When I was in school I loved liquid ink pens. My absolute favorite was the Pilot V7 or V5, but my parents always tried to buy the Uniball Vision, which I always found to be an inferior pen because it had the tendency to bleed all over the place. As a result, until recently I stayed away from the Uniball Vision Elite, a different pen that has received rave reviews, and deservedly so.
The Uniball Vision Elite uses similar liquid-ink rollerball technology, only this time Uniball has managed to create a pen that dries quickly and doesn't bleed or feather like the regular Vision. And the colors - the colors on these things really pop. I tested out an 8-pack, which contained one of each of the following colors: blue, black, purple, red, green, orange, blue-black, and red. There's also a "BLX" pack that includes colors such as blue-black, red-black, green-black, etc. Those are next on the list for me to pick up.
A writing sample of the various colors, done on the Slice Planner dot-grid paper.
The Vision Elites are now sitting in the pen holder on my desk at work, and they've been getting a lot of use color-coding the clockface in my Slice Planner. (If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, please read the review. It will make more sense, I promise!) The pens have worked exceptionally well on the Slice Planner paper, and also have held up on ordinary recycled office paper. That said, I tested the Vision Elite in the "micro" point, so your mileage may vary if you prefer the medium or bold tip size, which may increase feathering as they apply more ink to the paper.
Where to Buy / Thanks to Office Mall!
The great thing about the Uniball Vision Elite is that these pens can be found pretty much anywhere, in big box stores or online. They aren't particularly cheap (anywhere from $12-20 for a pack of 8, depending on where you buy), but they offer one of the smoothest and most reliable writing experiences on the "mainstream" stationery market.
These particular pens were sent to me by Office Mall, an online retailer of office supplies that stocks everything from pens, pencils, and paper to typewriter ribbons to break room supplies. If you are stocking stationery for a business, visit Office Mall to take advantage of the ability to order lots of different stationery supplies in large quantities. Office Mall also stocks quirky, one-off products that I haven't been able to find anywhere else, like these:
Office Mall also sells these awesome pencil-shaped Ticonderoga erasers.
Further Reading:
Other bloggers have reviewed the Vision Elite, and it's received pretty much universal acclaim as a good "big box store" pen. I recommend checking out Brad's review over at the Pen Addict, Mike Dudek's review over at the Clicky Post, and Azizah over at Gourmet Pens.
Disclaimer: Office Mall provided me with these pens, free of charge, for review purposes.