I've sort of standardized on the Signo uni-ball 207s in either medium or bold widths. While I like higher-end pens, I scatter pens all over the house and (normally) leave them in hotel rooms, in various luggage, etc. so I really prefer something that's pretty disposable. Still, a nice list and maybe I'll give something else a try. (And I see there are a couple other Uni-balls on the list.)
*And I just made a discovery. I have a Waterman pen in my office that someone gave me but I haven't really been using because the ink cartridge was kinda sucky. It turns out that the 207 rollerball cartridge can be taken out and used in the Waterman. (Though, honestly, the 207 is perfectly comfortable to write with by itself.)
I went through a fountain pen phase where I used for everything. I still love fountain pens and all the different colored inks. The maintenance is getting a bit annoying though so I've started using good quality gel and rollerballs. Those cheap ballpoints really suck, its one of those things where a few dollars really makes your life better.
I still prefer fountain pens because I find good nibs superior to the best rollerballs. Furthermore, they generate virtually no waste. Ink comes in a recyclable bottle and it's water-based, so the paper I write in can be easily recycled without aggressive solvents. The pen itself can easily last a whole lifetime.
If maintenance becomes bothersome, maybe you should look into good converters and simple water-based inks. You can easily use a fountain pen like this during many months before you need to go through one cleaning cycle. For cleaning, you can buy some special cleaning agents which you can use just like ink.
Some other pen setups like vintage piston fillers and saturated inks can be high maintenance. It makes a big difference to choose a simple ink and a simple pen. The latter can be as easy to use as a rollerball.
> If maintenance becomes bothersome, maybe you should look into good converters and simple water-based inks. You can easily use a fountain pen like this during many months before you need to go through one cleaning cycle. For cleaning, you can buy some special cleaning agents which you can use just like ink.
Most modern "simple" (or boring) inks contain detergents to keep pens clean too. Waterman, Parker, Lamy and Pelikan (esp. 4001 series) are non-staining inside pens. Most of the standard blues (e.g.: Waterman Serenity Blue and Lamy Blue esp.) self destruct in water while resist time unless left under the sun (4001 blue is explicitly discouraged for archiving).
This means you can just put your pen section in a cup of water and wait until all water turns transparent again. Then rinse under the tap, let it dry and re-fill. It's this easy.
There are faster methods (I rinse & dry a daily driver pen in 5 minutes tops), but we're at HN and not in FPN[0]. :)
> This means you can just put your pen section in a cup of water and wait until all water turns transparent again. Then rinse under the tap, let it dry and re-fill. It's this easy.
AFAIK this is only good advice if your tap water isn't too hard as apparently this can damage the nib.
Thanks for pointing out. I've never experienced that problem tho. Also, I've seen no warning about it from the veterans in the FPN.
In my country, bottled water is very cheap hence it's used a lot in the household. I prefer bottled water for dunking my pens.
In any way, a pen doesn't stay in room temperature water more than 24 hours and inks already have cleaners inside. For a frequently used pen, you don't need to clean it more than 3-4 times a year.
It's always possible to "power wash" a pen with a bulb syringe and some water in 5 minutes but it needs some experience and willingness.
Doesn't one need to be choosy about paper to avoid ink bleed? That was the reason I gave up on fountain pens. IIRC, even with specialized bleed-resistant ink, bleeding was a problem on common (i.e. cheap) notepads and notebooks.
It depends a lot on the nib and the ink. With an adequate nib and ink, you may write on any paper.
For bad papers, I have had a lot of luck with Pilot F or EF nibs and Herbin Lie de Thé ink. It's a dry setup, but not too dry, and that Herbin has just enough lubrication to make it pleasant.
Normal fountain pen inks tend not to be waterproof, unless one uses some expensive ones, so that makes it not very suitable for using with watercolours, for example.
I was using Waterman Intense Black, which writes really smoothly but is not waterproof. I've been trying a Noodler's Bulletproof Black which is a bit more water-resistant, and so far it's okay - and the bottle was about the same price as a similar-sized bottle of Waterman. I want to see, however, whether I have any problems cleaning the pens (piston-fill) with the Noodler's.
Noodler’s, which sibling comment mentions, makes some fantastic inks including smudge proof and archivalinks, besides a veritable rainbow of great and imaginative colors.
