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 Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:37 pm
You know there's a type you prefer. Is it a simple ballpoint? Gel? Ink? How fine a point? Thinner or fatter body? Colour? A particular brand?
As a person who has worked with stationery a little, the best off-the-shelf, refillable but relatively disposable pen I have found thus far is a Uni-Ball signo retractable gel with a .3 or .5 point. I freaking love this pen. It's comfortable to use, it looks good on the page, and it feels good to write with. I'm a big fan of the finer point and I prefer gel over a normal ballpoint. I liked this pen so much that when people came up to the counter with one, I would exclaim "Man, I LOVE that pen!" and they would reply "It's awesome, isn't it?". It's my standard good pen that I like to have in my bag or around the house even if I'm using something else at the time.
I have my token "fairly nice but still pretty cheap" parker pen. It came with a blue gel cartridge but I prefer black, so I was pleased to be able to switch it out when the blue ran dry. I like this pen, but because the point is broader I tend to use it more for journalling than writing. It's pleasing, but doesn't aid me in the creative process, and it's a bit large and clumsy for my pocket notebook.
Ideally I like to write with fountain pens. They're ridiculously hard to find here, and both the pens and ink refills are stupidly expensive. When I get to Europe from time to time I have to stock up like a crazy person, because over there a 50 pack of ink cartridges is like 2euro. As always I prefer a finer point. The feel of a fountain pen's nib on paper is one of the reasons I prefer it, and the erasable ink makes me smile. Although, the ink does mean that I need a notebook with better quality pages.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:39 pm
I haven't really found that "perfect pen" yet. Mostly because I'm cheap. But when I go pen shopping, I rifle through the cheap ones until I find one that's suitable.
Generally, they're all retractable. Mostly because I'll lose the cap to a normal pen, and then the tip will dry out, and then it's a pain in my a**. I think I tend to get the gel ink pens. I like it better than ink, I think it flows better. I tend to write in "cursive" (which is illegible to the general population) because it's quick, so if I'm writing by hand I can get my ideas down faster. This requires ink that flows out of the pen quickly and with minimal pressure. I've found gel to do this the best.
I don't like mine too thin. .5 is nice, I enjoy the crisp, fine look that a thin line offers up, but I think I usually end up with 1.0. That's the one I have now anyway, and I like it enough. And BLACK ink. I loves me some black ink. I will use red ink on yellow legal pads, but only then. Otherwise, black.
The only problem I have with my current on-hand brand, is they emptied VERY quickly. I went through one pen in a week (pack of two). It's a Uniball brand. Writes nice, runs out quick.
I'd love to try a fountain pen. I've used a quill, but it wasn't that great. Fountain pens sound lovely.
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