For decades, Japanese pens have dominated the stationery world through their outstanding
quality, attention to detail, and creative innovation. But lately, Korean pens and stationery
have been causing buzz in the community with their aesthetic designs and trendy feel.
Hi, I’m Josh from JetPens and today we’ll pit similar products from each country together
in a head to head battle and let you decide which pens reign supreme. Be sure to stay
until the end to see what poor soul-- I mean highlighter we’re pitting against the heavy-weight
champion, the Zebra Mildliner.
The criteria we’ll be judging these pens on will be a mixture of fact and opinion,
but we’ll be presenting them in a way that will hopefully help you make up your own mind
about each pen. Comment down below to let us know who you thought was the winner of
each category, and if you enjoy this video don’t forget to SMASH --wow that’s cheesy--
that like button! Alright, Round One! Fight!
Rollerball Pens - The Pilot Precise V5 vs The Morning Glory Pro Mach
The Precise V5 comes in 7 different colors as opposed to the Pro Mach’s 3. The V5 sports
a fine 0.5 mm tip size while the Pro Mach boasts an ultra fine 0.38 mm making it the
foinest… erm, finest rollerball tip we’ve seen. While the Precise writes smoothly and
consistently, the same can’t be said for the Pro Mach. Oddly, of the 3 colors, the
blue Pro Mach has an updated tip that writes very smoothly, while the red and black aren’t
as consistent in providing the same writing experience; hopefully, Morning Glory will
update all of the pen tips! Both pens dry in a moderate amount of time and have very
little showthrough, with practically no bleedthrough. When highlighted, the Pro Mach smudges slightly
less than the Precise but that could just be because it puts out less ink at its foiner
tip size. Both pens have similar looks but the Pro Mach has a more modern aesthetic with
its metallic finish and transparent cap. Yeah, yeah beauty is on the inside but sometimes...
we just like to look at shiny things. At the time of recording, the Pilot Precise V5 comes
in at $1.90 each and is available in sets of 3, 4, or 7 colors as well as a retractable
version, while the Morning Glory Pro Mach comes in at $2.15 a piece.
It’s a little too close call, so the winner of this category will depend on your own preferences.
If you’re looking for an ultra fine tip enclosed in a gorgeous pen body, then the
Morning Glory Pro Mach is the way to go! But if you’re looking for more color choices
and a consistently smooth writing experience, then the Pilot Precise is the pen you’re
looking for.
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Fountain Pens - The Platinum Preppy vs The Monami Olika
The fine nib Preppy comes in 7 different ink colors with matching pen bodies and an 8th
clear body that comes with black ink, while the extra fine and medium nib sizes only come
in 3 colors. The Olika comes in an impressive 10 ink colors and 2 nib sizes. The fine tip
Olika comes with a transparent pen body tinted in it’s matching ink color while the extra
fine comes in a clear body with its rubber grip matching its ink color. The Olika provides
a smoother writing experience in both fine and extra fine but the Preppy’s medium nib
was the smoothest of all the pens we tested. Showthrough and bleed through were practically
non-existent for both pens in all their respective sizes. The Preppy wins aesthetics in my opinion
with its modern branding and shape, but the Olika wins the comfort test with it’s soft
rubber grip and the way its curved pen body just fits in your hand. The Olika comes with
3 ink cartridges which is very nice if you do a lot of writing, while the Preppy only
comes with 1 cartridge, but Platinum’s slip and seal technology does wonders to keep their
pens from drying out. Alternatively, both pens have compatible converters. The Olika
is compatible with, weirdly, a LAMY converter while the Preppy is compatible with Platinum’s
own converter. The Preppy comes in at just $4.50, not too bad for an introductory level
fountain pen, and the Olika comes in not too far behind at $5.50, which might be worth
the extra cartridges.
If you’re looking for a good looking fountain pen that comes in 3 different nib sizes then
you’ll probably love the Platinum Preppy, but if you’re looking for more color choices
along with comfort and a smoother writing experience then you can’t go wrong with
the Monami Olika.
Highlighters - The Zebra Mildliner vs The Monami Essenti Soft
The Zebra Mildliner comes in with 25 beautiful pastel colors while the Monami sports a gorgeously
curated 12. Both handle showthrough very well with the Monami slightly edging out the Mildliner
but while the Monami showed no bleedthrough in our tests, your mileage may vary with the
Mildliner depending on heavy-handedness and instances of pooling. And now the dreaded
smudge test… No surprise, this is the achilles heel for the Mildliner but it actually didn’t
smear as badly as I thought it would. What is surprising is that the Essenti didn’t
beat the Mildliner! They smeared gel pens just the same! If we wanted to split hairs
then, maybe the Essenti did better by just a hair… But that’s not really a consolation.
The branding of the Mildliner is both clean and cute making it easily recognizable while
the Essenti branding, although not having a bad design, looks like a typical highlighter
and doesn’t really stand out in a crowd. The Mildliner has a slightly thicker pen body
making it feel more robust and substantial in hand. As for extra features, the Essenti
has a springy clip that makes it easy to attach to a notebook or pocket. On the Mildliner
side, it comes as a double-sided pen with a chisel tip on one end and a bullet tip on
the other, as opposed to the Essenti’s lone chisel tip. Furthermore, the Mildliner also
comes as a double-sided brush tip version in all 25 colors. At least the Monami Essenti
is cheaper, coming in at $1.55 each while the Mildliner comes in at $1.75 each or in
5 different sets of 5. If you really think about it though, 20 cents is a small difference
for the added value and versatility that the Mildliner’s bullet tip brings to the table.
Personally, I love rooting for the underdog and the Monami Essenti Soft doesn’t disappoint,
it’s a really beautiful set of colors! But the Mildliner is just one big pastel juggernaut,
and the 3 different available tips make it easy to use in just about any situation. Who
do you think won this David and Goliath match off?
Don’t forget to let us know who your winners are in the comments below! Be sure to like
this video and subscribe to our channel if you want to see a Part 2 of this video. As
always, you can find all the products in this video at JetPens.com. Thanks for watching!