One of my major “pandemic projects” has been to bring the content on this website up to date: deleting years-old announcements and “deals” posts containing outdated links, advertisements and sponsor posts from companies no longer in existence, and other material that’s basically clutter and makes it more difficult to find truly useful content. In the process, I’ve come across many reviews that I hadn’t read in several years, including this piece from nearly five years ago in which I discuss my appreciation for the Pilot G2, and even call it my personal favorite gel pen. It’s time to revisit to see whether this opinion still holds true.

Short Answer: I Still Like the Pilot G2 Overall

For the most part, my original review holds up. While I’ve never been on board with the G2’s moniker as the “World’s Best Pen” or “World’s Most Popular Pen” or whatever, I also don’t believe that it deserves the shade thrown its way. For a pen that most people can find in their corner grocery store, the G2 is quite good and, in my mind, serves the same role as the Bic Cristal: a classic pen that’s almost universally available with a refill that provides a consistently decent writing experience whenever you need to just get some work done. For that reason, I continue to keep a handful of Pilot G2s in my desk. While the standard plastic G2 body has zero character and isn’t particularly comfortable, for a small amount of money you can upgrade to the G2 Limited, which offers a better grip and balance for less than $10. I still own two.

The G2 does an excellent job of preventing evaporation from the cartridge, presumably due to the plastic cap and whatever material Pilot uses to seal off the ink. The refill on the right is from a Signo 307, which shows significant evaporation. Both… — The G2 does an excellent job of preventing evaporation from the cartridge, presumably due to the plastic cap and whatever material Pilot uses to seal off the ink. The refill on the right is from a Signo 307, which shows significant evaporation. Both of these pens were left sitting for 2-3 years.

The G2 Vs. Everything Else

The biggest downside to the G2, at least as sold, is the design. Companies such as Uni and Pentel have the clear edge in terms of ergonomics. I simply don’t find the standard G2 grip that comfortable, and the standard pen body feels insubstantial. That said, what really interests me is the refill. The G2 continues to impress with its combination of availability, durability, and consistency. Is it a “great” writing experience? No. Will the G2 consistently offer a “good” writing experience, even in a pen that’s spent a couple of years unused in a desk? Based on my track record with this pen, the answer to that question is yes. With one or two exceptions, all of the G2s that I pulled out of my various stationery drawers wrote immediately, without any dryness or skipping, and when I checked the refills for evaporation I found that the G2s had much more ink remaining than its competitors, including the popular Pentel Energel and Uni Signo 307, the latter of which experienced significant evaporation after a couple of years. (Evaporation can cause gel ink to become sticky and blob and smear easily, which makes for a very unpleasant writing experience.)

Finally, I did notice some discrepancies in performance between the various G2 tip sizes. Curiously, all of the “problematic” pens (i.e., skipping and dryness) contained blue .5mm refills. The .7mm and .38mm G2 refills performed flawlessly across the range of available colors. I’m not going to draw any firm conclusions from this, as it’s not a representative sample and YMMV, but I did make that observation. The .38mm tip size has become my current favorite.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

The G2 remains my favorite inexpensive “office supply” gel pen. The combination of low cost, generally reliable performance, and the refill’s compatibility with a wide rage of different custom pens make it a quality option to have in your stationery cabinet. While the limited color options can be a considerable downside, the Pilot “Juice” range features the same refill format, though the pen itself is a bit more slender and less comfortable to use (in my opinion).

As I mentioned above, you can purchase a Pilot G2 anywhere. If you’re looking for the .38mm version, or one of the non-standard colors such as orange, burgundy, or blue-black, you may need to search around online, though I have occasionally seen them at big box office supply stores. G2 refills also ship standard in many custom machined pens, including Tactile Turn and Sunderland Machine Works. If you enjoy the G2 refill but can’t stand the default plastic housing, consider upgrading to Pilot’s G2 Limited or a third-party custom pen.

Disclaimer: The Pilot G2 products featured in this post were purchased with my own funds, for my own personal use. This post does not contain affiliate links. If you wish to support The Gentleman Stationer, please consider supporting us on Patreon or via The Curated Shop. Many thanks!

I initially reviewed the Tactile Turn Gist fountain pen back in 2016, following the close of the Kickstarter project. The Gist Kickstarter can only be considered an unqualified success for Tactile Turn, raising $129,000 in pledges and cementing their status as one of the premier manufacturers of machined “EDC-style” pens. The “Gist 1.0”, as I’ll call it, garnered generally positive reviews. Most attention focused on the Gist’s pairing of a lightweight Makrolon (polycarbonate) pen body with a textured metal section made from either common or rare metals, including copper, brass, bronze, Damascus Steel, zirconium, and titanium. All-metal versions were also available, though they could be quite expensive due to the difficulty of machining pens from certain materials (i.e. zirconium, which has a tendency to combust and do inconvenient things like destroy machinery).

