Ballpoint Pens V.s. Fountain Pens

[LBpens]

I find the difference and preference between fountain pens and ballpoints to be much like the difference and preference between screwdrivers and hammers.

[FayeV]

One question, Lamy Nexx or Parker IM????

Please Respond

 

I have seen you ask this question as a reply to 4 different forum threads.

Perhaps you'll get a better response by creating a brand new post (with relevant Topic Title) with this question?

 

(I can't comment on your question, having experience with neither if them.)

[Runnin_Ute]

I probably use fountain pens over 90% over the time (maybe 95%), but when the need arises use a ballpoint or rollerball or even mechanical pencil. Depends on what I am doing and what is available.

 

This morning I didn't have a FP available so I used a cheap ($3) BP I had in the car. Just some quick notes.

[Ecriveur]

don't just support fountain pens because you like the but give an honest opinion on the difference in terms of maintenance, long lasting writing, convenience, flow and so on...

 

I carry around a Fisher space ballpoint pen for writing on surfaces not appropriate for a fountain pen (e.g. credit card slips, though those are getting less and less common). That's about the only use I have for ballpoints. For any sustained writing, I go with a fountain pen.

[trdsf]

BP only when I'm on multipart paper, or that slick receipt paper that some places use when they run your card. Otherwise FP.

 

My reasons are many and varied:

1. There's a definite 'cool' factor -- when I pull out an FP at work (especially if it's a demonstrator), it will get commented on. No one ever stops and says, "Oh, you're using a Bic Stic?"
2. It encourages me to write neatly, and to work on improving my handwriting. I feel like a thug and a barbarian if I just scribble a note when I have a FP in hand. It's akin to the difference between taking a picture with my digital camera--which images I can consider disposable if need by--and taking one with my Nikon F on real film.
3. After the initial investment, it makes more economic sense. Assuming I live a typical life span for members of my family, any pen I have now will be with me for another 40 years or so and will only need filling now and then (assuming I don't pull a stupid that requires restoration). And the refills can go in any of my pens; I don't have to buy ink just for the Esterbrooks, then another bottle just for Sheaffers, then another one just for the Parkers, etc.
4. It allows me multiple ways to express myself, even with the same pen -- if I tire of a color even before the pen is dry, I can empty the pen back into the ink bottle and reload with something else. With some pens, I can even swap nibs so I can get the weight and balance I like with the nib I prefer.
5. Think about how many millions (billions?) of pens are thrown away annually. Think about the last time you threw a fountain pen away because it was empty. Then think about the amount of waste involved.
6. Look at the cup of pens on the average receptionist's desk, and ask yourself how many of those will still exist (much less be working as well as they did out of the box) sixty or seventy (or more) years from now.

[Wolverine1]

Hypro999- you ask a stupid question, like the typical Hyderabadi. Go and watch some NT Rama Rao movies and leave us alone.

[Vgimlet]

For the most part I have quit using most of my ballpoint or rollerball pens. Fountain pens are much more comfortable to use for me.

 

I am planning on picking up one of the space pens sometime, because usually when I want a ballpoint pen it's because I'm writing somewhere weird.

 

I still like my gel pens, which was what I used most of the time (Pilot G2) and I've kept those, but just a small selection of my black pens, and all my colored gel pens until they run out of ink, as well as a small selection of my ballpoints. (The Saint Bernard and Newfoundland dog pens I got for Christmas a few years ago LOL).

 

But there is something aesthetically pleasing about using a fountain pen no other type of pen quite matches. For me.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Vgimlet

[legitimate3]

I like fountain pens and ballpoint pens. I think fountain pens are easier to write with, look nicer, and are great because of all the possibilities. I always keep ballpoint pens on my desk too. Sometimes writing with a fountain pen in front of other people isn't such a good idea. I hate the cheap stick pens though, I use Signo 207 and G2 pens.

[brunico]

I don't like biros, and I've always thought rollerballs were just biros with pretensions, which I think is just an impression I picked up from childhood, when people started switching to Parker Vector rollerballs and telling everyone how much better they were.

