I’m always excited to see new innovations from pen companies; new designs, new ink formulation, new colors. Anything that’ll stand out from your run of the mill pen offerings. When I heard that Sharpie was developing their own gel and rollerball pens, I was excited to see what the pinnacle of permanent markers could do. Luckily my local office supply store had plenty in stock, so I picked up some packs and got to testing.
Let’s take a look.
Sharpie Roller ($7.99/4pk)
The Sharpie Roller is a fairly standard capped rollerball pen. The one-piece grip and body of the pen are black plastic, with translucent colored end caps to indicate the ink inside. The 0.5mm needle-tip writes fairly smooth with minor feedback depending on your paper of choice. All the basics are here; red, black, and blue ink flowing smooth and laying down clear consistent lines.
Sharpie S-Gel ($7.99/4pk)
The S-Gel is Sharpie’s first foray into this war-torn GELscape of a marketplace. With three tip sizes and three colors currently available, Sharpie covered the bases of a standard gel pen pack. The barrels have a similar matte black plastic body to that of the Roller, but also feature a hard rubber textured grip section. Inside the barrel, we have a Sharpie branded G2-size refill, though the pens are slightly resistant to refilling. The red and blue ink versions feel as though they are glued shut, and the black pen opened up after a slight struggle. At the time of this writing, no refills appear to be available, and the pen is not specifically listed as refillable on Sharpie’s website.
The 0.5mm gel pens write fairly well. It is not the smoothest pen on the market, but there are certainly worse ones. I have experienced a few hard starts and skips with the red and blue pens, with the black ink being the most consistent. One other feature of note is that the S-Gel barrels are manufactured in the USA, as indicated by a small origin stamp under the clip. This likely only has an impact on back-end cost and not overall quality, but it is worth noting that the Roller is produced in China.
Value
Both the Roller and S-Gel pens are good writers, neither exceptional nor poor, just good no-frills pens. This may sound unfair, but that is my main criticism of the product. At around $2 per pen, I wasn’t expecting any game-changing ink technology or remarkable smoothness, but I was hoping for a little more from Sharpie. They have become a household name for permanent markers, and obviously, that is their main moneymaker moving forward, but these feel like just another cheap pen with the Sharpie logo on the side. Permanent pigment gel ink would have been a nice feature, and one I had assumed would be present. But as it stands currently, the Sharpie Roller and S-Gel pens are just average pens.
If these show up in your office’s supply cabinet, by all means, give them a try. Beyond that, I don’t see these making it into my personal rotation. Big swing and a miss from Sharpie.
Additional Note: I’m seeing a lot of reports that the S-Gel pens tend to run through ink rather quickly. While Sharpie hasn’t widely-launched their own refill brand, the S-Gel pens are fully compatible with Pentel EnerGel refills. Please refill your gel pens, when possible.
The Poor Penman 
tldr: this being said…any recommendations?
So funny I ended up here…hoping for some advice as I’m SUPER picky on what I like.
Anyway, have been a major Pilot V5 fan since I was a kid, unfortunately in the past couple years no matter what store (Staples, Amazon, Office Depot, ect) I purchase a pack from (even if it’s months or a year apart; I.e. different lots/batches) they all seem to dry up on my even with keeping the caps ON them, so when I then uncap I have to scribble all over the back of my page or a blank page to get it moving again…then it writes beautifully as I expect them to.
