Gel Pen reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 189 Reddit reviews across 20 subreddits and 52 posts to rank the best Gel Pen brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/pens, r/stationery, r/Coloring, r/AdultColoring, r/Travelersnotebooks. Top-rated brands include Pentel (4.6/5), Zebra (4.6/5), Pilot (4.3/5).
Stats
Reviews189
Subreddits20
Posts52
Brands52
Products74
189 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Pentel
4.6
(31)
"Pentel Mattehop would also be a great choice. Those pens are amazing!"
"The gel pen that needs the least pressure to write at 0.7 is the Pentel Energel and it's not even a competition."
"Pentel EnerGel ?"
"Energel, G2, and Sarasa seem to live a long time."
"The Energel in 0.5 mm will last pretty long."
"Check out Pentel Energel pens, they're widely available from lots of stationery places like Amazon, Cult Pens"
"Gel inks I recommend are Pentel Energel, Uniball Signo, Pilot Frixion, Zebra sarasa."
"I haven’t really come across anything smoother or wetter than EnerGel without moving from gel to rollerball."
"I exclusively use Pentel Energel in the 1.0mm."
"Their Sparkle line is outstanding, I keep my stash stockpiled."
#2
Zebra
4.6
(25)
"Energel, G2, and Sarasa seem to live a long time."
"The Sarasa Clip is a more comfortable pen body."
"I absolutely love the binder clip and it’s gone through several Sarasa R refills."
"Energel ink is the greatest and while I don't necessarily dislike the standard energel body, I prefer the Sarasa."
"My favorites are zebra sarasa and uniball signo rt."
"My personal favorites are the Zebra Sarasa clip gel pen in .4 or .5."
"I would first suggest the Zebra Sarasa Grand."
"Zebra Sarasa Grand or Pentel Energel Style."
"Zebra Sarasa Grand, especially the vintage colors."
"Zebra Sarasa Grand"
#3
Pilot
4.3
(26)
"I’ve used the Juice pens and they’re also excellent! They have a pastel yellow!"
"Pilot Juice-Up is awesome, they have a whole pastel line and a metallic line, all of which work great on white paper!"
"Energel, G2, and Sarasa seem to live a long time."
"The G2 is still one of the longest-lasting gel pens I've ever used."
"Pilot Juice is the PERFECT pen for this."
"We all really like the Pilot Frixion as well. Their teachers are fine with them since they are erasable."
"It's really great! Writes incredibly smooth. Dries very fast. Bold full color."
"Multi pack with 8 colors."
"Has hands down become my favorite pen"
"Get the Pilot coleto. It's a multipen that is customizable."
#4
Uni-ball
4.6
(17)
"Uni signo broad and pentel mattehop."
"Signo is accepted as the artists' favorite."
"Hands down uni signo broad, so much better than the gellyroll."
"The ink is also super smooth and dark."
"The ink looks amazingly black on the midori paper!"
"Uni-ball Signo broad is what I use most but gelly roll is decent too."
"I have a uniball signo that I use quite a bit and it seems to glide on paper, opposed to scratching and skipping."
"I use uniball signo broad"
"Uniball Signo/Uniball One (my favorites)"
"Give the uniball one a try! They have very bold and vivid ink."
#5
Sakura
4.3
(17)
"Gelly Rolls by Sakura are the best bet."
"Gelly Roll!"
"I second Gelly Roll. But I'll also add specifically the "10" one, not the "05"."
"Gelly Roll - I got one of those and a uniball and I strongly prefer the gelly roll"
"If you want the best quality, then Sakura gelly roll starlights!"
"Go for the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust"
"The most glittery ones I know are Sakura gelly roll Stardust pens."
"I also love gelly rolls and sparkle pop."
"Sakura Gelly Roll pens, white. They come in different thicknesses."
"Sakura gelly rolls are good, but you have to get the 10 size tip."
#6
Sharpie
4.1
(8)
"They're one of the better gel pens I've ever used"
"Best barrel"
"The new all-metal Sharpie S-Gel Copper pen which weighs in at 1.014 ounces"
"I really like how it writes."
"I was testing the 0.7mm version of the Sharpie S-Gel this weekend. Compared to the Pentel Energel in 0.7mm it produces a finer line."
"I actually was testing the Sharpie S-gel in 0.7mm against the Pentel Energel 0.7mm this weekend. For me of that list they are two best."
"Sharpie S-Gel is definitely worth a shot, I think you can even put the refills into an Energel body."
"My two favorite gels are Pentel Energel and Sharpie S Gel. The downside to both is that they eventually skip or altogether stop writing no matter how much ink remains."
#7
Posca
4.7
(7)
"The posca pen is great, I hope you love it!"
"I think you should try getting a fine tip white posca."
"You can also use a white posca, they have fine tip, I like using all different sizes for the posca."
"Thank you so much for the uni posca rec! Posca is now in my jetpens cart."
"Consider the uni posca pc-1mr in white. it's a paint marker with a fine tip."
"I don’t really like felt tips, but as others have pointed out the posca pens are nice."
"I started using extra extra fine acrylic markers from Flysea and Posca."
#8
Muji
4.5
(6)
"Muji gel pens"
"Muji has some gel pens in .38 and .5 I really like."
"Perhaps add muji to the list though if there's a store in your vicinity."
"Muji"
"Muji."
"I use Muji click pens with energel refills."
