The Pilot Juice Up is a retractable gel pen from Pilot that features a unique writing tip and clip design. It is an improved version of the Pilot Juice Gel pen.
The Juice Up is available in a variety of ink colors and three tip sizes. 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm, and 0.5 mm. The most colors are available in the 0.4 mm size. These include standard colors and pastels. You can get a 5-pack of one ink color for about $12 or a 10-color set for about $20-$25.
The Juice Up is one of Unsharpen’s best gel pens.
The Juice Up features a unique and interesting writing tip. It’s a combination of a standard conical tip and a needle-tip. This gives you the strength and reliability of a conical tip but also the precision of a needle-point. This is very useful for the small tip sizes.
Pilot Juice Up Review
The Juice Up is an great economic gel pen if you need a smaller writing tip. It is an excellent choice for journaling or use in planners. While it doesn’t offer as many colors as the Pilot Juice, it does have a nice selection for color coding your calendar.
The body is a nice simple design. The body is all-plastic. The cone at the front is metal, not coated plastic. The clip and click mechanism are plastic. The pen is rather light but that’s to be expected.
The hard rubber grip is no frills but feels good. Even though its smooth, it does a good job of increasing grip even with sweaty hands. The rubber grip also matches the ink color for quick identification.
The clip is an interesting design choice in that it is integral to the click button. It’s pretty cool and gives the pen a very unique look. It also offers a larger area to press the button. I typically prefer clips that are more standard but this one is cool. It also has a good bit of flex and shouldn’t break under normal use. My only complaint is it doesn’t grip my thin shirt pockets as tightly as I want.
Writing Experience
The Juice Up features an improved ink over the original Juice pen. It uses a new smoother-flowing ink formulation. This is a marked advantage over other pens with similar tips sizes that are often scratchy.
I find the Juice Up to be very smooth writing and very pleasurable to use. The new ink and unique tip offer an excellent experience. The smoothness and light body are great for extended writing as well.
The ink is a water-based pigment ink and is both waterproof and fade-resistant. Unfortunately, it is not archival quality. It does offer very rich color that looks excellent on paper.
I tested the Juice Up on several paper types from cheap legal pads and notebooks to Rhodia dot pads. Performance was excellent but the pen did have a bit of a break-in period. Skips were somewhat frequent until the tip wore in a bit. After that they were very occasional and more the fault of a particular paper.
Verdict
The Juice Up is a great choice if you need a small writing tip. The ink lays down very smooth and dark. The pen has a nice design and is quite affordable. If you are looking for a good pen for your planner, this is a solid choice. I don’t use tips smaller than 0.5 mm very much but if I do, I’d often reach for the Pilot Juice Up.
Pilot Juice Up Gel Pen Information
| Street Price | Check Price |
| Manufacturer | Pilot |
| Pen Type | Rollerball / Gel |
| Rating | |
| Barrel Color | White, Silver, Black |
| Barrel Material | Plastic |
| Body Diameter (mm) | 10.1 mm |
| Grip Color | Green, Orange, Red, Blue, Pink, Light Blue, Silver, Light Green, Gold, White, Pink, Red, Black, Dark Blue, Blue, Purple, Orange, Green, Brown |
| Grip Material | Rubber |
| Grip Diameter (mm) | 10.1 mm |
| Country of Origin | Japan |
| MSRP | $3.00 |
| Still Sold | Yes |
| Similar To | |
| Refills | |
| Capped? Retractable? | Retractable - Top Button |
| Clip? | Plastic |
| Length Capped / Retracted (cm) | 14.3 |
| Weight (g) | 12 grams |
| Refillable | Yes |
| Ink Color Shipped | Metallic Pink, Green, Pink (Pastel Pink), Orange, Red, Blue, Pink, Pastel Orange, Metallic Blue, Green (Metallic Green), Gold, Green, Black, Dark Blue, Orange (Pastel Orange), Light Green (Pastel Green), Light Blue, Purple (Violet), Pink, Dark Blue (Blue Black), Pastel Blue, Blue, Purple, Violet, Brown, Metallic Purple, Silver, White, Pink (Pastel Pink), Red |