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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