Pilot G2 Ink Gel Pen - Rainbow Review

Does the world really need another review for the famous Pilot G2 Ink Gel pens? Not really but I will go ahead write one anyway. Anyway, I almost have a rainbow of those so I might as well talk about the shade difference a bit.

General information: The Pilot G2 Ink Gel Pens are around 1.5-2 bucks a piece and available in places like drugstores, Target, Walmart. Smaller drugstores offer slightly less color option (the black and blue are always there and I usually see some pink breast-cancer-money-grabbing corporate ones) while Target has more color available in pack. I buy (more like stock when they are on clearance) my normal colors from drugstores and got the "fancier" lime green and burgundy ones from Jetpens (it just seems much more economical compared to buying a whole pack).

The pen comes with tough clear plastic, firm color-matching clip and a cushy rubber grip. The darker ones (just the grip) can become a dust-magnet over time but otherwise the pens hold up really well under wear-and-tear. All six of my G2s are 0.7mm (I have seen finer and broader points available) and they are generally smooth and a easy-writer that's compatible (ie, not too wet or slippery) with my handwriting. However, there is some mild difference across the shades.

Black - This is the smoothest and wettest of the bunch (which means it's also slow drying/smear-prone and get used up more quickly than others). The black is nice and intense on normal paper but a little ball-point like (pale in the center dark on sides) on smoother, fountain-pen-friendly paper. 

Blue - More of a rich blue black with a tad bit of teal. Nicely shades and just a little drier thus more user friendly than the black. This is probably my most used pen-ink-combo before I rediscovered fountain pen.

 Green - Very even medium leaf green that's the perfect wetness (a little dryer than compared to the blue one so there is no mini pool of ink where the stroke starts). I would use it more often it the color is considered normal/official.

Lime Green - Crisp yellow green that's probably cleanest one (more confined/doesn't spread out as much as the other) and driest (relatively speaking). Personally, I found it easy-on-the-eye enough for daily writing and excellent for adding onto or underlining notes.

Burgundy - Another moderately dry/wet with good intensity. Due to the darker color, this seems more uniform in stroke intensity compared to as just as nice to use as the green one.

Red - This one has the lightest gel color that's see through from the tube, on the paper it's vibrant but not too light orangey-pinkish-red. This should be bright but reserved (not too loud) for grading/ self correcting school work. I imagine Diamine Strawberry ink would look something similar.

Packs available at Target (no burgundy available though). I think I will buy the purple/turquoise/pink/orange ones later, just to complete the set.

Writing sample of Pilot G2 - See how the black already smeared?

Pilot Iroshizuku Ink Tsukiyo (Moonlight)

This is a neuron

The best moon picture I can take (with that Sony point and shoot)

Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukiyo (Moon Night/Moonlight, same difference) is a navy blue with a tad of warmth. According to this video (first found on FPN), Tsukiyo is the most-popular shade in Japan. Some categorizes it as a blue-black but on Lamy Safari fine, it get washed down a little to barely-deep blue. 

A quality that I kept seeing in Pilot inks (not just Iroshizuku) is how well they flow and how easy they are to wash off, even on the finest nibs. The water-consistency means that they got suck right into (and feathers a little on) porous paper while having very noticeable shading on glossier paper. 

Another bonus of Tsukiyo is that when used on a very wet nib (Lamy 1.9mm italic), there is a noticeable red sheen on the pooled part. Not the kind that requires you tilt the paper at a specific angle, under certain lighting or at a certain time of the day to be observed. The dry time was quick (by the time I am on the second line in the Rhodia pad paper, the previous one is already dried) and water-resistance is partial.

Scanned written review of Tsukiyo.

Pilot Custom Heritage 91 Fountain Pen Broad Nib & Tsukiyo Body

I have never exceed in anything in my life: I make pretty lousy grades in school (not even talking about Asian standard...It's a blessing my parents haven't disowned me), I am horribly at coordination (forget about sports, I have never managed a push-up in my life. It's like I push, then nothing comes up...) and my artistic endeavor can't even match the "side hobby" of a typical over-achiever...

However, there is one thing that I kept winning, which is "fun bidding" at eBay:  Every time I see a bidding that seems mildly popular, I would chime in and overbid by what seems like 50 cent (several hours before the auction ends) and guess what? People never bid after that...And that's how I ended up with this pen. 

At a glance, Pilot Custom Heritage 91 Looks quite similar to Sailor Professional Gear with the rhodium trim, flat cap and base and the resin body. The design is simpler and the pen's body is noticeably lighter than my professional gear slim (Sapporo) even though it's noticeably longer (here is a side by side shot).  My first impression is that it's cheaper, bulkier and blander sister of Sapporo. 

Despite the slightly lighter weight, the pen is still solidly built and comfortable to hold. The resin body is reasonably tough and a little more tolerant to scratches than my Sapporo (mainly because the color is not as deep or glossy).