Indeed, they are very nice pens. They write nearly as well as the more expensive cousins. If you get tired of trashing empty pens, or are looking for something fancier to give as a gift, the Pilot 'Metropolitan' is a nice step up.
As a left-handed person tired of smudges in the paper that never got used to pens specifically designed for left hand: what are the options for a really nice one?
As a lefty and fountain pen fan who’s thrilled this thread hasn’t fallen back to a larger fountain pen discussion, I will say if smudges really bother you, looking for a fast-drying ink might help. WRT fountains, Noodlers [1] is pretty common and reliable.
I love all of my tombow and stabilo pens. They’re total workhorses. I unexpectedly started using some tombow fine liners for pretty much all writing last year, especially for journaling. I love how clean thin pages end up, and using both sides of pages remains clear and clean.
This was a fun read. Not sure why, but I could buy one of any nice pen despite having plenty already. I just love nice tools.
I’ve skipped on the uniball vision elite for a while now. After reading this and the comments it seems like I need to give it a shot.
Somewhat related, any recommendations for a LCD or similar writing tablet? I had a boogie board but I wish it was bigger and possibly supported erasing or uploading. reMarkable any good?
I recently bought the Onyx Boox Note Air for writing and reading and I am really liking it. Syncs with my server, has a front light, allows to install apps like kindle or pocket and is just super well build.
The default pen is crap but the Lamy All-Star EMR or the Staedler Norris Digital Jumbo are superb.
I’m very happy with the Pilot Frixion Rollerball with a 0.5 mm tip, mostly for crossword puzzles. It’s erasable, and the color is sharp and stands out against the black & white of the grid better than pencils.
Pen preferences are very personal. I prefer thinner roller-ball lines and two of my favourites are Uni-ball Onyx micro and Pilot Hi-tecpoint V5. I tried Uni-ball Vision needle (not Elite) series and did not like them.
"Pen preferences are very personal. I prefer thinner roller-ball lines" Me too.
"two of my favourites are Uni-ball Onyx micro and Pilot Hi-tecpoint V5"
I used uni-ball an others I found in Europe or China. Once I bought a pen called BE-α-DX5. Not sure where I bought it the first time, just bought it by chance but really liked it.
They are produced by a Japanese SME company: https://www.zebrapen.com/
No idea if they are famous or not.
While I love writing and trying different pens the quality of my handwriting has degraded as I get older and is occasionally illegible. Has anyone found a good method for improving their handwriting?
I write cursive, and I felt the same way. I had to slow down and force myself to write the way I was taught in school. You don't need to caricature the characters (charicature?!) but get back to very plain, school-style letters for a few weeks, and it seems to have reset my handwriting.
I definitely agree with this. I've noticed that the more time I spend away from handwriting the worse my handwriting gets. The only way to improve is to write more. As a developer, this is sadly not something I get much opportunity to do throughout the day.
Not bad advice at all; while anecdotal, I learned to write properly using a fountain pen - my grandfather handed me one as I started primary school, claiming that this would learn me how to write properly, doubly so as I am a leftie.
It took a while, but I believe he was right - as the fountain pen forced me to write slower and more deliberately, it did improve my handwriting.
(I still (35 years later) mostly write with a fountain pen, always carrying my grandfather's Souverän 400 in my shirt pocket - it was gifted to me once I had learned to write properly.)
I found that it mostly just takes slowing down and writing more patiently. And I discovered this while seeing my son learn penmanship, where he was required to take his time to learn something new. I started to look at my own writing and found it not very nice. Simply taking more time to write what I wanted made it a lot nicer.
As everyone said, it's not a degradation of the handwriting but, degradation of attention to writing.
Taking the time, slowing down and being aware of writing immediately resets my handwriting.
Also, the smoothness of the pens affect your handwriting legibility. A fast pen like a Uni Jetstream makes my writing worse. OTOH, a slightly resistant roller, a gel pen or ideally a fountain pen brings out the best in my handwriting.
In my case, I've also just forgotten a lot of my script as I've switched from writing for others to read to my own notes. I never had good handwriting--as I recall it was consistently my worst grade in elementary school but I did know how to make the Palmer script letterforms even if I didn't execute them elegantly. Today I don't really even know them except vaguely.
