The Write Dudes: Retractable Ball Point

Retractable pens are the reason that I got started in fountain pens. Out of a severe frustration with pens that failed to write or even retract/detract the ball point, I switched entirely to a different utensil.  There are times however, when fountain pens can't be used, and for those times, I have come to love two pens: The Pilot G-2 and the Uniball Signo 207.  Both have excellent flow and excellent ink quality, though they are both gel pens.

Crisp and informative packaging. Definitely a plus.

The Write Dudes have tried to make a ballpoint pen that works well in the world of cheap pens. The best ballpoint pen that I know of is the Bic Atlantis, for balance, flow and comfort.  Unfortunately, these retractable ball points that were sent to me have none of those characteristics and are lacking in a few other areas too. Perhaps I'm not the right person to do a review of low-end pens, but among low-end pens, I think these are simply average. The color selection is poor and the plastic just feels cheap when you hold it. I have to say though, if having a pen that you don't care about is necessary for your use, then this might work.

From what I've encountered, many of the Write Dudes' products are pretty cheaply made and their logo is an exact copy of the Board Dudes, with one exception.  Their logo has a fountain pen in it, yet they don't make fountain pens! I simply cannot imagine this company making fountain pens, and I would be surprised if they did.

On the left side of the logo is the fountain pen. I'm so confused to see it there.

From the back of the package:

                  "Pick up this pen, hold it, write a word. Was that your life flashing before your eyes? Almost! It was everything you know about writing going out the window. Why? Super Smooth Ink is here to save you!"

Somebody in their marketing department certainly has a sense of humor.

  I'm not sure what they expected to accomplish with these pens, but it certainly isn't something that I would buy.  Then again, I am a person who won't accept mediocrity in a writing utensil and strive to use the best that I have available at all times. I was sent these pens to review, and I will not veer from my promise to offer an unbiased review, despite perhaps never being sent products to review again.  Regardless, I'm hoping to get a few more posts up soon, following my recent hiatus to being the school year.

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.