 

Even though the appearance is a bit uninteresting (Sailor nibs are so much prettier) , I was soon won over by the nib. The 14K broad nib is wet, smooth and soft (in a slightly bouncy and gummy kind of way) that makes writing more than just comfortable. It's great at bringing out the shading of inks but I noticed my handwriting look a lot more squiggly and childish while using it.

Close up of the trim. The pen has a screw-on cap and a very secure clip (no slit to caught on to the fiber on my shirt) and it thread on the barrel is also metal-colored (just like Sapporo...See why I don't love it?  It's like an appearance downgrade of a pen I already have and love). Thanks to the longer body, it also takes the bigger Pilot con-70 converter in addition to the squeeze type con-20, piston-fill con-50 and Pilot proprietary cartridge.

Pilot Custom Heritage 91 with Iroshizuku Tsukiyo ink

 Complete written review.  My handwriting prefers steel (or hard) nibs = = ... Overall: Not a fan of the design (I think my favorite looker from Pilot is Prera) but this is just a really reliable and  feel-good writer.

 The compulsory matching photo

 I think this one looks closer to the pen's body

Pilot Frixion Light Erasable Highlighter in Yellow

Picked up during my Target stationery clearance haul (in a set, along with three gel pen, for around a $1.5) Pilot Frixion Light is the highlighter version of their famed erasable gel pen. For what I have read in blogs, the Frixion ink are designed in a way that they go away when it undergoes high temperature (either with steam or friction) and can go back when the temperature drops.

As with most highlighter, the pen is lightweight yet it feels solid and well-balanced. There is an inner black sleeve in the cap and the pen body is tapered and has some flame pattern going on, the pattern reminds me of that MTV show Pimp My Ride (aka. Renovate My Car so Looks Like it Belongs to a Gangster) and I am not sure how I feel about it.

The tip of the pen is slanted like most highlighter and the flow is nice and not too wet. I can't tell how it performs in the long run simply because I don't use highlighter (See, there are so many things in the text book that I need to understand so I might just end up highlighting the parts I don't need...) but it does what a normal highlighter does with the bonus of being erasable...While the feature is cool in gel pen because my hand can just go on its own, I am not sure why people need an erasable highlighter? Maybe get carried away using that as well?

Writing sample with Diamine Ink - No smearing and a completely clean removal! Overall: It's cool but I don't really see the point (as least that's coming from a person who rarely uses highlighter to start with).

Pilot 78G Fountain Pen Medium Nib Teal Body

Yeah...I should have reviewed it along with the black one. This teal body Pilot 78G fountain pen was purchased together with the fine nib one at Hong Kong based seller Stationery Art . The overall construction is the same as the one I have reviewed so I will just point out the two differences. The teal plastic (which looks a little less glossy)appears a little less sleek (they are both light plastic, how sleek can it be anyway?) but it disguises scratches and palm sweat much better.

The medium nib of 78g is also 22k gold plated (which holds up much better than the gold toned nib from Ohto F-Lapa) and it's not too thick (finer than the fine nib from Lamy), smooth and required no break-in whatsoever. I noticed some (unwanted) line variation with the fine nib of 78G but there is littler-to-none in the medium nib, which I actually like.

Even though this is a smoother writer, I find the nib a little too slippery that it would skip every few lines (or at the start of a line) and after 3 cartridge full of writing, it still hasn't improved...

  A writing sample of 78G medium nib, inked with Noodler's black. The line come out of this pen seems a little more diluted and gray-scaled (OK, it's also a little deep-taupe since Noodler's Black appears to have a brown tone to me) , which is another eyesore, given that I hate any shading in a supposedly black ink...

Pilot Petit1 Fountain Pen in Apple Green

Being a big fan of Pilot, the color green and cute appearance, it was a love-at-first-sight when I saw Pilot Petit1 Fountain Pen (at Jetpens ...where else). Since I already have a few other items in my to-buy list, I went ahead and ordered it immediately. After all, it's a 3.8-dollar fountain pen and it's green, what can possibly go wrong? It sort of did...and I am not even certain that if I call it a fountain pen.

Pilot Plumix Fountain Pen with Italic Nib

I wanted something thick and stylized (to add title to some of my stupid drawing) so I picked up Pilot Plumix at  because at the time, it seemed easier than ordering a broad 78G from Hong Kong (and let the US custom hold it for a whole week).  I mean, the nib on the two are supposedly the same...or not. 

If I am not mistaken, Pilot Plumix is a range that's available only in the west (found it on Target's site but didn't see them in store yet) as I have never seen or heard about it in other Chinese discussion boards or even on Pilot's main page. So far, I have only seen them in medium italic nib personally but I have seen double broad on Youtube (the person is based in Poland).

As soon as I received the pen, my first impression is that the pen looked and felt (still does!) rather cheap, as the plastic is lighter and thinner compared to their ink gel pen. Small internal crack appeared within one day of use, which didn't really surprise me...

