Thursday 11 November 2010

Moleskine Pen Test

I bought some new pens to try with my moleskine. I have used several before, but not been satisfied with any. 

Here, I must point out - it depends on the moleskine too. For my Moleskine Sketchbook, I have a perfect pen. Pentel Energel 0.7. It works fabulously on thick sketchbook pages.

But my quest this time was for plain or ruled moleskine, which has thinner pages. After reading several reviews from other moleskine users, I bought five pens.

Uniball Signo 207, 0.7
Pilot G-Tec - C4
Pilot G2-0.38
Pilot G2-0.5
Pilot G2-0.7

Yes, four of them were Pilot, because it's a good, trusty brand, and I knew it was just a matter of finding the right fit. I tested all of them, and these are my results:

Pilot G-Tec-C4 and Pilot G2-0.38, while excellent are not for me. Their very fine point are more suited to sketching than writing. For writing, I find them bit rough on the page, and the writing is quite light. But I tried a few doodles, and it definitely works. Unfortunately, I am not much of a sketcher, so I will just find some other uses for them, or there is always doodling.

Pilot G2 - 0.5 - very good. This is the pen most frequently recommended by other moleskine users. I liked it. It's comfy, and it flows, but I did find it bit hesitant on the page.

Pilot G2 - 0.7 and Uniball Signo 207, 0.7 - my favourites, and perfect for me. I don't know if I like one of them better. I guess I will find out after more use. But the ink flows very smoothly. There is absolutely no roughness to it. Writing comes out properly black, dark, just as I like it, and 0.7 is definitely more suited to A LOT of writing. Between the two, I would buy either one of these or both for use with my moleskine, and probably other writing material too. 

21 comments:

  1. Try a Pentel Superb. They're hard to find but well worth the search. It's the only pen I use in my journals.

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  2. I am a huge fan of the Pilot G2 0.38's. I just wish I could find them in more colors. You're right about them being scratchy, but I find that I chicken-scratch anyway and the finer tips help keep my writing small...

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  3. *hmm* Would you mind posting a picture of these pens ... These names say nothing to me, I'm not even sure, if those are available here in Germany, too! At least, I want to imagine them!

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  4. I'm a writer as well but prefer the Pilot G2 0.38. The 0.7 is just too thick and, in my opinion, sloppy. Once you use the 0.38 for a page or so it becomes less scratchy and leaves a nice, fine line.

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  5. C R,

    I use Pentel for moleskine sketchbook and I love it.


    Chuck,

    Scratching really annoys me. I like smooth flow in writing, as I tend to write fast, and I feel scratching halts my speed.


    Nofretiri,

    Check this out - http://www.cultpens.com/ you can search by brands.


    Dave,
    I use 0.7 quite a lot, and I think it depends on person and of course notebook. My handwriting is pretty neat, so 0.7 doesn't get sloppy. However, I am going to try both 0.38 and 0.5 for quite a bit in the Plain Moleskine, and then I will make up my mind :-)

    I will be sure to post the results, hopefully with some pictures.

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  6. Pilot Precise V5. The best pen around for the money. It is absorbed by the Moleskine Sketch book paper.

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  7. I've used the Pilot Gtec C4 for some time: for sketching writing and scribbling in general. I alos like the fact that the water soluble ink can be 'blurred 'with an aqua brush. BUT I've just noticed though on the cover of some notes some sketches/doodles I did with it, which have separated out a sort of greenish blur around the black line: anybody else come across this?

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  8. Also try the Pentel RSVP great pen..

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  9. Hi, great review :)
    Just checked out the Pilot G2 site and the colours are fab, just what I'm looking for...however please could you tell me what the bleed-through is like in a lined moleskine? Is it very noticeable? I'm currently using Uniball Eyes and they're too wet-thanks! Han

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  13. I bought some new pens to try with my moleskine. I have used several before, but not been satisfied with any. spacebar clicker

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