Uni Style Fit Single Color Slim Gel Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

Uni makes great gel pens and their Uni Style Fit multipens are very popular. But here's a fun new profile from them that I actually prefer: single color slim gel pens. These are ultra skinny pens with the same great Uni refills and ink, but with a small enough footprint that you can cram a lot more of them into your pen case...or house. The body is just wide enough to accommodate the refill, and there are no frills, bells, or whistles.

They can be refilled with any Uni Style fit refill, which includes ballpoint, gel, or even mechanical pencil. They can be .28 mm, .38 mm, or .5 mm. I have the 16-color bundle in .5 mm and they write smooth as glass with wonderfully saturated colors.

The colors in this set are violet, pink, baby pink, rose pink, red, mandarin orange, orange, golden yellow, lime green, green, sky blue, bright blue, blue, blue black, black, and brown black. It's a lovely spectrum, with enough difference between the shades that I can justify dragging all 16 around with me. And because they're so portable, I can do that easily.

Uni has great ink technology. The ink is resistant to water, fading, and forgery chemicals. It doesn't skip or railroad, and it writes easily even after being left exposed for long periods of time.

While I love the slim, clipless design, the pens are a bit flimsy. The clear plastic feels light and brittle, and it often comes unscrewed from the barrel--seemingly even by itself when the pen is just sitting in a pen cup. Unless my pen cup is haunted. I've had to twist them back together fairly regularly. The plastic wrap label is loose and seems like it's intended to come off, though you'd then lose your color label. Still, it's not difficult to identify colors with the tips and end-caps so clearly visible. The pieces are a bit rattle-y and don't fit together as flush as some of Uni's other pens. I was actually a bit surprised to learn that they're refillable, because they feel quite disposable.

Issues with build aside, I still really like these. The ink and portability take priority over other inconveniences. They're great to tuck into my planner case for journaling on the go and don't add extra bulk to my already slightly ridiculous edc situation. They also fit nicely into the slim pencil slots in cases, so if you prefer coloring with pens rather than pencils, these are great to take along.

I do worry that the very small refills will drain too quickly, but with the ultra fine-pointed refills, I doubt that will be a problem. And with 16 colors to choose from, they rotate quite regularly, so no one pen gets too much play.

If you've got journaling or coloring to do on the go, these are a good option. I don't expect them to last forever, and they aren't the cheapest of gel pens, but they do meet a specific need that I haven't had met by other varieties.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Uni Style Fit Meister Multi Pen Review

Earlier this year, I started using a Uni Style Fit multi-pen to plan and track my work for different projects in a Leuchtturm notebook. I wrote a review of the multi-pen shortly after, stating that the gel refills were some of my favorites. While that was certainly true, I wasn't a huge fan of the standard plastic barrel that I chose to house the refills. Luckily, there's a more "premium" barrel option that features metal materials and a twist mechanism as opposed to the three knock switches that make a lot of noise.

And just like that, the Uni Style Fit Meister became the perfect work log solution for me. The refills are top-notch, and I finally have a barrel to match.

Everything about the original review still holds true when it comes to the refills. These are probably my favorite multi-pen refills. They're incredibly smooth and reliable even at the 0.38mm size. And, surprisingly, they last a long time. I'm getting about 3-4 months of daily use out of these refills. I'm a big fan of them, and I hope you check them out sometime.

The new member of this multi-pen family, however, is the Meister body. This classes up the format from "art tool" to "business pen" for me. The metal adds some weight in all the right places to improve the feeling in the hand while writing, and it looks great in the process. The metal is shiny and catches fingerprints like nobody's business, but it's easy enough to clean. If there were more color options in the lineup, I certainly wouldn't complain.

That being said, I really love the gunmetal color I chose. It looks great and feels nice when writing.

Another improvement over the cheaper body is the refill selector method. In the plastic model, there are three knock-like switches that you can depress to use a certain color refill. On the Meister, you twist the body to roll through the 3 refills. For me, this is a huge improvement. I love how smooth the movement is, and I also like that it's quieter than the plastic model. The mechanism feels great for the price, which is saying a lot.

Even though the body is metal, there's a clear window midway up the pen that allows you to see the refill colors. The "active" color lines up directly with the clip, which makes it easy to see what color you can expect when you start writing. It also makes it easy to rotate and select the color you want. The window is a bit small, so you might have some trouble seeing the colors clearly if you're using similar colors. For me, it's really easy to differentiate between blue, green, and orange.

The clip isn't exceptionally strong, but it gets the job done. It's designed to be slim to match the overall aesthetic of the pen, so that might explain why it isn't overly strong. Still, I've never had any issues with it coming undone once it's clipped to something.

