I admire your relentlessness of pursuing the truth in search of the longest writing Pilot G2. So Black 0.38 basically writes forever :) I can't wait to see the test result for Uniball One line, and the Zebra Sarasa line as well. It would be very interesting to see the difference for sure. And then move over to oil based ink and the hybrids. I am so curious about Jetstream as well. I am such a pen-geek and I am so happy you're doing this.
In latin countries Paper Mate sells a 1.0 mm ink ballpoint called "Kilometrico" as in it can write a kilometer. Really cool to see it might be true when the G2 1.0 reaches that range. Awesome work!
The introduction of the Pilot G2 made me switch from pencils to ink when I was in college. A few years ago I did a bit of napkin math to determine what I've spent on G2's since I've been in college (I write a lot). It made buying a Pilot Custom 823 fountain pen a lot easier for me, especially since I favor the 1.0 over the 0.7. What can I say- I like wet broads :X If you want to take your ink efficiency tests to the next level, start doing them with fountain pens. It is pretty common knowledge in the fountain pen world that an extra fine will have greater ink efficiency than a double broad when it comes to tip width, but having actual numbers of what the difference is would be huge for some people. Doing some napkin math in terms of what I've spent on G2 pens over the years made me realize that ~$35 for 50mL of Iroshizuku ink (a "luxury/expensive" bottled ink) is actually a bargain compared to buying G2's, and that is just in terms of monetary consideration and not accounting for the landfill space used by disposable pens like the G2. Even though ink efficiency isn't a prime consideration to me (as I favor broad or double broad fountain pens that write wet), it is a topic that I am interested in. Anyhow, you've got yourself a new subscriber. I hope your scriptory rabbit hole exploration leads you to the joy and satisfaction that is embodied in fountain pens- truly an elegant tool for a more civilized age.
I am not a huge fan of the G2 honestly, but I have always noticed how long they last when they write. I always use a 0.7 or a 0.5 (which I find pretty scratchy, but useful) and I have always noticed that they never seem to run out. Compared to my preferred Energel which seems to just empty in a matter of minutes. I really like these more standardize and academic endeavors especially for claims that brands make. Pilot never provides any evidence for their "longest writing" claim so it's nice to see. I would love to see some other pens tested and then compared to really see which is the SHORTEST writing. Definitely not something they'd advertise but it would be nice to know
Loved it. You should try the same with Schneider One Business pens. 0.5mm claims to write 2000 metres. 0.6mm claims to write 2200 metres. 0.3mm claims to write 2500 metres. And 1.0mm claims to write 2000 metres. You may need a good or higher GSM paper for these pens though.
Great find on those pens. Where are you seeing the distance claims? The higher end paper is a tough call now, give how many house I have invested but you are right, it’s an issue I need to review
Just hope companies won't reduce the ink for finer tips as in the end they can clearly make all the pens write the same length regardless of the tip size.
The reality is that the larger tip size will slightly affect how much it can go. However I'd like to see something like this for fountain pens to see what the most reliable ones are which would be interesting.
@@MitchellJBridges I meant companies can reduce the ink on smaller tips. So that in the end it will write the same as bigger tips rather than writing more. The companies can clearly do that which I don't want , that's it
@@hilmyakatsuki1665 I don’t see that happening really. It’s bad practice, and for what you retain in profits, its not worth it. Think about the competitors, one pen company might do and it won’t take long for people to notice and switch over. As greedy as most companies are, I imagine this is one line they won’t ever cross.
@@unsharpen that actually would make an interesting test in and of itself. Within a brand and size (Pilot G2 0.5, Uni jetstream 0.36, etc.) the differences in longevity of different colors. Like I said above, green tends to be drier across multiple brands, so I’d be curious to see how different colors would perform.
im not sure how well it would work, but a fountain pen like the platinum preppy would be interesting, they come in 02, 03, and 05 sizes. If i were to guess they would not last super long due to being a water based ink, but who knows
@@unsharpen yeah that's one of the unfortunate things about disposal fountain pens, the pen is expensive but the replacement ink for a converter is dirt cheap
Thanks for putting in a lot of hours and detailed work. I wonder if some of the "running out of ink" is really a question of tip wear (and accumulatiion of micro-debris where tip revolves in the housing)...?
