I am a true pen geek. I spend more time testing, researching, shopping for, and writing about pens than I do actually using them. For a long time I was a fan of the Pilot G2 gel ink pen but recently, after much testing, I have thrown aside the G2 in favor of the Uniball 207, a pen with ink that meets all of the criteria of Mike Shea Certified Archival Quality ink.
In order to meet my standards for an archival quality ink, the ink must meet the following criteria:
It must be acid free so it will not degrade over time or eat away at the paper over time as highly acidic ink does such as old style iron gall ink.
It must be fade proof so it will survive even if exposed to the sun for long periods of time.
It must be water proof so it will survive even if it gets wet.
It must be chemical proof so it will survive even if subjected to chemical scrubbing or washing.
These sound like extreme criteria but when we now have pens available for around $1 each that meet these criteria, there is no reason to settle for anything less.
I recently performed tests on five different kinds of ink,
from six different pens in addition to a Mirado Black Warrior pencil.
These tests included subjecting the ink, written on a sheet of
acid-free paper, to numerous chemical washing including water, bleach,
and dish soap. I concluded from the results of the test that Noodler’s
black fountain pen ink, Fisher Space Pen ink, Mirado Black Warrior
pencil writings, Sakura Gelly Roll ink, and Uniball 207 ink all
survived these tests.
While it is unknown if the Mirado black warrior pencil or the Fisher
Space Pen ink would also resist fading when exposed to light, the other
inks are also labeled as "acid free" and "fade resistant" by their
manufacturers.
The G2 ink, while acid free, fade resistant, and water resistant, is
not resistant to chemicals and fades when submerged in water for long
periods of time. For this reason, I no longer recommend the Pilot G2 as
an archival quality pen.
It is important to note that the acid free nature of an ink is not
nearly as important as the paper. When writing anything of any
importance, one should always write it on acid-free pH neutral paper.
While ink will change and possibly degrade over time if highly acidic,
the paper will crisp and yellow within ten to fifty years if it is
highly acidic. One can see these results in old newspapers or paperback
novels.
Like the Pilot G2 ink, the Uniball 207 ink cartridge will fit many
fancier rollerball pens including Waterman and Rotring rollerball pens.
Uniball also makes a pen called the Uniball Primer 207 that resembles the larger Pilot Dr. Grip for about $5.
While my own preferred writing instrument is a fountain pen loaded with
Noodler’s Black fountain pen ink, this is not practical for most people
and is far more costly than a traditional pen. The Uniball 207 can be
purchased in many point sizes at a wide variety of stores including
office supply stores, grocery stores, and pharmacies across the United
States for somewhere between $1 and $2 a pen depending on the amount
purchased.
For archival quality ink that will survive sunlight, water,
oxidation, and chemical washing, one need not look further than the
Uniball 207 gel ink pen. The Uniball 207 is the new official Mike Shea
endorsed Archival Quality pen.
Mike Shea
http://mikeshea.net/
Aww come on, now I have to buy another pen, thanks guys!
I stumbled across the 207′s in my local Walgreens drug store, and they’re fantastic! The 0.5mm micros provide a fine line, write smoothly, dry quickly, and are my pen of choice for Moleskines.
Great review of a great pen.
The pencil will never fade in sunlight because its mark comes from a carbon-based “rock” from a mine. It is unfortunate that pencil — which lasts through anything — can be erased with a small piece of rubber, though:)
Gardeners use pencil to mark tags that fade even with Sharpie on them.
I tried out a 207 the other day in Staples and I couldn’t produce a clean line with it–one without clumps and unevenness. Maybe gel pens don’t work with my hand pressure, but I haven’t found one that I really like.
For now I am sticking with my fave pen of all time–the Uniball Micro Deluxe. Even though they seem to be getting harder to find nowadays. Uniball Vision Elite is really good too–produces good clean lines. But I don’t know how acidic or long lasting they are.
