Best Refillable Rollerball Pen

[MHBru]

I was going to suggest RotRing because I have a 700 rollerball and pencil that are both great..... They stopped making the 700 series years ago and when doing some homework for this post I learned that they dont make rollerballs at all anymore... that's sad because they were great... (I dont use their refills tho.. I use Pelikan roller ball refills) I also have an R800 Pelikan that is impressive but a little over the $50 mark in the OP. At one time I was considering selling the 700 pair but not sure I will unless i get a good offer. Feel free to PM me if interested

[EBUCKTHORN]

Here's another option: https://schneiderpen.com/en_us/cartridge-rollerballs/

 

I have this Schneider, the V5 and V7, plus the Zebra R301.

 

I applaud anyone who refills cartridges with a syringe because doing so eliminates one more (albeit minute) source of single-use plastic.

[adamselene]

There are a lot of rollerball models out there that accept the Pilot G2 refills, which a) are available in 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 widths, come in a variety of colors (including a really nice purple), c) are cheap cheap cheap compared to other branded refills and d) are ultra reliable, don't skip, and have a visible chamber. Frankly, if I had it all to do over, I'd only get rollerball bodies that accept this refills as there are so many ones out there that are either EXPENSIVE or JUST BAD. My two cents!

Right. There’s also a Pilot whatsitznamqe that probably is even better.

 

I like the Waterford Lismore Roller in silver or platinum plated, but don’t need any more!

 

I haven’t been able to damage one, and unlike Pilot Metropolitan caps don’t disappear!

[toymachine]

Good timing. Article about rollerballs that use fp ink.

 

My favorite is the J Herbin. Simple and cheap. Writes well enough. I'm going to try to get some Schmidts too.

[EBUCKTHORN]

1. Has anyone else tried the Zebra R301?

2. For any of the refillable roller balls how much latitude is there in using ANY brand bottled FP ink to refill an appropriate size cartridge via syringe?

[EBUCKTHORN]

My question #2 in the previous post is answered here: https://unsharpen.com/rollerball-pen-fountain-pen-ink/

[Bill P]

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Edited December 9, 2019 by Bill P

[Ravi Gautam]

Pilot V5 or V7 can be a good choice.

[tanalasta]

I’m yet to find a refillable rollerball that writes better than a non-refillable or disposable rollerball.

 

Most of the mass market ones have already been mentioned. The heart of every pen is it’s nib (or point) combination and ink. I’ve tried Herbin, Montegrappa, Visconti and none of them write as well a $5 refill or even disposable mass market pen.

 

I have a preference towards Pilot or Uniball but being disposable, I don’t pay too much attention to them (and probably lose at least one a day - thankfully, the office stationery cupboard is an endless supply).

[Runnin_Ute]

I have a Pilot G2 refill in a Waterman Hemisphere rollerball. The previous refills I tried (Waterman other) all dried out.

[EBUCKTHORN]

We need to curtail the reliance on single-use plastics. That will limit our choices a bit but I suspect that's only a minor inconvenience in comparison with other changes that will be necessary. Perhaps this should be in "Chatter" but it's what initiated my investigation of refillable roller balls. I find the V7 acceptable as well as the Schneiders. The natural progression would be to refill the cartridges with syringes or, where available, switch from cartridges to converters.

[toymachine]

I'm not a fan of the zebra r301, though I know many are. I really like the refillable j Herbin. This article about refillable rollerball pens might help!

[usk15]

I don't like rollerballs with caps, which is the reason I'm using capless rollerballs, with click action button. Among my Karas Kustoms Bolt V2 and Retrakt (both V1 and V2), I have bought some interesting rOtring Clipper, a rOtring Jazz and a Lamy Swift.

 

Also there are a variety of rollerballs refills out there, plus gel refills can be adapted to be used in classic or capless rollerballs.

 

While the rollerballs refills write smooth, I like much more the gel refills. The rollerball refills goes empty faster than gel refills.

 

From L/R:

rOtring 600 bp, Tikky 1 Al bp, rOtring Clipper (1 black is a bp), rOtring Jazz, Lamy Swift.

[MHBru]

I have two that have been with me for many many years. I dont use them often but they are both great...

Pelikan R800

Rotring 700

[sandy101]

Pilot G2 is nice - you can buy one, or a box of 20 for less than £20 - and they are refillable. At least, if you spill acid or something on them, you will have an easy replacement.

 

I've also found Cross and Parker rollerballs pens to be good. The Parker fine tips can be scratchy - so I'd go for the medium ones.

 

You can get a Cross rolled gold one for less than £25 on e-bay - lots of classics and Century 2's out there.

[ecksdog]

Ive always been confused by the rollerball vs. gel pen when it comes to capped vs. retractable. All of the true liquid ink rollerballs that I know of must be capped. Uni vision and vision elite and pilot original V series. The way I understand gel pens is that they wont dry out like true rollerballs if not capped. Thats why we see so many retractable gel pens. The only one I dont understand is that retractable Pentel V series. I wonder if they use a different ink.

[SoulSamurai]

The one I don't understand is the retractable ink-ball Levenger. That one just uses regular fountain pen ink, but it's a regular nib-down retractable.

[lurcho]

This is what I've recently tried, though it requires a tiny bit of DIY:

 

The Uni-Ball Vision Elite in the 0.8mm tip is the best rollerball I've ever used. Each one lasts me three weeks.

 

Last week, just as the last one was running dry, I heated a metal point and pierced the plastic reservoir near the top. Then I injected a little bit of MB black ink and sealed the hole with ducy tape.

 

The pen wrote wonderfully, even better than it did with the original ink, and didn't leak in the slightest. Then I noticed that all the ink I'd added had sunk to the section and saturated the fins. So I thought I'd add more to make it last longer before having to refill it again.

 

This produced immediate leaking until the excess ink had poured out. Now it's okay again.

 

I'm hoping that adding just enough ink to fill the feed chamber will continue to be all right. The collector fins are there, after all, to stem excessive flow or leaking. But so far, saturating the feed completely has been fine. The key may be not to fill above the section.

 

This is not a complicated operation and may be worth a try with these impressive writers.

[modernovervintage]

Pentel rollerball pens are good..better than pilot g2 to me, so probably any pen that can take pentel refill.

[bluebellrose]

Looks like Japan gave up waiting for the Kaweco to start making their ink rollers again and made their own. Traveller's Company made brass rollerballs that take international cartridges.