Tip wear seems unlikely to me given the metal construction but accumulation of paper fibers could definitely be an issue. I do see some fibers near the ball but I’m not sure they could get in between the ball and the holder given the tolerance. This is one thing I’m not sure how to prevent except going to a glossier paper, which seems like it might extend the life given lower absorption rates
The 0.7 and 1.0 Tips are the Best They make over 41 Different Colors for the 0.7 Tip While they only make 12 for the 1.0 One 10 for the 0.5 and 4 for 38mm
I wonder if you have the capacity to rotate the pen body 90 degrees at the end of a line like a Parker jotter does? That might take away quite a few of your skips. It might stop the pen from tearing the page also.
Sadly no, that would be outside of my area of expertise and really complicate the bot. I could out the pen at a more natural angle, say 65 deg, but I’m not sure of that would help, except with fountain pens
Very interesting experiment on Pilot G2 refills. Schneider claims its gel ink Gelion+ 0.5mm refill could write 1,100 meters. Considering the different ink volumes of Pilot G2 and Schneider Gelion+ refills, I would say Schneider's claim is quite comparable to the experiments in the video on Pilot G2 refill. At least for the two companies, the capacities of their gel inks are quite similar. You can have a rough idea about how far their gel ink refills can write, simply by the ink volumes and the nib sizes. Their gel inks are very similar, regarding to writing capacity. An interesting extension of the experiments on G2 refills, would be measuring the writing capacities of the traditional, oil-based ink cartridges such as those from Bic and the refills of the new, trendy hybrid ink refills represented by Uni Jetstream. Keep up the interesting experiments, gentleman.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, where basically anybody can sell any crazy stuff, mostly cheap knockoffs. Even in China, its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), has a similar, bad reputation. To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off the fake product reputation and avoid litigation associated with it, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, where basically anybody can sell any crazy stuff, mostly cheap knockoffs. Even in China, its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), has a similar, bad reputation. To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off the fake product reputation and avoid litigation associated with it, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, which has a certain reputation, where theoretically anybody could sell anything. Even in China, people have the similar impression about its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off that old impression and avoid certain litigation, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Schneider is also selling their products in China. On many well-known e-commerce sites in China, selling the Schneider products, they advertise that the gelion+ refill could write 1100 meters. Quite wide-spread advertisement. That's why I call it a claim and it's interesting to be independently verified.
@@unsharpen haha, I need to find my Pilot G2 notes, wonder how they compare! I was tempted to try a plotter myself at first, but after testing Sakura Gelly Roll and having the tip/ball mechanism fail twice, thought putting real "handy work" was interesting. Same happened with Fishers space pen - the ball failed on the two refills I tried.
![How Far Can A Pilot Varsity Fountain Pen Write? [Distance Test]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0CorCIqWi8o/mqdefault.jpg)
I admire your relentlessness of pursuing the truth in search of the longest writing Pilot G2. So Black 0.38 basically writes forever :) I can't wait to see the test result for Uniball One line, and the Zebra Sarasa line as well. It would be very interesting to see the difference for sure. And then move over to oil based ink and the hybrids. I am so curious about Jetstream as well. I am such a pen-geek and I am so happy you're doing this.
Thanks for taking the time and energy for executing these tests and sharing the results. This is amazing information for artists and writers. 🙌
Wow this is above and beyond. Really appreciate this.
In latin countries Paper Mate sells a 1.0 mm ink ballpoint called "Kilometrico" as in it can write a kilometer.
Really cool to see it might be true when the G2 1.0 reaches that range.
Awesome work!
Thanks for the tip! Just ordered some! That should be a very easy number for the pen to hit.
One of the best comparitive videos i ve come across. Very objective .keep up the excellent work !
Thanks! Glad you found it helpful.
Unmatched commitment in reviews. Bravo !
This is amazing data ! Thank you so much for taking the time making it !
The introduction of the Pilot G2 made me switch from pencils to ink when I was in college.
A few years ago I did a bit of napkin math to determine what I've spent on G2's since I've been in college (I write a lot).
It made buying a Pilot Custom 823 fountain pen a lot easier for me, especially since I favor the 1.0 over the 0.7. What can I say- I like wet broads :X
If you want to take your ink efficiency tests to the next level, start doing them with fountain pens. It is pretty common knowledge in the fountain pen world that an extra fine will have greater ink efficiency than a double broad when it comes to tip width, but having actual numbers of what the difference is would be huge for some people.
