Pilot Juice Gel Pen 1.0 mm, 8-Color Bundle Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

This bundle includes eight new bold colors in the 1.0 mm size of the Pilot Juice gel pen. There's black, blue, blue-black, brown, coffee brown, red, green, and burgundy. The colors are lovely and practical--a great set for school or work, but fun to play with as well.

The ink is the much-loved pigment-based, water-resistant gel ink that can write on photos as well as paper. I didn't find the flow to be as good as in the finer-pointed versions. Sometimes it felt a bit dry or viscous, and there would be some build-up on the tip. But I haven't had any trouble with skipping, and the bold lines are nicely consistent. I think the improved ink formula in the Juice Up gives a much better writing experience than the original. But if you like a broader tip on your gel pen, these are still an excellent choice.

The body is clear plastic with a spring-loaded clip, clicky top, and rubber grip. The click, grip, and clip are the color of the ink, which is handy for identification. It is very difficult to tell the difference between the browns and the blues in low light, though.

I love the sturdy spring clip. The whole pen feels quite durable, which is great--particularly because these can be refilled with replacement cartridges. You can even switch to a different tip size or the wetter-flowing Juice Up ink (though I'd find it confusing if the refill didn't match the info on the pen body).

These pens are perfect for those times you need a gel pen but pastels, glitter, or metallics aren't situationally appropriate. But they're also really fun for journal sketches and stenciling. And the smooth tip and rubber grip make them great for longer writing sessions. There are enough fun colors for some color coding and organized note taking, as well as enough businesslike colors to be the old-reliable cup pen that maybe you don't think about as often, but it's always there when you need to sign a form or address an envelope. They're a great addition to the Pilot gel pen lineup.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Lamy Pacific Blue Al-Star Pen And Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Every year, Lamy release a limited edition color of their popular Al-Star line, along with a companion ink of the same color. This year, I'm especially excited for the limited edition color: Pacific Blue. I'm admittedly a huge fan of turquoise and teal, and this pen is a delicious, shiny color that fits my bill perfectly. Pair that with an equally gorgeous turquoise ink, and we're all set for a killer combo.

The Pacific Blue Al-Star

You might love the new color, or it might make you cringe. Either way, it's impossible to miss. This is a loud, shocking, electric blue with subtle green undertones that set it off. Obviously, the color is inspired from the Pacific Ocean, and it does a great job of factoring in all the factors of the sea. When looking at this pen, it somehow looks as if it might be partially liquid while it sits on the desk. For me, it's a color that makes me extremely happy, and I love the pen for that.

Since the only difference with this Al-Star is the color, I won't spend a lot of time on the details. Check out my review of the Charged Green Al-Star from 2016. Everything holds true for this copy as well!

The Lamy Al-Star is a solid fountain pen. It's not as affordable as the Safari line, and some people enjoy the Safari line more for many great reasons, but the Al-Star hits a nice balance of design, weight, feel, and awesome colors that set it apart from the Safari. If you haven't tried out an Al-Star (or a Safari...), then I highly recommend picking up this limited edition color.

The Lamy Al-Star in Pacific Blue is $36.00 and available with an EF, F, or M nib. Remember that Lamy nibs are easy to swap out with another size as well. Each Al-Star ships with a single blue cartridge, or you can purchase a cartridge-converter separately.

Lamy Pacific Blue ink

The other half of this year's Lamy special edition combo is the Pacific Blue ink. You might have heard, but it's no secret that Pacific Blue is, in fact, the same ink as Lamy Turquoise. I don't understand why Lamy released Turquoise under a limited edition moniker instead of formulating a unique ink, but that's not the point of this review. As such, keep that in mind if you already own Lamy Turquoise! You can safely skip this ink knowing that you already have it.

Lamy Pacific Blue is a beautiful turquoise ink that leans toward the lighter and blue spectrum. For example, I found that Kaweco Turquoise was a bit darker than the Lamy version. Iroshizuku ama-iro is actually very similar to Pacific Blue, but I think it has better shading qualities. Regardless, it's a gorgeous blue-green that radiates on the page! I love using this ink because of the color, and it's been difficult for me to switch back to Ama-iro over the past week. It's a great color.

Shading is great with this ink, which is something I haven't been very excited about with other Lamy inks. There isn't a massive range of variation, but it's tasteful. Again, it's intended to remind you of the Pacific ocean, so a degree of shading is expected. Lamy delivers this with high marks. The shading behavior is easy to notice in this medium nib, but it shows off a bit more in larger nibs. There's a minimal degree of shading in small nibs, but that shouldn't be a surprise.

