot has forgotten about this pen. It has the requisite barrel color variance, a few different ink colors and tip sizes, and even a premium barrel option. I admit that is a solid base lineup, but my contention is it warrants more. This ink was designed to compete with the Jetstream, and it does. But Pilot seems content to play second fiddle to the Uni-ball behemoth.

That’s their loss, because it deserves more.

I was happy for these 0.3 mm Acroball pens to become available in the Acroball T lineup so I could see how they stack up against some of the finer Jetstream pens. Performance-wise, they absolutely do. The lines are clean and sharp, and for an 0.3 mm ballpoint, it is as smooth of a writer as a tip size that small can be. They are great.

The only downside for the 0.3 mm option is that it only ships with black ink. You can order 0.3 mm blue refills separately, but it would have been nice to have one of the five new 0.3 mm barrels ship with a blue ink. The barrels are nice, with the “T” series offering a group of metallic/pearlescent plastic barrel colors. Nothing more than that, but thankfully the stock shape and feel of the Acroball is fantastic - especially the grip.

I love the Acroball, and I want more. Is that too much to ask?

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

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Posted on January 31, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Pilot, Acroball, Pen Reviews.

Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel 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!)

This limited edition glitter fest from Pilot's FriXion line is sure to delight fans of the erasable gel ink. I have mentioned before that I am not one of those fans, but even I am taken in by the Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel Pen.

It's not really a surprise that the FriXion ink makes me uncomfortable. I'm a librarian and an author--the idea of writing that disappears is literally the thing I have nightmares about. The fact that the ink's appearance is thermally controlled, and I live in a thermally brutal place, adds to that anxiety. As I write this, the outside temperature is -19 degrees. And that's not the coldest it's been today. Needless to say, whatever I erase is not going to stay erased, if I use these pens.

That being said, if you live in a moderate climate, or you are writing something that never needs to leave your home, but also doesn't need to be preserved or archival in any way--these are really fun pens.

Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel Pen

They're also very well made. The bodies are sturdy plastic in a pearlescent white that gradients to a clear portion at the middle. There is a white rubber grip section and a frosted clear nose cone. The clip is clear plastic that is very subtly tinted the color of the pen's ink, which is very helpful while in keeping with the overall aesthetic. The gel eraser on top looks like a wee frosted bubble. There is quite a bit of branding on the pen, but it's tastefully done and not visible when you're holding the pen to write. They're cute and classy at the same time.

The clip is also the tip deployment mechanism. It slides down with an addictively satisfying click, and then depresses to retract. Because the clip does so much for this pen, it does rattle a bit, which can be heard and felt when writing. But these pens weren't made for extensive writing. They're very much accent pens.

The tint in these inks is very subtle, so the colors appear pastel, but with plenty of expressive glitter to make it pop. The 0.7mm tip and generously flowy ink also help make the paler colors readable (though notably difficult to photograph). It should be noted, however, that the glitter does not erase. Just the color. So any erased areas of your writing will still be disco-ready even after you've FriXion-ified the text.

I still struggle with the use case for these pens a little. I don't want to use them for anything I intend to keep, so they're good for lists, as long as those lists stay on my desk and aren't like grocery lists that need to be carried out of the house. They're great for chore lists, and add a bit of fun sparkle to an otherwise mundane task. And they're good for coloring or doodles, or general stress-relief. They're just fun, and who doesn't need more fun in their life?

They aren't inexpensive, though. Individual colors are available for $3.80 on JetPens, and this set of 6 costs $22.80. For me, that puts them a bit on the steep side, but in the "it's worth it if it's worth it to you" category. If you like FriXions and love glitter, you probably need these.

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

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Posted on January 27, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Pilot, FriXion, Gel, Pen Reviews.

Pilot S30 Drafting Pencil Giveaway Winner

The Pilot S30 Drafting Pencil is the upgraded model of the Pilot S20, which features a few more bells and whistles - for a price. I had one to give away this week, and the winner is: