Uni-ball Vision Elite Liquid Ink Rollerball

Uni-ball Vision Elite 0.8mm

The name is what sold me on this pen. The Uni-ball Vision Elite. I'm expecting this pen to be 'Epic'. The name Vision Elite makes me feel like I should be prepared to be totally amazed by this pen, so I bought it to see if it lives up to it's name.

The pen uses "Airplane safe technology" which sounds very posh. All this means is that the pen has a reservoir which absorbs expanding air preventing ink from being forced out due to changes in air pressure on a flight. So no in- flight leaks. I'm not a regular flyer and the idea that a pen might leak on a plane had never occurred to me until now. But if you are a jet setter, a leaky pen is something you no longer need to worry about.

Get your boarding passes ready

It looks very stylish for a plastic pen. I love how the colours slightly confuse me. Are the ends grey or silver? And there is no clear line where the colours change. They fade into each other beautifully. The lid ties in brilliantly with Airplane Safe Technology theme even if it was probably unintentional. The oval shaped windows, with not much to see when you look through them. I can almost see the faces peering out. And the top of the lid is like a futuristic cockpit, the pilots taking their passengers to an unexplored land filled with all things stationery.
As amazing as the lid is, it doesn't post well. Unless you push it on with quite a bit of force it will just ping off, which can actually be quite fun for the childish pen fans out there. My son and I had a fun little competition to see who could ping it the furthest. The unimpressed hound ran for cover.
As a lid itself it's very secure and trustworthy.

 See through strip so you can monitor your fuel ink usage

The Uni-ball Vision Elite is super smooth to write with. The ink flow is flawless, not a single blip. Minimal pressure is all you need to get clear, crisp lines on paper. And if you are someone who presses hard, the result is exactly the same. I will just say that with this pen, the quality of the paper does make a difference. On my cheaper, rougher notepads I was getting alot of fuzziness. But when used on the right paper, this pen writes like a dream. I found that the smoother the paper, the better the writing experience.

writing sample - Uni-ball Vision Elite

The ink dries fairly quickly, even on less absorbant paper and after 5 seconds max it's completely dry and smudge free. The ink did show through the page ever so slightly on the notebooks I used but nowhere near enough for it to be a problem. I could happily use both sides with no issues.The packaging says it uses "tamper proof uni super ink that will not wash off when immersed in water, acetone, glycerin, bleach or other chemicals used by document fraudsters". So document fraudsters beware. You will not get the better of this pen.

Comfortable Criss Cross Grip

The transparent grip with it's criss cross pattern serves it's purpose well. It's comfortable to hold despite being plastic. My fingers experienced no slippping at all.

Refillable

The Uni-ball Vision Elite is refillable and the refills are easy to get hold of online. The refill is pretty much the whole pen, minus the case and lid.

So is the Uni-ball Vision Elite as Epic as it sounds? Maybe not Epic, but it's close. I would feel confident using this pen for important documents and forms, work assignments and pretty much everything else, as long as the paper is of a reasonably good quality. If you're a rollerball fan then this is a pen I would recommend trying for yourself.