Well, since I was still in the mood for writing stationery reviews, I thought that it would be interesting to compare the two 0.7mm rollerball pens that I’ve had the most experience with – namely the “Uni-Ball Eye” (or, in the US, “Uni-Ball Vision”) and the “Pilot V Ball 0.7”.
I’ll be looking at the black ink variants of both, although they are both also made in a variety of other ink colours too. And, yes, this is exactly the sort of pointless connoisseurship that I criticised in this other article. It’s still fun to write though…
Here are the two pens. There’s the “Pilot V Ball 0.7” on the left and the 0.7mm “Uni-Ball Eye” on the right.
If you’ve never heard of rollerball pens, they have the same “ball in a socket” nib as a ballpoint pen or gel pen, but they use thinner fountain pen style ink instead. They’re like a more practical and user-friendly alternative to a fountain pen. Yes, they have some of the downsides of a fountain pen (eg: the ink can bleed through thinner paper) but they write really smoothly and boldly, and are just really fun to use 🙂
As for the two pens, they’re fairly similar in a lot of ways but each one has advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a writing sample from each pen:
Here’s some text and scribbles written with each of the two pens. Remember, don’t write on thinner paper with these pens (since it’ll cause “bleed through”).
The “Pilot V.Ball 0.7” is the smoothest-writing of the two and it is an absolute JOY to write with, gliding across the page with barely even a thought. It feels very slightly more “precise” too.
In the looks department, the black ink version has a seriously cool-looking black and gold body too. With other ink colours, the body and cap are the same colour as the ink, making it easy to tell them apart at a glance.
On the downside, the ink isn’t waterproof – making it much more suitable for ordinary writing than for any type of mixed-media art. Likewise, whilst there is technically an ink level viewing window near the top of the pen, it practically requires you to hold the pen up to a bright light source to actually see it… and it also only allows you to see about the top 1.7cm – 3.4cm (it’s a transparent band with a small niche in it) of the ink reservoir.
On the other hand, the “Uni-Ball Eye” writes reasonably smoothly, but fractionally less so than the “V Ball”. The ink is very slightly darker than the “V Ball” too – and the pen is slightly more “inky” too.
It also has the advantage of being both waterproof and fade-proof, making it a great choice as an art pen – since you can draw line art with it and then add watercolour or whatever afterwards. However, looking at this video online , only some – but not all – ink colours are waterproof (personally, I’ve only tested the black, blue and red varieties – all of which are waterproof). If an “Eye” pen has the words “waterproof/fade-proof” printed next to the ink viewing window then it will be ok, but if it doesn’t then it isn’t.
It has a much larger and clearer ink level viewing window, allowing you to see more of the reservoir and get a better idea of how much ink is left. However, in the looks department, the “default” version of the pen is a boring utilitarian grey. Looking online, there is also a 1.0mm variant which has a cool gold/copper body, but this is a review of the 0.7mm version – which only seems to come in drab-looking grey.
With other ink colours, this is indicated in a variety of ways which – looking online – seems to depend on production year, manufacturing location and/or nib size. Sometimes the whole pen is colour-coded, sometimes just the end caps are colour-coded (like the blue and red examples I have left-over from a multi-pack) and sometimes you can only tell by looking at the viewing window and nib casing.
Both pens are a similar length when capped, with the “V Ball” being 13.5cm long and the “Eye” being 13.8cm long. The extra length of the “Eye” seems to be due to the design of its end-cap and I don’t know the exact amount of ink that each pen contains.
As for pricing, this is a difficult one to compare. From my experience with buying these pens online, the prices can vary wildly depending on special offers, quantity, individual sellers etc… Sometimes it is cheaper to get one and sometimes it is cheaper to get the other. If you find a good deal, then you’ll typically be paying 70p – £1.70 per pen with either type, though some sellers charge more for them.
In general, both pens are pretty solid. Which one is better for you will depend on what you are looking for. If you just want to write stuff and want to look stylish whilst doing it, then go for the “V Ball” because it is the smoothest and coolest of the two. If you need waterproof ink, if like your ink as dark as possible and/or you like to know how much ink is left in the pen, then go for the “Uni-Ball Eye”.
The “V Ball” is a pen that is just FUN to write with and makes you feel cool whilst using it, whilst the “Uni-Ball Eye” is a more versatile and utilitarian pen. Still, the differences between the two aren’t that large if you’re just writing with them. So, if you’re interested in writing with rollerballs, just choose whichever one of these two is cheapest and/or easiest to find.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
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