https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/149765/uni-ball-Rolle...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IE8P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
Never see them on any of these top lists though =(
Is there a particular type that's better than the others?
https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Pressurized-Ink-Pens/p...
They don't write as nicely as fountain or gel pens, but when you need to write on receipt paper or a waxed carton, they will work.
You can put the Fisher Space Pen refills in any pen that takes a Parker ballpoint refill.
I think everything I tried from that set so far worked well with fountain pens, though I did like some more than others. My favorite so far was probably the Mnemosyne notebook. The Rhodia webnotebook (not in the sample pack) is fantastic too.
For physics, math, general writing, I'm using Roaring Springs buff colored engineering pads (#15 paper type). Fairly fountain-pen friendly, though not as good as the papers in the above sampler set. I haven't found fountain pen paper with an engineering grid yet though, so it's the best compromise so far. The green 200 page pads are actually pretty good for fountain pens last I tried them, however the sheets were too thin for my taste and tended to eventually curl up where my forearm rested on them. Worth mentioning that the last time I bought these pads was back in 2020 when I got a 24 pack box that's still going strong, so it's possible paper quality has changed since then.
For reference, the pen I'm using is a Karas INK V2 with a EF Bock nib. Ink is Noodler's Black.
Bic makes a 0.9mm mech that I can usually find locally. Slide on a foam gripper for a better holding experience.
I love writing with Uniball Roller 0.5 mm micro tip rollerball pens
Extremely consistent pen with crisp lines
Looking over the smaller communities I've been a part of over my internet adventures, nearly 25 years, that have disappeared due to costs or other commitments, I wish they all had stores to self sustain and grow their communities.
Now I wonder what the equivalent the online equivalent to cooperatives would be for the internet, and if there are any examples attempting this.
Here's a couple of pointers when it comes to fountain pens...
+ Paper matters... a lot! A lot of feathering and bleeding issues are because of the paper
+ Ink is a whole avenue of exploration in and of itself. Inks have different properties and come in just about any color imaginable.
+ You have far more of a choice of _how_ your pen writes with a fountain pen. This first one is line width, commonly referred to as nib size or point size. If you think about it a little bit before you purchase your first one, you'll be well served.
+ You can use significantly less pressure when writing with a fountain pen. Relax your grip as much as you can.
+ Many in the fountain pen hobby use their pens for more than just utility (notes, forms, etc.) Having an avenue to write for pleasure can help you connect with fountain pens.
+ Your penmanship doesn't need to be good in order to use a fountain pen, and while it may improve with use, it also may be exactly the same. You don't have to do calligraphy or have that be your end goal.
I see a lot of tech people in the fountain pen hobby, and there are cross over hobbies with mechanical keyboards, headphones, watches, and EDC gear.
- Traveling and shaking a vessel filled with ink doesn't end well.
- Getting ink on your hands when refilling the pen becomes annoying, quickly.
- Your notebook choices now become limited to ones that don't bleed. I already have notebooks that I've been using for years and don't want to change.
- Not all pens are suited for every language. If you get a pen with a wider nib (like a parker or american ones in general), it's very easy to blur on Chinese/Korean/Japanese etc. This is fixable with a smaller japanese nib but not really an issue with ballpoint pens.
--
Whenever I'm in Japan I usually stop by a store like kingdom note and I've picked up some pilor & sailor pens. I'm happy to use them at my desk, but I just stick to ballpoint pens like the Calme 0.7 when out and about.
You highlighting the language issue is interesting because it makes the assumption that one can get the line width they'd like from a ballpoint pen, which personally, I didn't. Ultimately you need to choose what works best for you, and the language you write in is certainly a consideration. I'd much rather have the option, than be stuck with "one size fits all" of most ballpoints. So saying that's a con is a misnomer for me.
All that being said, a fountain pen is not a tool for every use case. I was a lot happier when I realized that a ballpoint or rollerball is far better suited for tossing in a bag or having at the ready when traveling.
And paper doesn't have to be expensive either. You can find good paper even at walmart if you are willing to look up some reviews or try some various brands.
Yes, my 20 year old ballpoint pen has dried out. But the vast majority of my ballpoints, gels, etc pens can all be picked up and written with without any regularity. My fountain pens have to be used daily, otherwise they cannot be used.
But if the fountain pen stops writing, it can be cleaned and refilled with ink, and they're as good as new.
The gel pens that I haven't used in several years and have dried out - they're mostly fit for the trash can.
