Is the Pilot G2 the Best Pen
By
The Pilot G2 Gel Ink Pen
The Pilot G2 Gel Ink Pen is one of the most popular pens out there according to various sources. If you believe their own packaging, it is the #1 selling pen in America, it is currently in the #1 spot on Amazon’s list of Top Pens and Refills, and is #1 on the Amazon list of Top Rollerball Pens as well. Personally, I’ve never been thought it was the best pen, which seems to go against commonly accepted opinion among people who enjoy their pens. Writing up a review of such a popular pen has the potential to be dangerous because I know that there are many people who are fanatical about the Pilot G2, so I guess I take the risk of offending those folks if I say anything bad about it, now I don’t hate it, but I do have my issues with it. I think some of my issues with it stem from the fact that I read a lot of hype about it before I tried it for the first time a while ago, so maybe no pen would ever live up to that kind of hype. As I said, I do like some things about the G2, for starters, there is no doubt in my mind that the pen is very comfortable to hold and write with. The balance of the pen itself, and the nice smooth, but easy to hang onto rubbery grip make it almost as if it is an extension of your fingers. I also like the firm and smooth action of the plunger when you click to expose the retractable tip. Some pens are kind of loose or clunky feeling in that area, but not so much here. I do somewhat enjoy the way the pen writes, I find it to be far superior to many other options out there, but I’ve found that there are just quite a few other pens that I think write nicer. The good thing about this pen being so popular is that at least if you find yourself somewhere without a good pen, you can usually find these in a local convenience store or supermarket along with their refills as well, and they do come in a few different sizes and colors so you have some options there as well.
The Pilot G2 Gel Ink Close Up
Now maybe I am being a bit overly critical, but for some reason there is one thing that has always REALLY bugged me when it came to the appearance of the G2. It doesn’t take much to notice the strange rusty dirty looking gel that is behind the ink in the ink cartridge. On most pens, this is a clear gel substance, but for whatever reason, its this awful shade of dirty brown, which would be fine if it the pen didn’t have a clear plastic barrel that allowed you to see it so well. One other thing that I don’t like about the visual appearance of it is the clip, the round ball-like tip of the clip, and the big gold ugly tacky looking font of the text on the clip cheapen the look of the pen in my opinion.
Here is the Pilot G2 Writing Sample in a Black n' Red Notebook, with Some Comments in Red
So the most important thing that one should be concerned about with a good pen is how it writes. The above writing sample for the Pilot G2 was done in a Black n’ Red Notebook, which handles most pens very well. As I said before, the pen writes much better than most other pens you will find, but I guess Im holding it to a higher standard because of its amazing popularity. I’ve found in my writing with the pen that although it lays down a nice line, the ink tends to feather just a bit, and it even skips a tiny bit here and there. If you click on the photo, you can see where I’ve pointed out a few of these instances in the red writing. The last part of the writing sample you see up there is the test I did to see what they dry time was. It pretty much took about 9 full seconds to dry. Usually I dont care too much about dry time, but I know that for left-handed writers, it can be an issue and honestly, when it takes THIS long to dry, it does become an annoyance for me.
Luckily there are lots of pens out there to try, and although one of my favorites is the Uniball Signo DX, its not easily available other than at JetPens so I might just have to do a review/comparison of the Amazon list of Top Rollerball Pens. For now though, this office supply geek does no think the Pilot G2 is anywhere near being the best pen out there.
© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.
I think it is a fair review of the G2 I have to confess when not using my trusty old Parker 51 I grab a G2 to scribble notes with and it can skip occaisonaly.
I have not tried a uniball Signo DX yet but will make sure that I do.
I’ve never been crazy about the G2 either. The ink goes down too wet for my taste. A better pen is the Uniball Signo RT .38, which lately I can usually find at Office Max stores. It’s my first choice for a readily available, high-quality gel pen.
I really like the G2′s performance. The 0.7mm is a little wet compared to others, but I mostly use the 0.5mm and 0.38mm anyway. I find the 0.5mm to be more consistent than the Uni-Ball 207 Micro. I do agree completely that it is time for a barrel upgrade. I’ve been harping on that for a while, and would love to see Pilot at least move to the G-Knock barrel, which is very nice. The Acroball barrel style would be even better.
My fav. non-fountain pen by far is now the Pilot Precise V5 RT!
