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An Ode to the Pilot G2, the Greatest Pen on the Planet

There are nicer pens and cheaper ones, too. But none are as noteworthy as Pilot’s retractable rollerball.

pen on fabric backgroundPhoto by Jack Seemer

By Jack Seemer

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George S. Patton once said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” And the thing about product nerds is that we all have an opinion we’d like to argue about.

At Gear Patrol, rarely a day goes by when there isn’t a long-winded Slack thread about which product should top our latest buying guide or the best shades blue to ever grace the Porsche 911.

However, there is one product at least a few of us agree on, and no, it’s not some rare, esoteric pair of jeans from rural Japan (though we have opinions about those, too). In fact, you probably have this product sitting in a drawer somewhere, if not a dozen in different colors.

It’s the Pilot G2, a.k.a. the greatest pen on the planet.

“This pen is the equivalent of a Toyota Highlander,” says Gear Patrol founder Eric Yang. “Widely available, versatile, premium Japanese build quality, reasonably handsome and a ‘no-worries-if-lost’ price. I don’t need anything fancier.”

“Widely available, versatile, premium Japanese build quality, reasonably handsome and a ‘no-worries-if-lost’ price. I don’t need anything fancier.”

Pilot released the G2 in 1997 and it quickly became a global sensation. Its claim to fame was its retractability, a first among gel pens of the era, which it paired with the ergonomic form factor of the Dr. Grip that released two years earlier.

While the G2 is cheap by fountain-pen standards, it’s not disposable. Today, the body is made from 70 percent recycled plastic and the ball is crafted from durable tungsten carbide. Even the ink can be refilled. “A lot of niche pens use the same insert, actually,” says Grovemade cofounder Ken Tomita, who calls himself a fan of the G2.

the refill cartridge of a Pilot G2 pen
According to Ken Tomita, cofounder of Grovemade, many fancier pens than the G2 use the same insert.
Photo by Jack Seemer

“The gel offers thick, opaque coverage on most surfaces while avoiding that dreaded railroad effect,” Yang says. “It’s a bit slower at drying but the retractable function keeps paper and pockets tidy.”

Pilots sells the G2 in varying tip sizes, with 0.7mm and 0.5mm being the company’s most popular options. Yang says he prefers the finer 0.5mm width because “0.7mm is essentially a crayon.”

“I love this pen so much that I often buy a 12-pack just to give to people.”

Of course, this being Gear Patrol, the jury is still out on the perfect width. Creative director Joe Tornatzky is avid G2 user but he prefers the more elusive 0.38mm variant (which Yang describes as “writing with an X-Acto knife”).

“It somehow puts down a thin line of ink that is heavy while never skipping a beat,” Tornatzky says. “I love this pen so much that I often buy a 12-pack just to give to people. Then I see them using the 0.38 for the next year.”