On a whim, I finally ordered a LAMY Safari and was really surprised at how much better the writing experience was. I noticed my penmanship improved and I was able to write more easily on parts of the page that I normally struggle with, such as near the binding in some notebooks.
I attribute most of this to how easily the ink flows compared to other types of pens, although I'm sure the pen shape is also a factor.
Anyway, if you write a lot and just want to write more easily and a little better, I'd recommend giving a fountain pen a try, and I think the LAMY Safari is a great place to start (it is relatively cheap and the cartridges are convenient).
I also love JetPens and order most of my pens and stationary from them.
https://www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/style/unparalleled-joy-...
I find Jetstream ink to be the nicest for everyday writing. Like gel ink, it's very low-drag (so your hand doesn't fatigue), but unlike gel ink, it doesn't smear on your hand, and is waterproof. These days I use a SXE3-507, with multiple colors for annotating previous writing (or marking up a book).
I use Kokuyo Soft Ring notebooks with dotted rule pages. It looks like regular lined paper, but the lines have subtle dots that you can use like graph paper, so it's easy to make diagrams and tables.
When I fill up a notebook, I scan it. This way I only need to carry one notebook around, but all my old notebooks are accessible digitally.
If you get the chance, visit a Mai Do (in SF, San Jose, and Costa Mesa). There's no substitute for trying out everything Japan has to offer.
Unfortunately, many (MANY) people have terrible (unpracticed) handwriting and view the activity as a means to an end rather than something worth doing for fun.
Everyone comments on how good my handwriting is. In response, I usually say that I "stole" someone's handwriting back in the 5th grade. The truth is that I really liked their handwriting and copied theirs over and over until I matched (and eventually exceeded) theirs years later. Same with cursive (which I can still write).
Conversely, most folks do handwriting drills in kindergarten/1st grade (US) and stop there.
I think everyone can learn how to write well, but it requires a ton of practice. Given that everything is done digitally these days, many would rather just type it out.
Finally I decided to try something new and discovered that my favorite pen for writing was actually a marker. I know this may sound like I'm shilling but I'm not, these Prismacolor fine tip markers, https://www.prismacolor.com/markers/premier-illustration-mar..., are my favorite things to write with. They're the closest in feel to a mechanical pencil, they never dry out, never bleed, etc.
For all the analysis posts like this one that I've read I'm just at a loss as to why fine-tipped markers don't feature more prominently.
But the ballpoints are slightly better at being everyday pocket pens because they resist rough handling and improper storage. This becomes less true as you move up the price ladder into hybrid, gel and rollerball pens, but it's definitely the case if you're getting a Bic Stic or other classic oil-based ballpoint.
What I've noticed is that overall, if you care about the type and amount of drag on the pen, you end up moving away from gels and rollers. The oil-based pens have a kind of creaminess to them when you get them in large point sizes(e.g. Bic Xtra-Bold 1.6mm) that can be satisfying. But if you want things to be really crisp and controlled you need either the additional friction of felt tips or a sharp, fine nib.
If you haven't tried one, get a Speedball Hunt 102 nib and some dip ink. The nib needs the factory coating scrubbed off, and you'll need some tissue to clean up, but once you get past that part, the path is open to experience a pen that will absolutely carve up your paper.
I hacked together some prototypes of the two together using a pipe cutter and a 3d printer.
My files are a jig to cut the kurutoga and an adapter that needs to be glued that allows the twist-erase to spin. It’s somewhat less elegant than I would like but is durable and has lasted me one semester worth of a masters degree so it works.
I also do some clever things like separating days with black lines and a little box for the date, but the first day of the week is red so I can easily see week boundaries. As a whole, it makes scanning for what I'm looking for very easy. Since I usually know at least what meeting a decision was made in. Or if I'm looking for my notes about a teammate, that's another color. I've been doing this for four years and have really refined my process.
My pen of choice is a Coleto 5-color multipen. They are a pretty cheap plastic and I'm not in love with it. It's just the best I've used with five colors. For ink cartridges I use Pilot Hi-Tec-C, 0.4 mm. I highly recommend it, but start with a day book to see if it's useful to you first.
A while back I heard the phrase "If you ask 'where is the good XYZ' it means you have a 'bad' XYZ". I was inspired to throw out all of my cheapo pens and always have a good one nearby.
Same with power cables, scissors, tape, and other small household accessories. They're too cheap to have to worry about 1. where they are and 2. where the "good" one is.
The ink flow levels are always balanced, never too much or too little. It's hard to explain but it also has a good "feel" when writing that I do not find in many other pens.