The 207 is great but I never get a smooth line. It always skips. I also like the bold Uniball but I get the same results. Very annoying.
I’m left-handed, but I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Oh heck yeah! That’s my favorite kind of Pen! Although I still like to flip flop between that one and my G2.
I like, and use, both of G2′s and 207′s. The blue ink 207′s aren’t quite as blue as the blue G2′s though.
An amazing cheap pen I found the other day–the Pilot Easy Touch. And it is a ballpoint!!! Never thought I would use a ballpoint again, but it produces really smooth lines with a light touch and no clumping so far, even when I write fast and hard. Amazing!!!
I love those 207 pens They write great for me most of the time. I have found some pens skip and some write like a dream. Recently, I have tried the Pilot Precise Gel with the needle point.
It writes very smooth most of the time, has a comfortable grip, and it’s a retracable rolling ball. Works great if you like to write very small
I just stumbled on your site from 52 projects…and since I am obsessed with pens, I had to write to tell you about my end-all-be-all of pens: the Itoya Xenon retractable ballpoint.
http://www2.officesupply-link.com/5456/DealerStation/Catalog/Results.asp?ItemCo=ITY&ItemNbr=XE100BU
I discovered it by accident in Lee’s Art Supply (while testing a myriad number of other pens). And I haven’t turned back since. I live in Germany now, and can’t find them here, so my mom had to bring me a new supply.
It writes like a dream, like writing with silk flowing from the pen. Whenever one of my fellow teachers has borrowed my pen for a minute, they all have the same reaction upon writing with it: unadulterated bliss.
It is not easy to find – I would suggest asking in art supply/stationers for it, as opposed to chains like Staples or OfficeMax. And they are slightly more expensive: $3-$4 a pop. But they do last longer than any ballpoint I’ve used.
I’ve been using the 207′s exclusively in my Moleskines for some time now, and I love ‘em. I have yet to have one smudge or bleed through at all. I now use them for writing checks, too, because the ink does sink into and “bond” with the paper making “check washing” virtually impossible. The 207 is the best pen I have ever used, and they are quite inexpensive making them all the more appealing. I, too, gave up my G-2s to make the switch to the 207.
I highly recommend the 207.
Just bought a couple this morning. I’ll try them this week.
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
Nice review.
I’ve been using a Signo 207 Premier, filled with blue – grey ink, since a couple of week, either on a Moleskine and on a big Clairefontaine A4 Notebook. After this two weeks I finally decided to switch to this pen, expecially for writing on Clairefontaine notebook: paper quality (90 g/m2) seems to be perfect for a smooth and quick writing.
It is also worth noting that pencils were banned from Boeing as a way of marking aircraft, as the any pencil containing higher levels of graphite will eat away at aluminium!
For me it’s all about the Pigma Micron 05. I don’t understand the G2 love among Moleskine users as the ink starts and stops, comes out in clumps, and doesn’t seem to dry quick enough for the quick open-and-close, on-the-fly entries one jots down quickly.
The Micron dries instantly, doesn’t fade, and writes a clean, clear line. The only downside might be that it doesn’t last as long as some other pens.
I’m surprised that people are finding the signo inks to work with the Moleskine, I have tried both the Signo RT and 207 and both of them smear easily even after a minute or two of drying time. The G2 is better, but still takes a while to drive. My favorite ink for my Moleskine is the Cross Gel Roller Ball refill which works very well. I actually use it in a Water Phileas Rollerball pen, it fits nicely and the ink seems to work better on the Moleskine than the Waterman rollerball refill.
I’ve been using this too now. I like it better than the G2!
Though I have used the G2, I am in love Pilot’s Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen which uses a gel ink, which is QUICK drying, lasts a lot longer than it really should and takes almost no pressure to produce. I have not had a problem with hand cramps or painful writing calluses.