Doing some napkin math in terms of what I've spent on G2 pens over the years made me realize that ~$35 for 50mL of Iroshizuku ink (a "luxury/expensive" bottled ink) is actually a bargain compared to buying G2's, and that is just in terms of monetary consideration and not accounting for the landfill space used by disposable pens like the G2. Even though ink efficiency isn't a prime consideration to me (as I favor broad or double broad fountain pens that write wet), it is a topic that I am interested in.
Anyhow, you've got yourself a new subscriber. I hope your scriptory rabbit hole exploration leads you to the joy and satisfaction that is embodied in fountain pens- truly an elegant tool for a more civilized age.
Thanks for the kind words. I’ll be testing a fountain pen soon as I too was very curious about their distance relative to a gel pen
I am not a huge fan of the G2 honestly, but I have always noticed how long they last when they write. I always use a 0.7 or a 0.5 (which I find pretty scratchy, but useful) and I have always noticed that they never seem to run out. Compared to my preferred Energel which seems to just empty in a matter of minutes. I really like these more standardize and academic endeavors especially for claims that brands make. Pilot never provides any evidence for their "longest writing" claim so it's nice to see. I would love to see some other pens tested and then compared to really see which is the SHORTEST writing. Definitely not something they'd advertise but it would be nice to know
This is awesome. +1 to a Jetstream vs Ballpoint (BIC Cristal) face off. Would love to see that.
Will start these soon. Trying to get the testing methodology down before I commit super long tests
I would love to see how long a Parker G2 refill lasts.
Yes that’s going to be a very long test
you are a very dedicated pen-man good sir
Thank you kindly
@@unsharpeni have the mini. Its always a .7 isnt it? Theres a xs but thats not the one that says mini.
Yes I think it’s only 0.7mm for the mini
Love these tests. Keep it up! :)
Thanks, will do!
Loved it. You should try the same with Schneider One Business pens. 0.5mm claims to write 2000 metres. 0.6mm claims to write 2200 metres. 0.3mm claims to write 2500 metres. And 1.0mm claims to write 2000 metres.
You may need a good or higher GSM paper for these pens though.
Great find on those pens. Where are you seeing the distance claims?
The higher end paper is a tough call now, give how many house I have invested but you are right, it’s an issue I need to review
Just hope companies won't reduce the ink for finer tips as in the end they can clearly make all the pens write the same length regardless of the tip size.
The reality is that the larger tip size will slightly affect how much it can go. However I'd like to see something like this for fountain pens to see what the most reliable ones are which would be interesting.
@@MitchellJBridges I meant companies can reduce the ink on smaller tips. So that in the end it will write the same as bigger tips rather than writing more. The companies can clearly do that which I don't want , that's it
@@hilmyakatsuki1665 I don’t see that happening really. It’s bad practice, and for what you retain in profits, its not worth it. Think about the competitors, one pen company might do and it won’t take long for people to notice and switch over. As greedy as most companies are, I imagine this is one line they won’t ever cross.
@gibxkey7633 I hope this will be the case but many companies around the world does similar things.
In my personal experience, green ink seems to be a dryer ink than other colors, so the green lasting longer makes sense to me.
Yea ink color is an another variable that perhaps I should not have introduced, but I was in a pinch and needed to buy the G2 0.5mm locally
@@unsharpen that actually would make an interesting test in and of itself. Within a brand and size (Pilot G2 0.5, Uni jetstream 0.36, etc.) the differences in longevity of different colors. Like I said above, green tends to be drier across multiple brands, so I’d be curious to see how different colors would perform.
im not sure how well it would work, but a fountain pen like the platinum preppy would be interesting, they come in 02, 03, and 05 sizes. If i were to guess they would not last super long due to being a water based ink, but who knows
Yes it works well but distance is low. Next video might be a fountain pen
@@unsharpen yeah that's one of the unfortunate things about disposal fountain pens, the pen is expensive but the replacement ink for a converter is dirt cheap
Thank you for the hard work! It would be interesting to see the results from some popular D1 refills, which are used by many multi/pocket pens.
I have black and blue pilot g2 0.7 on my drawers
It would be cool to test Fountian pen cartridges and coverters to see how much writing you get with each fill.