I prefer the 0.5 and 0.38 – but i must admit i own almost all of the available color options for the 0.7
My old 0.7′s which still write well – have a tinted plastic barrel where the newer ones are clear.
I’ve never had smearing issues but I am right handed and quite patient.
I do wish pilot would develop a permanent ink option ^^ (Uniball super ink is great for art work!)
I generally prefer their .05 pen. I have their .38, but have yet to try it. The .05 does write well, and I’ve noticed I tend to write neater with the .5 than the .7.
As someone who used to regularly use the G2 1.0mm (!!) even I can recognize that these are fair criticisms of the G2. You want to talk about a wet line that never dries, try out the bold point. On second thought, don’t. It will only make you cranky.
(I acutally used to really love the bold point! I just thought my handwriting looked better with thicker lines. Since then I have realized I should get better handwriting.)
Man I remember when this pen came out back in the day. I was blinded by the newness of the gel ink, but got annoyed with the pen pretty fast. The line is inconsistent and in my experience, there is only 1 good pen in a single package no matter what. Of the 3 i happened to have stuffed into my planner, one is considerably better than the others.
I remember my initial gripe with these was the rattling of the refill(huge pet peeve of mine), but of the ‘modern’ ones I have, this is not an issue which is great, but it seems the ink going onto the page is not without its pecadillos for me. It’s like there is an ideal angle and pressure to get this to work at its best and I just can’t seem to get that sweet spot consistently when I use them. While I prefer the visuals of the .7, the .5mm line seems to be a little more consistent for me at the expense of smoothness.
The pen to me has one saving grace (ok maybe a few)- I pick it up and it just feels good and solid. I feel ok leaving the tip exposed when i need to pick up, write, set down, and yet I dont’ like it enough to care for anything other than the financial loss if i were to lose it or break it somehow. (like the crappy clip,, that goes pretty quick)
I have used G2′s to get through carbon copies without having to go ballpoint. (not as good but good enough for our bank at work lol) I’d also consider this to be pretty comparable to the Signo DX, the 2nd gel pen I ever got many years ago, and to this day, I still prefer the DX.
To me, the G2, is sort of like the Starbucks of pens. Starbucks represents my base line for ‘good’ (for the sake of this analogy at least, no DD around here lol), but it still doesn’t compare to when I roast my own beans and meticulously manual drip at home.
PS – the two nearly new blue G2′s i have a much better gradient to the ink as far as the rust-colored end of the black refill goes.
@The Pen Warrior – Thanks, glad to hear from someone who uses the G2 that they think I was fair in my criticisms, I think you will like the Signo DX.
@Steve – I didnt realize that OfficeMax was carrying those, thanks for the heads up.
@dowdyism – The Acroball is a really nicely styled body, I like it much better than the G-Knock. Also, Im not at all surprised that you prefer a .5 or a .38 over the .7 tree stump.
@Speedmaster – I might have to pick up some of those, Ive tried the regular versions and like them, never the RT though..and the barrels of those look really nice too.
@Sara – From the comments here its sounding like the .5 and .38 are more popular and perform better. I feel like Ihave it stuck in my head though that the G2 just isnt the pen for me. Will the Uniball Super Ink make me a better artist? Im pretty bad.
@Natalie – I’ve noticed similar in that a smaller tip tends to make me write better.
@Kim – I cant imagine using a 1.0mm G2, I think you are right, that might drive me crazy.
@Chris T – That is a great historical perspective on the G2, something I was not able to capture with my review, thank you. I agree with you about the G2 being a pretty solidly constructed pen, so its not one you need to be delicate with. I love that comparison though, the “Starbucks of Pens” I dont drink coffee, but I know exactly what you mean. Also, good to know about the blue G2s not having that filthy look to the end of the ink barrel.
I’m a big fan of the G2, especially the 1.0. Like you said, there’s just something solid about the feel of the pen, especially that plunger, that makes it seem like it gives more value than what it cost. I’ve had a G2 mini in my car for a couple years now, and even though I have abused the heck out of it, dropping it in puddles, leaving it exposed on the console in 100-degree summer heat, it has never failed me.
On the other hand, for pure writing experience, I prefer both the Pentel Energel and the Uniball Jetstream, especially. They seem much smoother to me, and the Jetstream dries fairly quickly. Just wish any of them would come with big fat barrels…those are so much more comfy to hold.
