Uniball 307 Review

Uni-Ball 307

The Uniball 307 is the follow-up to the company's super popular, and super successful 207. The 207 was best known for its popularity as high-quality, affordable, high-availability office pen -- it was a pen many of us were happy to see in our supply cabinets and in the middle of conference room tables. Uniball spent a lot of time and money explaining the benefits of its anti-fraud pigment-based ink to us, which gave us confidence when signing checks and other documents. 

Uniball 307 Basics

The Uniball 307 was released in North America around the summer of 2015 (an exact release date isn't clear). Its body is very similar to that of the 207 with some slight tweaks, such as the move away from a metal pocket clip and away from a chrome-looking plastic tip to a black one (as seen in the picture to the right).

Uniball touts three key features:

1. That the pen will not skip with writing, "even on glossy paper"
2. 3-way "Super Ink" protection against liquid, fading, and fraud
3. A textured grip that you have come to know and love

The Uniball 307 is currently shipping in a 0.5mm (Micro) size and 0.7mm (Medium) size, but not in a 1.0mm (Bold). The 207 was available in a 1.0mm bold, so we don't yet know if this size is coming. 

The pen will sell in the following configurations: an office-friendly Uniball 307 12-pack (single-color, 0.5mm) , single-color 3-packs , single-color 2-packs , and multicolor 3-packs . 

Uniball 307 refills are not yet available for sale. 

Uniball 307 Thoughts

If you liked the Uniball 207, you will like the 307. That said, the 207 was available for a long time, so if you expected Uniball to really knock your socks off with its successor, then you are going to be disappointed because the company took a don't-rock-the-boat path with this new pen. In fact, aside from the slightly improved ink, the 307 appears to mostly be a cost-cutting measure when compared to the 207. That's not to say its worse, it's just not really any better. 

The 307 is a bit sleeker looking and more understated than the 207, with one bit exception: the plastic clip matches the color of the ink. Where the 207 had a metal chromed clip and a plastic faux-chrome tip, the 307 went with a black tip which has a cool stealth feel to it. Then the 307's clip is either blacked out, bright blue, or  a vibrant red, which you may or may not enjoy. The 207 has a translucent grey body where the 307 moved to a calmer black plastic body, but then has a faux-carbon fiber print as you get to the top. This looks a bit cheap -- after all, we know a $2 Staples pen isn't carbon fiber, so why fake it? 

Verdict: Ultimately, the 307 is a very good pen. It has improved ink (it really is smoother then the 207 and can write on slightly glossy paper where the 207 could not) and slightly improved aesthetics (this comes down to personal opinion though), compared to the previous model. The loss of the metal clip is too bad, but the new plastic performs just about as well and it doesn't turn into a set of two sharpened little spears if the clip breaks. Finally, the loss of the 0.38mm and 1.0mm sizes that the 207 was (and largely still is) available in is a major disappointment, which we're hoping Uniball will remedy in the near future. 

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