Friday, May 23, 2014

inexPENsive - Pilot Sign pen


There aren't many occasions where I use felt-tip pens, but when I do, this Pentel Sign pen is definitely my go-to pen! It is a very cheap pen, but don't be fooled by the price, it's performance is outstanding!

Before I start rambling about how great this pen really is, I should tell you how I first found out about it...
On a (in lack of a better name)  literature event, I stumbled upon this pen. But how? One might ask, because after all it wasn't a pen show by any means. Well, I found it abandoned on the ground, and since I was only ten or so years old, I piced it up out of curiosity!
Since that day - you'll hardly believe it- I never bought a new one! This is still that one pen I found almost eight years ago!

So yes, from this I think we can conclude that the quality of the Pentel Sign pen is outstanding! In all these years of -moderate- use, it has never failed to work as soon as it touched paper. The ink is dark and saturated and it creates consistent lines. Over all these years, the felt tip has retained its conical shape, and is still sturdy. The barrel and cap might not look as pristine as they -probably- once did, but all things considered, I think this is one of the best quality cheap pens you can get! It's sturdy, it works flawlessly, and it will continue to do so for a long time!

The only negative thing I have to say about this pen is the fact that it is quite unusable as an everyday writer. The name says it all, it's meant for signing things (Although you'd probably better not use it on important documents!). But as Brad from the Penaddict mentions, it's also perfectly usable as an everyday marker!

Also, as you can see, it's not exactly the pinnacle of design and luxury, even for a cheap pen, they decided to go very minimal on the design. In a way, I quite dig the no-nonsense appeal of the sign pen though!

At a cost of only 1.5 USD, you can really never go wrong with picking one of these up!

- I'd be really pleased to get some feedback from you, my dear reader! Please drop a comment telling me wether or not you like the inexPENsive pen topic, so I know if I should continue this series! Thank you!-

PS: Don't worry, I'll continue reviewing more expensive, luxury pens as well!

4 comments:

  1. I am a civil engineer and use these pens daily for marking up drawings. In my years of experience I have found these pens to be the best available for this task, insofar as longevity, price, line thickness, etc. is concerned, these pens beat out comparable offerings from Staedtler, Papermate, etc. Definitely an unsung hero as far as I am concerned, nice to see it getting some recognition.

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  2. These are good for when I'm grading and want to make a statement. I've bad my red one for ages.

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  3. I think doing the inexPENsive series is a good idea!

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  4. I recently found a green one at my grandmas house, assuming it was grandpa's before he died it must be at least 25 years old and wtill works fine. This must be fairly forever lasting for a disposable pen.

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