If you've spent more than five minutes scrolling through the planner side of Pinterest, you've seen the Tombow Dual Brush Pens. They're basically the patron saint of bullet journaling aesthetics. When I started my first real journal back at CU Boulder, I saved up for a 10-pack of the pastel colors and treated them like they were made of spun gold.
But here's the reality of being a project manager who actually uses her planner every single day: sometimes, you just need a marker that you can toss in your bag, accidentally drop under a desk, or use to furiously color-code a sprint timeline without crying over the price tag.
Enter the Crayola Super Tips. Yes, the ones from the kids' aisle at Target.
Today we're doing a full comparison. Are the Tombows actually worth the $3+ per pen? And can a $6 box of 50 Crayola markers really replace them? I tested both on my current Leuchtturm1917 and my favorite Archer & Olive dotted notebook. Let's look at the actual results.
### The Heavyweight: Tombow Dual Brush Pens
**The Good:**
There is a reason these are so popular. The brush tip is incredibly responsive. If you want those gorgeous, sweeping calligraphy headers that look like they belong on a wedding invitation, this is your tool. The colors are buildable, and the dual-sided nature (brush tip on one end, fine bullet tip on the other) makes them genuinely functional for both decorating and actual writing.
**The Reality Check:**
They bleed. Oh, how they bleed. If you're using a standard Leuchtturm1917 (which has 80gsm paper), you are going to see heavy ghosting on the other side of the page, and if you press too hard, it'll straight-up bleed through. Plus, the brush tips fray pretty quickly if you aren't using incredibly smooth paper. I ruined my first set by using them on slightly textured sketchbook paper. At over $3 a pen, that hurt.
### The Budget Swap: Crayola Super Tips
**The Good:**
I picked up a box of 50 of these on a grocery run because I needed something disposable for a massive wall calendar project at work. I ended up bringing them home.
The tip is conical, which means if you hold it upright, you get a thin line, and if you hold it at an angle, you get a thick line. You can actually fake calligraphy with these surprisingly well once you get the hang of the pressure. But the best part? *They don't bleed.* I have violently highlighted my weekly spread with these in a cheap Moleskine, and the back of the page was completely fine.
**The Reality Check:**
They aren't perfect. The colors are less sophisticated—you're getting standard "marker green" instead of Tombow's "hunter green." They also don't blend well. If you try to layer them, the paper will start to pill. And they dry out faster if you leave the cap off (as my roommate's cat, Mr. Darcy, discovered when he batted one under the couch for three days).
### The Verdict
If you are doing heavy hand-lettering, blending colors to make beautiful gradient headers, and using a thick-paged notebook like an Archer & Olive (160gsm), the Tombows are worth the investment. They are art supplies.
If you are color-coding your tasks, making functional but pretty weekly layouts, or just want 50 different colors to play with without feeling precious about them, get the Crayola Super Tips.
My current setup? I keep three neutral Tombows on my desk for my main monthly headers, and a cup full of Crayolas for daily task blocking. Your planner is a tool, not a museum piece. Use what actually helps you get things done.