I switched from doodling to alphabet practice in meetings a few years back. It resulted in a marked improvement of my handwriting, which had declined primarily do to disuse (no significant long form handwritten stuffs since college, really).
I practiced print and cursive letters, then my more eligible letter pairings and words in a more deliberate fashion.
Well, I doodle even in useful meetings. I get fidgety and need something to do with my hands. Doodling was one option, handwriting practice becomes a similarly unthinking activity with enough time, not something I consciously paid attention to.
Learn calligraphy! There are many videos and tutorials to follow along with and I have found after not much time at all the careful practice carries over to my normal writing.
For me, Uni-ball Vision Micro (not the Elite in this article) helped kinda surprisingly - they scratch a bit like pencil, which gives me a lot more control and ended up improving my handwriting compared to a smooth-rolling pens.
I was in exactly this situation and I actually bought a handwriting book and "re-learned" how to do it by working through the book and focusing on writing with my shoulder instead of my wrist. I saw immense improvement in three weeks or so, and doing handwriting practice was also extremely satisfying and a good mental break after a day of coding.
I found this to learn basic italic handwriting. Once you get that down, you can branch out in other directions. But things like consistent slant and spacing, which is what this teaches you, are the foundation on which everything else will build.
I got through graduate school and over a decade of research with my inexpensive but very smooth Uni-ball cylinders (or classic roller) micro, 0.5mm pens. They were light, with a minimal and elegant design, inexpensive, and wrote great. Then, about a decade ago, something happened to them. I now go between a Jetstream (a ballpoint) and the Uni-ball Eye (which feels identical to the Vision to me).
Tip if you're looking for a quality pen as branded swag/supplies for your business:
When you find a pen from another vendor/restaurant/etc that you LOVE, take a few minutes to find who ordered them and get the same supplier/SKU. They'll gladly share that info in my experience.
Bulk pen quality is so over the map, even when it claims to be the same model number, I've found it to vary among suppliers.
All that being said, I've lost who we got ours from and can't recommend one myself!
On this note, the best free pen I've ever received was from a Marriott in Japan. The body is square instead of round, and it's made from a soft matte black plastic. If anyone knows where to order these bulk pens, please leave me a reply!
By that description, apparently ‘rollerball’ pens are the default where I am. The staple experience all through my youth was of having to doodle with the dry pen for a few seconds before it begins to emit ink properly (my language even has a word for this act). Spare pens or cartridges were a must, in case the first one just gives up.
Then I discovered oil-based Pilot pens: those can lay around unused for months or years and then will write as soon as I need that. So after moving out, I bought a couple dozens of them and sprinkled them around the apartment and in my backpack. Never even knew if anyone else makes pens with oil-based ink.
I did, however, encounter one of such pens leaking. But one in about fifteen years seems pretty good.
It's Russian ‘расписывать’, specifically ‘расписывать ручку’. Vaguely translated as ‘make-write the pen’, and derived from ‘писать’—‘to write’. Notably, I don't think any other instrument needed that action, so the word is only used with pens.
The word has another meaning of decorating something with paint. But despite the identical constituent parts, the underlying etymology is slightly different, as far as I understand: ‘make-write’ is closer in meaning to the similar ‘расписываться’—either ‘to sign’ or ‘while writing a text, get in the flow of writing’.
This inflectional derivation is pretty much identical to how English has hundreds of compound words where simple verbs are smacked together with adverbs, e.g. ‘put on’, ‘put up’ and such—most of them with entirely idiomatic meanings.
Any list of top rollerball pens cannot be complete without the uniball signo 207(ideally the needlepoint tip): https://uniballco.com/207-needle/
My only complaint about it is that the clip and casing are not great. The Pilot G2 actually has the perfect case but is too inky for my tastes (and stores usually dont carry the 0.38/0.5 widths). The dream pen would have the Pilot G2 case with the uniball signo 207 needle cartridge.
EDIT: It turns out the uniball signo 207 is actually a gel pen, not a rollerball!
Oh, interesting. I never realized there was a distinction and it may explain one reason I've preferred the 207 to some "other rollerball" pens that I've tried. (I do prefer a wider tip for most purposes though.)
