pen reviews

Review: uni-ball Air, Rollerball Pen, 0.7mm

by Andrew

uni-ball Air

Between the name and the design of the pen, the uni-ball Air makes me feel like I’m writing with a Blackbird stealth jet. It’s a black, all-plastic rollerball pen with a faint hexagonal pattern on the barrel and a grey swoosh near the tip. It looks really cool.

uni-ball Air tip

The Air has a very interesting feel while writing.  It’s somewhat waxy on paper and is almost like writing with a crayon. The ink is very rich and dark, and it spreads out on the page so much that it feels much thicker than a 0.7mm tip. Though it doesn’t smear nearly as much as I expected, it does seem to bleed readily through paper.

One of the main advertising points of the Air is that it writes at any angle, and I think it actually produces a finer, cleaner line when writing upside down. If uni-ball offered the AIr in a smaller tip size, I’d probably jump to recommend it. At 0.7mm, however, it runs and bleeds enough that I’m inclined to pass it up.

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Review: Tombow Airpress, Ballpoint Pen, 0.7mm

by Andrew

Tombow Airpress Orange

If there’s one pen that belongs on a construction site, it has to be the Tombow Airpress. With a rubber body and hard-plastic trim, it feels like this pen could take a five-story drop with minimal damage. It has a spring-loaded clip that clings tight. It’s shorter than your average pen, so it nicely fits in a pocket. And it has a thick barrel which makes it easy to grip. Though other colors are available, I find that the orange nicely completes the “construction site” look.

The main feature of the Airpress is the pressurized ballpoint ink cartridge. Each click of the pen compresses the ink, which allows it to write upside down and on dirty surfaces. There’s even a little window added to the barrel that will allow you to view the process. It’s a gimmick, but it makes for a cool conversation point – I like it.

Tombow Airpress Cartridge Size

The ink cartridge is small, though it has a good flow and feel. But don’t expect to get blown away by the writing experience. The Airpress isn’t the type of pen you’d use to journal or write a thank-you note. It is, however, a really great outdoor project pen or a take-anywhere pen.

Tombow Airpress Review

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Review: Pentel R.S.V.P., Ballpoint Pen, 0.7mm

by Andrew

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The Pentel R.S.V.P can probably best be described as a budget pen. It’s a step up from the cheap ballpoints often found in office supply closets but less expensive than more “premium” ballpoints like the uni-ball Jetstream or the Pilot Acroball. It mostly performs like a typical ballpoint pen – it’s not particularly smooth, the ink isn’t particularly dark or rich, and there’s also the occasional appearance of ink blobs, which love to smear themselves across the paper.

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To its credit, the R.S.V.P. provides a steady stream of ink. I never once had to scribble on scrap paper to reboot the ink flow, a common problem with ballpoints. You also get plenty of ink the cartridge, which lasts quite awhile. And Pentel has wisely included a rubber grip, an often missed feature for ballpoints, which typically require a firmer hand to write with.

Overall, the R.S.V.P. fills that “budget pen” space perfectly. It’s certainly a nice step up from a junky office pen, but you’d probably be better off throwing down an extra dollar or two to buy something that looks and performs a little bit better.

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Review: uni-ball Signo 207 (micro), Gel Ink Pen, 0.5mm

by Andrew

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At first glance, the uni-ball Signo 207 looks a lot like many other gel pens you’d find on the store shelves. It’s made mostly of plastic with black accents and metal trim, and the only thing that really stands out is its uniquely shaped clip, which does make it look a bit more classy and professional. But after using it for a couple days, I would definitely rank this unassuming gel ink pen among the best that I’ve used.

The Signo 207 has the basics down: it is comfortable to write with, and it draws clean, consistent lines. More than anything else, however, I am impressed at how smear-free the ink manages to be. I really had to try hard to get it to smear on standard papers, and that’s definitely not something you can say about most gel ink pens.

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The black ink doesn’t seem quite as rich and dark as other gel pens, but If you’re willing to accept this trade-off, I imagine the Signo 207 will become an instant favorite. For lefties looking for a low-smear pen, it’s definitely worth a try. For everybody who might be looking to resupply their pen cup, you won’t go wrong with the Signo 207.

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Review: SKB Soft Ink SB-1000, Ballpoint Pen, 0.5mm

by Andrew

SKB Soft Touch SB-1000

You can’t walk into a store in the U.S. to pick up a pack of SKB Soft Ink SB-1000s. In fact, you might even have trouble finding them online. As far as I can tell, they’re the “generic office pen” of Taiwan, and they certainly look the part.

Inside the clear plastic barrel and underneath the ordinary cap, there is a thin stick of ballpoint ink. These pens look like they’re produced very cheaply and are probably quite inexpensive in Taiwan, though you’ll be paying around one dollar per pen to get them here in North America. Beyond having one for its novelty value, it certainly isn’t worth purchasing.

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What makes the SB-1000 interesting, however, is how well it writes compared to the standard office pens here in the U.S. The 0.5mm tip skips and occasionally produces small ink blobs on the page that are common with cheaper ballpoints, but the ink itself is surprisingly dark and smooth. Maybe American office supply chains should take note.  

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