Not sure which listed category of ink/pen would work best on those (besides a plain old, cheap Bic® pen, which works fine.)
So I'd argue that might be the "Best Pen" for at least some of us :-)
I just kind of feel like writing as a lefty in a right-to-left world is just pain.
Any other lefties have similar experiences?
[1] https://www.jetpens.com/Parker-Jotter-Ballpoint-Pen-Waterloo...
[2] https://www.jetpens.com/OHTO-Flash-Dry-Gel-Pen-Refill-Black/...
Pen I'm using: https://karaskustoms.com/product/ink-v2-fountain-pen/
Little brother to above pen, currently being blown out for 1/2 the Kaweco's price: https://karaskustoms.com/product/fountain-k-v2/
https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Pilot-FriXion-Erasable-Pens-A-C...
I recently found these erasable pens and they are incredible tech. The friction of rubbing the rubber eraser on the ink heats up the ink and causes the ink to turn invisible. It leaves no ink residue on the eraser.
but of course it confuses the teachers at the school and they insist my kids use pencils at school...
tl;dr only use erasable pens for the least important writing, never ever use them for signatures.
>Also, IIRC, extreme cold can bring the ink back, so I also wouldn't trust these to hide sensitive information.
Oh fun - I put an erased paper in the freezer and will report back!
This page doesn't mention Sharpie at all, and they don't list these pens under their brand search feature. Here's an Amazon link if anybody is interested:
https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Fine-Point-Black-1742661/dp/B...
One chooses to use a fountain pen for the thrill of it, or for love of tradition. In those cases, money is no object. A budget fountain pen is like a budget race car.
Obviously I'm wrong, but I'm not sure why.
Ignore the haters who claim pigmented ink wrecks your pens--both my wife and I have drawn miles of lines with it, and even leaving it sitting on the desk unused for weeks, we never have a problem with it.
Edit: Also, Noodler’s Baystate Blue. If your pinky isn’t stained afterward, have you even written?
Oh wait, this is a $20 bottle of whiskey.
I now use a Pilot Custom 823 which is always going to be less sturdy than the Vanishing Point and my guess is it's always living on borrowed time. I'll replace it with a fine/medium VP when I eventually break it somehow.
The fact that it's only $15 on AliExpress makes it a steal. No pun intended.
I ordered them on a whim but will likely never use another pen for note taking again. The feel of writing is much better than any Pilot or Pentel I've used.
In the 1980's I preferred Uniball pens. Back then they had unreasonably high construction quality for a disposable pen with precision fitting parts and a stainless steel clip. The roller and ink were also very high end for a disposable of the time. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they build them like that anymore.
I believe the Uni-ball One is a better pen body in every way. Tight tolerances. Well-built, hinged steel clip that provides superior fidgeting. Nicer clicker haptics too. I don't love the ink that comes in them, but they take Jetstream SXR-7 and SXR-5 refills. You can get both of these from JetPens.
But I've never actually had to put a refill in -- I bought a 3 pack of those about 8 years ago and they're still all going strong. I just don't write enough.
https://uniballco.com/products/power-tank-ballpoint-pens
It's a space pen, in plastic disposable format, for a few bucks. Non pressurized pens just never seem all that reliable. They're always dry when I need one... and usually it's rather disruptive. I'm not writing with a pen daily, so I don't notice it's dried until I suddenly need to label something, and now my projects is on hold sifting through drawers for pens.
The power tank just works, every time.
I think of pens as tools for a hobby but not as a hobby itself, collecting pens I can consider a collection hobby though.
I get confused because I've seen this stated a few times and it does not make sense to me, there's no "power drill hobby" but one can have a hobby of collecting power drills.
A well presented book of stamps that is taken to shows, shown, discussed, etc. That person is a hobbiest.
https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Juice-Gel-Pen-0.38-mm-Black/pd...
You should be grateful that you have not been born a century earlier. When my father, who was also left-handed, was in elementary school (almost 90 years ago), it was still a practice to persuade the left-handed to write using their right hand by beatings.
There is some hope though, I've not found a nice fountain pen experience but there's some gel pens which are pretty hard to make smudge.
I use these:
Uni-Ball Jetstream Sport SXN-150S Ballpoint Gel Pens. Premium 1.0mm Rollerball Tip. https://amzn.eu/d/6mVJHLS
Once you get it down it's no different than using a fine rollerball.