What a wonderful site. I love their description of the Pilot G2:
"The Pilot G2 is a retractable gel pen. It’s famous for being one of the best office pens of all time as well as being of the top “gateway pens.” A gateway pen being one of the pens who don’t generally care about pens use, grow attached to, and start to realize that not all pens write the same. Many offices, restaurants, banks, and other venues had purchased Pilot G2s in bulk, people have used them them, and started to realize that they are smoother and write better than a normal bulk pen.
"
Exactly my experience - I first used the Pilot G-2 07 in 2005, and have spent the last 15 years refusing to use nothing else. I have friends in Australia who, after borrowing my pen, used to raid the office supplies for them every time they visited the USA, and they were a great present to bring.
Just over 15 years ago, I arrived late for my student orientation, realized I forgot a pen, and whispered to nearby students to borrow one. That’s when Pete passed me a G-2, and said “keep it”. I had no idea then, but quickly discovered: this was a Better Pen. Thank you Pete!
I really (really) like the Bic Velocity Bold. At 1.6mm, they certainly lay down some ink and are incredibly smooth. They are my favorite, by far. The 1.0mm is good, too, but the 1.6mm is great.
128 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 188 ms ] threadIf maintenance becomes bothersome, maybe you should look into good converters and simple water-based inks. You can easily use a fountain pen like this during many months before you need to go through one cleaning cycle. For cleaning, you can buy some special cleaning agents which you can use just like ink.
Some other pen setups like vintage piston fillers and saturated inks can be high maintenance. It makes a big difference to choose a simple ink and a simple pen. The latter can be as easy to use as a rollerball.
Most modern "simple" (or boring) inks contain detergents to keep pens clean too. Waterman, Parker, Lamy and Pelikan (esp. 4001 series) are non-staining inside pens. Most of the standard blues (e.g.: Waterman Serenity Blue and Lamy Blue esp.) self destruct in water while resist time unless left under the sun (4001 blue is explicitly discouraged for archiving).
This means you can just put your pen section in a cup of water and wait until all water turns transparent again. Then rinse under the tap, let it dry and re-fill. It's this easy.
There are faster methods (I rinse & dry a daily driver pen in 5 minutes tops), but we're at HN and not in FPN[0]. :)
P.S.: I'm a fountain pen nut, AMA if you want.
[0]: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com
As am I! Been collecting since childhood. I've spent more money than I care to admit on pens and ink...
AFAIK this is only good advice if your tap water isn't too hard as apparently this can damage the nib.
In my country, bottled water is very cheap hence it's used a lot in the household. I prefer bottled water for dunking my pens.
In any way, a pen doesn't stay in room temperature water more than 24 hours and inks already have cleaners inside. For a frequently used pen, you don't need to clean it more than 3-4 times a year.
It's always possible to "power wash" a pen with a bulb syringe and some water in 5 minutes but it needs some experience and willingness.
For bad papers, I have had a lot of luck with Pilot F or EF nibs and Herbin Lie de Thé ink. It's a dry setup, but not too dry, and that Herbin has just enough lubrication to make it pleasant.
https://noodlersink.com/
I have a bit of a 'habit' myself, but I can't say I experience any need for real maintenance.
Also if you change the ink brand. Or colours.
The Signo 307 refill has a fraud-proof ink formula - so if you are going to be signing documents, you better use this.
Get the .7mm or the .5mm. Skip the 1.0mm.
Since I'm a underwriter, I can also use the 1.0mm one.
P.S.: really like your nametag.
Good luck with the pens, hope you like them.
[1] https://noodlersink.com/product-tag/fast-drying/
I also haven't flown in a year or more.
It has a sponge-like core in the ink chamber and compensates the changes quite well.
Bold tips are a must so the left-handed angle-of-attack doesn't leave us scratching and gashing the paper. This one is particularly smooth.
They're cheap, feel pretty good to write with, and the ink dries almost instantly (although it depends a bit on what kind of paper you're writing on).
This was a fun read. Not sure why, but I could buy one of any nice pen despite having plenty already. I just love nice tools.
I’ve skipped on the uniball vision elite for a while now. After reading this and the comments it seems like I need to give it a shot.
https://www.pilotpen.eu/en/collections/must-have/frixion-fam...
The cap on the capped version covers the eraser during use.
