I’ve reviewed a bunch of Uniball Signo pens in the past, but the majority of them have come from JetPens, and are not usually available at many places within the US, especially not at any major retail office supply stores. For that reason, I was excited when I learned that the Uniball Gel RT Micro .38 mm was available from OfficeMax, and also here from Amazon.com if you are so inclined.
Most of my reviews of the Uniball Signo line have consisted of the .38 mm versions, which is one of my favorite pens to use other than fountain pens. I find that the line of the .38mm Signo DX pens are very clean, crisp, and solid…the Uniball Gel RT Micro is no exception. I was worried that this US version might be lacking something, but I realized that with the quality of product that Uniball puts out, it was a pretty silly thought. The Gel RT Micro, although only available in Black, Red, and Blue puts down a bright and solid line when you write with it and makes for an incredibly smooth and comfortable writing experience. I enjoy the simplicity of this pen because its not trying too hard to look flashy or offer too much, its just a good pen that writes well. I especially like the smooth rubberized grip with its subtle taper towards the bottom that flares back out slightly right before the plastic cone of the tip. This provides an area for your thumb and forefinger to nestle into comfortably.
The above writing sample with the Uniball Gel RT Micro .38 was done in my Black n’ Red Notebook and I was really pleased with how it wrote on this paper. The paper typically does well with most of the inks that I’ve tried on it, however it does tend to take a little longer for many inks to dry on it. The interesting thing with the Uniball Gel RT Micro is that the ink dries much better on this paper than I thought it would. There are very slight streaks after a few seconds, but its not the wet and streaky/smudgy results I’ve had with other pens. If you look closely at the photo above you can see what I mean, the start and end points of some of the numbers show faint streaks, but nothing major.
I feel like I’m kind of just gushing over this pen rather than doing one of my usual reviews here, but its simplicity and fantastic performance really make the Uniball Gel RT Micro hard not to like and enjoy writing with.
