The Nevada State Bank once recommended a Uni-ball 207 (any pigment ink pen will probably do) to prevent check washing fraud: [video] https://youtu.be/zhR-koBU4zM
The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
11–20 of 202 posts
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#12I can vouch for the Pentel EnerGel recommendation.
As a left-handed person who tends to smudge a lot of other inks, EnerGels write smoothly without smudging. They're also cheap enough to buy a whole pack and not worry about losing them.
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#13I can vouch for the Pentel EnerGel recommendation. As a left-handed person who tends to smudge a lot of other inks, EnerGels write smoothly without smudging. They're also cheap enough to buy a whole pack and not worry about losing them.
+1
Additionally, they come in a number of colors, all of which are quite rich. Big fan!
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#14I heartily agree with their fountain pen choices. The Pilot Metropolitan is insanely good for a cheap pen that you can take anywhere and the TWSBI GO is my go-to daily driver. It leads me to believe that the rest of the reviews are likely good.
I bought a moonman m2 a long time ago and really love it but also if I travel with it I end up bringing a whole cleanup kit because even with care I tend to have at least once where ink comes out into the cap. Is this just a fact of life with fountain pens in general? I love the writing but keeping them clean & operational has been non-trivial for me.
it seems to depend on the pen for me. some deposit substantial ink in the cap and some don't (except flying, that's always gonna be a mess unless you prepare).
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#15I heartily agree with their fountain pen choices. The Pilot Metropolitan is insanely good for a cheap pen that you can take anywhere and the TWSBI GO is my go-to daily driver. It leads me to believe that the rest of the reviews are likely good.
I bought a moonman m2 a long time ago and really love it but also if I travel with it I end up bringing a whole cleanup kit because even with care I tend to have at least once where ink comes out into the cap. Is this just a fact of life with fountain pens in general? I love the writing but keeping them clean & operational has been non-trivial for me.
Not in my experience. Though ink seepage definitely seems to be related to how it's stored (and probably shaken). I've had one seep when stored point down, and dozens not seep when stored horizontally or point up.
That said, I don't travel with them, practically speaking.
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#16I've tried a few fancy pens, but still prefer my Pilot G2 07s.
Pilot G2 .38 or .5 for me
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#17I've tried a few fancy pens, but still prefer my Pilot G2 07s.
Have you tried the 0.7 energels?
G2s used to be my favorite until I gave them a try.
Very smooth.
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#18I have a bag of BIC Cristal pens that I've been working through for over a decade now. There are still a few left. What am I missing?
I've used a lot of random pens when signing my name at various places of business, and none of them seemed better to me than a BIC Cristal. In fact, many are so much worse that I usually bring my own BIC Cristal to places where I know I'll be filling out paperwork.
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#19I have a bag of BIC Cristal pens that I've been working through for over a decade now. There are still a few left. What am I missing? I've used a lot of random pens when signing my name at various places of business, and none of them seemed better to me than a BIC Cristal. In fact, many are so much worse that I usually bring my own BIC Cristal to places where I know I'll be filling out paperwork.
Tactile experience and aesthetics mostly. If you're fine with what you use don't worry about it.
Re: The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens
#20Fountain pens completely changed how I write. I've always gripped ballpoints like my life depended on it and gotten hand cramps from how hard I press them down. I don't want to, and can temporarily stop doing that when I consciously notice, but then I forget and go back to trying to stab the desktop through the paper.
A Lamy Safari's triangular shape makes it physically hard to hold the "wrong" way. It nudges me to write with my fingertips, not my wrist. The effect on my hand pain, and my ability to hand-write long bits of test, was immediate and huge.
I wouldn't have thought that simply switching pens would make such an enormous difference in my ability to put ink on paper. It sure did, though.