Uni-ball Signo Bit UM-201 Gel Ink Pen - 0.18 mm - Black

Yes, it's a specialized pen, and I don't think it would be comfortable for extensive writing sessions. (I'd suggest the Hi-Tec-C .25mm for that.) But I needed something this fine for annotations and small details in my sketchbooks. This pen has performed beautifully for three years now, on a variety of papers. A big plus for me is that the ink is absolutely waterproof, unlike the Hi-Tec-C's. So I can go over my drawings with watercolors without any fear of the color running.

I bought this pen because I happen to write small. (Less than 1mm text height to put this into perspective.) It definitely does its job very well as a small writing pen. I use this for all my classes, from writing notes between lines and writing entire essays on 6 lines of wide ruled paper.

Pros:
- The thin tip enables you to write thinner, smaller, and also in between lines.
- It also has excellent ink flow so you can write pretty fast with a pen this thin.

Cons:
- It runs out of ink rather quickly. Buy lots of refills if you want this pen to last. In my opinion, it's a price I'm more than willing to pay to write this small.
- If the pen is dropped tip first, it may start to bleed out ink. Not only will that make your line thicker than 0.18mm, it will waste ink as you write.

As a side note, if you lend these pens out to other people, tell them not to write on their hands if they are heavy handed. (They’ll cut themselves.) Also, some students (AP students in particular) may want to buy these pens from you. Either redirect them to this website or buy some extra to give away or sell.

Nice pen to own. .18mm size requires a slower hand to lay down proper ink flow but with patience is well worth the payoff. Unique +

What a pen, my friends, what a pen.... Think on this for a moment, the tip on this pen is, quite possibly, the smallest all metal nib made. You can ink very small, very thin lines with this, in fact, if you go too fast, you leave nothing but an indent in the paper. What makes this pen shine for me is the fact that you can use speed and pressure variations and whatnot to create even smaller and thinner lines than you ever could make with a felt tipped copic that is .05mm. It takes a fast yet gentle and painstakingly careful hand to work with that tiny copic. This uni ball signo bit is a beautiful thing because it costs less, much less, is very sturdy compared to the copic felt tip, and is relatively easily replaced.

Now, that said, the ink goes quick, like a reviewer said, because uni ball is cutting costs and putting less in. I just got it out of the package, and it was half empty. Not only do they put less in, but the space which contains the ink is ludicrously thin as well. The pocket clip has not broken yet, but I put zero trust in it due to the ominous rattlings coming from it. Refills are, actually, quite expensive, just a little less than the full pen itself.

In conclusion, I would only get this for annotation or drawing, and I would, and will, get it again.

For the last few years these have been among my favorite pens and by far are the best of the micro-fine points on the market today. My review of the Uni-ball Signo Bit .18 can be be found at the link below:

http://finepoints.net/2012/08/12/review-uni-ball-signo-18-bit/