Review: Pilot B2P 0.7mm Retractable Gel Ink Pen Blue

This is a review of the Pilot B2P fine/0.7 mm in blue.

Usually every few weeks (or whenever I get bored with life [often]), I go pen-hunting at my local Office Depot/Office Max/Staples. Yes, I am usually disappointed as my tastes in pens have evolved from the Bic Crystal to more gourmet pens. On numerous occasions, I picked up the Pilot B2P and contemplated it. I wasn’t really looking for any pen in particular, just something different to what I already have at home, and something that may be fun to review. And I was thinking to myself, I can’t justify this pen... I already have Pilot G2s. And this is just a G2. So I put it back down.

This happened about six times before I eventually just decided to get it. I figured, even if it’s just a G2 in a different body, I like G2 ink so at least I’ll enjoy that. Plus I was just pining for new pens (I know... that’s a terrible thing to admit but it’s true. I just wanted something new and couldn't afford a fountain pen - my true love... I’m a shameful consumerist).

Features (from Pilot)

High quality gel ink to achieve :
- writing which flows
- very bright colours
- A perfectly studied design for a good grip, whether you are right or left-handed
- Available in 4 colours and 2 sizes of writing (0.5 & 0.7)

This pen is part of the BeGreeN line by Pilot - pens manufactured from recycled plastic bottles - polyethylene terephthalate (PET). B2P stands for “bottle to pen”.

The pen body really does resemble a water bottle (which I am vehemently against). Please don’t judge me for having a water bottle in this picture. It’s from a case we’ve had for six months that we bought when we didn’t have glasses yet, or ability to tote water, after moving. Anyway. That’s why I have a plastic bottle. The design of the pen body is nifty with its little ridges and crevices. I love that it’s kind of a translucent blue-tinted barrel - different from a clear barrel but still such that I can see the ink level. The body is pretty solid - certainly not as crackly soft like a plastic bottle is.

At first when I began writing with the B2P, I was a little disappointed there was no grip but the more I wrote with it, the more I was comfortable without it having a grip. A grip would disrupt the appearance of the “bottle” body anyway. It certainly looks unique!

Top to bottom: Zebra Sarasa SE 0.7mm, Uni-ball Signo DX 0.38mm, Pilot B2P 0.7mm, Zebra Sarasa 0.7mm, Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.7mm, Pilot G2 0.7mm, Uni-ball Signo 207

Lucky for me, the two pens I got did not end up being blobby or gooey and both wrote very well. On the other hand, it wasn’t scratchy or skippy. In fact, I really did luck out. It was just right, Good, clean lines that came out smoothly and did not blob, goop, scratch or skip. It appears that some others weren’t as fortunate in their pen’s ability to perform on the paper.

In Rhodia Reverse Book

In other good news, you’ll notice that these two particular pens don’t have that weird rusty coloured gel on top the ink in the ink cartridge. It really does make for a much nicer looking pen without that weird stuff. Check out the Pilot G2 Navy Blue - you'll notice the discoloration.

It’s nice that Pilot is doing something green and it’s great that it is 89% recycled content (excluding the ink barrel). Furthermore, it’s refillable so in exciting news, you could buy the purple G2 refill and have a purple B2P! (I love purple.) I suppose the only real green way to...greenify...a company is to stop producing non-green products, right? Like the regular G2s that aren’t made from plastic bottles? I wonder if they’ll start making the regular barrels out of recycled bottles. Wouldn’t that have more of an impact than creating a line of a few specific green pens? I suppose the ultimate answer would be to get rid of plastic water bottles. Personally, I think the B2P is more “fun” to look at and use than the regular G2s and I would enjoy having these as my G2 arsenal instead!

Other reviews that may rock your socks:

Dose of Salt
Office Supply Geek
Future Nostalgic
The Pen Addict
A Penchant for Paper
Tiger Pens
The Pen Addict Guest Review
Does This Pen Write?
Rhonda Eudaly
Cliff’s Riffs

Price

JetPens - $1.55
Office Depot - $5.99 Pack of 3

Overall

Yes, the Pilot B2P is just a G2 in a tiny plastic bottle-type body but it’s a neat, novelty pen - a nice, fun twist on the G2. It’s a pretty unique looking pen and writes well. You can’t go wrong with it if you’re looking for a nifty, dependable gel ink pen.