Not to be a ‘me too’ bird, but count me as another person who can never get a smooth line out of the 207. The pen feels better in my hand than the G2 (I tried to like them, I honestly did), but it skips and sputters in every Moleskine I own.
Definitely better than the Pilot G2 imho.
Make sure to use the microtip version of the Signo 207 or the 0.5mm tip (0.38mm if available) of the G2. I find both very acceptable on Moleskines. The 0.7mm tip writings take forever to dry. I find the Sarasa 0.5/0.4mm and the 0.7mm Uniball Jetstreams very nice pens for Moleskines as well.
I agree with MikeM. I always replace the ink cartridges in my Premier 207′s with the microtip version…it is much more compatible with the moleskine than with the larger 0.7mm tip.
Yeah, tried this ink in the Uniball Signo RT. I am left-handed, and the thing just kept skipping. A huge annoyance!
I use G2 .7 ink now, and there is very little skipping, and the drying time is satisfactory. I’ve tried the .05 ink, but I can’t seem to get as smooth and black lines as the .7 ink.
Maybe I’ll give the uniball .5 a try. I’ve been looking for a good gel pen with a .5 mm tip for a while now
I purchased two Uni-Ball Signo 207 Pens from my College Bookstore. After a quick test of the pens on my notebook I thought it would be a good pen. The next day during class it came time to put the pens to the test and see how well they perform. The results speak for themselves. They are literally the Worst Pens I have ever purchased. I could not complete a sentence without having the pen skip. It got to the point that I had to switch to a basic Bic Ball Point Pen.
Bottom line if you don’t mind having to go over your writing to correct any letters and add letter’s to complete words due to the skipping then you might find this pen ok.
If your like me and don’t have time to be messing around with a pen. Then Stay away from the Uni-Ball 207.
Well, since this pen is so hotly contested, I had to check it out. I have to echo Ray, and some other posters. Sucks. I mean, it’s not *awful*, and the whole “acid-free” archival thing is great, but I do a LOT of writing, and the last thing I need to do is miss a letter here and there and have to go back over it later to make sure it shows. The 207 needs me to do just that in order to be effective. Also, the shade of “black” is just not black enough for me. Not vivid enough. One good thing I can say, though, it that it’s quick-drying.
Anyway, looks like I’ll be sticking to the tried and true Uniball Vision until I do actually find something better. Can ANYONE recommend a pen to me that is waterproof, smudgeproof, acid-free and quick-drying, and writes as well as my Uniball Vision does? The G2 is off-limits… takes way too long to dry.
I have been using my cross ink pen or a plain ol bic for the last two years, all I do at work is jot down orders all day and I go through a fair amount of pens. I have tried other brands, but none have been as consistent in writing till the ink is gone as the cross gel rollerball. I recently bought two four packs of the uniball “signo” 207 0.7mm and have had problems with it skipping constantly after a day or two of use. I will have to try out the Uniball Vision because I need a pen that dries quickly so I end up with less ink on my forearms at the end of the day.
I’m so glad this whole topic came up. I have been STRUGGLING to make the G2 work for me. I have bought so many of these, and end up throwing them away, or changing the cartridge and still throwing them away out of sheer frustration. When they work, they are great, they glide and just float along with a nice black smooth line. Then, WHAMMO. The skipping starts. I have to keep going back and writing over my words. I scribble to get the thing going again and pretty soon my notebook looks trashy. I can’t get these highly-vaunted pens to work for me!!!!! I’m using a Pentel EngerGel now (o.7, retractable) and this is the most wonderful pen I’ve used, except that it doesn’t dry instantly. But it doesn’t skip. It’s consistent. I write small and very fast, and most of all, i can’t use a lot of pressure because I get tendonitis.
What am I doing wrong with the G2? I feel as though I’m one of the few ‘skine users on earth that can’t stand these.
