I previously did a comparison between the Paper Mate Inkjoy Gel and Walmart’s Pen + Gear gel pens which looked eerily similar. In today’s post I’m doing a similar comparison, but this time with the Paper Mate Flair pens and Walmart’s Pen + Gear felt tip pens… which look eerily similar to the Paper Mate Flair.

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The Paper Mate Flair pens can be a bit confusing, as they come in ultra fine and medium point, in packs of various quantities. I have the ultra fine in the ‘candy pop’ color range. I’m not sure why, but the ultra fine don’t come in many colors. Even today the only other color way I could find online was this pack of 8 bright colors.

I did have a 0.7mm / medium tip size Paper Mate flair pen a while ago, but I ended up giving it to a friend (spoiler: I don’t really enjoy writing with them and I actually rarely use the flair pens). The 0.7mm (medium tip) writes smoother than the ultra fine, and comes in more color options with brighter and better colors like the ‘tropical vacation’ range.

Pen + Gear also come in ultra fine and medium tip. I purchased the ultra fine so I could show you a side by side comparison.

Related post: Planner Shopping in the USA (Michaels, Staples, Target, Walmart and Paper Source)

The criteria

• Color options
• Pen tip sizes
• Ease of writing
• Do they smear or smudge?
• Pen test – is there ghosting and / or indenting?
• Price
• Availability

So let’s find out which is the better pen.

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Color options

The Paper Mate flair ultra pens come in a few color ranges (some of them limited edition): Original colors and Candy Pop.

There are more colors to choose from in the medium Paper Mate flair range: Sunday Brunch, Nature Escape,  Tropical Vacation and Retro Accents.

The Papermate flair ‘candy pop’ colors

The Pen + Gear come in 24 colors with a good variety of bright colors and more muted tones.

Winner: Tie. The flair pens come in more colors but they’re scattered across multiple color ranges and many are limited edition with more unique colors than are typically available in pens. If you want all colors, you’d need to buy multiple packs which would get expensive. The Pen + Gear come in a pack of 24 colors that would appeal to most people.

Pen tip sizes

When browsing for the Paper Mate flair pens, you might notice some of them say ‘medium’ for the listings that have a 0.7mm tip size. I’d say this is actually more like a 1mm tip size. I bought one in the 0.7mm size to try years ago, and it was too big for my liking. It would be a struggle to use in tight boxes like in a vertical weekly planner.

The Paper Mate Flair UF is definitely a thinner tip than the Pen + Gear pens. And that’s after I’ve used the Papermate flairs for a bit (pens can write ‘thicker’ after you break them in).

Here’s a close up of the Paper Mate flair ultra fine

Winner: Depends on your personal preference. I prefer the Pen + Gear.

Ease of writing

The Paper Mate Flair ultra fine can be a bit scratchy to write with, even if you don’t write on much of an angle. They’re described as a felt tip pen but I’d say they’re more like a needle tip. The 0.7mm write a bit better.

I had no issues writing with Pen + Gear, the pens glided smoothly across the page.

Winner: Pen + Gear

Ghosting and indenting

I swatched them all so we could see if any had ghosting, indenting or bleed through. I used a Plum Paper notebook which has 70lb text paper (fairly standard / average paper thickness in planners).

Both had bad ghosting but there was slightly less ghosting for the Paper Mate Flair ultra fine pens.

Winner: Paper Mate Flair ultra fine pens

Price

The price of the Paper Mate pens can vary wildly depending on the quantity of pens in the pack and where you purchase them from. On Amazon some of the listings are actually cheaper to purchase a bigger pack than the sampler packs.

Walmart actually also sells the Paper Mate Flair pens so let’s use the Walmart website prices for comparison:

• Paper Mate Flair Tropical Vacation 24 pack = $23.42 USD
• Walmart’s Pen + Gear felt tip pens 24 pack = $11.44 USD (the price is the same whether you buy the ultra fine tip or medium tip)

If you wanted a cheaper pack of the Paper Mate Flair, the Walmart website has a pack of 16 in ‘nature escape’ colors for $18.28… so still more expensive than the Pen + Gear 24 pack.

Winner: Walmart’s Pen + Gear 

Smear + Smudge testing

I gave the pens 5 seconds to dry then ran my finger over the top of where I’d written. Neither pen smudged or smeared except when I needed to use whiteout. As is often the case with fineliner and needle tip pens, they just don’t work with white out tape and it usually ends up being a mess. It’s better to cross the word out and write beside it if you have enough space in your planner to do so.

Winner: Tie

Availability

All of Paper Mate’s pen ranges are readily available online through Amazon, as well as local office supply stores such as Officeworks, Staples, Office Depot etc. I’ve even seen them in Woolworths and Coles grocery shops here in Australia. They’re available in various size packs, and I’ve also seen them for sale individually or in packs of 2.

Pen + Gear is a range exclusive to Walmart, so it can only be purchased in Walmart stores or online. Unfortunately Walmart does not ship to Australia 🙁

Winner: Paper Mate Flair

Overall Winner: Paper Mate Flair versus Pen + Gear

I prefer Walmart’s Pen + Gear pens. They write smoothly, have a better color range in one convenient pack, come in a handy storage case and cost less than the Paper Mate Flairs.

As a sidenote, Paper Mate Flair also come in a dual tip option with a medium tip on one end, and a brush tip on the other end.

 

If you like the style of the Paper Mate Flair pens, PaperChase and Inklab are very similar but sadly both appear to no longer be available for sale. Another option are the Staedtler Triplus fineliner (they say 0.3mm but I think they write more like a 0.7mm). They’re cheaper than the Paper Mate Flair’s too.

If you want more recommendations, check out this post: My Favorite Fineliner Pens for Planning & Bullet Journaling

More planner supplies reviews

• Best stencils for bullet journal daily, weekly and monthly spreads
• Brush pens versus highlighters: which is better for planning?
• Rating every pen I own (100+!) (The pens you need… and the pens you don’t)

Planning tips

• Making your own planner stickers: the tools and resources you need
• 7 Useful washi tapes for bullet journaling
• Bullet Journal Layouts: 26 Non-typical 2 page weekly spreads to try

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