I am visiting our family house now, so we might be swatching on different paper types. :) 

When I think affordable vintage ink in the market, it's almost always that the Zebra Sarasa Vintage gel pens come to mind, but I found a set visually similar but are heaps and heaps cheaper: The M&G Vintage Gel Pens.

M&G pens are generally familiar to me because of the classic M&G Office G gel pens that grew popular in the early 2000s. I was in grade school then, and I always liked how the ink was darker than the usual ballpens I was used to, but on the other hand, I wasn't a fan of the ink breaks when writing. 

So fast forward in 2022, M&G now offers a vintage set, which I bought in a jiffy, of course. So now, are they good dupes of the Zebra Sarasa ones? Are they a definite bang for one's buck? 

Let's begin. ♥︎

THE LAYOUT

The M&G Vintage Gel Pen set is manufactured by Chinese manufacturer Shanghai M&G Stationery Inc.  This set is one of their retractable pens, but what makes this special is that this is their only set that featured vintage-toned pens. 

The markers are dressed in slim hexagon plastics with colors that matched the ink of the pen. I think how the shape still makes writing with the pen comfortable. It also has a white clip with a gold logo debossed on it (which I think is a regal touch!).

They're only available in 0.5mm fine point tip size. 

THE SWATCHES

Isn't it kind of a bummer when you blind purchase a writing instrument and the ink doesn't match the cap? I totally understand the feeling. This is why we have The Swatches, where we see if the actual ink matches the 

THE PEN-TO-PAPER TEST

This is where we put these little ones to the test. Before, I usually would just test it against different paper GSMs, but this time, the smudge test and highlighter tests are having their own comeback. :) 

The most common smudge problems that relate to pens are ink stains on the hands and highlighter smudges. For people like me who love to use highlighters to annotate and, well, simply add a little bit of color to pages, inks that can stay in place are truly a heaven-sent. Can the M&G Vintage gel pens take the heat? 

FINGER TEST

Who doesn't like a pen that dries just in time to evade the ink stains, especially for left-handed friends. For this test, I brushed my pointer finger on the words to test. 

Findings

1. There's pronounced smudging for the 1-second row, so I think this might not be best for fast writing in small sheets of paper and especially if you have sweaty hands.
2. There's little to no smudging for the 5-second row. I would call that fairly impressive as this is a gel pen after all.  

HIGHLIGHTER TEST 

For this test, I used my Stabilo Boss Original highlighter because that's the wateriest, thickest highlighter I have in my arsenal. I think that using a highlighter with this type of ink consistency will really help us figure out how the pens fair against highlighters in general. 

Findings

1. There's smudging in both 1-second test and 5-second test, though I do suspect it's more because Stabilo highlighters are really heavy and watery (but then again it's also the most common highlighter in everyone's arsenal). 
2. Feathering is also very evident, especially with the 1-second test. So if you plan to really use it and with highlighters, I would suggest you wait a lot longer to lessen the smudging and feathering. 

THE YELLOW LEGAL PAD TEST 

pros

1. Smooth ink flow. It did glide when I wrote with it, which is something I always look forward to with gel pens, particularly gel pens of 0.5mm or thicker. 
2. Rich color payoff. Honestly surprised by how rich and vibrant the colors are. While some of the shade might not be my exact pick for each color, but stunning payoff nonetheless.  
3. Sleek pen design. It reminds me so much of the beautiful Sarasa Vintage. Need I say more. 😇
4. Very affordable. This may be fashioned after the Sarasa line, but one pen costs less than half. Match it with the quality and you have a bang for your buck. 

cons

THE VERDICT

ink flow

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price 

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design

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grip/comfort

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smudge

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accessibility 

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final rating: 3.6

RECOMMENDATION 

The answer to the headline question is, they're cheap and cheerful!

I would gladly say they can pass as actual dupes for the well-loved Zebra Sarasa Vintage gel pens, which costs a few hundred more. The colors are similar, the ink flow is smooth as well, and the overall pen design looks expensive too. It's a pen you'd like to have and write with.

I love hunting affordable writing options, and these pens are filed under "bang for your buck." :) Though this would really be a hunt of its own since it's now become so difficult to find⏤precisely what pulled down its overall rating. But all in all, these are wonderful pens, so wonderful that I gave them to my mom who also loves and appreciates inks and paperie. ♥︎

jls ⁕