Pilot Ilmily Nuance - Pilot's Best Gel Pen?
Introduction
The Ilmily Nuance is a recent gel pen from Pilot with a permanent (waterproof) gel ink. I was initially skeptical of this release, because I've found that most permanent gel inks tend to skip or fail in some way, and I've had many outright failures with other Pilot gel inks (my Juice-Ups just outright broke or stopped working), and I haven't been a fan of the Acro hybrid ballpoint refills either. This one however, deserves a standalone review.
Do not confuse this with the older Ilmily pens, which were basically the same as the Acro series ballpoints. The Ilmily Nuance comes in 7 colours, which are all slightly off-black (black-blue, black brown, etc.) or true black.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Writing Results
Another reviewer compared this refill to the Pilot Juice because the refill is the same size and looks similar, however I don't think this is the case. This refill has performed differently for me than other Pilot gel pens, so I suspect the formula is different.
I've found this pen to write quite smoothly (for a 0.5mm tip) without skipping, fast drying, and with very attractive colour options. I would love to try it in a 0.7mm tip to see how it would compare to its competitors in terms of smoothness, but it definitely is in the top-tier for a 0.5. I will say though, that I've always had trouble with skipping when it comes to permanent inks in other gel pens, and this is probably one of the best so far in terms of reliability. It also has a richer, nicer colour in my opinion, compared to the Ballsign ID Plus, and without the railroading.
I tried transferring this refill into other gel pen bodies, including Zebra Sarasa, Kokuyo, Uni, Pentel Energel, Papermate, and some others, and it does not fit.
Pen Body
The body of this pen reminds me a bit of the Zebra Blen or the Uni Signo RT, with the integrated rubber grip and a sliding clip that clicks the pen. However the Pilot has some nice touches like a metal clip and a coloured end piece to indicate the ink colour.
I'm not a fan of how the click feels - the click feels cheap, as the clip rattles from side to side. A bit disappointing since Pilot click mechanisms are generally excellent. The Ballsign ID Plus has by far the nicest pen body in this category of modern plastic gel pens.
.jpeg)
Conclusion
The refill in this pen is one of the best 0.5 permanent gel refills you can get (maybe approaching the Ohto Ceramic). However, the body is mediocre, and the refill does not fit into any other pen brand, and Pilot has few options for nice gel pen bodies. I'm interested to see if it does fit into one of those metal G2 bodies (which I've never yet tried), which has the potential to be a nice combination.
.jpeg)
Do you know any other pens/cartridges that have a similiar feel to this one? I had this pen but I lost it and I'm thinking of maybe switching it up this time and not getting the same pen.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a proprietary Pilot size for their gel pens. It looks identical to other Japanese gel pen refills and European rollerball sizes, but there must be some kind of notch in there stopping it from fitting. I tried in an Energel, a European rollerball, and a handful of others - but no luck.
Delete