The ink performs really well. I've not had any issues with skipping, starting, or clogging. Cleaning is a breeze, and lubrication is very balanced.

I haven't been able to detect any bleeding or feathering so far on my normal papers. There's a degree of feathering on cheap copy paper, but that is expected. Being on the light side, show-through isn't a problem in most cases. Using Rhodia paper, the opposite side of the page is completely usable after the top side is used.

Dry time is average compared to other fountain pen inks I use. It dries consistently by 15 seconds, while pooled areas take about 20 seconds to dry completely. Not bad, but not exceptional.

One unique feature with any Lamy bottled ink is the ink blotter included at the base of the bottle. This is convenient for cleaning the grip section and nib after you fill it with ink. These blotting strips do a great job and prevent you from using a tissue or paper towel to do the same job. Much less waste.

You can purchase Lamy Pacific blue in a 50ml bottle, or as a 5-pack of cartridges. Personally, I think the bottle is a better bargain. And remember — if you already own Lamy Turquoise, you don't need this!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

JetPens Blue Black Pen Sampler Review

One of the reasons I love stationery is that you don’t have to spend much to get something great. Whether it is a $2 pen or a $4 pad of paper, I promise you there are great products out there waiting to be discovered that are 10 times better than the junk found in your office supply cabinet.

If you are unsure how to get started finding your next favorite pen, JetPens offers up many sampler packs, like this Blue Black Pen Sampler. There are many sampler choices actually, but since I’m a blue black ink fan I wanted to see how well they put this one together.

Since this is a general color sampler, not an ink type specific sampler (like only gel ink pens), you get a good variety. Here is the lineup:

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel Pen - 0.4 mm - Blue Black

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica Gel Pen - 0.4 mm - Blue Black

Uni-ball Signo UM-151 Gel Pen - 0.38 mm - Blue Black

Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel Pen - 0.4 mm - Blue Black

Pilot Juice Gel Pen - 0.38 mm - Blue Black

Pilot FriXion Ball Slim Gel Pen - 0.38 mm - Blue Black

Morning Glory Mach 3 Rollerball Pen - 0.38 mm - Blue Black

Sakura Pigma Micron Pen - Size 05 - 0.45 mm - Blue Black

Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen - Blue Black - 03 Fine Nib

Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen - Blue Black - Fine Nib

For those playing at home, that is six gel ink pens, one liquid ink rollerball, one drawing pen, and two fountain pens. Let’s break these down into two groups for review: Gel and liquid.

The gel ink group has several of my Top 5 favorite pens. The Uni-ball Signo UM-151, aka the DX, is my number one gel ink pen, but not in blue black ink. I think Uni-ball’s blue black ink colors fall behind both Pilot and Zebra. The pen itself needs to be part of this group for its excellence, I just prefer other colors in it.

The two Pilot Hi-Tec-C models use identical refills with different barrels, and I prefer the simplicity of the original. The Maica isn’t bad, it’s more that i am used to and comfortable with the O.G. barrel. The Juice refill is awesome, but the barrel is just ok. The Sarasa Clip may be the best combination of everything in one individual pen. The FriXion model is cool to play with but I would prefer having the Ball Knock model instead of the Slim.

If I’m taking this specific ink color into consideration when ranking these pens, I choose the Zebra Sarasa Clip first, standard Pilot Hi-Tec-C second, Pilot Juice third, then everything else.

On the liquid ink side of the ledger there is much more variance in the style of pen. The Mach 3 Rollerball is awesome, and is perennially underrated. It’s a liquid ink pen, so there are more paper performance considerations than with gel ink pens. That said, it is a wonderful performer and a pen everyone should consider.

The Micron, while a traditional favorite of mine, is done no favors in this lineup. The 05 tip is too wide, and the blue black ink color is odd. Give me an 03 black Micron any day over this model.

The two fountain pens are great choices, with the Platinum Preppy reigning superior over the Pilot Petit. The Preppy is an all around great pen, while the Petit requires some sacrifices due to its size. It is cool though, and I see what it is included in this set.

Overall, I can’t really argue with anything JetPens has done here. If I were to take a stab at this set, I would make a few changes.

Out: Sakura Pigma Micron, In: Sakura Pigma Fine ESDK

Out: Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica, In: Pilot Fude-Makase Color Brush Pen

Out: Pilot Petit1, In: Uni-ball Vision Elite Rollerball

I think with those changes this set is improved with more styles, more variance, and better pens.

Regardless, this set is excellent as it is currently set up, giving you a wide variety of blue black ink pens for an average cost of $2.60 per pen. It’s hard to beat when you are a fan of trying out new pens and new ink colors.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!