There are four main gel ink pen makers who I trust blindly to provide consistently great pens: Pentel, Pilot, Uni-ball, and Zebra. They all have decades of experience, and their manufacturing and quality control are always on point. While I don’t personally love every single product they make, I know that they are going to be good in the right hands.
Outside of those brands, it can be tough sledding. There is quality out there, but it is tougher to find. Sakura is looking to change that with the Ballsign iD gel ink pen.
If you have been in the stationery world for any length of time, then you are familiar with Sakura. Their Gelly Roll pens were the first gel ink pens on the market in the 1980’s, and their Pigma Micron lineup is the art marker that all others are measured by. But as classic or as great as those two models are, they really haven’t had a difference maker in the standard writing/office supply gel ink pen market. At least, nothing that can hang with the big four above.
The Ballsign iD is Sakura’s first real competitor. The Ballsign name has been around in various iterations for years, but nothing good enough to stick. The Ballsign Knock is a good pen, but even in my review of it five years ago I mentioned it was a tier down from the best. The iD, though? I think it has a chance.
This is a basic looking pen. It’s modern, with clean lines all around the four-sided (two flat, two rounded) barrel, and a bent-over-the-top steel clip that also serves as part of the knock. The plastic nose cone is the weak point of the design, and would have been served better with a metal that matches the clip.
It is comfortable, and writes well. I’m using the 0.4 mm Mysterious Purple refill in this review, which is the name for their Purple Black gel ink. The Ballsign iD also comes with Blue Black, Green Black, Brown Black, and standard Black refill options.
The refill feels like a combination between the Uni-ball Signo RT for the smoothness, and the Zebra Sarasa Clip for the dryness. This is not an overly inky gel pen, and even being 0.4 mm, may not be wet enough for some writers. Juicy the Ballsign is not.
So, does the Ballsign iD belong in the same category as some of the best in the category? No, but it is as close as any Sakura gel ink pen has been. I think the nose cone is an easy design upgrade, and better ink flow from the tip to eliminate the dryness would be a plus. If Sakura can keep on expanding and improving this lineup, then I think they have a competitor on their hands.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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