Shirley, you are not alone. I have completely given up on them. Since I have four of them, I have to use them for something, so they have become my official pen for scribbling down orders at work (I am a bartender). As for my Moleskine, I think I have finally found the perfect pen for writing in it. I needed something waterproof and archival-quality (acid free yadda yadda) that was also quick-drying and smooth-writing with no skips. Faber-Castell Pitt Aritist pens are the answer. I am using a black superfine one and I could not be happier. Fits all of my requirements, and dries practically instantly.
My G-2 0.7 can’t be beat for smoothness and pleaseure of writing, except for a good fountain pen. It does take a while to dry, however.
For fast drying, decent smoothness, and an incredibly fine line, the Pilot G-TEC-C4 is a clear winner.
I’m also a big user of the SpacePen in fine black (great reliability and pocket factor), and Staedler pencils for my moleskines…
Pentel Energel 0.5
The Pentel Energel 0.5 are also good pens to try. They look ugly, in my opinion, but are smooth and has not skipped on me yet. Dries fast and are generally cheaper than the Pilot and Uni equivalent in Canada.
You will look like a cheapskate using a pen like this. I don’t care how nicely it writes. I wil agree that the G2s have become truly awful. I went for a Parker Gel refill. There are many Parker bodies that you can use to hold the refill. I use a Vector XL. There is a picture of it here –>
http://lerwegian.wordpress.com/2006/08/27/leather-moleskine-cover/
Isn’t that much nicer?
For pencils, the Ohto Super Promecha and the Faber-Castell TK-Fine Vario are the best. They both feel better in my hand than the fancier Mont Blanc types.
I have always preferred Cross (any color / tip) for ballpoint, and Uniball Micro (blk-blu-red/0.2mm)for liquid ink. The Cross are always smooth writing and the Uniball stands up to laundering pretty well (sad to say this is learned from running my wallet through the laundry more than once). Not being an aficionado, I have no idea about the pH but the pages in my 40+ year-old Bible don’t seem to have suffered any ill affects from these pens.
I’ve discovered that the Pentel Energel 0.7 refills fit the Signo 207 bodies. The Pentel skips less and the ink is just as dark and dries faster. Suggest giving it a try, the Pentel refills are cheaper than 207 refills as well.
I’d like to echo Andy’s comments on pencils. These two, the Ohto Super Promecha and the F-C TK-Vario have become my favorites, also. I’ve only been able to find them online, and I took the plunge never having held either. I’m glad I took the risk because they’re vastly superior to others that I’ve tried. I’ve gone through Lamys and Pelikans as well as Papermates, Staedtlers, Tombows, and Koh-i-Noors.
I’m actually a bigger fan of the .3mm Promecha then the super promecha. Everything you need for a carry around pencil (retractable sleeve, eraser, super thin) and it’s still fairly light.
The erasers on these things do drive me nuts though. I don’t want to carry around an extra eraser, and the stock eraser is just too tiny and bit wobbly to e used extensively. I don’t draw or anything — I just change my mind a lot. Somebody should figure out how to swap a extendable eraser, like from a papermate or something, onto one of these babies.
uniball 207 uses thicker gel type ink while the uniball vision series uses a thinner ink for smoothness. their website has all this explained.
Has anyone here EVER used a Space Pen to the very last bit of ink (resin?) left in its refill? I’ve been through 3 or 4 of these and the story is always the same.
They start off wonderfully – black, bold – almost “wet” looking in quality, smooth and creamy to use. About two to four months into it (I don’t use it daily but keep it in my pocket for when I need a pen handy like at church or for signing my name) and it starts acting like it’s out of ink.
I finally have to draw circles on a page to get it going again – and again, and again and finally, I give up and replace the refill. Each time I do, I break the previous one in half (expecting to see it’s empty) only to find the pressurized vessel has another inch of ink left in reserve!
What gives???
Does anyone know if the Uniball Power Tank refill fits any of the more expensive rollerball pens?
Mahalo
Just from reading the reviews on the super Promecha i purchased the .5mm and .3mm versions on ebay.. Can wait to try them out..
