@tonylegrone - Fisher Space Pens would be okay if they weren’t teeny little things with an indifferent grip, because their ink flow is okay. However I’ll take any pen five inches or longer that has a decent ink flow over a Fisher.
@rprebel I’m partial to medium point Sheaffer calligraphy pens. They aren’t ridiculously expensive or super fancy, but they are the perfect size for me and they write so beautifully.
I also have a Panache calligraphy kit, and I once made my own fountain pen from a blank kit by turning a gorgeous piece of bird’s eye maple on a lathe. That one is fine point but I am not happy with the ink flow of the nib in the kit.
I’ve had others along the way, including a glass dip fountain pen (which was super cool until the head snapped off).
When I lived in France, I had an amazing fountain pen with a set of cartridges that came with an erasing/correcting marker. The fountain ink could be erased using one clear end of the marker that reacted with the fountain ink, and then when it was dry you could reink (permanently though) with the other coloured end of the marker. I can’t remember the brand but I eventually ran out of the inks and the markers. But it was awesome!
@curtise Somehow I’ve been able to keep my glass dipper from breaking. They’re a lot of fun to write with. That eraser system sounds crazy. I’ve been reading /r/fountainpens for years and I’ve never heard of anything like that!
@curtise used one through most of high school, both cartridge and inkwell styles. Loved the way it wrote and the uniqueness of it. Only trouble is I am left handed and don’t “hook” my hand, so the heel of my left hand was always blue from the ink…
Now my ‘go to’ is a gel pen. My hand writing sux and the gel smoothness helps to make it at least semi-intelligible. Plus, since I use my pen to have patients sign out their paperwork at the end of their ER visit a fountain pen is not really practical.
@curtise I love the Kara’s Kustoms I won. But these days I’m really enjoying my Twsbi go. However. I’m also trying to go through all my samples to get rid of the gray etc. so. I’ve been using my Lamy a lot(as I don’t mind if it gets gummed up)
@melonscoop Only problem with a gel pen is if you drop it on the point it seems like most all of them are toast! You’re gonna get big ink blobs out the tip… Of course, that being said… it’s still gel pens FTW.
Actually, my favorite pen at the moment is a woot pen I got in a BOC today.
It has a banner that pulls out the side of the pen that says:
“Is this meeting over?” on one side,
“Why are we here?” on the other side.
@mike808 I was going to say it if you didn’t. I routinely use others, but the Zebra is the only one I’ve actually purchased for probably 10(?) years. They’re fantastic!
@mike808 curious why you like it better than the G2? I enjoy the way the G2 writes but I keep having issues where they eventually start to leak when I carry them in my pocket.
@RiotDemon They don’t leak on me. They always lay down solid ink lines. The ball never gets grit in it and jams up. The 0.7 width is a nice confdent line weight. And the gel grip has a nice give to it and the pen has the right heft. Been using them for 10+ years, and were worth seeking them out when I ran out. When people go out of their way to steal your pens at the office, that tells you something. Easier to just get them by the box. Black is my jam, but the navy will do in a pinch.
My only downside is the novelty of the other colors wore off quicker than I thought, as the colors were all attractive shades to me, especially the maroon and forest green. I pretty much never used any of the others and eventually pitched them or gave them to my kids teachers.
@mike808 I’ll have to grab some next time I see them out and about. From reading other posts today, my G2s might start leaking because I do occasionally drop them on concrete floors. Still worth a shot to see if they are more durable.
I’ve gotta have my wide nib fountain pens. Especially italic, such as a Lamy Joy. It ain’t my pen unless it lays down a strip of ink thicker than the Mississippi River.
When I had to have one in my shirt pocket for work. I believe it was a zebra stainless steel ball point click top. Although they also came in gel.
Working from home the 20 pack of whatever works fine. The cats just going to knock it off the desk into some corner anyway. No pen is heavy enough to defeat cat
@chienfou@tyxnight idk that a urologist can help with microballs… They are more bladder/urethra related. Balls are reproduction. Totally separate systems. Solid fail.
@unksol actually, a urologist is EXACTLY the right person to treat that…
Urology (from Greek οὖρον ouron “urine” and -λογία -logia “study of”), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the male and female urinary-tract system and the male reproductive organs. Organs under the domain of urology include the kidneys, adrenal glands, ureters, urinary bladder, urethra, and the male reproductive organs (testes, epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate, and penis).
My younger brother wanted a nice rollerball pen for his birthday (Tornado F5 I think ~$30). I didn’t understand it at first, but when I tried it, I could immediately notice the smoothness and sensitivity. Also, the ink dries incredibly fast.
