Editing The Pen Addict 35/transcript (section)

== Pilot Easy Touch ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' One of my favorite pens that I've used in the past couple of years and I guess it came out in Japan a couple of years ago is the Pilot Acroball. And a lot of people have heard me talk about it over the years and reviewed different models of it. And what it is, for those who aren't familiar with it, it's basically a hybrid ballpoint ink pen similar to the Uniball Jetstream. Uniball was way ahead of the game when they invented the Jetstream hybrid ballpoint ink. It's smoother. It was waterproof. It didn't smear. All kinds of good properties that normal ballpoint pens didn't have. Then every other major manufacturer didn't have anything like this. Pilot didn't have anything. Pentel, Zebra, you name it. No one could compete with the Jetstream. Then all of a sudden about two years ago, everyone decided to compete with the Jetstream. I mean, Pilot came out with the Acroball. Pentel came out with the Vicuna. Zebra came out with the Sorari. And all these came out in Japan, by the way. This wasn't a U.S. thing. We're not as fortunate as our Japanese friends to get all the front-end new pen technology. But the Acroball came out. I had a reader pick me one up in Japan. And she was nice enough to send it to me when she got back. And it knocked my socks off for a ballpoint ink. It was better than the Jetstream. It's a really good writing pen, 0.7 millimeters, fine line, super smooth, clean, everything. Loved it. So then that line kind of exploded. And JetPens started carrying them and doing a little bit of research. Pilot actually manufactured a pen in the U.S. that used this type of ink. It was called the Pilot Easy Touch Pro.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And so I went to the – you can just find those at Staples or something. So I went to the store and purchased one. It only came in 1.0 millimeters. But it was nice. It was good ink and everything. The problem with Pilot at that time is I don't think they marketed it as a Jetstream competitor.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Such a bad name as well. Easy Touch Pro. It doesn't even make sense.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I have a huge complaint about this. I mean I have a rant on this. So they have a Pilot Easy Touch. It's a base ballpoint. It's the kind you would find in dozens in the office supply cabinet. Just a completely nondescript disposable ballpoint pen that doesn't write very well at all. It's just – it's the lowest of the low end. It's called the Pilot Easy Touch. Well, then they come out with a Pilot Easy Touch Pro and they change the barrel design. But they don't really differentiate. They made a pin, two pins with the same Easy Touch name and put two absolutely different inks in the pin that perform differently and everything. I've never seen a manufacturer do that. But if you have the Uniball Sino, you can buy the Uniball Sino Premier. It's a nicer barrel, but it's the same ink, same refill, same everything. You buy a Pilot G2 Limited or whatever. It's the exact same refill, exact same everything. You buy a Pilot Easy Touch and you buy a Pilot Easy Touch Pro. They're completely different. But if you've ever used the Easy Touch, you would just think you're getting a little bit nicer barrel in the Pro when you're actually getting a hugely improved ink. So they did a bad job differentiating those and marketing that the ink was better and different in the Easy Touch Pro. Plus, the pin was kind of ugly. The Easy Touch is ugly to begin with. The Easy Touch Pro was a little bit of a step up. But again, they didn't differentiate them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So when I did my Field Notes Expedition Edition review and was talking about what pins work good, I was saying how good the hybrid inks like the Jetstream work. And, well, Pilot on Twitter tweeted me. They said, hey, the Pilot Downforce, which is their pressurized refill ballpoint, and the Acroball should work really well in there too. I was like, you know what? You're right. Those pins are perfect for the Expedition. So I got to talking with Pilot and I asked him, I said, when's the Acroball coming to the U.S.? Because, I mean, I know you have the Easy Touch Pro, but it's not the same. It's just not done as nicely as the Acroball as I can get from Japan. And they're actually coming out in March of this year, and they sent me some in the mail. So I got a handful of them, and I'm happy to say they are essentially the exact Japanese version that I've been using. And anyone else who has bought the Acroball over the years has been using the same barrel design. It's different barrel colors to differentiate them. It's more of a white-based barrel with, you know, different colored accents, you know, blue and green and pink. But it's all black ink, but just different highlights in the barrel.