I like extra-fine fountain pen nibs and micro-tipped gel pens as much as the next pen nerd, so I was excited to finally get my hands on a UniBall Jetstream Edge. I was able to snatch one up when Jetpens restocked, and I’ve been using it for a little over a week now and, well… I have some thoughts.
Let’s take a look.
Right away you can see the Edge has a unique, possibly polarizing look. The pen has a cylindrical metal grip section with small groups of grooves cut to provide a little grip. The plastic barrel is hexagonal and tapers down to be fairly narrow in the clip section. The clip is fairly springy metal wire, and is itself very unique looking. The slightly geometric shape makes it a little difficult to clip onto a sheet of paper, but it’ll do fine in a shirt pocket or pen case sleeve.
Like other pens in the series. the Edge uses UniBall’s Jetsream ink, a very smooth and generally reliable oil-based ballpoint ink. Like many of you, I’ve had plenty of experience with the over-the-counter versions of the Jetstream pens before. They have a well-earned reputation as a very smooth-writing pen, but the thinnest available line is usually 0.5mm. And with the Jetstream, you start to see some sacrifice of even flow at narrower point sizes.
The refill cartridges used by this pen are somewhat unique in size, but Jetpens does list a few alternate refills on their website. The Edge appears to be compatible with certain refills from Pilot and Ohto, though these types of refills are a little hard to find in the brick & mortar retail space.
Writing with the 0.28mm Edge can be a little challenging. Out of the box I had consistent ink flow to create tiny black lines. However, because the surface area of the ball point is so small, your writing angle has to be almost completely vertical at all times. Otherwise the contact on the page becomes almost unusably-scratchy. Before too long I did start to experience some dry writing, but that isn’t completely unexpected with ballpoint pens. It’s almost an inevitability that the ink type globs and smears a bit on the mechanism, but with such a small surface any bump or skip is accentuated. While I wouldn’t call this a “deal breaker” for the Edge, dependability and accessibility of refills is definitely something worth considering when making the decision to buy.
Scratchiness aside, the front-heavy barrel is comfortable to write with. The plastic barrel does fell a little light-weight, bordering on cheap, next to the nice grip section. The unique design, while probably my favorite feature, is going to be the deciding factor here. Love it or hate it, it adds a bold style to an otherwise average pen.
Check out the Uniball Jetstream Edge at JetPens.com
Disclaimer: This product was purchased by The Poor Penman. All opinions stated are my own.
The Poor Penman 
The ink in the edge is not dark enough. It almost seem gray instead of black. And yes, it is a bit scratchy, thinness notwithstanding.
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