| Pen Type | Gel pen |
| Point Size(s) | Ultra Fine, Extra Fine(.5mm), Fine (.7mm) and Bold |
| Water-resistant | No - regardless of what some office supply sites may claim |
| Ink Color | 14 - Black, Blue, Red, Green, Purple, Pink, Turquoise, Burgundy, Orange, Hunter Green, Navy Blue, Periwinkle, Lime, Carmel |
| Capped/Retractable | Retractable |
| Clip | Yes |
| Approx Price | ~$2 for 1 pen. $16 for 8 color pack |
I’ve been refusing to get/use G2’s since I first saw it from a coworker in the office many years ago — because they are so tacky looking. They look quite clean at first, but the clear barrel showing off the yellow/orange gel(?) at the end of the refill just looks yucky, and golden color label on the clip just looks cheesy. I just can’t picture using it. At the time, I was using “Zebra Sarasa Gel Retractable” and “Uniball Signo 207” which are both more elegant looking to me.
It wasn’t until recently that I took a second look at the G2s again. Everywhere I turn, everyone seems to be using it. Even people who are normally not picky about pens claim to like it a lot. I needed to know what they are so drawn to. So I decided to take the plunge and get one. I was at the store and saw the standard package of “1 black, 1 blue, 1 red” pens and “2 black” pens. Looking at them, I remember all the reasons the G2 did not appeal to me. As I was walking away, I noticed the package of “turquoise, purple, and pink”. I wasn’t very fond of the pink, but the turquoise looked very interesting and purple is always a good color to test (I have a theory that purple ink is the most difficult to get right based on experiences of the many purple pens that died unexpectedly on me).
Anyway, back to the review of the G2…
The grip of the pen is pretty awesome - one of the things I was suspicious about regarding the grip was the shape. There’s a slight concavity followed by a slight bump. I’ve had some bad experiences previously with pens that don’t have a straight shape grip that did not fit the fingers/hand properly – sliding/slipping in wrong direction, etc. But the G2 does not have that problem. Now that I think about it some more, it’s actually a very smart design. Usually people with smaller hands want smaller grip and they tend to hold the pen closer to the tip. Whereas people with bigger hand would want a bigger grip and hold the pen higher. By creating this increasing barrel size as you get farther from the tip, it satisfies a much wider audience than that of a straight grip. And the genius is that it tilts back out really near the tip creating a cradle for the fingers and added extra horizontal grooves to increase friction.
The flow of ink is pretty smooth and consistent - on the better end for a gel pen. The weight and balance of the pen is good. It’s a bit heavier than the zebra sarasa - which I like. It gives it a more substantial feel (i.e. less cheap). But then again, I’m comparing a new g2 with old sarasa, so may be it’s the weight of the gel ink. Hmm, let me just remove the ink and redo the test in my hand. Ok, so correction, the 2 pens are about the same weight without the ink (never realize how heavy the gel ink was). Btw, an interesting design note, the screw on the G2 is in the middle of the barrel instead of the more common placement – at the tip of the pen. This is a great design decision - making it much easier to screw on/off (because of larger surface area to hold on to) than its other retractable competitors.
Overall, G2 is a good, solid, well balanced pen. But at the same time, it is also one of the more commonly seen pens in the office. So if you don’t want to look like everyone else, or just want to add a little bit of spark or personality, get one in a unusual color that you like. I am currently in love with turquoise. (And I still hate the black and blue ones - probably for the wrong reasons, but I don’t care!!) Looking forward to trying hunter green some day.
| Nib/Ink flow | 4/5 (consistent, smooth for fine point – I’m reserving the last point for when I try the other point sizes) |
| Design/Looks | 3/5 (depends on color - for me at least) |
| Grip/Balance/Weight | 5/5 (superb grip, great balance, good weight with full ink) |
| Construction | 5/5 (well made, very sturdy, especially like the the screw in middle of barrel) |
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