#9
Zebra Sarasa Dry
5.0
(2)
"Zebra Sarasa Dry is my go to"
"Sarasa dry, and the newer Sarasa R are easily the two best gel inks from Zebra."
#10
Pentel EnerGel
5.0
(2)
"My favorite is the Energel. Sarasa Dry is my 2nd favorite of all that I've tried."
"You should go try Pentel’s Energel."
#11
Big Idea Design
5.0
(2)
"Check into Big Idea Design. Their pens accommodate a large number of refills. They have many varieties as well. I love their pens."
"I’d recommend the Big Idea Design Arto."
#12
Uni
5.0
(2)
"Uni signo, pilot juice up and Uni Jetstream are my preferred refills in 0.38mm."
"These pens are best for me"
#13
Pilot G2
4.5
(2)
"Pilot G2 is a ballpoint pen. I use it for SPM a decade ago and I still get A."
"Pilot G2 0.7"
#14
Jetstream
4.5
(2)
"Feels better in my hand than the standard Pentel Energel Pen"
"The former is a great overall build but can only take Jetstream refill."
#15
Paper Mate
4.0
(2)
"The papermate ink joy gel pen in .7 and .5."
"Not as fast drying or as smooth as the Sarasa though"
#16
uni-ball
4.0
(2)
"I recently bought uni-ball eye and air, i guess you could like them. Not sure if they are advertised as gel pens, but they have a nice and smooth ink flow."
"Uniball Eye/ Uniball Air (Roller) Pentel Energel (Gel)"
#17
Ohuhu
5.0
(1)
"I got the Ohuhu gel pen pack in gold, silver and white. Once you get a feel for the ink flow, they work really well!"
#18
Jiffy
5.0
(1)
"Jiffy gel best"
#19
Pentonic
5.0
(1)
"Pentonic black pen, i have used like 3 packs of it best black pen"
#20
SouColor
5.0
(1)
"I love the SouColor Gel Pens"
#21
Aen Art
5.0
(1)
"I love Aen Art’s gel pens."
#22
Five Below
5.0
(1)
"My current favorite are the gel pens from Five Below."
#23
Gel Pen
5.0
(1)
"Gel pens are definitely the best option."
#24
Pilot V5
5.0
(1)
"Pilot v5 has been my tool since last 7 years."
#25
Octane Blue Gel
5.0
(1)
"I used octane blue gel."
#26
Uniclick Gel
5.0
(1)
"Maine uniclick gel use kiya."
#27
Uniball
5.0
(1)
"Another vote for Uniball One. I've been using it for about six years now with the 0.38 nib but it does come in 0.7."
#28
Uniball Signo
5.0
(1)
"Uniball signo and Sakura Gellyroll are both super juicy and sparkly"
#29
Sakura Gelly Roll
5.0
(1)
"Sakura Gelly Rolls have been the gold standard for me since childhood!"
#30
Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll
5.0
(1)
"Sakura is by far my favorite glitter gel pen brand."
#31
Parker Jotter
5.0
(1)
"It writes smoothly and is a dream to write in personally."
#32
Tul
5.0
(1)
"I always end up using it for notes and tests"
#33
EnerGel
5.0
(1)
"Put the Energel ink in the Sharpie barrel."
#34
James Brand
5.0
(1)
"The best mini 5 pen is the Stillwell from James brand. It is perfect. And it will do D1 gel refills."
#35
XO
4.0
(1)
"XO gel pen black lol may smudge a little but its only 10 rs"
#36
Flysea
4.0
(1)
"I started using extra extra fine acrylic markers from Flysea and Posca."
#37
Sparkle Pop
4.0
(1)
"Yes Sparkle pop are very glittery, they are not a bad gel pens at all, they are in the top of my favs."
#38
Bic Gelocity
4.0
(1)
"Bic Gelocity is 0.7 and feels pretty good when writing."
#39
Calm Over Chaos
4.0
(1)
"They are very glittery and the ball point colours really smoothly."
#40
Zebra Grip Pen
4.0
(1)
"Others have recommends Zebra grip pens."
#41
Unknown Gel Pen
4.0
(1)
"I've bought all kinds of random gel pens over the years and they have all been basically the same."
#42
Pen+Gear
4.0
(1)
"The Walmart Pen+Gear gel pens at $0.88 for a pack of 2 is also good if you like a wet writer."
#43
Pierre Cardin
4.0
(1)
"Gel pens- use nothing but pierre cardin but they r expensive af."
#44
Kaweco Liliput
4.0
(1)
"Kaweco liliput, travelers, or the g2 mini"
#45
Uni-ball Signo
4.0
(1)
"I just use Uniball Signos"
#46
Grabie
4.0
(1)
"Grabie glitter gel pens are the best I’ve seen so far, some of the colors also color shift."
#47
Energel
4.0
(1)
"Energel 0.5 mm would be my choice."
#48
Sharpie S-Gel
4.0
(1)
"Sharpee s-gel copper body or metal body with a zebra JLV-0.7 refill."
#49
Paper Mate InkJoy 0.5
4.0
(1)
"I like the Inkjoy 0.5 for that."
#50
Sakura Craft Lab 001
4.0
(1)
"SAKURA Craft lab 001."
#51
Uni-ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
3.0
(1)
"I use uniball signo broad white gel pen… unfortunately mine gunks up as well."
#52
Amazon
1.0
(1)
"The gel pen from amazon was just bad quality."
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