Montblanc Meisterstück. Sounds snobby but received one as a gift from a customer 20+ years ago and replaced my Cross pen immediately. Had no idea what I had until it needed repair. Wow. Rarely leaves my desk. I also carry a Pentel Sharp Kerry Mechanical Pencil pretty much all day. But I digress.
@rustyh3 Much as I like the idea of a great pen, I find that I can’t keep one for any extended period of time. I either drop it and ruin the tip (or one of my patients does it for me), it gets ‘borrowed’ and never returns, or it magically disappears like a sock in a dryer.
Good watches are the same thing. I do too much physical stuff to keep a good watch as my routine timepiece. I either get them scratched trying to get my hand in tight spaces or break a crystal when it bangs into something. I have one “dress watch” that I use on (rare) occasion (a Fred that I got over 50 years ago). My go to watch for work is the Martian I got here at meh.
BTW… don’t even get me started on sunglasses…
@rustyh3@unksolMartian watch
I bought the PT02. It allows me to see that I got a call or text while at work in the ER without having to keep my phone in my pocket.
Uni Ball Jetstream. Its hybrid ink provides smoothness of a gel with quick-drying properties of a ballpoint. Its also retractable (a must for me) and its cheaper than a whole lot of inferior pens.
Any of the retractable 0.38 mm tipped roller ball pens. I think my favorite is a retractable Uniball Signo, but the analogous Pilots are good too. I think Zebra has an 0.4 mm that is a retractable roller ball.
Listen, you haven’t really scrawled until you’ve done it with a .4ish mm tipped rollerball.
Paper Mate Profile 1.4B . I can’t believe they got no other love here. Always reliable, great ink, soft grip, but not too big for my hands (see Zebra comment above). I have trouble keeping people from stealing them.
And if you use a pen with a cap, WTF is wrong with you?
@RiotDemon I think the only reason they still exist is because some companies are so cheap they still buy them, even though everyone loses the caps so they dry out, which makes people go through them faster, negating the savings they thought they were getting.
@jacatrow Still my favorite pencil story… even if it’s not true
During the height of the space race in the 1960s, legend has it, NASA scientists realized that pens could not function in space. They needed to figure out another way for the astronauts to write things down. So they spent years and millions of taxpayer dollars to develop a pen that could put ink to paper without gravity. But their crafty Soviet counterparts, so the story goes, simply handed their cosmonauts pencils.
@chienfou@jacatrow why not link the article you’re quoting? It’s absolutely not true, we started with pencils, pens are better, cheaper, were not developed by NASA, and the Soviets used the same pen. In short total bullshit
I like the Pilot Razor Point; able to write & draw very precisely, and works well with straight edge & templates. For sketching (especially on ‘onion’ or tracing paper), I still prefer old-school Flair pens.
Fisher space pen.
@tonylegrone Blue ink. Medium point.
@tonylegrone Same
@tonylegrone The only correct answer. They work… IN SPACE!
@tonylegrone - Fisher Space Pens would be okay if they weren’t teeny little things with an indifferent grip, because their ink flow is okay. However I’ll take any pen five inches or longer that has a decent ink flow over a Fisher.
@aetris stacking the cap on the end turns it into a full-size pen. As far as ink flow is concerned, it writes in SPACE!
I’m all about writing with fountain pens.
@curtise I tried one 20 years ago and have used them ever since. What’s your favorite pen? Mine is the first one I bought, an MB 144.
@rprebel I’m partial to medium point Sheaffer calligraphy pens. They aren’t ridiculously expensive or super fancy, but they are the perfect size for me and they write so beautifully.
I also have a Panache calligraphy kit, and I once made my own fountain pen from a blank kit by turning a gorgeous piece of bird’s eye maple on a lathe. That one is fine point but I am not happy with the ink flow of the nib in the kit.
I’ve had others along the way, including a glass dip fountain pen (which was super cool until the head snapped off).
When I lived in France, I had an amazing fountain pen with a set of cartridges that came with an erasing/correcting marker. The fountain ink could be erased using one clear end of the marker that reacted with the fountain ink, and then when it was dry you could reink (permanently though) with the other coloured end of the marker. I can’t remember the brand but I eventually ran out of the inks and the markers. But it was awesome!
@curtise Somehow I’ve been able to keep my glass dipper from breaking. They’re a lot of fun to write with. That eraser system sounds crazy. I’ve been reading /r/fountainpens for years and I’ve never heard of anything like that!
@curtise used one through most of high school, both cartridge and inkwell styles. Loved the way it wrote and the uniqueness of it. Only trouble is I am left handed and don’t “hook” my hand, so the heel of my left hand was always blue from the ink…
Now my ‘go to’ is a gel pen. My hand writing sux and the gel smoothness helps to make it at least semi-intelligible. Plus, since I use my pen to have patients sign out their paperwork at the end of their ER visit a fountain pen is not really practical.