I have always disliked this pen. Maybe because it is so popular??? Lol I don’t know why. I have a big problem with pens that skip. That’s why I love my Energels! Nice review, though.
The G2 as the starbucks of pens is an apt description. These are solid, dependable workhorses. You can go into any store and buy some and the .38mm is the only sub-.5 mm pen available at most big box office supply stores. I’ve tried just about ever other widely available retractable pen out there (including the signo, energel and sarasa) and I keep coming back to the G2, although I’ve come to prefer the G-Knock body.
I’ll admit that they need to improve QC, though, because skipping pens are a problem, although in my experience, the skipping pen:smooth pen ration is far worse for signos and sarasas.
@TonyB – Thats interesting that it held up so well in bad conditions like that. I use a Uniball Power Tank for that purpose, I’ve got it in my car and its been in the frozen temps here for extended periods of time with no problems. I agree with you on the Jetstream, its a really smooth writing pen.
@Monica – The Energel is a really nice writing pen, and sometimes I fall into that same category, if too many people just love it, I tend to be suspicious of it or just give it extra scrutiny because when you are a market leader like that, I expect more. May or may not be fair on my part, but thats just me.
@bangmaster – Thanks for sharing, Im glad to hear from someone who obviously has used it extensively along with some very similar pens. I’m trying to give it a second (or more like 4th or 5th) chance, I just picked up some new ones and new sizes.
I too have tried to like the G2 but just can’t. Worse, I had a bunch that dried up and so ended in the trash. Not good.
@Diane – Nothing worse than dried out pens. I’ve ordered a few different versions/sizes that I’m going to take a look at just to make sure I’m being fair though.
It’s just a sign that I don’t need 10,000 pens (and pencils). I don’t write THAT much.
Have to side with the Uniball people. Uniball Signo 207 Micro is the best all around pen- comfortable, consistent flow, great barrel. I’ve never understood why the G2 sells better, besides the fact that is being sold everywhere and has plenty of colors. It’s kind of an ugly pen and the ink takes a bit more time to dry in my experience.
Thanks for the review! I’m glad I’m not the only person to think this about the G2. I find them “skippy” and they always build up blobs…perhaps that’s because I grew up on rollerballs that didn’t write straight up and down, so I had to tilt the pen such that ball was almost feeding ink.
Anyhow, after Pilot finally made the Precise such that it wouldn’t skip (remember the old tan and sky-blue barreled pens?), I really haven’t gone back. And the precise RT has become my go-to roller – when I’m not using fountain pens.
I would say though that the Uni signo series pens are probably my second choice. And for my “car” pen, the Jetstreams have worked well; haven’t leaked in the heat nor frozen up in the cold.
@Diane – I dont think anyone writes THAT much.
@ccorrada – I think the fact that it is so readily available and not one of the boring old $0.99 ball point pens is what makes it sell so well
@Jason – Glad you enjoyed the review, and it always makes me feel better to know that there are some people out there who agree with me on some of my opinions I share here. I’ve never tired the Jetstream as the car pen, I’ve gone with the Uniball Powertank which holds up very well to freezing and hot temperatures.
Love this thread as I too am too enamored with all things pens. I have never really liked the G2s although I now have a Gold G2 Limited which is quite different. I like the feel of the Pentel Energel but their pens look like NASCAR outfits. I mean how many times do you need to put Pentel, Energel and the .07 or .05mm on a pen?
I have mixed and matched various refills to other brand pens but I was not aware of the ability to use a Jetstream, or Uniball refills.
Great work and I am glad to know that I am not the only one who can tell you what the displays look like at Staples, O-Max, O-Depot, Artlite and others!
@Kaspero Dookelius – Glad to hear that you enjoyed this, and welcome…always nice to have another office supply addict contributing here. I love the comparison to the NASCAR outfit…such a great mental image to put it in perspective.
I don’t quite understand the phenomenon of G2 popularity. They are good pens, yes, but the ink is too messy and the smoothness of the roll leaves something to be desired.
I and some of my previous G2 using colleagues have converted to:
UNI-BALL SIGNO 207, MED/0.7mm
…IT is the best pen ever, hands dizzity dizzown. Go getchu some. (no, I do not work for uni-ball)