Pilot G-2 .5 vs. UniBall Signo 207

Greetings from Memphis, Tennessee! As the Augustana College Baseball team is traveling down to Florida, we have stopped at Rhodes College for a 14 inning scrimmage to ease into the season. (I started this in Tennessee, but I'm now in Florida and our Varsity team is 3-0!)

What a great looking threesome!

 

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Self proclaimed to be the "#1 selling gel pen in the U.S.", the G-2 made by Pilot is without a doubt the most dependable non-fountain pen that I own.  The ink flow is fantastic in every iteration (1, .7, .5, .38) and the pens are fantastically balanced.  Is this pen really the best in the market though? Thinking about it, I realized I wasn't that certain of the mainstream competition in the U.S. market and how it stacked up.  The primary competition that I was able to find was the UniBall Signo 207, which interestingly enough claims to have fraud preventing ink.  This also intrigued me because of my interest in the fraud protection that Noodler's Inks offer. The evaluation shall begin!

Before I get to writing quality, I have to say that I am a pen spinner. Whatever non-fountain pen that I use needs to be balanced well and not have ink that is easily jostled from the tip of the pen. The result of the occasional drop is at least one gap in the ink reservoir and skips in ink flow. Nothing bothers me more than poor ink flow. The Signo 207 suffers from this problem while the G-2 doesn't.  Right off the bat, this makes the G-2 superior in my eyes, but as to general ink quality and fraud prevention, that remains to be decided.

These pens glide very well over Moleskine paper

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In my tests of water solubility on normal notebook paper both inks held up extremely well after being soaked in water.  As I am not at home, I don't have access to the standard cleaning solvents which I would use to test these inks. The fraud prevention of the Signo will have to be evaluated later to see how it compares to Noodler's. You can be sure you'll see it soon!

Now, here's the final conclusion. Since the Signo 207 has a wetter ink flow and design that is a little more comfortable than the G-2, I give it the win. The G-2, while having excellent balance, offering different sized ballpoint tips and far more colors than the Signo 207, is ever so slightly drier of a writer. The ink in the Signo doesn't last as long as the G-2, but I'm willing to sacrifice that for a wet writing pen. You lefties out there might not be as happy with it, but I'm guessing for most of you, gel pens don't cut it.

I'm very excited to return to Illinois, because waiting for me is a package from gouletpens.com. I have decided to bite the bullet and try some Baystate Blue. I can sum up my emotions in one word: stoked.

Note: I do realize for the comparison that I have used a G-2 .05 and a Signo 207 which is more like a .7 tip. I have used many many G-2 .7's, so the tip size didn't impact my verdict.

Nomadic VS-01 Virgo-Attrezzo Standing Pen Case

The Virgo-Attrezzo reminds me of the Burj Al-Arab in the UAE

As the number of pens in my daily arsenal has increased, I have found myself wanting to prevent the loss of any pens and prevent jostling and subsequent ink leaking.  I also like to have a couple pens inked for certain classes and then in addition, have pens I can loan out, because of those non-fountain-pen users out there who want to borrow pens or pencils.  If I have the time I will teach people how to use a fountain pen, but they're usually uncomfortable trying it. I used to only carry a few pens around with me, but now that I have this case, I don't worry about carrying anywhere from 6-12 with me on the average day.  A pen case does make it easier to carry them around worry-free.  Now I have only to worry about losing the pen case.

Convenient little compartments

I bring this case with me everywhere and keep it tucked away on a pocket on the side of my messenger bag.  This type of bag is particularly useful because it stands on its own and can be peeled back to remain open, displaying the pens at your disposal.  This holds 12 pens, an eraser, 2 lead sleeves, and potentially a bottle of Noodler's Ink (or an undetermined number of pens if you prefer.  I don't usually walk around with a bottle of ink, but if I ever need to, I know that I can carry the bottle I use most around with me.  Today that's Noodler's Bad Green Gator.

Lamy Safari, Noodler's Nib Creaper Rollerball,
Converted Preppy .03 Eyedropper x 2, Parker '51,
Pilot Petit1,  Uni Kuru Toga, Pilot Frixion .4, Pilot AirBlanc
, Hero 285, Noodler's Nib Creaper Fountain pen,
Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe, Noodler's Bad Green Gator.
Two lead sleeves fit as well as an eraser!

As far as design goes, this case is perfectly made out of extremely durable materials and is stylish, but does not challenge my masculinity.  I address that challenge to masculinity here though.  I specifically ordered this in black because it seemed like it would be the manliest of the bunch.

I've been looking at pen rolls, but they cost way too much money or they aren't practical for me. If the pens you use are mostly fountain pens or tend to be mostly in the upper price spectrum, that would probably be better because the pens are more likely to bump into each other in the Virgo-Attrezzo. For the price, this has been the best value I've encountered, especially considering that it was the cheapest of its kind that I was able to find.  A tip of the cap to Nomadic for a very well made and extremely practical pen case.

The End of the Colored Pencil

The Frixion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink Pen isn't a new product from Pilot, but it is one that provides a much needed update to a concept that in the future could be lucrative.

Done up in Blueprint blue, it sure looks good on you... well not exactly blueprint blue.