@curtise I love the Kara’s Kustoms I won. But these days I’m really enjoying my Twsbi go. However. I’m also trying to go through all my samples to get rid of the gray etc. so. I’ve been using my Lamy a lot(as I don’t mind if it gets gummed up)
The pig pen that is my house
@lichme aw i prefer the 15 i loled
@spacemart Haha, I wasn’t sure how well it would be… received
Projector
Parker
I carry a pen all the time…
I prefer fountain pens and a gel pen such as the Pilot Dr. Grip with a G2 refill can be good.
Parker T-Ball Jotter
Any gel pen, irrespective of manufacturer.
@melonscoop Only problem with a gel pen is if you drop it on the point it seems like most all of them are toast! You’re gonna get big ink blobs out the tip… Of course, that being said… it’s still gel pens FTW.
Pilot G2… There might be a better value on a really good pen, but that’s where I stopped looking
@Superllama7 it is the best mass market pen.
Does no one use a quill anymore?
@steveml Does anyone read the first post anymore?
Yes, I know that is snarky. It’s Friday of a long week of holding back.
@steveml I own a quill, but I don’t use it. I do use a glass dip pen sometimes, which is kinda like a quill.
@rprebel hah! I just wrote about my glass tip experience above! I should get another one…
BIC Velocity Retractable, medium point, black ink.
Actually, my favorite pen at the moment is a woot pen I got in a BOC today.
It has a banner that pulls out the side of the pen that says:
“Is this meeting over?” on one side,
“Why are we here?” on the other side.
Univalve Signo 207 always
@cinoclav Just realized my phone totally auto-corrected this. Uniball of course.
Zebra Sarasa Gel 0.7 hands down better than the Pilot G2. Comes in lots of colors to mix it up if you feel like it, too.
@mike808 to add to this, the Japanese made Sarasa Clip pens are heavenly.
@mike808 I was going to say it if you didn’t. I routinely use others, but the Zebra is the only one I’ve actually purchased for probably 10(?) years. They’re fantastic!
@mike808 curious why you like it better than the G2? I enjoy the way the G2 writes but I keep having issues where they eventually start to leak when I carry them in my pocket.
@RiotDemon They don’t leak on me. They always lay down solid ink lines. The ball never gets grit in it and jams up. The 0.7 width is a nice confdent line weight. And the gel grip has a nice give to it and the pen has the right heft. Been using them for 10+ years, and were worth seeking them out when I ran out. When people go out of their way to steal your pens at the office, that tells you something. Easier to just get them by the box. Black is my jam, but the navy will do in a pinch.
My only downside is the novelty of the other colors wore off quicker than I thought, as the colors were all attractive shades to me, especially the maroon and forest green. I pretty much never used any of the others and eventually pitched them or gave them to my kids teachers.
@mike808 I’ll have to grab some next time I see them out and about. From reading other posts today, my G2s might start leaking because I do occasionally drop them on concrete floors. Still worth a shot to see if they are more durable.
@mike808 I use these. But the grip is a little big for my hands. They’re my second choice.
Gelly Rolls!!!
I like the Uniball 207 BLX pens (black ink with a hint of color like purple or red). I’m a long time Uniball whore, I buy them by the box.
Other favorites include the Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens. And the Fisher Space Pen, I always have one of those nearby or in my pocket.
I try lots of pens since I have a pretty bad office supply fetish.
/image office supply fetish (I’m talking about pens ok)
(Good job, /image!)
@awk I love purple.
The Bolt, in freaking brass:
2.8 ounces. That one ain’t never gonna walk away.
@TheFLP I like those bolt action pens. I’ve been looking at the TiScribe Bolt. The clip is the bolt mechanism.
/image tiscribe bolt titanium
@awk
I’m also expecting one of these pretty soon: Mark One
I’ve gotta have my wide nib fountain pens. Especially italic, such as a Lamy Joy. It ain’t my pen unless it lays down a strip of ink thicker than the Mississippi River.
When I had to have one in my shirt pocket for work. I believe it was a zebra stainless steel ball point click top. Although they also came in gel.
Working from home the 20 pack of whatever works fine. The cats just going to knock it off the desk into some corner anyway. No pen is heavy enough to defeat cat
Bic for her The reviews are priceless!
@rtjhnstn Sorry about that , try this liknk instead.
@rtjhnstn
Thanks for these. I wish I could read them all.
@DVDBZN @rtjhnstn my wife really appreciates these for her thin delicate weak short fingers. Why do you feel the need to mock her?
A pencil.
Zebra F-301 Bold. — One word: onepointsixmillimeterballz.
