I’ve been sleeping on the uniball Jetstream Prime for too long. Time to correct that.
I bought this pen (full name: uniball Jetstream Prime 3 Color Lite Touch Ballpoint Multi Pen) all the way back in February at the California Pen Show. So long ago, I can’t remember exactly who I made the purchase from. All I remember was being surprised to see it there.
The Jetstream Lite Touch had been launched to great fanfare in 2024, and my experience with it has been great. I reviewed the single pen and the 4+1 multi pen at the time, and have mostly stuck with the single version since. My uniball multi pen time has been mostly spent with the 4+1 Karimoku edition (also seen in the linked review, and in this one,) but the Prime has a lot going for it that has me intrigued.
For starters, the barrel is slim in diameter for a multi pen. So slim, that on first glance it seems like an upgraded barrel for a single refill pen. And it is a metal barrel, too. Aluminum, but not too light and airy, like some of the 4+1 uniball aluminum barrels. The compact nature means the insides are packed, so it has a solid and balanced feel in the hand. The matte finish on my Burnt Orange model is smooth, but it hasn’t been slippery so far.
The deployment mechanism for the Jetstream Prime is a twist, as opposed to a knock. The look is much cleaner for a multi pen, and for the premium Prime barrel it’s a good fit. The Black 0.5 mm refill is in the center, with a quick twist clockwise to engage Red, or counter-clockwise to engage Blue. You will have to jump over Black in the middle every time if you want to go from Red to Blue, or vice versa. The refill retracts in the zones to each side of the Black refill. The clip does line up with whichever refill you select.
Top to bottom: Single refill Jetstream Lite Touch, Jetstream Prime, Jetstream 4+1 Karimoku edition.
From a writing perspective, you can’t do much better than the uniball Jetstream Lite Touch - at least if you are amenable to using a ballpoint pen. That’s a curse word in many pen circles, but I’m a fan, and will not stand for any ballpoint pen slander! The Jetstream is not your parent’s ballpoint pen, and the Lite Touch is so good, you might not even realize it is one. The best thing I can tell you to do is try it and see for yourself. Maybe not the Prime from the jump, but the single barrel is a good starting point at $3.
The Prime carries an extra digit on its price tag, checking in at $31. Looking at the label on my box, I paid $37 for mine, but that was before the pen became more widely available from importers. $31 seems completely fair for an upgraded barrel like this, although Burnt Orange seems to no longer be available. The four current colors are nice, with the Ivy Green looking especially great.
Only one question remains for me with the Jetstream Prime Lite Touch, and that is how it fits into my rotation going forward. It’s going to take the place of the Karimoku model for now, and given the fact the Prime uses the Lite Touch refills and the Karimoku doesn’t, it might find a permanent home on my desk. At least until the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi Pen 0.38 mm gets the Lite Touch upgrade and they will have to battle it out for supremacy.
Maybe I just swap the refills now.
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