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But the barrel design, and most importantly, the barrel grip, which is one of the best grips I've ever used in any disposable type pin, is identical to the Japanese version. So I think once these launch in March in the U.S., I think they will do pretty well. Because I'm a huge fan of the Acroball, and I'm glad to see Pilot bringing these over. I hate that it's, you know, it's probably been two years, if not more, that, you know, there's been a Japanese version. All of us pin fans who, you know, read Pin Addict and shop at JetPins, we've been using this pin for years. And I don't know, I won't profess to know how the businesses work between Pilot and Japan, and when, how does it have to be a certain amount of success, reach a certain amount of success in Japan before they'll even consider it, bring it to the U.S. I don't know why these markets are so different to where that we, in the U.S., doesn't get the same pin for two or three years later than Japan. But, you know, maybe I can get Pilot on here one day to explain that to me. And I'm pretty sure I would be disappointed with the answer, so I probably shouldn't even try.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mr. Dowdy, have you ever heard the term test market? Yeah. Let me tell you all about our Japanese test markets.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, well, but, I mean, I know the mentality is different in the way stationery is used in Japan and here. So I understand why things work there that don't necessarily work here, but I want that mentality changed here, you know. It's, we're stuck in the office supply cabinet mentality here, you know. They, manufacturers here want to bulk sell cheap pins to office, offices, you know. They don't want to innovate and do something new and neat because the offices won't buy a pin that costs, you know, 50% more than the, they're not going to buy a box of 12 that costs 50% more than the box of 12 they've been buying, you know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that's my mini rant. But anyway, I just wanted to share that news that, you know, Pilot did tweet me that the real, legitimate Acroball is coming to the U.S. here in March. And I've got some samples and I think they've probably sent some to some other bloggers. So you'll probably see some reviews coming soon on this, on this new Acroball. I don't know that I'll do just a pure review on it, but I'll take some pictures and post them because it's, it's a good looking pin. And they, they, they did an excellent job and credit to Pilot for finally getting the Acroball and hopefully they can kick the EasyTouch Pro to the curb because that's kind of a worthless, worthless entry in my mind.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But, but, um, did the pen companies do a lot of blogger outreach?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They've started to. You'll, you'll notice like, you'll see kind of a batch of reviews from a lot of the, around the pen blogosphere on the same product. And you'll know that, you know, there's been some outreach there, you know, hey, we've got this new product coming or, you know, do y'all want to do some reviews. So, you know, I've done several things that, you know, you'll see three or four or five other pen bloggers review all in the same, you know, kind of few week period. Everyone getting, kind of giving their opinion on their new product. I mean, it's not huge. I don't, it's not like I get emails every day or every week, even, um, sometimes not even every month. But, you know, there, there is some, there is a lot of outreach. Um, there's a lot that, um, I, I do some of it. I don't do all of it. Um, I don't know. It's just, I, I don't have as much time as I used to. And, and, you know, I just try to, you know, pick out some of the products that I like that I think some of the readers are like. And, you know, I'll, I'll accept some, you know, some, some products from some of these vendors. And, you know, sometimes I'll review them. Sometimes I run, I tell them up front that, you know, if you're sending this to me to, one, get a guaranteed review and to have that review be positive, you're, you're talking to the wrong person. Um, you can, you're more than welcome to send me anything you want, but, you know, I'm either a going to review it if I see fit. And two, if it sucks, I'm going to say it sucks.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, you know, so here's my address. Feel free to send it. Those are my terms. So anyway, I'm, I'm getting off subject here, but yeah, you're starting to see some, a little bit more outreach than before. Or it's not, um, it's not a huge push thing because see, you're going to get me on another rant now. It's not a huge thing because pen manufacturers in the U.S. aren't that innovative. Right. I mean, there's, there's, what are you, what is Uniball going to send me?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Good point. Good point.