Pilot Pocket Brush Pen - Hard

Excellent pen brush in regards to touch and feel. Can create fine lines and relatively thick line. Although it's not in the same league as the more expensive synthetic hair pocket brush, it does have a blacker ink. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was it take FOREVER for the ink to dry. I'd recommend you wait at least 15 minutes before you erase any pencil lines.

I purchased this pen because I had fallen in love with Pilot's duel black & gray brush pen, but wasn't able to replace it once the black side ran out of ink. I was hoping this pen, being it's by the same manufacturer & labeled "hard" would be a close match. Sadly, I was disappointed. It's definitely softer than the duel pen's tip, which is why I was so excited by it in the first place. The ink is still nice and dark and copic-proof (can't say if it's waterproof though), but since I'm a little more heavy handed I need my brush pens to be a bit sturdier. I'm sure I could get used to this one with a bit of practice, but as for now I'm sadly lamenting not having my perfect pen. :(

It's a little too wet for me. the ink is nice and black, but it's really hard to make good quality lines with this thing. The tip isn't very sturdy and is EXTREMELY sensitive to pressure. Only really light-handed people will be able to use it well.

I love the line and modest width variation of this pen (from somewhat thin to not-too-thick), it handles well, and it would be beautiful for medium to larger drawings--BUT for two problems. It does dry out quickly on a longer stroke, and at the wet end of the stroke the ink seeps into and spreads out on every paper I normally use. Not hugely, but too much blur for a small or fine-line drawing. My Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen (hard) needs to air out a bit before use (it always comes out of the cap wet and sloppy, then after a few seconds is great), but so far that hasn't been a fix for using the Pilot. Maybe the trick is to use this nice tip with a different ink if that's possible.

One week later: This pen is still impressing me. I thought that the tip might have gone by now, but after a week of nightly sketching it is still as new.

While it can't handle super-quick long strokes, this is still a very impressive cartooning tool. I'm a brush and ink guy, but if I had to take one tool on a desert island, this would be it. You can do controlled lines, plus brush style and even lettering (although there are better brush/sign/fude pens for this) all in the one pen. Plus, there's an ink window, which I didn't notice when it was full. Great feature.

Downsides: Sometimes the line quality is a little scratchy on fast strokes, but not bad for a pen under five bucks! Also, I really hate the colour. The blue is a little brighter than in the Jetpens photos, and is very bleh as far as I'm concerned.

Next I'm going to update how it goes refilling with fountain pen ink. I've used this technique on other pens, and have kept them going for as long as the tip holds out! Watch this space.