Pilot Easy Touch - Pain Free Writing Without Sacrificing Style
Written: Mar 22 '03 (Updated Nov 09 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smooth ink, retractable, inexpensive, durable, comfort grip.
Cons: Only available in the basic colors.
The Bottom Line: Looking for a solid pen that is comfortable to use and won't cost an arm and a leg? Give the Pilot Easy Touch Retractable Pen a try.
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| Freak369's Full Review: PILOT CORPORATION OF AMERICA Pilot EasyTouch Retra... |
The Pilot name is usually associated with high quality, low price pens that are available at most office supply stores. They also manufacture mechanical pencils, markers, highlighters and a wide assortment of refills, erasers and specialty writing products. I am a pen junkie and love nothing more than coming across good deals at the store – combine those two and you have a somewhat deadly combination when I enter Office Depot during a sale. I came across these first at Wal-Mart when they were offered with a “Try Me Free” promotion that allowed you to send in the receipt, UPC and form to receive a check for the purchase price. How could I pass up a deal like that?
The Pilot Easy Touch Retractable Pen is a very nice looking writing tool that features a comfort grip to allow you to write for extended periods of time without hand cramps or loss of feeling in your fingers. The ink is top quality and gives you a nice crisp line regardless of whether you are using the fine or medium try tip pen. My personal preference is for the fin point but in most cases, either will do nicely. This is a great pen for anyone that does any amount of heavy writing since the comfort grip will help to absorb most of the pressure that is associated with extended periods of writing or note taking.
The Basics
The Pilot Easy Touch Retractable Pen is part of the new breed of writing instruments. Considered both disposable as well as refillable [something that still baffles me], it is an inexpensive ballpoint pen that is available in fine or medium point in black, blue or red ink. Retailing for about $1.75 - $2.25 it is more than worth the price in my opinion. The body of the pen is clear so you will be able to see how much ink is left however the comfort grip hides the last inch or so of the ink cartridge. The pen is a little thicker than most standard ballpoint pens but not so much so that it is hard to use. The pen features a nice solid clip so it can easily be attached to notebooks, backpacks or inside pocket protectors. So far I’ve never had any of the clips break but my sons seems to have the worst luck with them and end up snapping them off after about a month or so. The fact that they are retractable was a major plus since the boys have a pretty bad habit of losing the caps to pens. They tend to be a little harder on pens and mechanical pencils so if they can survive a month or so with the brood without completely breaking – I know I’ve found a good sturdy product.
Ink Flow
This pen writes almost as good as my expensive pens that never leave my desk under any circumstances. The ink flow is solid with no skipping or clotting so you won’t have to worry about it spitting all over the paper or writing surface. This works equally well on single sheets as it does on tables and never requires any type of ‘warm up’ to get the ink flowing. The black ink is nice and dark and is perfect for use with copy machines, carbon paper or filling out forms with multiple layers. The ink dries quickly and I’ve never had it smudge or end up on my hand when using it. This is a big plus with my boys since they do a lot of writing and hate having to use pens that have ‘loose ink’ or ink that bleeds on to your hands.
Refillable
If you find that you really like this pen and want to extend the life of it, you can purchase refills for it. The refills come in a medium or fine point with ink colors being the standard black, blue and red. The refills cost about $1.25 - $1.50 for a package of two refill ink sleeves. Since the ink cartridges are all inclusive all you have to do is unscrew the base of the pen [right below the comfort grip] and slide out the old ink sleeve and insert the new one. Make sure that you hold on to the small spring that is located at the tip of them pen in case the refill you purchase does not come with one or you need to replace one that has had the life squeezed or clicked out of it. The refillable option is nice for people who do a lot of writing and don’t want to carry extra pens with them. When you consider the initial cost of the pen verses purchasing the refill packages, you can end up saving a nice little chunk of change in the long run.
Comfort Grip
If you’ve never used a pen with a comfort grip you really don’t know what you are missing out on. The rubber grip band is a little longer than an inch and almost eliminates cramps when writing for an extended period of time. This is great for people who have mild arthritis or have trouble writing with standard ballpoint pens. The gripper isn’t soft and plush but rather stiff and ridged but you will feel the difference between regular pans and those that features a comfort grip design. When I started the boys out with regular ballpoint pens their penmanship was horrid but since I switched them over to pens with the comfort grip they no longer write like “chickens on crack” – which is the best way I can describe it. They have all said that writing with these pens is nicer than regular ones so for the extra few cents it is more than worth it.
The Bottom Line
Most people don’t really have a preference for pens but for those that do, I highly suggest giving the Pilot Easy Touch Retractable Pen a try. The ink is smooth, the comfort grip makes it as painless as possible and the cost is something that you really can’t argue about. I have several of these on my desk at all times as well as the refills for the boys. The only possible drawback that I can see is that they are only available in the medium and fine point as well as the basic colors [black, red and blue]. I’ve never had one leak or break on me and these tend to get tossed around a lot in my backpack and hold up to a lot of use and abuse without showing the slightest bit of wear.
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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