 

They're also both incredibly boring types of pen. As a child, you can't get the button out, you've soon overstretched the spring, and you can't take the refill apart without a hacksaw. Unless you want to make a blowdart out of a Bic, these things give you precious little to play with. I remember falling for the funky looks of the iconic Ball Pentel R50, but all I could ever find to do was take the colour-coded clip off. A $500 biro is completely uninteresting. A $1 fountain pen will keep you fascinated for hours. And it's still true now I'm all grown up and have my own hacksaw...

 

Thing is, there are no circumstances in which a biro or rollerball would be of any use to me. I can do carbon copies and newspaper crosswords with my fountain pens, so no problem there. Anything else I can do with a sharpie, which leaves the biro all chopped up with a hacksaw and buried in a shallow grave when it comes to marking a CD or a metal film canister.

[preciousmetal]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0304-1_zps6bce16a0.jpg

 

Amen to that.

 

I find it funny how so many people complain about hand fatigue with ballpoints. Obviously, they don't know how to write properly. Ballpoints (a good one, like the Bic, above) do not require any significant pressure to write. What are you guys trying to do? Push the pen into the paper to get as thick and dark a line as possible? You're doing it wrong.

 

Similary, complaints that your handwriting doesn't look as good with a ballpoint ... well, the fountain pen disguises a lack of a beautiful hand because of the width of the line (among other things). Your weak handwriting is exposed and naked with a ballpoint; you have no crutch. As shown in the picture above, if you have an elegant hand, you will be able to write well with a ballpoint.

 

In short, don't blame the tool.

[zepp]

 

Amen to that.

 

I find it funny how so many people complain about hand fatigue with ballpoints. Obviously, they don't know how to write properly. Ballpoints (a good one, like the Bic, above) do not require any significant pressure to write. What are you guys trying to do? Push the pen into the paper to get as thick and dark a line as possible? You're doing it wrong.

 

Similary, complaints that your handwriting doesn't look as good with a ballpoint ... well, the fountain pen disguises a lack of a beautiful hand because of the width of the line (among other things). Your weak handwriting is exposed and naked with a ballpoint; you have no crutch. As shown in the picture above, if you have an elegant hand, you will be able to write well with a ballpoint.

 

In short, don't blame the tool.

Don't blame the tool, I agree with this.

 

Although, it is the tool that gives your the precision, the perfection you are looking for. Fountain pens are crazy expensive stuffs, but once you got one, you learn to cherish it, it's a piece of art that you will use to produce a piece of art.

 

Ballpoints? They are so inexpensive and so meaningless! Writing a card with a fountain feels much more personal: you took the time to wash the pen, fill the pen, being patient and craft out the letters individually, how could a ballpoint pen can ever beat this?

 

And I like jewelries, precious metals (or just metals in general, both music and materials hehe), finely craft masterpieces, so fountain pens win over ballpoints for me.

Edited June 13, 2014 by zepp

[Sasha Royale]

I prefer using a fountain pen because it promotes association with the better people of the world.

[sandy101]

A great FP with a beautiful ink is a joy and inspiration to use. Filling a page with Waterman's South Seas Blue of J Herbin's Violet Pensee ink is a pleasure and I'm sure it motivates yet more writing.

 

The trouble is that not all FPs are great. Having used a school FP this afternoon, I'm not surprised folk flee to a biro or roller ball as soon as they ca. This pen sprayed ink like a hose, which meant the ink feathered on the cheap paer - in addition the pen had leaked into the cap which meant I started writin gwith inky hands as soon as I uncapped the pen - and this pen is being used with the manufacturer's ink & cartridge. Having had this experience, I can see why people stop using FPs as soon as they leave school - the school pens are not as reliable as they should be.

 

To get a decent FP you need to spend at least £15 which is the price of two packets of Pilot G-2's or their equivalent, or 65 bic biros. Then there's the cost of the ink - which for some proprietorial systems (Cross/Parker?platinum) is not cheap.

