PENS: A COMPARISON

Executive Summary This report recommends the Papermate Eagle for the most pen for your dollar.

We tested the following six pens:

Pilot G2 Gel Rolling Ball 1.0mm Black Ink

Uni-Ball 207 0.7mm Black Ink

Uni-Ball Vision 0.5mm Black Ink

Papermate Eagle 1.2mm Black Ink

Bic Round Stic 1.0mm Blue Ink

Inc. Trio3 1.0mm Black Ink

This comparison serves to outline how different ball point pens responded to various tests as

compared to their cost. The tests compare the strength, durability, bleed through resistance and

ability to write legibly on wet paper using an Awesomes per Dollar™ scale.

The Papermate Eagle tied for last in strength, ranked fifth in durability, first in bleed through

resistance and tied for third in our wet paper test. The Papermate’s big advantage is in its cost.

It was the most inexpensive pen.

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Introduction As college students we have a need for writing utensils that are both cost effective and

functional. In order to meet this need our team has chosen six ball point pens of varying brands

and costs to test for durability, strength, the ability to write on wet paper, and for amount of

bleed through. The following report details the methods in which we used to test the various

pens as well as the results of those tests.

The pens that were tested are the following:

A. Pilot G2 Gel Rolling Ball 1.0mm Black Ink

B. Uni-Ball 207 0.7mm Black Ink

C. Uni-Ball Vision 0.5mm Black Ink

D. Papermate Eagle 1.2mm Black Ink

E. Bic Round Stic 1.0mm Blue Ink

F. Inc. Trio3 1.0mm Black Ink

The letters correspond to the pens throughout the remainder of this report.

Methods We tested each of the six pens using several methods that are designed to give an indicator of

the steadfastness of a pen and then compared those results to the cost of each pen. Each method,

except cost per pen, used a scale of 1-5 awesomes, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the

highest. The criteria we tested were:

Cost Per Pen

Bleed Through

Strength

Durability

Wet Paper Test

Below is a description of the methods we used to test each criterion.

Cost Per Pen

The cost per pen was calculated by taking the total cost of a package of pens, net of tax and

dividing by the number of pens in a package.

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Bleed Through

The bleed through score was calculated by writing on one side of a piece of paper and

measuring how much of the ink came through to the other side. We took five samples per pen

from the opposite side of the page using the color picker tool in Photoshop. This measured the

amount of red, green and blue found in the bleed through, and we averaged them together. We

created a weight by taking the average and dividing by the RGB code for the color white, which

is 255. We then multiplied that weight by 5 to give each pen a score on a scale of 1 to 5.1

Strength

To test the strength of each pen we dropped a five pound weight on each one from the same

height until the pen was unable to write anymore. If a pen was rendered inoperable on the first

drop it received a score of 0. If a pen was still able to write after five drops of the weight, it was

given a score of 5.

Durability

To test the durability of each pen we put them all in a dish washer for a full cycle. We took a

color sample before the wash and after the wash and compared the amount of color using the

color picker tool in Photoshop from five different areas on each sample. We then took this data

and converted it into a five point scale using the following method:

1. Averaged the amount of red, green and blue in each sample from before the wash.

2. Averaged the amount of red, green and blue in each sample from after the wash.

3. Calculated the difference between the before and after averages.

4. Calculated the percentage change from 255, which is the red, green, blue (RGB) code for

white.

5. Averaged the percentage change for RGB.

6. Calculated the average percentage each sample stayed the same by subtracting the

percentage change from 1.

7. Multiplying the average percentage of sameness by 5 to convert to a 1-5 point scale. Two

of the pens, A and B resulted in a score over 5. For the purposes of this comparison, we

capped the results at 5.2

1 All calculations are included in the Appendix at the end of this report. 2 All calculations are included in the Appendix at the end of this report.

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Pen A - Wet

Pen B - Dry

Pen B - Wet

Pen A - Dry

Wet Paper Test

The wet paper test was conducted by comparing a line drawn by an individual on a dry page to

a similarly shaped line drawn by the same individual on the same page when wet. We then

ranked each pen on a scale of 1-5 by visually comparing bleed, tearing and legibility.

Results After countless hours of testing, we gathered the following data:

Pen Cost per Pen Bleed Through Strength Durability Wet Paper

A 1.21$ 4.51 5 5 1

B 1.36$ 4.50 5 5 2

C 1.36$ 4.52 0 2.40 3

D 0.10$ 4.80 0 4.85 3

E 0.12$ 4.67 0 4.86 5

F 0.66$ 4.46 0 4.95 4

Results from the wet paper test are below.

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Pen C - Dry Pen C - Wet

Pen D - Dry Pen D - Wet

Pen E - Dry Pen E - Wet

Pen E - Dry Pen E - Wet

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Discussion and Conclusions After testing, we averaged the amount of awesomes each pen received, and calculated the

average number of awesomes you can receive for each dollar you spend per pen. We then

ranked each pen based on the number of awesomes it received per dollar3.

Pen

Average Score

(Awesomes) Cost per Pen

Pens per

Dollar

Awesomes

per Dollar Rank

A 3.88 1.12$ 0.89 3.46 4

B 4.12 1.36$ 0.74 3.03 5

C 2.48 1.36$ 0.74 1.82 6

D 3.16 0.10$ 10.00 31.64 1

E 3.63 0.12$ 8.33 30.28 2

F 3.35 0.66$ 1.52 5.08 3

Recommendation Based upon the Awesomes per Dollar™ scale, we recommend pen D, the Papermate Eagle. This

pen offers the best strength, durability, bleed through resistance, and legibility on wet paper for

your money.

3 Awesomes per Dollar™ was calculated by multiplying the average number of awesomes by the number

of pens you could buy with $1. (Average Score x Pens per Dollar)