@tyxnight that was it. Didn’t know they came in a 12 pack when I was using them.
@tyxnight …two words… urology consult…
@chienfou @tyxnight idk that a urologist can help with microballs… They are more bladder/urethra related. Balls are reproduction. Totally separate systems. Solid fail.
@unksol actually, a urologist is EXACTLY the right person to treat that…
Who failed now…
Sharpies.
My younger brother wanted a nice rollerball pen for his birthday (Tornado F5 I think ~$30). I didn’t understand it at first, but when I tried it, I could immediately notice the smoothness and sensitivity. Also, the ink dries incredibly fast.
Pilot V-ball 0.7mm in black (or any color i can get my hands on)
Montblanc Meisterstück. Sounds snobby but received one as a gift from a customer 20+ years ago and replaced my Cross pen immediately. Had no idea what I had until it needed repair. Wow. Rarely leaves my desk. I also carry a Pentel Sharp Kerry Mechanical Pencil pretty much all day. But I digress.
@rustyh3 Much as I like the idea of a great pen, I find that I can’t keep one for any extended period of time. I either drop it and ruin the tip (or one of my patients does it for me), it gets ‘borrowed’ and never returns, or it magically disappears like a sock in a dryer.
Good watches are the same thing. I do too much physical stuff to keep a good watch as my routine timepiece. I either get them scratched trying to get my hand in tight spaces or break a crystal when it bangs into something. I have one “dress watch” that I use on (rare) occasion (a Fred that I got over 50 years ago). My go to watch for work is the Martian I got here at meh.
BTW… don’t even get me started on sunglasses…
@rustyh3 what is this watch you speak of?
@rustyh3 @unksol Martian watch
I bought the PT02. It allows me to see that I got a call or text while at work in the ER without having to keep my phone in my pocket.
Parker TBall Jotter broadpoint black
Fat line, good looks, good feel in hand, and can be operated with one hand. Great value for the money.
(Personally, I can’t stand a gel pen.)
sharpie ultra fine point.
black for anything vaguely professional/official, a rainbow of colors for everything else.
Lamy safari is my daily carry. I’ve switched almost entirely to fountain pen use. Smooth, no pressure needed, fun conversation pieces.
Uni Ball Jetstream. Its hybrid ink provides smoothness of a gel with quick-drying properties of a ballpoint. Its also retractable (a must for me) and its cheaper than a whole lot of inferior pens.
Any of the retractable 0.38 mm tipped roller ball pens. I think my favorite is a retractable Uniball Signo, but the analogous Pilots are good too. I think Zebra has an 0.4 mm that is a retractable roller ball.
Listen, you haven’t really scrawled until you’ve done it with a .4ish mm tipped rollerball.
Not the 0.28 mm. That’s like a scratchy pencil.
Unless you’re into that kind of thing.
@InnocuousFarmer Even the 0.38 Uniball Jetstream is nice. A bit fine, TBH, but not bad.
Univalve Signi 207
Uniball Signo 207-thanks auto correct.
@unmlobo300 as long as we are making ball jokes. Ouch on uniball
Pentel Energel .7mm … writes beautifully.
Since we have so many fine pen enthusiasts, I have a podcast recommendation: The Pen Addict on RelayFM.
Paper Mate Profile 1.4B . I can’t believe they got no other love here. Always reliable, great ink, soft grip, but not too big for my hands (see Zebra comment above). I have trouble keeping people from stealing them.
And if you use a pen with a cap, WTF is wrong with you?
@Fuzzalini ugh, yes. Cap pens suck. I keep having people leave them at my desk, sans cap.
@RiotDemon I think the only reason they still exist is because some companies are so cheap they still buy them, even though everyone loses the caps so they dry out, which makes people go through them faster, negating the savings they thought they were getting.
Clicky top
I have a hand crafted wooden pen that a co-worker gave me. That is my favorite pen. Otherwise, whatever happens to be at hand is generally sufficient.
Pen? A physical writing implement? What is this, 2010?
Pencil
@jacatrow Still my favorite pencil story… even if it’s not true
@chienfou @jacatrow why not link the article you’re quoting? It’s absolutely not true, we started with pencils, pens are better, cheaper, were not developed by NASA, and the Soviets used the same pen. In short total bullshit
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
@chienfou @unksol I sense a possible feud brewing…!? Classic staredowns…
@jacatrow @unksol …did you read the first line in the post? Not true= total bullshit. So: fail #2
Mont Blanc,
Papermate inkjoy
Cross, fine point, green ink
I like the Pilot Razor Point; able to write & draw very precisely, and works well with straight edge & templates. For sketching (especially on ‘onion’ or tracing paper), I still prefer old-school Flair pens.
/giphy lamy dialog 3