Gel Pens

[Mike-S]

What are users impressions of Parker gel pens or any other gel pens ?

 

Mike-S

[bass1193]

I was pleasantly surprised by the short gel refills from Cross. Super dark black, true cobalt blue, very smooth writing, and nary a skip to be seen.

 

Edit: autocorrect thought I meant "slip" when I wrote skip.

Edited November 20, 2018 by bass1193

[Dolganoff]

I really like black Parker gel refill I have in my Jotter ballpoint now. It's very black, glides well over paper (much better than ballpoint) and puts down nice fine line that looks almost like fountain pen line.

[NinthSphere]

Had a Parker gel in my Maxmadco. They switched to Itoya GPR-7 refills after discovering that the Parkers can leak goo out the back after a while. Switched over to the Itoya refills myself when I found that mine had started leaking. No complaints about the Itoya. Used to enjoy the Pilot G2s as well.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

My favorite gel pens are Pilot G2s. Don't get used much next to fountain pens, but I prefer them to ballpoints.

 

I have a Retro 1951 with a Schmidt gel refill, blue, which is quite nice. But I found out that the blue ink is not water resistant.

 

I tried Parker gel refills in a couple of Jotters. They write pretty nicely, but I found that even a fairly minor drop of the pen onto a hard surface could throw them out of whack, and they wouldn't write properly any more. Also, a couple of them have oozed a substance like silicone grease from around the top. Didn't affect the way they wrote, but I didn't like the possibility of gunking up the inside of the pen.

[usk15]

I have a Retro 1951 with a Schmidt gel refill, blue, which is quite nice. But I found out that the blue ink is not water resistant.

 

I think the refill you talking about is actually a rollerball one - Schmidt 8127/8126 , not a gel refill.

 

As gel pen I preffer Pentel Energel.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

 

I think the refill you talking about is actually a rollerball one - Schmidt 8127/8126 , not a gel refill.

 

As gel pen I preffer Pentel Energel.

 

Just looked in the pen, and I actually have a Retro 51 branded one. But it's made by Schmidt, I believe, and has the "capless 8127P" designation on it. It looks like you're right, after I went to the actual Schmidt web site. Jet Pens doesn't make it clear. Rollerball is often used to describe gel ink pens as well, but these are liquid ink.

 

Okay, so my favorite gel pen is a Pilot G2. Comments about the Parker refills stand.

 

But thanks for the information.

[Dolganoff]

You've scared me with your stories about goo coming out of Parker gel refills, will have to check it more often

[milkb0at]

There are many "superior" (wetter, darker, more permanent etc) gels like the Uni Signo 307 and the Energel, but I still prefer the Pilot G2.

 

I've not got on with the Parker gel, but that was a few years ago and they might have improved it. I don't like the Monteverde gel either.

 

This is purely talking about the gel refills, by the way. If there's a body you prefer, then that might take precedence. I still quite like the standard cheap G2 body, but there's a whole world of more "premium" bodies from the manufacturers as well as the seemingly infinite Kickstarter machined pens which usually dictate which refill they take.

[milkb0at]

p.s. The Pen Addict's Top 5 list might give you pointers on gel pens (well, at least the micro-tip ones) and machined pens.

[WarrenB]

I put a Parker gel refill in a Jotter. Had to take it out and replace it with Quink, it was so useless. Skipping? The bits where it skipped were when it actually put some ink on the paper. It softened some of my antipathy towards regular ballpoints, I can tell you.

[MYU]

Pentel EnerGel XLRN refills are excellent and they come in finer grades than the Pilot G2 offers.

Edited November 20, 2018 by MYU

[esteel]

if you’re using gel-based pens, you’re going to get deep, rich lines which can not be traced by covert agencies.

[tamiya]

Bought the Parker gel when they first appeared years ago, they wrote well. But yeah after a few years, they weeped... not that it did much damage afaik (IMHO the goo lubed the works) but all our local stock seems to be from that same first batch, buying new refills came with mess pre-leaked to I gave them up.

 

Then Papermate gel reappeared maybe 5-6yrs ago using same Parker refill. Shaper tip, not as smooth.

 

These days my Jotters are mainly filled with std Quink refills or some 3rd party compatible. At one stage Moleskine sold some nice refills that fitted but again local sticks were one batch wonder. Pelican make an ok refill for cheap. Might try Schmidt one day.

[bluebellrose]

Muji retractable gel refills fit in the pentel energel pens. During the back to school sale, they were going for 1.35 if you bought 5 of them. Sadly zebra doesn't sell the 0.38 refills at muji

[OneRiotOneRanger]

Mike - lots of opinions out there about gel refills. As to pens, good values at the low end of the price range,

as others have expressed. As to refills, I share the consensus that Parkers can be iffy, or worse. I only write

with ballpoint pens, and the only gel refills I use are Beaufort - fortunately, available in the UK - or those

from Visconti. They're not inexpensive. Go to the Cult Pens web site (also UK based) - good, helpful folks who

should be able to meet your needs at about the best prices around, and help you with issues..

[aih]

To write with, generally, I like. But I stick to ballpoints because they won't run if I accidently put the open pen in my pocket. Plus, ballpoints write well enough for me. (I use Parker 80-90% of the time, Cross sometimes, Fisher Space Pen sometimes, and the odd pen other times.)

[Mike-S]

Thanks for all your replies. The reason that I was interested in gel pens is that for me ballpoints are too fine. However I've now discovered that Parker do a broad ballpoint refill so I got one from Cult Pens and I'm delighted with it, it suits my handwriting 'style' If you can call my scrawl a 'style'.

 

Mike-S

 

PS I still prefer a pencil !

Edited January 20, 2019 by Mike-S

[dogpoet]

To be honest, if I'm using a gel pen myself, I'll just get a disposable rather than putting a refill in a posh biro. The refills cost two or three times as much as a disposable, and hold less ink. It's a lot more obvious if they're leaking as well...

[bluebellrose]

Well I use pentel energels and they can be refilled so I don't need to dump the pen.