[Pen/Pencil Review] The Uni-Ball BLX Vision Elite Micro Assorted Colors

Wow… it’s been a while since I’ve done a UNI pen. And this does goes to show that I don’t JUST do Pentel. I just HAVE more Pentel than anything else, though if UNI wanted to send me stuff, too, I wouldn’t say no… Anyway, I’ve had this particular collection for a little while now, and it’s about time I got to them.

I picked up the BLX collection because I thought I’d prefer the capped stick pen of the Vision Elite – and in normal writing conditions, this is true. If I’m using gel or roller at my day job, I’m finding retractable works better. So that’s on the list. But the stick pens are still nice. They’re a good length, about 5.5” capped and just over 6” with the cap posted.

The ink is what UNI is touting with this one. It’s a mix of color and black so you have dark color – which actually delivers. The ink is dark and rich, even with the 0.5mm point (which I LOVE). Uni-ball touts their Uni-Flow system, which does seem to provide a smooth, skip free ink system. And it’s airplane safe – though I’ve never had a problem with any pen exploding on a plane.

I liked the color in these pens, and I need to use them more. I really, really do.

Let’s see the numbers…

1. How does it work? – 1 – it works well. The ink dries quickly – even on slick paper. There will be some smearing if you touch it too quickly, but that’s typical of all gel inks. There’s little to no skipping with a fine line, so that’s also a good point.
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – the length is comfortable. The pen has some ergonomics to the grip, but it’s still and inexpensive pen.
3. Material – 0.5 it’s plastic. It’s lightweight plastic. It’s meant to be used, lost and/or thrown away. The innovations have gone into the ink – not the packaging.
4. Overall Design – 1 I do like the overall design for this pen – since it’s not MEANT to be “fancy”, this is where the utilitarian design works for the pen. It’s a generic workhorse, liquid ink pen that does what it promises to do – work. And it appears to be refillable, but yeah, I haven’t seen the refills.
5. Price Point – 0.05 – for a liquid ink pen, it’s good but a bit on the expensive side – unless you find them on sale (which I think I did). They seem to be running $9-$12 for a multi-pack which makes them over $2 a pop.

That’s 3.5 bronze pencils out of 5.

Tags: 0.5mm, BLX, micro point, Roller Ball, Uni, Uni-Ball, Vision Elite