Will changed quite a few things with the Gist 2.0, but the signature Tactile Turn texture remains intact!

As I noted in my initial review, the Gist 1.0 was not without a “few hiccups,” most notably the Makrolon’s propensity to crack around the cap lip, and for the nib to dry out due to some caps not sealing properly. The pen body was also too short to accept a standard Schmidt international converter, so you had to use a different one supplied by Tactile Turn which, in my opinion, wasn’t as good since it had lower ink capacity and ink flow issues. None of these issues made the Gist 1.0 a “bad pen” - to the contrary, I enjoyed the weight, balance, and overall look. I know several people who still use their Kickstarter Gist as a daily writer more than two years later, and issues are to be expected with any “version 1.0” product release. How a company progresses from version 1.0 to version 2.0, incorporating feedback from customers, is more telling about the Company’s future prospects. From my experience with the Gist v. 2.0, the future looks bright for Tactile Turn.

New Materials, Different Specs

For the next iteration of the Gist, Tactile Turn made several notable design changes:

No More Makrolon! Tactile Turn stopped using Makrolon in favor of Delrin, a plastic used by high-end penmakers such as Conid. According to Will Hodges of Tactile Turn, the Makrolon he was able to source was not up to his standards in terms of durability, so he made the decision to switch materials on the non-metal pens. I think the Delrin pens look great, and they’re now available in white as well as black. As of now, metal sections are not available - you either go all-metal or all-Delrin.
A Longer Body. The Gist now accepts a full-size Schmidt international converter, and the added body length provides better balance, whether you write with the pen posted or unposted.
Shorter Threads. It now takes only 1.5 turns to cap/uncap the pen, as opposed to the 3+ on version 1.0. The threads also aren’t nearly as tight, reducing the risk of cracking the cap lip.
Plastic Cap Inserts on Metal Pens. You can now post the cap on the metal versions of the Gist without any unwanted metal-on-metal contact. I can’t speak to the other metal options, but the titanium pen posts nicely without too much added weight.

The Gist v.2.0 features Higbee thread starts, and the pen caps/uncaps in 1.5 turns.

This particular Gist sports one of the best Bock nibs I’ve ever used. I’ve had much better luck with Bock recently. I do think they’ve upped their quality control.

You can read more about the various design choices on Tactile Turn’s website, including specific details on the machining and engineering. Fans of the first Gist will be happy to know that the Gist continues to feature Tactile Turn’s signature texture, which serves a dual purpose of making a metal pen easier to grip (no slippage!) and hiding the small scuffs and scratches that polished metal tends to accumulate through everyday use.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

My Gist is a joy to write with, and I’m happy to report that I’ve written through three straight fills of ink since acquiring this pen at last month’s Arkansas Pen Show. The Gist presents a durable, well-priced option for a daily writer, and “Version 2.0” is everything I hoped it would be. The Gist comes in both fountain pen and rollerball configurations, with prices starting as low as $99 for a Delrin pen. The titanium version reviewed here runs $219 for the fountain pen, with copper and brass versions priced at $139 and $119 respectively.

The Titanium Gist was one of my purchases from this year’s Arkansas Pen Show.

Disclaimer: Will Hodges at Tactile Turn was kind enough to provide me with a discount on my purchase of the titanium Gist featured in this review, which I purchased with my own funds. Many thanks to Will for making this review possible! This post contains links to paid sponsors and affiliates (ink notes below).

So What About this Purple Ink?

The eye-popping purple ink that appears below, and that I’ve been using in this pen, is standard Waterman Violet (or, as it’s known now, “Tender Purple”). Surprising, I know! I recently broke out my Waterman inks after a long hiatus, and love them as much as I did when I first got into fountain pens years ago. They’re currently available for the bargain-basement price of $11 per bottle at Vanness Pens, making Waterman ink one of the best buys out there. The paper pictured in this review is, of course, the “Shit to Do” notepad from Skylab Letterpress. Ink swabs are done on Col-o-dex cards, courtesy of Ana Reinert and Skylab.

Tactile-Turn-Gist-Waterman-Tender-Purple

One note of caution: while Waterman inks are generally regarded as “safe” inks, the purple, in my experience, will stain celluloid and light-colored acrylics, as well as demonstrators and converters if you let the pens remain inked long enough. This isn’t uncommon among purple inks, but since Waterman ink has a reputation as being "safe for anything,” it’s worth mentioning.