My first go-round with Sakura’s premium gel ink pen products, the Craft Lab 005, was positive from a personal usage perspective, but there were a litany of reasons, all laid out in the linked piece, why I would hesitate to recommend it. That said, I felt good enough about it to go ahead and buy-in to the product lineup once again, this time with the Sakura Craft Lab 002 Gel Pen.
The premise of the 002 is essentially the same as with the 005: unique design elements, fun colors, premium price. I’d even call this ultra-premium from a manufacturer more known for it’s $2 gel ink pens and markers.
This is a basic, cylindrical-shape pen barrel. It features a brass underbarrel, with an opaque acrylic outer layer designed to allow the color to shine through. And the colors are bright! I went with what may be the brightest, in Yellow, but they do offer a few basics, like Black and White, if searing Orange isn’t your thing.
The knock mechanism is a 180 degree twist to extend and retract the refill. It looks nice, and feels solid to use. It, and the nose cone, are exposed color, outside of the acrylic overlay on the barrel, which makes the color stand out even more.
Unlike the 005, which shipped with an interesting Sepia Black 0.5 mm gel ink refill, the 002 uses a basic Black 0.5 mm. I would have liked to have seen one of the other Black+ inks that Sakura offers ship with it, but they are available separately.
The refill is a good jumping off point to say that buying a Sakura Craft Labs pen is expensive from the jump, and the ongoing expense of buying refills sends the true cost of the pen exponentially higher. Not only are these low-capacity gel ink refills (compared to the standard gel ink pen refills,) they cost $4.15 each. At $45, you are making a commitment to the pen, and that means the refills, too. That’s something to consider in advance.
If I were to compare my 005 to the 002, I would take the 005 every time, and it’s not particularly close. It is $3 more expensive, and “only” has a plastic barrel, but the shape and feel of it are superior-especially the grip taper. The 002 is good in its own right, but there is only room for one of these on my desk … for now.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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