As to jeff. I have previously owned 3 space pens. Lost two of them.. The idea of the pen is great you can write upside down and underwater. But as you say the pen isnt smooth after a couple of months. Not to mention the quality of the pen goes down with it.. Also finding a replacment cartridge was next to impossible when i bought my first pen other then going online or using the included mail order form. Now i see them sold at the local staples office supply store.. My father swears by it though. But i have given up on them and just gone with the traditional pens. Still got my third pen but that just sits in its box now.
I have tested gel pens with the water, sun, rain, wing, wash tests for years. Pilot G2 was my old favorite until I tested it. TERRIBLE waterproofness. It runs and smudges. No good. The Uniball 207 is my winner after years and hundreds of pens tested. GREAT pen!! My previous winners were the Zebra Sarasa and Zebra Marathon. Give them a try too. VERY good waterproof and fade/smudge resistant. Just hard to find sometimes anymore, but the Uniball 207′s are all over the place, plus slightly better ink, so thats my winner. DON’T USE G2′s FOR YOUR JOURNALS. It will not survive a flood or water damage as well as you think…
Recent review I did is the Uniball Jetstream RT. Advertised as being check-washing-safe, this is one of the worst inks I’ve tried. After just an hour submerged in a 50%/50% mixture of water and rubbing alcohol, the Jetstream BLACK in turned in bleeding, feathering, faded PURPLE, fuzzy mess. This is NOT archival and check-safe ink.
The winner is still the Uniball 207 and the Zebra Marathon. The Marathon ink is very slightly darker before and after watertests, giving is a slight appearance advantage, but the Uniball 207 ink is equally water and alcohol proof (nearly 100% it seems), and since the Marathon pens are discontinued and hard to find, the 207 is the winner for sure.
I just got my signo premier 207 one week ago. It is already
out of ink after a long work week. I love the pen but how and
where do I get refills, the quick print that I got it in in Wickenburg, AZ. can’t get one for two weeks.
Can anyone help lead me to a site that I can order the 7 or 5 mm.
refills?
Thanks
Mark
207 refills are readily available at Office Max, Office Deopt, or Staples brand office supply stores (in the USA). They all have websites for ordering as well.
Thanks for advice on pens. It reiforced my idea this is the best. Also, my name is Mike Shea. Do you have same name or is this a name reproduction for benefit of the viewer? thanks
Hello Mike Shea. Anquan is my wife’s nickname for me, but my name is John, and I, like you, are obsessed with finding the best archival pens. And I think its quite important too, something nearly nobody thinks about, especially if you have writings you want to insure will last decades.
I have had great success with just one model of Pilot Pens. The model is: PILOT G-TEC-C4 size is 0.4 This is a very long lasting, smooth writing pen perfect for Moleskine. I’ve been using them for a year.
I bought a 207 after reading the Moleskine site, but I have to go with the people who find it skippy and blobby. I prefer a plain Razorpoint, which is what I keep taped to the Moleskine notebook.
For my everyday writing (I write for a living) I use a fountain pen — one of fifty — and Noodler’s ink in various colors. Nothing can beat Lapis Legal for archival quality. It’s also an awesome drawing ink, because it’s water-soluble for a few minutes (so you can do washes), and then dries and becomes waterproof.
Over the years I’ve used a myriad of pens from cheap ballpoints to expensive fountain pens and although one of the nicest “inexpensive” gel ink models I’ve come to appreciate was the Pilot Dr Grip, my only criticism was it’s bulk. I recently bought a Uniball Premier 207 and found it to be just about the most perfect gel ink pen I’ve come across yet. Even though they cost about the same, the Uniball Premier 207 is far better feeling than the Pilot Dr. Grip (which uses the same refill as the G2) and is also a tad slimmer than the Dr. Grip. Writes nice and smooth too.
What is your favorite fountain pen. Im looking for a good one