The Stabilo Boss highlighters have been around for years but did you know they come in 23 different colors? I’ve had these two 6 packs of the Stabilo boss: the bright and pastel for years, but recently I came across some 10 packs on clearance online at Officeworks.

So in this post I’m going to swatch them all so you can decide which colors you’d like to incorporate into your own stationery collection.

I’ll also show you what their ghosting and bleed through is like on 100GSM paper and 160GSM paper, so you can get an idea if they’ll work for your preferred planner or bullet journal.

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my affiliate links I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

What color ranges do the highlighters come in?

The 10 packs come in a good mix of neon and pastel colors.

Pack of 10 arty ‘warm’ colors has:

Yellow
Neon Yellow
Gold
Peach
Neon orange
Pastel pink
Darker pastel pink
Medium pink
Hot pink
Red / Orange

Pack of 10 ‘cool’ colors has:

Light purple
Dark purple
A blue / purple
Light blue
Medium blue
Mint
Green (looks like an ‘apple green’ to me)
Neon Green
Dark green (well the highlighter looks dark green but it actually swatched as a pretty turquoise)
Grey

The above isn’t their official colors, that’s just what I’m calling them!

If you want slightly darker shades of a color (e.g. if you’re planner decorating and are trying to match the colors of another planner supply), you can highlight twice for a darker shade.

Some of the Stabilo highlighter bundles available on Amazon:

Be careful which packs you choose. The same colors that are in the 6 pack pastel for example, appear in the arty and cool color packs. If you’re not sure, just get the big pack! I’ve had my 6 packs for 4+ years and they still work as good as the day I bought them.

I left the ink of the unbiall signo 0.7 (which is a great gel pen, writes very smoothly!) to dry for about 5 minutes while I did the swatches. There was no smearing.

It’s also worth pointing out that Stabilo also have the swing cool range (just to make it even more confusing!). These are a much thinner shape.

How do the Stabilo Boss highlighters compare to the Zebra Mildliner?

Zebra Mildliner also come in an array of colors however are known for their ‘muted’ tones. The Zebra Mildliner also come in various packs, the biggest pack I’ve seen is a set of 35 colors (so more color options than the Stabilo Boss).

The main difference between the Stabilo Boss and the Zebra Mildliner’s colors, is that the Zebra Mildliner comes in grey, brown, more shades of yellow and a true red.

Ghosting & Bleed Through

Most planners have paper that is around 100 GSM thick. The best paper you can get for bullet journaling is 160 GSM. So to really test these highlighters I decided to swatch them on both 105 GSM and 160 GSM paper.

105 GSM / 70lb paper (in one of my Plum Paper notebooks)

So much ghosting but only a little bit of bleed through where the highlighter ends / is lifted off the page.

160 GSM paper (in the Amanda Rach Lee dot grid notebook)

What a difference! This is why I’m always going on about why it’s worth investing in a 160 GSM dot grid notebook.

How big is the tip?

The Stabilo Boss only have 1 chisel tip which is 5mm. Since most dot grid notebooks are 5mm these days, the Stabilo Boss is the perfect size to fit those grids.

The chisel tip of some highlighter brands are only 3mm or 4mm wide so always check if this is important to you.

If you use the pointed end of the chisel tip, that will be about 2mm, although this end can become more blunt (3mm) after heavy use, or if you push down hard. I don’t recommend using the tip of a chisel tip highlighter like this all the time or you could end up damaging the highlighter. There are plenty of marker pens you could use instead!

This dark green looking highlighter actually swatches as a pretty turquoise!

While the Stabilo Boss highlighters aren’t dual tip, you can pair them with the Stabilo Boss fineliner pens (which come in 65 colors!) – the colors match up with the highlighter colors.

The Stabilo Boss highlighters and point 88 fineliner pens each have an ‘Art No.’ code. Examples:

Fineliner pen Art No. 88/33 matches up with the Boss highlighter Art No. 70/133
Fineliner pen Art No. 88/13 matches up with the Boss highlighter Art No. 70/113

How long do the highlighters last?

I only just purchased the 10 pack ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ color packs but I’ve had my 6 packs of the Stabilo boss for at least 4 years and they are still working as well as the day I bought them. The ink is showing no sign of drying out. I do want to point out that I store the highlighters horizontally to keep the ink evenly distributed. If you like to use pen cups, it’s best to turn them on their side.

The Officeworks website states the highlighters have ‘Stabilo Anti-dry-out technology, with up to 4 hours dry-out protection for concentrated work.’

Sidenote: regardless of the brand, I’ve had many highlighters for 6+ years and none of them except cheap store / non well known brands have dried out in that time.

Are the highlighters refillable?

Yes! I didn’t actually realise these highlighters were refillable (probably because I’ve never had one dry out and needed to refill it, and haven’t seen refills in stationery stores here in Australia), but I’m glad I know now as I would’ve just thrown them out otherwise. The Stabilo websites says that all of their Stabilo Boss original range is refillable.

How much do the highlighters cost?

I found the 10 packs on clearance at Officeworks here in Australia for $9 each – so only $1 per highlighter which is insanely cheap! (originally $21 AUD per pack). I’ve also seen a pack of 23 shades for $19 AUD.

Prices vary on Amazon depending what pack you choose.

If you buy these highlighters individually they cost around $3 – $4 AUD depending on where you purchase them.

In comparison with the Zebra Mildliners, the pack of 35 colors is $30 USD on Amazon and $23 USD for a pack of 25.

Do you really need all these different colors?

No. If you only occasionally use highlighters for planning, or use highlighters for their intended use – studying and highlighting things, then it probably doesn’t matter too much if you have or don’t have specific color shades. However if you like to use highlighters for planner decorating, then having multiple shades of the same colors come in handy and open up more options for:

Spreads with multiple shades of the same colors
Multi-colored spreads
Spreads which coordinate with other planner supplies e.g. stickers
Add more interest to your spreads
If you prefer non-neon colors (like I do)
Rainbow spreads (including a true rainbow i.e. with red, which is a color that not many highlighter brands offer)

So I’ll leave it up to you to decide, but since highlighters are so cheap and they last so long, I think it’s worth having many colors to choose from!

What do I rate these highlighters?

5/5!

I love my Stabilo Boss highlighters and use them all the time. The colors are great and the tip is 5mm which is the perfect fit for a 5mm dot grid for bullet journaling. Hopefully one day they come out with dual tip highlighters so I have better control using the smaller tip, because currently using the chisel on an angle can get a bit wonky.