Uni-Ball Air: As Smooth As A Fountain Pen?

[SoulSamurai]

Yesterday I was walking past a local Borders bookshop when I spotted a large poster of a pen. The poster boldly claimed that the pen was as smooth as a fountain pen. My curiosity was piqued, so I went to investigate. Then pen came in a three piece set (blue, black, red) for about 4.50 USD - a very reasonable price by local standards.

(Translation: writes like a feather pen)

 

The pens have an interesting shape, where the body/section tapers directly onto the ball point itself rather than the ball point having any type of neck:

 

The pens seem to use a liquid ink; like a fountain pen the ink can bleed and feather, even from just touching the pen to the same spot for a few seconds. In this photo I wrote on both sides of the paper; you can see the ink coming through from the other side. The dot next to the colour name is where I touched the nib to the paper for something like five seconds (maybe more).

 

So they are basically disposable ink ball pens I guess. But do they live up to the bold claims Uniball is making? Well, to be honest, all three write very smoothly; smoother than many of my fountain pens in fact, almost a match for the smoothest pens I own, and smoother than any of my refillable ink ball pens. Unlike a standard ball point they write a solid line even if you have a fairly light touch (as far as I could tell anyway), but they are still very smooth even under a heavy hand. So yes, I was very impressed. However, I should make a couple of disclaimers:

First, I don't have a particularly extensive (or expensive) fountain pen collection, so I'm no expert on pen smoothness.

Second, I've only just started using them, so I don't know how they'll hold up (I have a vague impression from my existing ink ball pens that they can get less smooth quite quickly).

Third, all my fountain pens are F and Ms; these Uniballs write a fairly bold line (thicker than any non-stub pen fountain pen I currently own) and they are quite wet, so it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

 

The fact is that these are very nice pens to write with, and with their long section they should be quite comfortable for most people to hold. They do have a step, but it's not too bad. They are obviously quite light, being plastic. However, they do seem quite wet, so they might not be a good pick for cheap paper as bleeding and feathering are a concern. And they put down a rather thick line; too thick for me personally. So overall they probably aren't as practical as a good gel pen, and not as pleasurable to own as a good fountain pen, and of course they don't have the versatility of being able to pick nibs and inks or the long term economy of using bottled ink (well, I'm sure someone out there will figure out how to refill them, but sooner or later that ball is going to wear out). Overall I don't think they're for me, being a fountain pen user myself, but I can see ballpoint pen users enjoying these as "casual use" pens (probably not suitable for students taking notes for example, depending on how small they like to write and what quality of paper they write on). I wonder if it's something an artist might enjoy using?

 

Anyway, has anyone seen or tried these out? How did you find them?

Edited August 24, 2018 by SoulSamurai

[pararis]

Thanks. Looks like an interesting rollerball. It's a 0.7mm tip, but reviews at JetPens suggest it puts down a much broader line -- and is very wet. Looks like the kind of thing that would take days to dry on Tomoe River paper.

 

I'll have to try one.

[AlohaLani787]

Interesting pens. I use Uni-balls for check writing, but have long chosen only the Fine tips because of reasons you mention regarding wetness and bold lines. The ones I use are:

 

Uni-ball Vision Fine tip: waterproof and fadeproof

Uni-ball Vision Elite Fine tip

Uni-ball Deluxe Fine tip

 

The Vision's are my favorite and write the smoothest of the three, but due to the fine tip it isn't even close to the smoothness of my fountain pens. I'll use up what I have left of the others and buy only Vision in the future.

[KellyMcJ]

Uni-ball pens are the best throw away pens you can buy, in my opinion. I use their gel refills at work currently.

 

I've used the Uniball Vision, which is similar. I really liked them.

[Corona688]

Uni-Ball is my favorite rollerball. The liquid-ink ones can survive years of neglect and can be refilled a few times with fountain pen ink. Uni-Ball Micros can, anyway, the far end comes off, trying to remove the tip just ruins them.

[KellyMcJ]

Uni-Ball is my favorite rollerball. The liquid-ink ones can survive years of neglect and can be refilled a few times with fountain pen ink. Uni-Ball Micros can, anyway, the far end comes off, trying to remove the tip just ruins them.

 

The liquid ink ones last for years too. I had one I just couldn't kill. They seemingly never run out of ink.

[Honeybadgers]

Question is - can these be used without the obnoxiously uncomfortable writing angle that every ball pen I've ever used in my life requires?

 

I'll look into a ball pen that isn't my fisher AG7 when one comes along that lets me write at my 45 degree angle.

[pararis]

I got a couple, and they are devilishly smooth. Better have a blotter on hand; wetter than my fountain pens (except Noodles Black Eel). I learned that on 90 gsm Rhodia that is perfect with fountain pens. Wish they made a blue-black.

[SoulSamurai]

Question is - can these be used without the obnoxiously uncomfortable writing angle that every ball pen I've ever used in my life requires?

 

I'll look into a ball pen that isn't my fisher AG7 when one comes along that lets me write at my 45 degree angle.

I found that you can write with them at a fairly shallow angle little noticeable decline in smoothness; they are certainly better than my currently inked inkball anyway. I don't have them to hand so I can't be very specific right now though.

[pararis]

Question is - can these be used without the obnoxiously uncomfortable writing angle that every ball pen I've ever used in my life requires?

 

I'll look into a ball pen that isn't my fisher AG7 when one comes along that lets me write at my 45 degree angle.

45 degree angle is no problem with mine.

[amberleadavis]

Thanks for the review!

[flatline]

I've got 3 that I bought several years ago. They are my go-to bold pens for when I'm labeling charts and diagrams for posting outside my cube. I do believe that they write smoother than any of my fountain pens.

 

However, they are too wet and make too wide a line to be general purpose writers for my moderately small handwriting.

 

What makes them particularly interesting to me is that if you unscrew the grip section, you'll find that there is a large ink cartridge that you can remove and refill. Once I run them out of ink, I fully intend to see how they behave with fountain pen ink. As wet as they are, I fear that it may be a mess, but it should be fun to try. I've never had a refillable rollerball before.

 

--flatline