Regarding Non Fountain Pens

[Wile E.]

Is it silly to spend $100 on a rollerball/ballpoint, when I can get a decent rollerball for $5 and spend $95 on a fountain pen??

[usk15]

No, it is your money and wishes!

 

I have spent serious money on ballpoints without regrets. I will say to spend $98 for your RB/BP and $2 for a Jinhao 992!

[inkstainedruth]

Well, once upon a time I felt really extravagant buying a Parker Vector FP for $9 US....

Personally, I don't understand the need to buy a ballpoint for any price (I do have one freebie one which has the imprint for my friend's business info, but I haven't had a lot of luck getting refills for it (I don't like black BP ink, and the last blue ink refill -- one of those "fits in any pen" ones -- leaked into the packaging before I got the packaging open ; it went right back to the store for a refund). I'll admit that I do have three Platinum Preppies (which came free with bottles of Noodler's ink) that are set up with the rollerball heads on them. But I mostly don't use them, and they're probably all dead as doornails by now.

But, like usk15 said -- it's your money.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ISW_Kaputnik]

You get the same argument regarding different levels of spending for fountain pens. Is it silly for me to pay $150 for a Brand X, when a $70 brand Y may be everything I really want in a fountain pen? And then somebody chimes in to say that his $10 brand JH is just as good as either of those. Up to a point, you can argue that the more expensive pens really are better, and past that point, they may still have qualities for which you're willing to pay extra.

 

I have a bit of a personal problem with luxury prices for ballpoints or rollerballs, as I can't see them as much more than a housing for a refill. If the refills that they can take write well and the pen is well made, that's all I really need. But even so, in my ballpoint years, I was willing to pay a little extra for a Parker Jotter or Fisher Space Pen and the occasional refill rather than just get Bic disposables in large packages. I can't imagine any ballpoint or rollerball for which I'd pay $100, but if you understand what you're paying for (such as a particularly artistic design) and it's worth it to you, then why not?

 

The real problem comes when you decide that you want a dozen other ballpoints in that price range. But more than one of us has had that experience with fountain pens.

Edited February 9, 2019 by ISW_Kaputnik

[Smurf-JJ-81]

No, Ballpoint/Rollerballs are just as important as Fountain pens, ever tried doing a crossword in a newspaper, or worse a glossy magazine with a fountain pen??

 

The simple fact is that regardless of type, the pen has to be comfortable to use, it is all very well having nice Fountain pens sat in a box in a drawer, but why should you slum it out and about with a *Bic biro - (apologies for the foul language there).

 

The best pen you have is the one that is in your hand

[inkstainedruth]

No, Ballpoint/Rollerballs are just as important as Fountain pens, ever tried doing a crossword in a newspaper, or worse a glossy magazine with a fountain pen??

 

 

I do it all the time! Well, not so much in newspapers anymore -- they no longer carry the ones in the Sunday paper that were the level of the ones I used to to in the Boston Globe years ago, only the New York Times ones which take too much looking up....

I do work sudokus and these weird Numbrix puzzles that are in Parade Magazine in the Sunday paper -- and yes, I use fountain pens for those. Because, duh -- they're pens. (If my grandfather could do a crossword with a pen, I sure as can do as well!) Okay, maybe not with an OB nib....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Smurf-JJ-81]

I've generally found the paper too thin for FP, I always end up with a bleeding mess, you now have me worried that it is just me that it happens to

[kestrel]

No, Ballpoint/Rollerballs are just as important as Fountain pens, ever tried doing a crossword in a newspaper, or worse a glossy magazine with a fountain pen??

 

 

Every day. I do have occasional problems with bleed through but I use whatever pen is handy in the rotation. I do avoid the extremely wet writers and always check the other side of the paper where the puzzle is to make sure it isn't something my wife wants to file.

 

KWZI Gray Plum is a good ink.

[VillersCotterets]

It can be silly but it doesn't have to. It depends on your ability in distinguishing the different categories of products with a high price tag (overpriced, fashion, premium, collectors and luxury items) and discovering which of those categories suits you best.

 

There are books that can help you learn the differences between those types of products. An excellent one is "The Luxury Strategy" by Vincent Bastien and Jean-Noel Kapferer. You will discover that arguments based purely on functionalities (for instance, how well a pen writes on poor paper) yield necessarily unsatisfactory answers to your question because they are blind to the real reasons for paying more than just for a decent 5$ rollerball. From a functional standpoint, nothing justifies buying a 100$ ballpoint. However, if you take into account all the other relevant variables, especially intangible parameters like terroir, reputation, art, history, nostalgia, etc., and their correspondence with personal aspirations, achievements, rites of passage, etc. then suddenly even 1000$ might be too frugal.

As for knowing yourself, unfortunately, only you can.

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by VillersCotterets

[como]

It's not a bad idea to have a ballpoint or rollerball version of your favourite pen maker and model. 1. It's always good for travel, when you don't feel like messing with an travel inkwell. 2. When a non-fountain-pen-person wants to "look at" your fancy fountain pen, and you are afraid that they might break it, you can always offer them the rollerball/ballpoint for the same version to try. 3. When you run out of ink, you always have a backup. I think 1-2 makes it fun.