[Pen/Pencil Review] Pilot FriXion – Can’t Totally Quit You
I have a guest blog out today that talks about how I grew up with one food rule – you have to at least TRY a food before you decide you don’t like it. Since I’ve embraced that, I’ve also tried to revisit foods I didn’t like as a kid and seeing if my tastes change. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t – like okra, I’ve tried to like okra but I just can’t. I have a few pens like this. The Pilot FriXion is one of them.
I tried them when they first came out – and wrote the review before ratings. Later, I picked up a three-pack of FriXion Retractable Clickers in 0.7mm points and did a modern review. Now I have one of the Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Pens, in black, from JetPens.
The barrel about 5.9″ long capped and 6.5″ with the cap posted, which is standard for a stick pen. The plastic barrel has no ergonomics – it’s a standard hexagonal barrel with a ribbed grip. The cap is clear plastic with no clip. The ink is decently dark. The roller ball is smooth. And it does erase pretty cleanly (very cleanly if you put some frustration into it.) I can’t fault the ink. The hard “eraser” is in the clear cap, which means you can’t set the cap aside or lose it.
Jetpens mentions sure the temperature warnings, but since there’s no packaging you have to know not to expose the ink to <14 degrees or >140 degrees. The issue I’ve had – and will always have with this pen is that if you leave a pen or notebook in your car during the summer (accidentally or on purpose) the ink be colorless (invisible). The packaging says you can put a pen in a freezer that’s colder than 14 degrees to get the ink color back. I’m told this works with notebooks as well…but I still find that off putting.
I can understand why these are popular, but unfortunately, this is one of the few “okra” pens. They’re okay, but with the stability issue, these will never be a “go to” pen for me.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 0.5 – It works. The ink flows well. The pen is an okay length. The ink is dark. The friction based eraser does its job well. The ink is unstable in temperature extremes.
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – It’s got traction, not a “grip”. They try. And it’s a straight barrel. The nod to ergonomics is just a nod.
3. Material – 1 – It’s a solidly made plastic stick pen
4. Overall Design – 0.5 – This is a solid stick pen. Do NOT lose the cap, or you lose the eraser. Lots of colors and options. I still want to see a more stable ink. The temperature issues really scare me. And they never say HOW LONG to leave the ink in the freezer below the recommended temperature range to get the color back.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – You’ll pay for the convenience of erasable. These pens run between $2.25 – $3.00 a piece for the “non-business” style – just the general pen. That’s not horribly over-priced, but it’s not good either.
That’s 3.0 of 5 bronze pencils.
