There have been a lot of exciting developments in the highlighters world since the chunky fluoro highlighters from 1980s. There are many highlighters on the market now that offer softer, less glaring colours and a pen-like body that fits more easily into your hand and the pencil case than the huge, blocky highlighters. Highlighters have been taken up with gusto by the growing bullet journaling community who use them for headings, lettering, colour-coding, and marking off trackers. Since many people are now using highlighters for a range of different purposes, they want their highlighters to come in an appealing range of colours and to be easy to carry around.

This review compares the top 3 highlighter sets in our store: Zebra Mildliner double-sided highlighters, Uni Propus Window highlighters, and Pilot Frixion Light erasable highlighters. The aspects I looked at were colour, ink quality, external design, and special features.

Zebra Mildliner Double-sided Highlighters

 

Colours

The Zebra Mildliner have gained renown among the bullet journaling community for their subtle, soft colours. Though mild, the colours are vivid enough to show up well when used for lettering and drawing as well as for highlighting. Despite some of the colours being slightly darker than other soft-coloured highlighters, the writing underneath remained clearly visible.The Mildliners come in an impressive range of 25 colours.

Ink quality

The Mildliner’s ink is smooth and vivid. It draws solid, sharp lines. It’s water-based but not hugely watery and only causes minimal smearing when used with pens once they’re dry. There is a slight bit of spotting where the ink pools at the end of a stroke, but it’s not a significant amount.

External design

The slim stylish body of these highlighters is a far cry from traditional highlighters. The pen-like body is comfortable to hold for extended periods of time (which is especially important if you’re using the highlighter not just for highlighting notes but for more-involved purposes such as lettering).

The combination of the Mildliners’ glossy white body and the bright, cutely-rounded push clip gives them a stylish, youthful appearance. The pocket clips create an attractive shape where they attach to the cap.

What makes these highlighters special?

The Mildliners are famous for their soft yet vivid colours that are very different to conventional highlighter colours. They come in an astonishing array of 25 appealing colours. The double-sided feature is also excellent: the Mildliners have a fine tip at the opposite end from its highlighter tip. This makes them incredibly versatile. They can be used not just for highlighting but also as markers. Also, unlike many other types of highlighters, they have a very appealing visual design. These special features make the Zebra Mildliners a truly unique product.

Uni Propus Window Double-sided Highlighters

Colour

Although quite bright in comparison to Zebra Mildliners, the Propus colours are still much gentler on the eye than the conventional highlighters. In fact, the colour intensity varies between the different colours — the lavender purple and aqua blue are very soft and subtle, while the golden yellow and lime green have an intensity that somewhat resembles conventional fluoro highlighters.

Ink quality

The ink flows well and produces a solid line with no streaking. In fact, the ink flow is quite heavy and the ink can pool in tiny puddles at the end of the stroke, but it dries quickly. There is some smearing when the pen is used to highlight over gel ink (as is normal for most highlighters) but not a significant amount.

External Design

These highlighters have the slimness of a standard pen, making them comfortable to use for extended notetaking sessions.

The white bodies with transparent coloured caps on one end and coloured pocket clips on the other make them look attractive. The transparent colourless cap on the chisel end displays the tip colour and the window of the chisel tip, which produces an interesting visual effect.

What makes these highlighters special?

The Propus Window is dual-tipped with a fine (0.4 mm) bullet tip at one end. This means that it can be used for highlighting tiny areas and also for writing, drawing and shading. But the most exciting feature is the transparent window in the chisel tip that lets you see the text that you’re highlighting over. It really does make these highlighters very special.

Pilot Frixion Light Erasable Highlighters

Colours

The Frixion Light highlighters' inks are appealing pastel colours. They are quite gentle on the eye (except for the yellow, which is quite bright a bit more like an old-school fluro colour).

Ink quality

The Frixions are dryer than the two other highlighter sets mentioned above. Because the ink flow is not as plentiful as with the others, there is a bit of streaking. But this also makes it a less wet highlighter which helps prevent bleed-through. The ink also performed well in my smear test.

External design

As with the pens above, those highlighters have a slim, pen-like body, and are light and easy to carry. The pocket clip is strong and sturdy and attaches firmly to notebook covers.

The pens’ pastel body colours, which are a more pastel version of the colours on the caps and pocket clips,  and the tapered design of the barrels gives these pens a cute and stylish appearance.

What makes these highlighters special?

These highlighters’ most exciting feature is their erasability. The ink erases completely when friction is applied by rubbing the rubber eraser at the end of the pen over the ink. It is the only erasable highlighter on the market, making it unique in its category.