The ergonomic grip section of Plumix is exactly the same as that of the Penmanship (love that one, will review later). With a good nib, it's comfortable and lets everything fall into places naturally but becomes somewhat of a nuisance on this particular pen. The drier-than-usual nib requires harder grip and the distance from the center of the grip to nib is a little long so it just feels awkward. (The ink flow on Penmanship is so good that I can just resort by holding near the thread).

 The Plumix's medium italic nib was very dry, requiring a lot of force for any ink to come out (semi-consistently) and I only get that bit of consistency when I write in a up-and-down vertical motion. Since I naturally write thing slanted, it's awkward and make my handwriting uglier (to me, defeats the purpose of a fountain pen and broad nib)...The flow has gotten better after several pages of (uncomfortable) note-taking but it still is an awkward writer to me. Maybe I shouldn't complain this much, consider it's actually smoother than the Lamy Safari FF nib (after 3 whole months of breaking in).

A writing sample of Pilot Plumix with J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune (the pretty ink distracts me from the hideous writing a little)- done when I was literally digging on the paper. If I use my standard writing pressure, this would be much uglier...

Overall: Maybe it's just my bad luck the quality control or my writing style but I dislike almost everything about the Plumix :  the design (always thought the squid body is alien-like and in a completely non-cute way), construction, material (light and cheap), nib (dry and inconsistent) ...I should have gone for the 78G in Broad instead.

P.S. I bought it at Jetpens, where you can also read other (negative customer) reviews (that are similar to mine). 

Pilot 78G Fountain Pen Fine Nib Black Body

Beside Lamy Safari,  Pilot 78G is another insanely popular fountain pen for beginner and students. I can totally see why, as it's very affordable ( at 7.45 dollars at Stationery Art, a seller based in Hong Kong) and writes amazingly well.  This review would be a little shorter (not saying much since I usually just go on and on...) since there is very few things for me to complain about.

The pen comes with a light plastic body that's glossy and/thus prone to scratch and acts like a fingerprints magnet. The barrel is made of one whole piece of plastic without any hole or opening so one can convert it into an eye-dropper, but you won't be able to see the ink level inside. Despite the lighter weight, it still rests comfortably on my hand and requires little additional force to hold (some people don't like heavier pens but I like how they sits by themselves with the help of gravity).

The brand name is stamped on the secure and easy-to-use clip and there are two gold bands on the lid with Japan printed on (which doesn't get scratch off easily, a design I do like). The pen, especially from a distance looks rather sleek, well-made and...expensive. Of course, until you zoom closer and see the mini scratch, dust and residue...Am I the only one with the hands of a salamander?

This particular pen takes Pilot proprietary cartridge and converter con-20, con-50 (piston filler that costs 5 bucks by itself). The included one is an aerometric converter without a model number. I have seen complain about its low capacity but to me, it holds quite a bit of ink.  As long as you immerse the nib in the bottle and give it three good squeeze: The first time to get some ink, the second squeeze pumps out air in the sac so the following squeeze will give you a fully filled bladder.

There are some disadvantages with this type of converter: Beside not being able to see how much ink is inside (during filling or in use), it's can get a little messy (with ink squirt out from the pen) when you are trying to remove the cartridge when it's partially filled. The rubber sac can also lose its elasticity over time. Since I am too cheap to shell out 5 bucks for a converter, on this 7-buck pen, solution is just have some Pilot ink cartridge (it's around a dollar for six pieces)  ready and refill those with 30-cent needle/syringe, it's much cleaner that way.

 

Now to the heart of a fountain pen - the Pilot 78G comes with a "specialty alloy" (aka steel) that's 22K gold plated. The nib is smooth (not buttery but still skates freely on paper), pin-point precise and writes as soon as it's inked. I get a little feedback from the nib and a little bit of line variation but most of the time, it's just a fine and precise writer that's perfect for math/physics/chemistry homework.

The same type of nib is also used in the Prera, Penmanship and Plumix so you can swap them around if you don't mind yanking the whole nib/feed unit out.

 Writing sample of 78G Fine Nib with Pilot/Namiki Black in Cartridge - Which got a little thicker with use, but it's still thinner than Lamy Extra Fine though. A little review on the ink: It's a saturated black with a blueish tinge and a seem little watery (not thick and lubricated like the Noodler's) and I am surprised to find that it's also partially waterproof  (the page would still be legible when you spill drinks on it but watercolor would be a no-no).

Two things that I don't like is that it feathers on cheaper paper and the ink kind of stinks (if you have sniffed Hero ink, it's the same kind of smell).

 The five Pilot Pens that I have (so far...there would definitely be more future purchase) and sorry for the chicken script with the Plumix...Who the heck said that italic nib makes your handwriting look pretty?

Overall:  An amazing pen (that writes so much better than Lamy Safari, which is 4x its price and doesn't come with a converter) with an amazing price.  Note: If you want to buy from Stationery Art (the shipping for two of these pens would be 2 bucks and 3 if you want tracking) , keep in mind that US custom takes a whole week to process these oversea packages. The seller does process order really quickly though.