One of the things I have mentioned over and over again on this blog during the past three years is the lack of availability of micro tip pens (tip width under 0.5mm for gel ink pens, under 0.7mm for ballpoints) on the big retailers shelves. Earlier this week I made it back to the store that was the impetus for getting this blog started - the Office Max near Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, GA. I was there for a training class just like I was three years ago when I first discovered the Uni-Ball Signo RT 0.38mm. I figured I would check it out again to see what had changed over the past three years. A quick glance down the pen aisle answered that question very quickly - almost nothing.
If I had taken a picture of the pen aisle back then and compared it to now, it would have looked eerily similar. The only true micro tip pen on the shelf was the Pilot G2 0.38mm - not even the RT was still there. About the only change from three years ago was the presence of the Sharpie Pen, and a bunch of the same pens as before but in different barrel colors. I'm not sure if it is the retailers, the manufacturers, or the consumers to blame for the lack of change (I imagine it is some combination of the three), but I left the Office Max that night without spending a dime.
So why this diatribe on a Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38mm review? This would be the perfect pen to mass market to the American public. It writes wonderfully, is durable, comes in a rainbow of colors, and is reasonably priced. There is literally no downside to this pen that I have ever been able to find. Uni-Ball put the RT on the shelf sparingly, so why not the DX? It is a superior pen in my book, and I think it would do well.
I'm not going to get my hopes up though. The rate of change for big box retailers is on the order of miserable. Thank goodness for JetPens.
Click here for the XL review.