One of the things I haven't taken advantage of with this pen is the ability to add a mechanical pencil unit. This isn't possible with the cheaper plastic model, but the Meister incorporates a click mechanism to advance the lead. You only have the option of 0.5mm lead size for this unit, so keep that in mind if the mechanical pencil is something you'd use in this pen.

I have no problem saying that this is my favorite multi-pen to date, and it gets used every day to plan and track my work day. The Meister body improved the experience by adding a better design and feel to an already useful instrument. Definitely try out the refills, and also keep in mind that the Uni Style bodies also work with the Pilot Acroball multi-pen refills (if you prefer those to the Uni refills).

The Uni Style Fit Meister is available from JetPens in a variety of colors, and keep in mind that they don't come with any refills — you need to buy those separately!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Uni Style Fit 3 Multi Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Just when I thought my curiosity with multi pens was at an end, I find another "need" to fill with a new pen. I've reviewed several multi pens in the past, and they're all pretty similar. Really, it comes down to personal preference. If you have a certain brand of pen or refill that you love, you can probably find it in a multi pen.

Personally, I really love Uni gel pens. I love the UM-151 and UM-138 for how well they write — they're both extremely smooth and dependable. But, they only write in one color unless you carry around several at a time. If only there was a solution for this specific problem...

My work has recently changed so that I'm working for two main clients, and I need to be able to track my time and so forth separately. There are many, many incredible tools online that can handle this modest task, but I'm already in the habit of tracking my day with pen and paper. Hence, the need for a pen that can write in at least two colors (for the two clients), and offer a smooth feel and tiny writing tip.

Enter the Uni Style Fit. This is a multi pen made by Uni, the same maker of the previously mentioned UM-151 and UM-138. In this case, the Uni Style Fit comes in a variety of colors, refill capacities, and materials. You can check out the entire selection at JetPens, but I settled on the Uni Style Fit 3 for my purposes. One color for Client A, another for Client B, and a third for non-work stuff.

Now, I know I own about 6 other multi-pens that fit the requirements for my "need," but I wanted to try the Uni version to see if the refills match up with their other gel pens. Luckily, they certainly do.

Aesthetics

On the outside, the Uni Style Fit doesn't look like much. I went with a silver version, which looks like any other cheap gel pen at first, but then you notice the weird top with three buttons and the clear barrel. The three refills are clearly visible through the barrel, and that's a dead giveaway.

The pen is extremely light, just like most other cheap multi-pens. It doesn't feel fantastic, but that's OK for my purposes. Uni offers other, more expensive models that probably feel better in the hand, but I didn't opt for those in my experiment.

Another thing that annoys me about every multi pen I've tried is the sound of the knock devices. They sound cheap an annoying, and I can never get past it. When I'm writing with the pen, it's fine, but once it's time to open or retract, I cringe a little at the sound.

I typically shy away from multi pens that hold more than 3 cartridges because I'm not a fan of the barrel size required to hold that many refills.

Overall, the pen doesn't feel fantastic, but it's also less than $4 for the body, so you shouldn't expect much.

Writing

I was very pleasantly surprised when I started writing with the pen — the refills I got are smooth and reliable, even at the 0.38mm size.

Each refill is sold separately, so you have the choice of size and color for your pen from the beginning. They don't ship with a boring black or blue cartridge that you have to store somewhere, which I find very appealing. Cartridges are less than $2 a piece, and there are many, many colors to choose from.

Installing the cartridges is a simple task, and once they snap in place, you're ready to write.

For the past year or so, I've been using a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook to track my work and time spent on projects. At the end of the week, this data gets added into a timesheet, which in turn gets me paid. But, once you add in a second timesheet requirement, things get complicated in a hurry.

To keep better track of what tasks go to what timesheet, I chose a bright blue and lime green refill. These contrast so well that I am delighted by how much easier my weekly timesheet task is. The third refill is a bright orange, and I use this for non-work notes or appointments.

The blue and green refills are fantastic — they're smooth, bold, and reliable. I can't tell a difference between these refills and the ones in a UM-151, although I'm sure some can.

The orange refill is a bit more rough, but only slightly so. I've had this problem before with light colored gel refills, and I'm assuming it has something to do with the ink properties for lighter colored inks. It still writes perfectly well, just not as smooth as the other two. Also, it could just be a fluke cartridge. I didn't buy two orange refills to test.

Wrapping up

At the end of my work day, I can look at a page of multi-colored notes that makes it simple to see where my time was spent through the day. I love this solution, and I'm very happy that I can use my favorite gel pens to do it. So far, the Uni Style Fit is my favorite multi pen. I wish they had some more attractive high end offerings (like Zebra), but that's not the case for now. At least they write like a dream, and pen aesthetics don't affect that.

If you like Uni gel pens, this is the multi pen for you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)