While visiting the Bed, Bath and Beyond store at 9021 Snowden River Parkway in Columbia, Maryland, I stumbled upon some Pilot Frixion gel pens. The pens are special in that they're erasable whereas other gel pens aren't. The store sells the pens for $2.99 which is apparently high compared to other stores but, I bought five of the .7mm retractable pens to try out. Later, I did some research on the pens and found out how the ink works.
The gel ink is thermo sensitive which means it's sensitive to heat. According to the jetpens.com website I visited, if you have the pens out in 140 degree heat or higher, the ink will become colorless. It's this same sensitivity to heat that enables users to erase their mistakes with these pens. The friction from rubbing the ink with a regular eraser causes the ink to become colorless. This makes these pens pretty handy.
Specifications wise, the pens come in 7 colors:
Black
Blue
Turquoise
Red
Purple
Green
Pink
They come in fine (.7mm) and extra fine (.5mm) nib sizes. Also, there are retractable and non-retractable pens. The retractable pens are interesting that as there is a small eraser at the end of these pens, you have to press the clip down on them to cause the nib to come out or retract.
Prices can vary. Walmart.com offers a 5 pack of the .5mm (extra fine nib) pens for $9.75 while Staples.com offers 7 pack of the .7 (fine nib) pens for $14.99. Officeworld.com sells the pens singly and in multi-pen packs. In some of the stores I visited looking for these pens, I found the selection of them very limited compared to the very popular Pilot G2 pens.
Overall, I've been very pleased with these pens. I do wish Pilot offered them in more colors and, they were more widely available. Pilot's G2 gel pens come in 15 colors (there are more colors than this though some aren't offered in the United States such as their pastel color G2 pens) vice the 7 they offer in their Frixion line. These pens definitely can be handy in certain cases. I definitely recommend them. Happy writing all!
Update May 4, 2016: Yesterday, I checked the Walmart next to the Sam's Club at 3535 Russett Green East in Laurel, Maryland. They don't have these pens (no shock that). However, the Sam's Club offers an 8 pack of the retractable pens for $6.81. The pack is missing the turquoise pen and has 3 of the black pens.
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