so now I’m trying to find a new roller ball, nice fluid, thick ink pen to replace it and tried the uni vision this week and don’t love it the head of ink it lays is super light/thin compared to what I like out of a V5 (when it functions properly) plus I use “fancy” Strathmore Cambric “textured” paper in my pocket notebooks (which are my main writing medium) and it doesn’t hold well/lay well or dry well on it and looks even fainter on that then regular paper. On a nice heavyweight absorbing paper like a classic Barnes and noble hardcover page like paper it’s GREAT…but not me. Plus I like capped pens (no RT’s) and I like the straight diameter barrels (no taper or “comfy-grip”
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I fell in love with these pens while I was still teaching high school. When I started my second career, I showed up to my office with a box of them. Within a mere month or two, the entire office staff and warehouse had converted to Sharpie S-Gel. I was astonished at how quickly the pen took hold, my love for the S-Gel validated. I particularly dig the matte black metal and the white versions. As a lefty, the no smear aspect is an utter gamechanger. I was surprised to see the bad review and comments as my experience has been wholly different; I’m disappointed we’re not on the same page 😉 To this day, I think its been my most meaningful contribution to my company and will perhaps be my legacy, one that will no doubt thrive long after I’m gone. Yes, they may forget the work I did and they may even forget my name, but my spirit will live on in the scribbled memos and missives that make their way through the office like so many so many whispered secrets, passing hand to hand, ink forever marking the pages of our daily lives.
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Sorry to bump an older post, but I can’t for the life of my figure out how to fit a blue EnerGel 0.7mm LR-7 refill into my S-Gel metal barrel pen… It screws in OK but as soon as I press the clicker, the tip gets jammed… Help!! 😦
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Hello! I pulled one off the shelf just to confirm, but my personal inventory is a few manufacturing-years old. If you’ve bought yours recently, the internal design may have changed since then. Check that your barrel is clear of debris or dust, I had the best results when keeping the Sharpie spring. Damage to that front nose cone can also cause friction or jamming around the tip of the refill. Good luck with the pen!
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Thanks so much for replying!! My S-Gel is less than a day old, so I’m beginning to think Sharpie may have quietly made some changes to the internals of the cone part of their pens, forcing users to buy Sharpie refills. Sneaky!!
Hopefully Signo 207 refills will still fit!! Need to duck into my local Officeworks store to get one to try 🙂
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What is on the end of your sharpie s-gel? A piece of plastic? It was hard to remove.
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my friend used these extensively and they ran out extremely quick… she now uses a jotter with black gel ink
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im writing tons of letters to friends and neighbors advertising our free Bible website, especially with covid restricting our to door to door ministry. I’ve gone through 3 black ink pens.
I like the pens, but I find them going from nice letter lines to too thin.
I like the look of them, especially the white ones.
I’ve got bigger hands
(years of ceramic tile and construction work) so I used my flexible rubberized eraser around the finger, knuckle area of the pen and now it fits my hand nicely 🙂
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These pens are terrible. A big waste of time and money. I was expecting more from Sharpie.
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HI, how are they terrible? Specifics might help newbies and readers to appreciate your conclusion. Thanks
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the Sharpie Roller’s ran out of ink in a week! I bought a pack of 4 to use at work and they were nice and vibrant for a day. I do a lot of writing and go through pens quickly, but NEVER through a single pen in a WEEK. I am irritated on how the casing on the Roller doesn’t allow you to see how much ink is actually left in the pen.. I find it super wasteful to throw these away so quickly.
The s-Gel pens on the other hand have lasted so much longer, I have yet to run out of ink on the 4 pack I have. The only complaint is that they do get scratchy and I have one out of my set that the tip seems to be loose, almost like the metal tip is broken. Over all the S-gel is far superior to the Roller version. I just wish the S-Gel came in a smaller tip like the .5 Roller.. the .7 is just to much ink for a gel pen when used the way I use it for work.
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These rather costly pens run out of ink quickly
I have tried eight of them
Many started skipping soon after I first used them
But almost all soon became dry
Was told to try Pilot g2’s, Uniball Signos or Pentel Energel next time
Will do!
Bummer!
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Is Sharpie s gel pen sucks. It drags Skip’s I wasted my money shame on you Sharpie your gel pen SJ open is no good and about 12 of them
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So my only question – Is the ink permanent? If it says SHARPIE then to me it should Only be permanent ink. I hope SHARPIE is listening. That’s your ballpark guys. If I NEED permanent ink, I pick SHARPIE.
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100% Agreed! The inks are not listed as permanent, there’s nothing on the packaging, and no mention of it on their website. These (unfortunately) are just basic pens with the Sharpie logo on the side.
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A G2 refill is known as a parker style. The refill in this pen, as well as the Pilot G2 actually has as a European style refill.
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