Why on earth didn't they just put the eraser on the cap?
"two of my favourites are Uni-ball Onyx micro and Pilot Hi-tecpoint V5" I used uni-ball an others I found in Europe or China. Once I bought a pen called BE-α-DX5. Not sure where I bought it the first time, just bought it by chance but really liked it. They are produced by a Japanese SME company: https://www.zebrapen.com/ No idea if they are famous or not.
"My" pen is available at Amazon in packs of 10: https://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Dx5-Liq-Ink-Rollerball/dp/B000T...
I find if I conscientiously try and write slower, it markedly improves.
It took a while, but I believe he was right - as the fountain pen forced me to write slower and more deliberately, it did improve my handwriting.
(I still (35 years later) mostly write with a fountain pen, always carrying my grandfather's Souverän 400 in my shirt pocket - it was gifted to me once I had learned to write properly.)
A math-heavy job did wonders for my handwriting.
Taking the time, slowing down and being aware of writing immediately resets my handwriting.
Also, the smoothness of the pens affect your handwriting legibility. A fast pen like a Uni Jetstream makes my writing worse. OTOH, a slightly resistant roller, a gel pen or ideally a fountain pen brings out the best in my handwriting.
I practiced print and cursive letters, then my more eligible letter pairings and words in a more deliberate fashion.
I think the secret key is rhythm.
I used this book, no affiliation other than I liked it: https://handwritingsuccess.com/write-now/
Inspired by this Slate article: https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/09/why-your-kids-have-...
https://sites.google.com/view/briem/free-books/handwriting-r...
When you find a pen from another vendor/restaurant/etc that you LOVE, take a few minutes to find who ordered them and get the same supplier/SKU. They'll gladly share that info in my experience.
Bulk pen quality is so over the map, even when it claims to be the same model number, I've found it to vary among suppliers.
All that being said, I've lost who we got ours from and can't recommend one myself!
Then I discovered oil-based Pilot pens: those can lay around unused for months or years and then will write as soon as I need that. So after moving out, I bought a couple dozens of them and sprinkled them around the apartment and in my backpack. Never even knew if anyone else makes pens with oil-based ink.
I did, however, encounter one of such pens leaking. But one in about fifteen years seems pretty good.
That's so cool, can you share the word?
The word has another meaning of decorating something with paint. But despite the identical constituent parts, the underlying etymology is slightly different, as far as I understand: ‘make-write’ is closer in meaning to the similar ‘расписываться’—either ‘to sign’ or ‘while writing a text, get in the flow of writing’.
This inflectional derivation is pretty much identical to how English has hundreds of compound words where simple verbs are smacked together with adverbs, e.g. ‘put on’, ‘put up’ and such—most of them with entirely idiomatic meanings.
My only complaint about it is that the clip and casing are not great. The Pilot G2 actually has the perfect case but is too inky for my tastes (and stores usually dont carry the 0.38/0.5 widths). The dream pen would have the Pilot G2 case with the uniball signo 207 needle cartridge.
EDIT: It turns out the uniball signo 207 is actually a gel pen, not a rollerball!
"The Pilot G2 is a retractable gel pen. It’s famous for being one of the best office pens of all time as well as being of the top “gateway pens.” A gateway pen being one of the pens who don’t generally care about pens use, grow attached to, and start to realize that not all pens write the same. Many offices, restaurants, banks, and other venues had purchased Pilot G2s in bulk, people have used them them, and started to realize that they are smoother and write better than a normal bulk pen. "
Exactly my experience - I first used the Pilot G-2 07 in 2005, and have spent the last 15 years refusing to use nothing else. I have friends in Australia who, after borrowing my pen, used to raid the office supplies for them every time they visited the USA, and they were a great present to bring.
I reach for it, lo and behold, it's a G-2.
https://us.bic.com/en_us/bic-velocity-bold-retractable-ball-...
The Uniball Signo (gel) is notable for its ability to write well on a lot of different surfaces. I use them for line work when painting rocks.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZWYUA4/
It's nice and heavy, with a good knurled grip. I can write all day with it, and it makes me want to work.
https://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Twist-Erase-III-Mechanical-Pe...
Though, you do need to carry it in a case of some sort, because the tip doesn't retract.