The Ultimate Pen Showdown - Part 2

In my last round of testing, I narrowed my refill candidates for the final round to Uni Jetstream SX-10 and Pentel Vicuna BXS7J, with the intention of testing the Pentel GlideWrite as well.

Since then, I managed to test various other low viscosity and lubricated inks as well, including the Zebra Blen NC-07, Faber Castell CX7, Stabilo Performer, Pilot Multi Ball, Parker Quinkflow, Uni Signo (and the RT version), Engerel Permanent, Sailor IC Liquid Hybrid, Sarasa 1.0, and the 0.7mm refills for the Pentel Vicuna and Uni Jetstream SXR-600 among many others.

Before getting to the final winners, I’ll mention a few words about the others.

Zebra Blen - Very well designed pen, but the NC-07 emulsion refill has the same issues mentioned in the last review with the EQ emulsion refill.

Faber Castell CX7 - I went through dozens of Faber Castell ballpoint models before finding one that was worth mentioning. Most of them were not very good. The CX7 definitely felt like it had a much better and smoother refill, but didn’t really rank compared to the others.

Stabilo Performer - This is an interesting one. It’s a bit scratchy, even for a 0.5 (granted, I could only find the 0.5mm one and not the 0.7). However, it does write an especially dark, wet line. The pen also feels well constructed and of high quality. I’d actually recommend trying it if you come across it.

Pilot Multi Ball - Very rough to write with. I only got it because it is unique in that it should write on any surface. Non-refillable.

Parker Quinkflow - Feels and acts like a normal ballpoint, with the usual sticky, draggy feel. But writes a nice dark line, reliable, nice colour.

Uni Signo - I tried the 1.0mm and the 0.5mm RT version. Not bad, and nice that it’s permanent. The 1.0 is very smooth (like many 1.0mm gels). The 0.5 RT draws a very light line that I’m not too fond of. The pen bodies feel great though.

Energel Permanent - I thought this would have the same great feel of the other Energel refills. For some reason it barely writes at all. If you check the reviews on the Pentel homepage, others say the same. Very disappointing, since I love writing with Energels in general.

Sailor IC Liquid - Very cool pen body, unusual shape, and capped. Feels so sturdy and high quality. However, I tried both the 0.5 and 1.0 refills, and they’re horribly scratchy.

Quantum Daiichi - Quantum is a brand in Thailand which seems to make their pens in various other countries. I tried their hybrid ballpoints which are made in India - the bodies are bad, but the refills are ok. But this Quantum Daiichi Dolly is made in Japan, and has a 0.7mm permanent gel refill that writes fantastically. Super smooth, dark, and reasonably controlled. Pretty high ink flow. It feels nothing like the Zebra or Energel gel refills, so I have no idea where they got this from.

Zebra Sarasa 1.0 - I keep giving Zebra a chance, but I just can’t really get behind their refills. Cool bodies, but the 1.0 leaves white streaks in the lines.

Tombow Ballpoint - Not a fair comparison because I had the refill but no pen for it. Didn’t seem to write particularly well though.

Ohto - I didn’t get to try out their ballpoints, but I tried their gel Rays pens. Unfortunately it seems they only use needle tips for both their ballpoints and gels? So I wasn’t too fond of these refills only because of that. 

The Winners

Best Refills:

I was really hoping to find a singular winner here, but honestly the fact that there are some trade offs with every ink makes it impossible. So I’ll let you be the judge. For me it's a three-way tie.

Pentel BXTM10 / BXTL10 (Glidewrite)  - This was my favourite writing experience of all of them. It really writes more like a gel pen, with a very dark, liquid ink. It maintains Pentel’s abilities (as with the Vicuna and the Energel) to write on all different angles too, and still deliver great performance. Reliable, less skipping than a Jetstream, and it’s the smoothest ballpoint I’ve tested. Interesting to note that these refills are made in Mexico (as opposed to Japan for the Vicuna). Unfortunately these smudge noticeably more than the competition on glossy surfaces. Also these refills don’t seem to be readily available, so it might be quite tricky to use them in my pen building project.

