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Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

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Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#21

Post by pyrophane »

I ignored fountain pens for a long time because I'm not a calligrapher or artist and I mostly want writing to be easy and convenient.

On a whim, I finally ordered a LAMY Safari and was really surprised at how much better the writing experience was. I noticed my penmanship improved and I was able to write more easily on parts of the page that I normally struggle with, such as near the binding in some notebooks.

I attribute most of this to how easily the ink flows compared to other types of pens, although I'm sure the pen shape is also a factor.

Anyway, if you write a lot and just want to write more easily and a little better, I'd recommend giving a fountain pen a try, and I think the LAMY Safari is a great place to start (it is relatively cheap and the cartridges are convenient).

I also love JetPens and order most of my pens and stationary from them.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#22

Post by bambax »

I'm surprised there's a market for budget foutain pens. We mostly don't write by hand anymore and if we do, it's to jolt down notes.

One chooses to use a fountain pen for the thrill of it, or for love of tradition. In those cases, money is no object. A budget fountain pen is like a budget race car.

Obviously I'm wrong, but I'm not sure why.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#23

Post by QuarterReptile »

bambax wrote: post #22

I'm surprised there's a market for budget foutain pens. We mostly don't write by hand anymore and if we do, it's to jolt down notes. One chooses to use a fountain pen for the thrill of it, or for love of tradition. In those cases, money is no object. A budget fountain pen is like a budget race car. Obviously I'm wrong, but I'm not sure why.

The nature of the pen makes writing not hurt your hand. More precisely, it reawakens a painless way to write that was put off-limits by ballpoint pens. That is, write in mostly cursive, direct the tip across the paper and never press down.

Gel pens also support this, if you have a heavy pen body.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#24

Post by QuarterReptile »

throw0101d wrote: post #15

One thing about gel pens, and other 'fancy' ink, is that it tends to be quite runny and can take a while to dry on 'waxy' papers (many index cards, shipping labels). Not sure which listed category of ink/pen would work best on those (besides a plain old, cheap Bic® pen, which works fine.)

Depends your goal. Write finely and precisely? Don't hurt your hand?

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#25

Post by piva00 »

iancmceachern wrote: post #2

My wife and I love fountain pens! It's an awesome hobby and collection to start

Honest question: what makes it a hobby and not just a collection?

I think of pens as tools for a hobby but not as a hobby itself, collecting pens I can consider a collection hobby though.

I get confused because I've seen this stated a few times and it does not make sense to me, there's no "power drill hobby" but one can have a hobby of collecting power drills.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#26

Post by wintermutestwin »

What a great site! I realize that it is a store, but content like this is valuable:

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Pilot-FriXion-Erasable-Pens-A-C...

I recently found these erasable pens and they are incredible tech. The friction of rubbing the rubber eraser on the ink heats up the ink and causes the ink to turn invisible. It leaves no ink residue on the eraser.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#27

Post by rondini »

bambax wrote: post #22

I'm surprised there's a market for budget foutain pens. We mostly don't write by hand anymore and if we do, it's to jolt down notes. One chooses to use a fountain pen for the thrill of it, or for love of tradition. In those cases, money is no object. A budget fountain pen is like a budget race car. Obviously I'm wrong, but I'm not sure why.

Why is it hard to imagine someone who enjoys writing but can't spend hundreds on a luxury pen?

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#28

Post by DoingSomeThings »

valyagolev wrote: post #18

After discovering Muji Gel pens a decade ago I just buy them tens at a time (pens or refill sticks). They feel absolutely perfect and are very easy to obtain in Europe. It's a great feeling to find a product that works so well you can free your mind from the burden of search forever

Seconded. I buy 2 varieties of Muji pens -- 0.38 and 0.5 Gel Ballpoint -- and stash them everywhere.

A while back I heard the phrase "If you ask 'where is the good XYZ' it means you have a 'bad' XYZ". I was inspired to throw out all of my cheapo pens and always have a good one nearby.

Same with power cables, scissors, tape, and other small household accessories. They're too cheap to have to worry about 1. where they are and 2. where the "good" one is.

Re: Best Pens for 2024: Gel, Ballpoint, Rollerball, and Fountain Pens

#30

Post by iammjm »

pyrophane wrote: post #21

I ignored fountain pens for a long time because I'm not a calligrapher or artist and I mostly want writing to be easy and convenient. On a whim, I finally ordered a LAMY Safari and was really surprised at how much better the writing experience was. I noticed my penmanship improved and I was able to write more easily on parts of the page that I normally struggle with, such as near the binding in some notebooks. I attr…

Lamy pens are great. Safari is a really nice choice, it's hard to beat price/value -wise
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