Freak369's Full Review: Sanford Uni Ball Vision Roller Ball Pen Fine Point...
It’s not too often that I stray away from black gel or roller ball pens when I am drawing; most of the stuff that I do is in black or gray tones so it’s rare that I have the need to hunt down pink, yellow or orange. The Passion Pink Roller Ball isn’t new, it’s been in the Vision family of Uni-Ball pens for a while now but I never had much call for the color. When I was mounting some of my older designs on card stock there were a few of them that needed some additional work. Mostly hearts, blood and letters that were done in solid red; there was nothing wrong with the way that they looked but they didn’t have any color detail to them so I used this pen to add some around edges, to give the illusion of a shadow or soften hard lines. I’ve used this in the past for writing greeting cards or a short note to someone but not that much for artistic endeavors. I knew that the ink was quick drying and the point was fine but I didn’t know how well this worked on textured paper as well as with other type of ink. This might cost you a little more than the run of the mill roller ball pens but once you try it out, price won’t be a factor for very long.
Sanford Uni-Ball Fine Point Vision .3mm Roller Ball Pen - Passion Pink
One of the biggest selling points to the Vision line is that there is an ink supply window along the side. This lets you see exactly how much ink you have left so you never get caught with a pen that is ready to die. This is a roller ball pen so the tip will never get mushy or break; the ink flows nicely from it and there are rarely an occasion where it spits or clumps up. About the only time you will have any problems with this is when dirt gets stuck to the tip; because I do a lot of art work in pencil first, eraser grit is something that I have to deal with. Get even the smallest piece of this on the tip and you will end up with ink that goes where it pleases instead of where you want it. There is no need to prime these or doodle with them when you start writing, just pick it up, put it to paper and get on with things. The cap snaps on to the pen with a nice little click so you know that it’s securely in place and the cap clip allows you to attach it to pen sleeves or pockets inside a briefcase or backpack.
Almost every pen I have tried out from the Uni-Ball line has worked perfectly; the ones that didn’t weren’t defective or poorly designed, they just weren’t something that I enjoyed using or didn’t suit my needs. The Passion Pink color is bright and bold but at the same time, when used with blazing reds or dark purples, it comes off as soft and muted. This looks great on almost every type of paper but it is not a ‘milky’ pen so it won’t show up on black paper. The metal roller ball tip gives you expert control when drawing or doing fine line work but this isn’t something that you are going to want to use on thin paper like vellum. The tip can and will rip through it easily and the same warning goes for multi layered pages or duplicate forms. You will be able to press down on the tip to make the impression but you will also tear through the top few pages.
Tip Size
This pen falls in the middle of the Vision and Exact Vision family from Sanford. These pens range from .2mm [micro point] to .5mm [exact vision] so this is something that you are going to want to pay close attention to when buying these. The point size is clearly marked on the barrel or cap [another difference between the Vision and Exact Vision lines] but if you are counting on displays to have these pens accurately stocked, you are going to be almost guaranteed to get the wrong size. For most of the art that I do, a .3mm is adequate but if I need to add fine lines or clean up sloppy edges the .2mm is the one that I need. The Passion Pink .3mm is a nice pick for letter writing, adding details [cute little hearts] to envelopes or to add a bit of color around red hues.
Price
Most of the time you can find these for about $1.29 to $1.59; you can purchase them by the box or individually but you really have to be careful if you are buying them from an open display rack. People grab them, test them out and never manage to get them back in the right section. Even worse they put the wrong cap back on them; if you are buying one that has the tip size on the cap and not the barrel, you could very well end up with the wrong pen. When I am buying the colored pens I usually start off getting an individual one to see how it works out, if I like it then I’ll look and see if they sell them in multi packs. The basic colors like black, red and blue can always be used around the house for general writing purposes but when you get into the specialty colors, it’s best to buy them individually. These do cost a little more than other roller ball pens but to em they are worth it because you can see exactly how much ink you have left and the tip is fine but not micro fine.
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of really exciting colors in the Vision and Exact vision line; some of my other favorites include Majestic Purple, Evergreen and Pumpkin Orange. The Passion Pink is a great color to have around to write out cards for Valentine’s Day or sending out a secret love letter to someone. From an artistic standpoint it is something that I don’t have much need to most of the time but when I do, I know that it is going to work perfectly each and every time. The roller ball design means that you get a smooth write without skipping or feathering of ink. I’ve yet to have one of these leak or break on me and that’s thank to the completely closed off design of the ink tank and barrel. About the only down side to this is that it isn’t refillable. That fact has never really influenced me when it comes to buying pens; most of the time the bodies of them are so worn and haggard that I need to buy a replacement anyway. If you are a pen junkie and you haven’t tried out any of the Vision pens from Sanford, the Passion Pink is a nice one to start with if you want a lighter shade ink, otherwise, try out one of the darker hues or the basic ones in black, red and blue.
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