Pen Review: Pilot V Ball 0.5mm (Begreen version)
So, I've recently reviewed 'nice' pens and some porous tip ones I thought were okay-ish. How about a cheap pen that you can buy in the high street which is good? Actually I've got a bunch that fall in this class but first out of the gate is one I bought last year.
My review of the V5 Grip/V7 refillable wasn't positive due to feed reliability of both pens. I knew there was a cone tip variant of these liquid ink pens, the V Ball series. Well when in a queue in Rymans (buying another pen) I saw they had the BeGreen models on the counter at a special price (£1.50ish IIRC). So I nabbed one.
Firstly that BeGreen marks it as Pilot's recycled plastic range. Which means plastic recycled from leftovers manufacturing their other pens. Which is a bit cheeky if you ask me. It's like making a low emissions car that creates ton's of CO2 in its construction.
The barrel is totally full of ink. As usual I put it through a lot of use at work in the past few months and have used 2/5 of the capacity. So it lasts well. Clearly it is not refillable.
The plastic cap snaps on cleanly and posts on the rear with a reliable friction fit. I'm happy writing with in on or off. It does not have a 'porthole' decoration like the needle tip models. The clip is springy plastic; basic and functional.
The grip section surrounds the feed baffles and is smooth; generally I prefer a textured grip but this is okay.
Now the crunch point: does it write more reliably than its needle tip cousins? The good news is yes. I had a couple of dry starts but otherwise it is always 'ink on paper' time. The line is very sharp and the tip writes smoothly. I went for a blue model and the ink is very pleasingly deep and dark. I wish they did a green model as I'd like to see this ink quality in that colour.
Unlike some rollerballs (*cough* Uni-Ball) I do not get little spot pools of ink at the end of my lines or little 'flicks' of ink when disengaging from the page. The ink dries quickly.
Overall I think this is a great pen that is easily available. I'm glad I took a punt on it; So far it beats the rival Uni-ball and its needle tip cousins.
My review of the V5 Grip/V7 refillable wasn't positive due to feed reliability of both pens. I knew there was a cone tip variant of these liquid ink pens, the V Ball series. Well when in a queue in Rymans (buying another pen) I saw they had the BeGreen models on the counter at a special price (£1.50ish IIRC). So I nabbed one.
Firstly that BeGreen marks it as Pilot's recycled plastic range. Which means plastic recycled from leftovers manufacturing their other pens. Which is a bit cheeky if you ask me. It's like making a low emissions car that creates ton's of CO2 in its construction.
The barrel is totally full of ink. As usual I put it through a lot of use at work in the past few months and have used 2/5 of the capacity. So it lasts well. Clearly it is not refillable.
The plastic cap snaps on cleanly and posts on the rear with a reliable friction fit. I'm happy writing with in on or off. It does not have a 'porthole' decoration like the needle tip models. The clip is springy plastic; basic and functional.
The grip section surrounds the feed baffles and is smooth; generally I prefer a textured grip but this is okay.
Now the crunch point: does it write more reliably than its needle tip cousins? The good news is yes. I had a couple of dry starts but otherwise it is always 'ink on paper' time. The line is very sharp and the tip writes smoothly. I went for a blue model and the ink is very pleasingly deep and dark. I wish they did a green model as I'd like to see this ink quality in that colour.
Unlike some rollerballs (*cough* Uni-Ball) I do not get little spot pools of ink at the end of my lines or little 'flicks' of ink when disengaging from the page. The ink dries quickly.
Overall I think this is a great pen that is easily available. I'm glad I took a punt on it; So far it beats the rival Uni-ball and its needle tip cousins.