June 9, 2008

Review: Sakura Pigma Micron Orange 05

A favorite of artists, sketchers, doodlers, and writers, the Sakura Pigma Micron delivers a great experience no matter the use. I have been a little late to the party on this one, but being a fan of plastic tip pens already, I knew I would love it. I chose the 05 tip, which is, at .45mm, near the middle of their product offering. You can choose to go much finer or much bolder than this one. It is very sturdy and the line is clean and smooth in my Moleskine.

The only thing I haven't tested out yet is durability, mainly because I haven't had it that long. If anyone has experience with how long these pens last, please post it in the comments section.

10 comments:

the knights who say (!) said...

durability of the 05 tip (and larger) is fairly good; i've had my black 05 and 1 for ~18 months and they're still going strong. the 005 tip you have to be more careful with; i split my old one in a frenzy of final exams note-sheets and it still writes well, just not with its original point size.

PS, thank you for doing all these reviews! i *love* this blog!

Juan A. Navarro (evoratec) said...

durability is very very good. Cause in Spain i could not find it, i purchased 35 from usa trough ebay.

I use moleskine and rhodia. For moleskine is better than pilot g2 ( for me). It's smooth and the ink is black and colors are very good.

The problem is that you must write in good paper or could destroy the tip.

dowdyism said...

Thanks for the kind words and great comments! It seems to be a consensus about the smaller tip being more fragile, which only makes sense. Ana mentions the same thing on the flickr photo page.

H2 said...

I have always loved those pens! Brown is good too!

d.b. said...

All time favorite. You will notice the nib being forced back into the tube with time, especially with the smaller diameters. I've had some of these pens for a couple of years at a time. They are still wonderful to use, and take on almost a soft, brushlike affect. Don't get any skin oils on the tips though, it will cause he pen to not work for a while, but it will correct itself.

Andrea said...

They stand the test of time.

Love this blog! Linked you!

dowdyism said...

Thanks Andrea!

Zach said...

If you like these I really recommend the Copic Multiliner SP. They're available in quite a few colors and sizes (but only by buying direct here it seems: http://www.copicmarker.com/ ). I find the tip durability to be far better than the microns and staedtler piment liners and equal to the prismacolor fineliners. They're aluminum cased, refillable, and have replacable tips. They have plastic ones too if Al isn't your thing.

dowdyism said...

I have heard a lot about those pens Zach - I will have to make a point to pick some up. Thanks!

Unknown said...

I only use pen for writing, so I am unsure of this pen's impact on drawings. I write very hard and this pen is not for me. The overall fragile feeling makes me feel unsafe in writing and I broke the tip once... will return to Hi-Tech-C afterall.