Personally, my grandmother was forced to switch from left handed to right handed! In those days (early 1900s) the forced switch often came under threat of violence. Yes, they beat children to make them write "right". So this is a sensitive topic for a lot of people!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_peopl... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6758284/
Swing a bat/club? Right-handed. Throw a ball? Right-handed. Use a computer mouse? Right-handed. Shoot a rifle? Right-handed. Write a note? Left-handed. Paint a picture? Left-handed.
1. Status symbols are frequently every-day objects elevated in some way. Montblanc pens were good status symbols to have on your desk when everyone used pens all the time, now they're anachronistic. So the upper end of the market shrinks as the item becomes less necessary.
2. Pens becoming less necessary for daily life makes them more of a hobby, and while people pretty much by definition are spending disposable income on a hobby they probably still have a budget in mind. Also, a lot of hobbies get kind of fuzzy between the hobby itself and collecting-as-a-hobby (is the hobby writing or is the hobby collecting pens?). A lot of people would rather own a small collection of affordable "pretty good" fountain pens with some differences between them instead of one really excellent pen.
3. The usual march of progress means a very good fountain pen can be manufactured for a lot less money than it could a few decades ago. That means businesses can serve that hobbyist market, and satisfy the craving for variety.
Same process that happens with lots of goods. Watches of any description used to be a luxury good, then cheap quartz movements were invented: the luxury market for Rolexes never went away, but a lot more people bought Timexes, and nobody really needs a watch anymore because we have cell phones, but there's still a hobbyist market. Nobody needs a turntable to play LPs anymore, but vinyl is a big hobby for probably a lot of the same nostalgia/"physical is good" reasons pens are a hobby, and you can get a very good sounding turntable today for a lot less money than you could 40 years ago.
Gel pens also support this, if you have a heavy pen body.
If you want tradition, you can buy vintage pens - they work great. The Parker 51 is usually claimed to be the epitome of fountain pens. They aren't luxury in any way - they don't even look like fountain pens, but they just write and write. Vintage Esterbrook pens have replaceable nib options that put any modern pen to shame.
I bought a budget fountain pen as an experiment - can I reduce waste and potentially save money? It has been a complete success, with the side effect that writing has become much more enjoyable. I ended up getting my kids the Pilot Kakuno - they have also found writing to be more enjoyable and their penmanship has improved dramatically as a result.
Expensive pens don't have any allure to me. I'm sure they're nice, and many of them write better than a budget pen, but... I wouldn't turn one down as a gift, but I'm not interested at all in buying one.
Fountain pens that work well without fuss, like Lamy Safari, or Pilot Metropolitan, really are nicer to use than ballpoint or gel pens, and the slight extra effort to using ink in cartridges or from a bottle adds familiarity and comfort to it. It’s not a pen, it’s your pen, and the longer you have it, the more attached you are to it. The more attached you are to it, the better the act of using it feels. It makes your world feel less disposable.
The flashy bits of an expensive fountain pen are just there to attract people. Rare wood, expensive metal accents, exclusive brand names don't do anything to add to the writing experience as a whole. Sure they make you feel good cause your in an exclusive club, and that is something, but that doesn't effect the way it writes.
There is value in jotting down notes legibly :)
Not sure but I wonder if there is some hipster youth trend where writing is making a comeback?
You might look at TWSBI fountain pens. They're still cheaper than your normal range, but very good quality, and offer some of the more fun mechanisms, like the pump pistons that fill the body itself with ink--in a clear body, it looks cool.
I would swap L/R button functions on the Sun4 3-button optical mouse and set it to the left of the keyboard. This is a comfortable and natural position, especially considering the placement of the numpad.
Very soon, the word was out in the office, and NOBODY attempted to borrow my workstation!
Vacuum fillers are generally higher end pens, but the best, cheapest option is a PenBBS 456, which is a Chinese pen. The Pilot 823 is very well loved pen in the community, and a good "next level" pen if you're looking for one. Viscontis are high end luxury pens that feature a vacuum filling mechanism, although their marketing calls it a power filler.
Japanese eyedroppers aren't really a "filling mechanism", per say, but can be thought of in that manner, even though you have to fill them with a syringe or pipette. Unfortunately far fewer pens make use of this, and tend to be very high end pens. The one exception are pens from Opus88, which pretty much all feature this mechanism, and are very reasonably priced. Then there's a big gap until you get to the high end urushi pens like the Pilot Emperor.
There's other one offs, like the bulkfilling mechanism from Conid and used on the PenBBS 355. The Diplomat Nexus uses an integrated shutoff valve that's engaged when capping the pen.