The Shachihata Artline Ergoline Roller Ball is a good pen. It's not a great pen. It's not a bad pen. It's a good pen. Many roller ball pens fall into this category for me. I'm not going to reach for it and use it all day every day, but when I do I know it is going to work well.
In the written review I liken this pen to two pens I have enjoyed in the past: The Sakura Grosso/Sumo and the Pilot Explorer. The larger barrel size is nearly identical in size and weight to the Grosso, which is lighter than you would expect by looking at it in the pictures. The molded grip is close to the Pilot Explorer. While some people may not like that, for those that do it is comfortable to hold. It's like a perfect mashup between these two pen.
When ink hits the page the Artline Ergoline is not as good as the best roller ball ink pens, such as most anything from Pilot or Uni-ball. The line is not as sharp or defined as I would like. It performs more like a Stabilo roller ball if you have used any of thier products before. Side by side there is a difference between the Shachihata and the big boys, which keeps this pen in the good range rather than great.
If you are happy with your current roller ball pen the Artline Ergoline is not likely to trump it. But if you find that a slightly larger pen works better in your hands it is worth checking out.
(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)
