The Well-Appointed Desk

Over the past few years I’ve warmed to the idea that not all ballpoint pens are created the same. This is especially true with the hybrid ink ballpoints like the Pilot Acroball, Pentel Vicuna, Zebra Surari and Uniball Jetstream. I decided it was high time to put these four head-to-head. I wanted to know if they were all essentially the same or if there were any  distinct differences worth noting.

These pens are referred to as hybrid inks, emulsion inks, hybrid gel, hybrid ballpoint inks, to name a few. The bottom line is that they use a modified ballpoint ink crossed with the newer gel inks to create a smoother, quick-drying ink made to be easier flowing while maintaining the waterproof characteristics.

I wanted an apples-to-apples comparison so I used single-color, retractable, 0.5mm black versions of the Surari, Vicuna and Acroball. I had a multi-pen Jetstream already and tested with that. The Jetstream is also an 0.5mm black but also includes an 0.5mm red and a 0.5mm lead pencil as well. All four brands  offer silicone grips and a whole array of configurations from point size, colors and pen barrel aesthetics. A single color pen can be had for $2.50 and up for a Jetstream, Vicuna and Acroball. The Surari is the budget pen at $1.65. My interest was specifically in the performance of the inks.

On my standard Quo Vadis bright white notebook, all four pens performed quite similarly. At close examination I could see a little roughness in the swirl tests from the Jetstream and Surari and an occasional skip in the Acroball. The Vicuna was the smoothest on this silky paper. In terms of the richness of the black, the Acroball had the darkest color followed by the Jetstream and Vicuna. The Surari was the lightest black.

In fairness, I also wanted to test these pens on more “everyday paper” so I used my new Poppin notebook which has better-than-average paper but not as fancy as the Quo Vadis. On the Poppin paper, all  but the Surari looked equally dark black. Vicuna was ever-so-slightly rougher on the paper but only minutely.

For me, the occasion I use ballpoints most frequently are either signing credit card receipts or writing postcards so I really wanted to try these pens on the toughest of all papers, coated stocks! I forgot to photograph my postcards before writing this so you’ll have to trust me on this. The Jetstream and Vicuna performed very well. They dired quickly. The Surari was good as well. The Acroball, for reasons I can’t understand, took FOREVER to dry which resulted in smudged writing and having to wait to post the mail until I felt sure it was dry. So… with that said I would rank the Vicuna as my most recommended for writing, smoothness and darkness. It wasn’t the darkest ink but it is super-smooth and worked on the most surfaces. Second place is the Jetstream. Its widely known to be awesome and it is but I did get a little fuzzing on nice paper.  I’d put the Acroball and Surari tied for third place. The budget price on the Surari gives it a little boost while the Acroball is a rich black color but terrible for glossy paper like greeting cards, postcards and magazines.

Finally, if you want to do your own side-by-side testing of the hybrid pens, I am giving away a $25 gift certificate to JetPens to help you on your way. Just leave a comment and tell me which of the four brands is or might be your favorite hybrid pen.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday August 23, 2013. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Saturday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. Gift Certificate will be sent via email. One entry per person.

The fine folks over at Poppin sent me another package. This one was filled with boxes  of their gel pen assortments. Each box includes six different gel pens in a rainbow of vivid colors.

These gel pens have a similarly simple aesthetic to the ballpoint pens I reviewed last week. For the gel pens, the casing is colorless transparent plastic to see through to the colored ink core. The top of the cap and the metal clip match the ink color. The pens are minimally branded and don’t have any special ergonomic features.

I tested the pens on both the Poppin lined notebook and in my standard testing notebooks, the Quo Vadis Habana. My results were pretty consistent between both books. I wanted to test it in both a high end and a mid-range notebook since these are the type of pens, based on price and style, that I would be more inclined to use at work or to leave on my desk for passersby who need a writing instrument. The Poppin gel pens would most likely be used on copy paper, legal pads and 3x5s so I wanted to be sure they were tested on comparable paper.

The colors of the ink are bright and vivid. The line width looks to be about a 0.7mm. On the Poppin notebook, I included a comparison ink color from my stash. I didn’t have anything close to the brightness of the pink, orange or green short of a highlighter. The blue was similar in color to the bright blue Marvy LePen and the purple is close in color to the Pilot Juice Grape. The gel red is the least vibrant color in this set, more of a true red. Think fire trucks and maraschino cherries.

All the colors dried quickly though the purple had a bit longer dry time on the Quo Vadis. On the Poppin notebook, I didn’t notice any dry time delays. I do think that all the pens preferred the slightly toothier Poppin notebook to the super smooth Quo Vadis. It is a subtle difference but I think these everyday pens will perform best on everyday paper.

I had a little trouble with the purple pen being a bit skippy. I tried one from another pack to make sure it was a fluke. It was. This could also be casued by my slightly wonky left-handed writing style. I often have trouble with gel and rollerball pens if I hold them at too severe an angle which basically chokes off the rolling of the ball bearing in the tip.

Overal, the Poppin gels worked fairly consistently. These are definitely more of a budget range pen, obviously, but their performance was consistent with the results I get from a Pilot G2 or other gel purchased at a big box retailer. What makes these gel pens stand out is the bright fun colors and the clean, simple designs.

Packs of 6 assorted or single color gel pens sell for $9.

GIVEAWAY: Would you like to win a box of these pens to try yourself? I am giving away two boxes (that’s two chance to win!). Leave a comment and tell me which color in this assortment would be used up first.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Monday August 19, 2013. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Tuesday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money.