Thanks for putting in a lot of hours and detailed work. I wonder if some of the "running out of ink" is really a question of tip wear (and accumulatiion of micro-debris where tip revolves in the housing)...?
Tip wear seems unlikely to me given the metal construction but accumulation of paper fibers could definitely be an issue. I do see some fibers near the ball but I’m not sure they could get in between the ball and the holder given the tolerance. This is one thing I’m not sure how to prevent except going to a glossier paper, which seems like it might extend the life given lower absorption rates
awesome test
The 0.7 and 1.0 Tips are the Best They make over 41 Different Colors for the 0.7 Tip While they only make 12 for the 1.0 One 10 for the 0.5 and 4 for 38mm
I wonder if you have the capacity to rotate the pen body 90 degrees at the end of a line like a Parker jotter does? That might take away quite a few of your skips. It might stop the pen from tearing the page also.
Sadly no, that would be outside of my area of expertise and really complicate the bot. I could out the pen at a more natural angle, say 65 deg, but I’m not sure of that would help, except with fountain pens
You seem to really be in to pens, do you have any fountain pens? I feel that a fountain pen offers the best writing experience.
Yes I have a few! I’m a big fan of a few, mostly from platinum
Answering the real questions!
good job
Right?
Very interesting experiment on Pilot G2 refills. Schneider claims its gel ink Gelion+ 0.5mm refill could write 1,100 meters. Considering the different ink volumes of Pilot G2 and Schneider Gelion+ refills, I would say Schneider's claim is quite comparable to the experiments in the video on Pilot G2 refill. At least for the two companies, the capacities of their gel inks are quite similar. You can have a rough idea about how far their gel ink refills can write, simply by the ink volumes and the nib sizes. Their gel inks are very similar, regarding to writing capacity.
An interesting extension of the experiments on G2 refills, would be measuring the writing capacities of the traditional, oil-based ink cartridges such as those from Bic and the refills of the new, trendy hybrid ink refills represented by Uni Jetstream. Keep up the interesting experiments, gentleman.
Thanks for the thoughtful note. Where are you seeing the gelion rated for 1100 meters? I can’t find anything on their site. Thank you.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, where basically anybody can sell any crazy stuff, mostly cheap knockoffs. Even in China, its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), has a similar, bad reputation. To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off the fake product reputation and avoid litigation associated with it, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, where basically anybody can sell any crazy stuff, mostly cheap knockoffs. Even in China, its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), has a similar, bad reputation. To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off the fake product reputation and avoid litigation associated with it, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Where am I seeing the gelion+ 1100 meters claim? Long story. Many people know aliexpress, which has a certain reputation, where theoretically anybody could sell anything. Even in China, people have the similar impression about its counterpart taobao marketplace (both aliexpress and taobao were created by Jack Ma), To solve the problem, they set up a branching out site called "tmall" where sellers officially certified by the brands congregate. At this branching out site, every brand only has one associated flagship shop, which is required to be certified by the brand owner. They wish to shake off that old impression and avoid certain litigation, in this way. I read the 1100 meters claim on the Schneider flagship shop site at tmall. I could immediately put the long web link in the reply, but feel hesitant for many obvious reasons. Schneider is also quite secretive about the writing capacities of their refills. At their own site, no meters shown for the gelion+ refills.
@@unsharpen Schneider is also selling their products in China. On many well-known e-commerce sites in China, selling the Schneider products, they advertise that the gelion+ refill could write 1100 meters. Quite wide-spread advertisement. That's why I call it a claim and it's interesting to be independently verified.
You should check out the Spoke Click Model C pen. I'm loving it. Favorite refill at the moment is Monteverde Capless Ceramic Gel Refill - blue/black.
I wonder why you sound like the Stranger parts channel guy! 😮
Oh my, I was making "how far can X write" by hand X_x
Probably has many advantages over this method if you have the patience and wrist durability!
@@unsharpen haha, I need to find my Pilot G2 notes, wonder how they compare! I was tempted to try a plotter myself at first, but after testing Sakura Gelly Roll and having the tip/ball mechanism fail twice, thought putting real "handy work" was interesting. Same happened with Fishers space pen - the ball failed on the two refills I tried.
100% this. Physical failures before running out of ink is the real problem here.