The Best Pens for 2023: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

I used to like the pentel sharp kerry but I've had two with feed issues so I can't recommend them. I don't consider them last forever. If you use them a lot, maybe 2 years or so. I still own one but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to someone who uses it a lot.

I do most graphite stuff with 2mm lead holders these days - I've never had a lead holder break, ever. Staedtler standard is like $8 but I find the metal grip part less than comfortable for hours of usage. I tend to put a silly grip softener thing on them. I use the Mutsibishi DPS6001P to sharpen them - some people love that rotary style of sharpeners for them but I hate the rotary ones. for art purposes I also have 2mm in many many lead softnesses and even a few different colours.

I use my tombow fudenosukes for brush like techniques for inking. I'll have to keep an eye out for a uni-pin and try it.

the tombow monos are great for art. I get really annoyed dealing with kneaded erasers and sometimes having a thin eraser to just soften or erase a small area is great compared to trying to shape a kneaded eraser. the refills are pricey for the limited amount of eraser you get, though.

I dont use gel pens at all so not familiar with those. I have some fountain pens but I feel like its not worth the hassle most of the time.

The uni ball vision needle is just uni-ball's version of the classic pilot hitechpoint, which is my go-to technical pen for many activities. I checked and I have some of these visions - I prefer the hi-tecpoints but that might be some internal preference because I've used them for many years.

I've got a set of copic multiliners but I only use those for inking art. I like the pilot fineliners for writing every day stuff.

Fun fact!

> It’s important to keep in mind that Pilot FriXion ink will “erase” with any heat, so we don’t recommend storing your notebooks on top of a radiator or in cars during the summer. Additionally, don’t use FriXion ink to take tests or write on important documents. If your writing disappears inadvertently, you may be able to get it to reappear by placing the paper in a freezer that reaches below 14°F, or -10°C.

There are faster versions, but probably not so much the ones that are commonly taught. Also, most of the time one writes plenty fast enough. The only case I can think of where more speed is essential is steno and that is not cursive.

If you want speed, there are better options, not the least of which is a keyboard (or steno etc). I haven’t had a use case for cursive since it was required in elementary school. For most purposes that don’t care about speed it is inferior to the block writing styles I learned for engineering.

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