I have been completely surprised by the lack of advertising that has been used in attempting to sell this pen in the United States. I've seen advertisements for it on Youtube.com, but none that I know of have been aired.  Even in stores, this pen has received very little shelf space and is accompanied by very little to no fanfare, which it most definitely deserves. I know of many people who would use them if they only knew...

This pen is without a doubt, the most useful pen that I own. I have bought many, many replacements and I have tremendously enjoyed each one. I suppose, however, that I should start from the beginning:

The original Frixion, which came in a seven color series, was a useful writing instrument.  As the first of its kind to hit the market, it was unrivaled and for lack of a better term, a bit of a novelty item.  It was useful in tasks that normally would use pencil but look polished with a pen, such as math, sciences and languages.  As could be expected with the first iteration of a product, there were some problems. The most blatant was that the pen cap covered the eraser, so in order to write, the cap had to be off.  Sometimes the ink could be spotty and inconsistent and then finally, all of the colors seemed a bit washed out.  Black wasn't as much of a black as it was a heather, and dark blue was a greyish-blue.  The next pen I noticed in stores was the .4 version of this pen, which made some improvements, specifically in ink quality, but the ink color still seemed to be a bit washed out.  Finally, and to thunderous applause, the Pilot Frixion Color-Pencil-Like Eraseable Gel Ink Pen was introduced! I personally like to think of it as "Frixion v2" but, that's just me.

They're a sweet lookin' bunch..

The major problems with the previous generations have been fixed and the pen has been improved in general. The eraser has been moved to the top of the cap and the ink flow has improved greatly. The best part of the pens now is the wide array of vibrant colors which are bright and bold on any paper.  I've personally found any of the darker colors (dark green, dark blue, brown which are all above) to be fantastic on all types of documents, but even the orange is bold enough to be seen on white paper, as I am accustomed to this color in gel pens disappearing in a bright light. These pens erase just as well or even better than the previous generations and fill a much needed niche in the student's repertoire. The grip is just as comfortable as a standard pencil, and the pen writes for a long while before running out.  These pens are easily accessible on Jetpens.com and are nearly impossible to find anywhere in America, unless you have relatives to send them to you from Singapore, that is.  One of the downsides of this pen is that it is not refillable as it's predecessor was, but doesn't even matter considering how much better this pen is than other erasable pens out there.

There is still a novelty factor to this pen, as friends and coworkers will comment, "Wait, an erasable pen that actually works?!?!" And then I'll explain the heat sensitive ink and "magic" reappearance of said ink and continue to bore them with talk of aeromatic fountain pens and the bulletproof qualities of Noodler's Inks.  Despite this, people still ask me what pen I'm using for the day, even though they know that a long rant may accompany it.

Just the pens in my pocket for the day... Not pictured are Lamy Safari and eyedropper Platinum Preppy.

Recently, Uni-ball has released the Fanthom, which by all looks, appears to be an impersonator of the first generation Frixion pen.  I have not yet tried it, but will hopefully be able to at some point in the future, so I can let you know if it is even worth compare. My advice to those who can't decide which one to buy, is to buy the Frixion, because Pilot has already improved on the first generation, whereas the Fanthom is just getting started.

-The Classicist

A Dearth of Testosterone in Stationery Stores

Over the past few years, I've visited stationery stores whenever I would come upon them.  I would almost always walk out of them empty handed.  What has been most prohibitive in my potential purchases is that cards and stationery in general are always targeting women. I suppose that a woman is more likely to send a thank you note or birthday card to someone, but surely there are other men out there who want to send a greeting card not covered in glitter to someone for the holidays, or any time for that matter.  Every stationery store within reasonable reach of me or that I might happen to walk/drive by has been dominated by cards with pom-poms, glitter and bright feminine colors.

Google Image Search produced this Papyrus card, which though nice, would not be sent from a man (and maybe some women don't like them either).

What makes it even harder is that so many stores are chock-full of jewelry, soaps and other craft items, which only target women. All of the Papyrus stores that I know of in the Chicago are this way, and there's even a store in Naperville called Papier Girl.  That alone could deter a potential customer, and it nearly deterred me, because I felt like I was about to enter a Victoria's Secret.

Next, the stationery is expensive, and I am willing to buy some things after saving up for a while, but sometimes paying $20 for 10 cards is not something I want to do. I try to support the few companies that I feel do a good job, so on occasion I will suck it up and just spend the money.

Crane & Co. Paper has really been the only store that has dependably had a few stationery sets that are not specifically female-oriented. Usually I just buy plain cards before they are used by soon-to-be-married couples for whatever purpose they choose. These are usually the best, since they are plain and allow me to do with them as I please.  When I last visited New York, I filled up on plain stationery, for which there were stores all over the place! Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places in the Chicago suburbs, but the only leads I've really been able to find was listed on the Noodler's Ink website for area, but they're a bit far away from where I live in Aurora. I will make the trip to Algonquin sometime I'm sure, but I really can't know exactly when (unless it is today!)

This all brings me to wonder exactly when the demise of stationery and pen began? I know I'm younger than many enthusiasts out there, but it is sometimes disappointing to think that at one time every department store had an entire section of the store dedicated to fountain pens and stationery.  I am thankful for the internet and the online stores that continue to continue to display passion for this hobby, which sometimes feels like more than that. Who knows?  Vintage is starting to become a popular trend, so maybe, just maybe, people will write letters once more and everything will become more accessible.