Pilot B2P Guest Review

This is a guest post by Lou Rinaldi, who can also be found at cfug.org and on Twitter @LouRinaldi.

I wanted to hate this pen. After all, it's just a G2 refill in an eco-friendly body, right? I'm supposed to look down my nose and scoff at it, aren'€™t I? Well, I don't hate it. I don't know if I love it either, but it has enough redeeming qualities that I can't dismiss it outright. It feels better in my hand than the standard G2 barrel, though not as good as a G2 Pro. For this ink, the 0.7 seems to flow more smoothly than the 0.5.

I definitely prefer the aesthetics of the B2P to those of the standard G2, but that may be simply because the G2 hasn't had an update in eons, and I'm just sick of looking at it. (Enough with that gross, rusty-looking area near the top of the refill!) The biggest design differences in my opinion are that the B2P barrel is a little wider, and the 'grip' is simply some indentations cut in the plastic. The eco aspect (89% recycled content) is a nice touch, and the price differential is actually insignificant enough that it'€™s easy to justify choosing the B2P over the G2. That was an important business decision by Pilot, because as the premium prices of hybrid vehicles have shown us, sometimes the upfront cost of going green can be hard to swallow.

At the end of the day, it'€™s still a G2 at heart. That can be a good or a bad thing, depending on your writing habits and personal preferences. While I may be a tad biased, I will share a story that I hope proves the degree of objectivity with which I approached this review. I put the B2P up against the three other pens that JetPens recently sent me for review, and let a small group of my work colleagues evaluate them with no pretext whatsoever. This is a group of people with diverse tastes in writing implements, and every single one of them independently chose the B2P as the winner. Take that as you will, but it certainly speaks to the broad mass-market appeal of this pen.

Be sure to check out Brad’s original Pilot B2P review for another opinion.

Pilot B2P Review

Every now and then I come across a review that gets lost in the shuffle, and the Pilot B2P is the latest example. It looks like I bought this pen in January of this year, and did the written review and photo upload in early February. That is part of my normal review workflow, but then I forgot about it, and it was never posted to The Pen Addict. Time to correct that!

I recall some of my European friends getting their hands on this pen first, well before I came across them in my local Staples. From that point until now the B2P has spread like wildfire, and you can find them everywhere, including JetPens.

What makes this pen unique is Pilot’s claim that this is the first pen made from recycled plastic bottles. Not only is the body 89% recycled, but the entire look and feel is made to emulate a plastic water bottle, and they pulled it off well. It is a real eye catcher, and comfortable to hold.

The one non-unique part of the B2P is the refill. It is a standard Pilot G-2, which is good and bad. Bad in that fact that it is not a new writing experience - if you have used one G-2 you have used them all - but good in the fact that there are options. I am a fan of the 0.38mm G-2, so the standard 0.38mm G-2 refill pops right into the B2P barrel without issue.

Pilot has been making real strides in their recyclable pen lines, and the B2P is my favorite of the bunch.