Due to the huge price tag of the Copic marker range, we often see people reaching out and asking for advice on cheaper alternatives that offer solid performance. Although a number of competing brands have tried to release their own alternative to the Copic range with a much lower price tag, most have failed due to being low quality but there is hope.
The Touchfive Marker range has seen exponential growth in their popularity recently due to their excellent quality relative to their price tag. When compared to the Copic marker range, they are around one-seventh of their price and although they do have their drawbacks, relative to their price tag, they are one of, if not the best Copic marker alternative on the market right now.
With the increase in their popularity, we have noticed more and more people reaching out and asking if Touchfive markers are good. In our opinion, once you factor in the price tag of the markers, they are better than good and beat the performance of most of the competing markers at this price point in the market at the tie of writing. With the increasing popularity of the Touchfive Marker range as well as their excellent reputation, it would seem that most of the community agree with us too.
Are Touchfive Markers Good
Just like most things when it comes to art and stationary, the term “good” is relative to their price point in the market. As we just mentioned, we feel that the Touchfive marker range is better than good and it would seem that most of the community agrees with us. One thing that we would like to mention is that we have seen reports of duplicate markers in the same set so say you purchase a pack of 80, two may be the same so you only get 79 unique colors. Other than that though, for their price point, they offer great performance and functionality for a low price tag.
The Touchfive Marker Nib
The Touchfive marker set uses a double nib system with one end of the market having a fine nib and the other end of the marker having an oblique nib. This is an increasingly common design for modern marker pens due to it offering users the best of both worlds while also having minimal drawbacks to the manufacturer too.
When it comes to practicality though, this lets you quickly and easily switch between the two nib types while you color with the market and save time. Depending on what you are actually doing while you work, this can end up saving you a surprising amount of time across the duration of an art commission and even though the Touchfive marker range are cheap, their felt nibs are not prone to drying out.
This allows you to remove both caps to let you quickly and easily switch between the different nib types as required without having to worry about them drying out. We would suspect that this is due to the nibs being slightly wetter writers than some of the competing markers on the market right now helping to prevent them from drying out when un-capped during use.
The Barrel Of The Touchfive Markers
The barrel of the Touchfive markers is made from cheap plastic and although some people may hold this against them, you have to keep in mind that using resin will increase the price tag of the market and push it out of their target price range. In addition to this, the majority of people who will be using Touchfive markers will be sat at a table where their markers are safe drastically reducing the chances of them breaking anyway.
Although we are huge fans of resin-based fountain pens or mechanical pencils that would be used in a busy office or on a building site and may need that additional toughness from the resin, marker pens will usually be fine with plastic. The plastic that has been used is surprisingly tough for the price tag of the markers but it is not as tough as resin.
Thankfully, the plastic is lightweight helping to ensure that you are able to use the marker set for longer colouring sessions without your hand suffering from fatigue build up. If you are working on paid commissions from your clients that have a deadline then this alone can help to push the Touchfive marker set ahead of the competition in their price range.
The Touchfive Marker Cap
The cap of the markers is also made from plastic that seems to be the same as the plastic used for the barrel of the pen offering you the same advantage of it being lightweight. Due to the markers being double nibbed, the lightweight of the cap helps to ensure that you can leave the opposite nib capped if needed without the marker becoming un-balanced and causing issues.
This is one of the main drawbacks with the cheaper alternatives to the Copic marker range as they may use heavier plastic or resin for their barrel and cap increasing the overall weight of the pen. If you are planning to be coloring for a full days work on your clients commissions, the last thing that you are going to want is fatigue build up due to back weighting but this tends not to be an issue with the Touchfive markers.
The cap on the marker pens does use a push lock system and for this price point in the market, we can’t fault them as it is easier and cheaper to manufacture with many people preferring a push lock system anyway. If you do opt to go with a more expensive alternative to the Copic marker range, especially over the $150 price point then trying to find markers with a twist-lock cap is probably better to stop the cap from going missing and the nib drying out.
Touchfive Marker Ink
The ink color options available in the Touchfive marker bundles covers an impressive color pallet ensuring that they should be able to meet your needs no matter what you are working on. The ink is nice and bright with a broad variety of tones too allowing you to use them as a general marker pen for almost any commission you may receive from your clients rather than as a specialist marker.
Considering their low price tag, the markers do tend to layer well on most types of paper but their can be a pain to blend depending on the color options that you are blending. That said though, the closer the actual colors of the markers that you are looking to blend are to each other, the easier it is to blend them without it looking off.
Touchfive Marker Frequently Asked Questions
External Review And Writing Samples
We always try to share an external review for any pens that we feature on our blog as well as some writing samples where possible. The video below offers a great external review of their Touchfive markers as well as some drawing samples showing their blending and performance too.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if Touchfive markers are good and worth the money to an end. In our opinion, they are one of the best alternatives to the more expensive Copic marker brand and this is why they have seen a surge in their popularity in recent months. Although there are a number of competing cheap marker products on the market these days, we still think that Touchfive are one of the better options and would recommend them to our readers.
