Pilot V Ball 0.5mm Liquid Ink Rollerball Review

If you prefer to write a finer line then the Pilot V Ball 0.5 may be for you.  A liquid ink rollerball that writes a 0.3mm line. This stick pen is available with light blue, red, green, black, blue, pink or last but not least violet ink, which is the colour I’ve chosen to review.

Whilst the ink looks wet as you write it does live up to Pilot’s claim of being quick drying.  A solid line of text hit the page & dried almost immediately, bringing to mind the saying watching paint dry for some obscure reason.

There was however nothing boring about my writing experience with the Pilot V Ball Liquid Ink Rollerball 0.5. The fluid in this pen flowed effortlessly from the cone shaped tip, it didn’t skip, left an attractive purple line in its wake & proved to be a pleasure to write with.

The appearance of a stick pen can never be enthralling, but Pilot don’t do a bad job of adding interest with text & colour. The barrel on the violet pen begins at the tip with 5 triangular indents that surround the nib, I’d describe this as as being a shade of lilac. Next is the transparent window, part of which contains several circular rows that filled with ink after continued use, the remainder is a window to view the ink level. Moving down the pen the transparent section merges with the rest of the casing which emulates the colour of the ink.

The lower barrel displays the branding in shiny silver text, & is completed with a tight fitting cap with a satin finished pocket clip. The clip has a subtle Pilot engraving & a small circle displays the ink colour.

Conclusion

Its a rare occurrence to find a pen without pros & cons.  On the side of the pros, I liked the quick drying ink that produced a densely coloured purple line for one. On the down side I found the lack of a distinctive grip section a bit annoying, maybe I’ve got too used to rubber & soft grips that seem to be part of so many of the pens in my ever growing collection. Something else I noted when writing was that on the occasions I poised pen in hand whilst deep in thought & not actually moving across the page, the liquid ink did leave spots on the paper, as though I’d held it on blotting paper.

Despite the negatives all in all I liked the writing experience  that the Pilot V ball 0.5 delivered, although looking at the ink level I doubt there will be much time left to enjoy it.