Sorry for the delay in postings; I just finished up another semester of grad. school, and I am very relieved it is over. So, I will try to post more frequently going forward.
A few weeks ago I made trip to my campus bookstore. One of the items I picked up was this, the Pilot Bravo, a pen I had never before seen on any store shelf. This is the same store where I found the Alvin Penstix I recently reviewed. As it was sitting on the shelf, I initially thought it was a Pilot Varsity and, as you can see, the barrel and cap are quite similar to a Varsity.
The ink poured jet black on this Staples Bagasse notepad. The ink did not feather or bleed, but it did show through quite a bit on the other side of the page.
I loved how dark and smooth the ink was, but I did not enjoy how sloppy it made my writing look - even if my writing doesn't look so great to begin with.
The overall weight of the pen is fairly light. The barrel is thicker than many pens and is comfortable to hold. In my ink review, I classified this as a sign pen. It is somewhat like a regular Sharpie Marker, but it doesn't seem up to the heavy-duty work of a permanent marker.
I also noticed that the tip seemed to be losing its shape after just one page. I don't know how much life one could expect to get out of this tip, but maybe you don't mind if point conforms to your writing style.
Given how close this design to the Varsity is, I am curious about pulling out the cone/ink section to see if this could be used as an eyedropper. I'd like to give this pen away, so I didn't try it on this one.
So, a cool little pen, but one that I have little need for. I think people that love super bold points or people that like to make large sketches would dig this pen. Has anyone else ever used this one? I'd like to hear what your thoughts are.