Uni Jetstream SXR-10 - Not as dark or smooth as the Glidewrite. But still pretty darn dark and smooth. It doesn’t allow for as steep a writing angle as the Pentel refills, and it skips more frequently, but not too bad. One thing that really impressed me, is once it starts writing on glossy paper (takes a bit to get started), the ink doesn’t pool out to the edges of each letter, which is quite different than most of the other refills. Keep in mind that the SXR-10 is quite a different refill than the SXR-C1, which was barely functional for me when I tested it (order brand new from Japan). The SXR-10 smudges less on glossy surfaces than the Glidewrite, which is a remarkable achievement considering it’s still quite a smooth refill. Worth mentioning that the SXR-600-07 writes similarly relative to its size (0.7mm vs 1.0)mm.

Pentel Vicuna BXS7J - I tested the Vicuna BXS5J, BXS7J, and KBXES7 refills. These are consistently fantastic refills. As mentioned in the previous review, they seem to write a hair finer than their Jetstream equivalents, but are more reliable, always start with no issues, and don’t skip. They also allow you to write at a steeper angle. These might have been higher for me than the other two, had they been available in 1.0mm, as these write a tiny bit finer lines and less dark than the Jetstreams - but only by a tiny amount.

Honourable Mention

Monami FX4000 - I wrote more about these in my last post. These are interesting refills, if not a bit puzzling. The writing has more of a shiny, oily ballpoint appearance than the others. But they put down more liquid than most, giving very intense lines. They skip a bit, but not too badly. They write very well on many surfaces, including glossy ones. They are also available in various sizes, up to 1.0mm, and come in colours such as dark green and brown. I’ll be testing a 1.0 in brown soon, so we’ll see how that goes. But this refill is definitely worth a special mention. It’s a Parker G2 size too, so you can try these in other pens.

Favourite Overall Combo

Uni SXK-3300 with SXR-600-07 refill

This was more or less a toss up between the Uni SXK-3300 (replaced with the 0.7mm refill) and the Pentel Vicuna EX3 (also replaced with the 0.7mm refill) - both came standard with the 0.5mm refill. If the Glidewrite even had a half-decent body it might win, but unfortunately even the metal executive version is not very good. The Glidewrites seem to be focused on the North American market, with the refills made in Mexico, the Glidewrite Executive body is made in China, and the Glidewrite Signature body is made in Mexico. I imagine if these pens are ever made for the Japanese domestic market, it will be a totally different ballgame. 

The Vicuna EX3 has really beautiful, detailed work on the metal, but it’s just not my personal taste. I’m tempted to try out a Vicuna EX2, which comes standard with the 0.7mm refill and has a body with perhaps more broad appeal. Anyway it’s clearly a very high quality pen and the Vicuna refill is outstanding.

The Pentel BL667 is the ultimate gel pen that I’ve tried, but most gel pens, especially without a permanent ink, might not cover as many situations. The Quantum Daiichi could fill this gap and definitely makes it worth a mention in this section. If anyone has an idea of who’s manufacturing this pen and the refill, I’d love to know.

Zebra is worth a mention for their pen bodies, which are very good, even if I never got along with their inks. Same with the Sailor pen I bought.

Ohto is another brand I’d like to mention here. I only tried the Ohto Rays, which didn’t appeal to me. But I got to see their other pens in the shops, like the Dude and the Blooom, and those ones are stunning and just exude quality. I’d even consider buying a Blooom, even though I don’t like multi-pens. It looks that good (in person).

The Uni SXK-3300 with the SXR-600-07 refill is the overall winner here for me. It was kind of the dark horse in this race, because it took me a while to appreciate Jetstream refills, and also this pen didn’t look anything special in photos. But when you get this pen in person, it’s very attractive. It’s fairly heavy, like it’s made of a chunk of metal. I’m not sure if it has a special type of paint, or if it’s a ceramic coating, but it has a great look & feel. I don’t really like the twist mechanism, as mentioned in the previous review, but overall I find myself using this pen the most.