Pilot Razor Point Review

When I was a younger pen addict back in the late 70's and early 80's one of the highlights of my summer was when my grandfather would take me to the LSU campus bookstore. I already had a strong affinity for quality pens at a young age, and the campus bookstore was my candy store. In retrospect, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the LSU engineering department (your jokes will be accepted in the comments section) for stocking all of the cool writing instruments and paper that a kid like me could hope for.

There were two primary pens I was after when setting foot in the bookstore: The Pilot Precise (bonus points if you remember the ivory and baby blue barrels) and the Pilot Razor Point. The best thing about the bookstore carrying those pens? They came in all the colors! Black and blue were obvious, but I always managed to come home with green, red, and purple too.

The Razor Point was my favorite, and the genesis of my love for fine tipped drawing pens. At the time it couldn't be beat. I could draw my little towns and spaceships and anything else my brain could spew onto the page. It was the best.

To Pilot's credit, they have left the Razor Point unchanged since I first started buying it decades ago. It provides a sharp, fine, black line and consistent performance. The tip is prone to breaking down though, despite the metal collar under the plastic tip. This is why I used to buy them by the dozen. The ink also bleeds more than today's pens with updated technology, like the Sakura Pigma Micron or Sharpie Pen.

Despite those flaws, the Razor Point is a classic and brings back wonderful memories. Nothing beats seeing that little yellow circle popping out of the top of my pen cup.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

Pilot Fude-Makase Color Brush Pen - Extra Fine - Orange Review

Over the past few years, it has become clear to me that there is almost no firm brush pen I won’t buy, even though the flexibility of a brush doesn’t really suit my ham-fisted hard-pressing writing style. When JetPens got the Pilot Fude-Makase Extra-Fine Brush Pen back in stock (as of this writing, they might be out again - they sell out fast!) I snapped up one in orange and one in pink to test them out.

I’ve only picked up a few softer broader brushes in my day, as I know full well those won’t suit my style. If that’s what you’re after, this definitely isn’t your pen of choice. It is much thinner and firmer than, say, one of Pilot’s Pocket Brush pens. The size and flexibility are somewhat similar to the Kuratake CocoIro Super Fine refills, but I’ve had always had problems with those pens having only two settings: too firm or too mushy. So, I was hoping that the Pilot Extra Fine would make for a good every day writer.

I suspect if you have a much lighter writing touch, you’ll love this pen. The brush doesn’t yield much, but you can definitely control line width easy while writing. I think I just write both too fast and too firm, so it ends up either just looking like boring old bullet-point marker strokes or I press too hard and end up mushing the brush rather than letting it glide across the paper.

Honestly, at the price point (around $3 if you can find them in stock), it is a pen that is worth taking a chance on, even if your writing style isn’t really brush pen-friendly. It comes in a wide variety of colors and, even if it doesn’t make your handwriting look stellar, makes for a nice pop of brightness when writing.

Pilot 2+1 Evolt 2 Color Multi Pen + Pencil Review

Two months back I reviewed the Pentel Vicuna 2+1 Multi Pen. It was a solid multi pen - decent ballpoint writer, good build - pretty standard stuff. Not too long after, I saw the Pilot 2+1 Evolt Multi Pen appear in my JetPens new product feed. Wait a minute, didn't I just review that pen?

The design of two pens is eerily similar. Like I said, I thought they were the same pen. Not only do they look alike, they are priced exactly the same at $16.50. There is a lot of "borrowing" of design between pen companies, but never have I seen anything as close as this.

The Pilot Evolt offers more - and brighter - barrel colors, but that is the only check in the positive column compared to the Vicuna. The biggest flaw - which should be considered the multi pen plague - is a barrel that rattles. I'm surprised I didn't wake my kids when I was writing with this one. It is frustrating to see a pen this sharp looking function so poorly.

It is almost unfair to compare the Evolt ballpoint cartridges to the Vicuna. The Evolt uses standard ballpoint ink and the Vicuna uses hybrid ballpoint ink. That is an unfair fight, which is even more reason to consider the Vicuna if you are looking for this style of pen.

Better luck next time Pilot. Time to start using Acroball ink in your high-end multi pens!

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)