 

Incidentally I've found WH Smiths short international cartridges very serviceable. They have an assorted bag of turquoise, violet and pink ink that looks quite nice on the page.

[usk15]

Fountain pens are crazy expensive stuffs, but once you got one, you learn to cherish it, it's a piece of art that you will use to produce a piece of art.

 

Ballpoints? They are so inexpensive and so meaningless! Writing a card with a fountain feels much more personal: you took the time to wash the pen, fill the pen, being patient and craft out the letters individually, how could a ballpoint pen can ever beat this?

 

 

How do you explain a $250 Duofold or Montblanc ballpoint vs. a $15 Pilot Metropolitan or Lamy Safari fountain pen?

 

Everybody should use whatever they can afford and make easy life to them...

There are many artists using ballpoint to create art! There's many situation when you have to use a BP better then a FP. Imagine a waiter uncapping a FP and taking the notes while standing next to a table, then imagine just clicking a BP with one hand and rich the notepad with the other empty hand.

[napalm]

I find the difference and preference between fountain pens and ballpoints to be much like the difference and preference between screwdrivers and hammers.

 

LOL. This reminded me of those construction workers that use hammers for driving both nails and screws. They think of screwdrivers as being some sort of "electrician's tool" of no interest to them.

[loudkenny]

Fountain pens have many advantages... they are much more comfortable to my beat up ole hands, I can change the ink color to suit my mood (or just because),

they come in many attractive styles and colors, and best of all I feel they help me unlock my creativity. Words seem to flow onto paper when I use my Vacs, in the exact same way they don't when I'm typing on my laptop.

 

Ballpoint pens to me are only suitable for work. It's true that BP's are ubiquitous and dirt cheap, but practicality has nothing to do with it. FP's do take some time and effort once in awhile to keep them working well, but so does winding watches, filling lighters, shining shoes, and other small things one does. It's all in what you value, I guess.

 

ken

[Aquaria]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0304-1_zps6bce16a0.jpg

 

Ahem, no.

 

You may not notice what it takes to write with ballpoint pens because you use them more often than I do. I just did the test on some pens I have sitting here, on a standard note pad I keep on my desk.

 

With my everyday FP, the Pilot Prera, I needed no pressure to write, and zero pain.

 

The hybrid Zebra Surari--no pressure, no pain.

 

Pentel Wow--Instantly had to bear down for it to write at all, and keep it writing. Instant pain in my wrist.

 

Zebra Z-Grip--same as the Wow for getting it to write and for the instant pain in my wrist.

 

Bic Crystal stick--writes smoothly, but hurts my hand and fingers from having to mash all my fingers around its skinny barrel. It's slippery, too, so I find myself having to hold on more tightly to keep my fingers from sliding down the pen while I write. I might could use this pen if I bought grips for it, but experience has taught me that it will be a messy, blobby, spluttery mess about halfway through its ink supply. I've never liked Bics for that reason.

 

A few weeks back, I inadvertently reached for a Papermate Profile I still had so that I could write down some information while on the phone. I used to think that those were pretty smooth for writing, but, after using FPs and hybrid pens fthe past few months, I noticed immediately how much the Profile dragged when it wrote. That's a 1.4 mm pen, and it still felt sluggish in my hand!

 

With all of the ballpoints, once the ink was going, I tried backing off to the same pressure that I use for the Prera and Surari, but the lines went so faint that they started breaking up. To get these pens to write, you must bear down or grip them tightly.

 

So there is definitely a difference in the amount of pressure it takes to write between FP, gel and hybrid pens versus standard ballpoint pens.

 

I've used fountain, hybrid and gel pens so much lately that I had forgotten the pain I used to live with from writing with BPs. I won't make that mistake again. As soon as this posts, I'll be colllecting all the BPs I have around the house, and I'm putting them up for sale on Ebay. Why risk the pain ever again?

Edited March 29, 2015 by Aquaria

[Dronak]

I see this is an older thread, and I suspect that others have already provided a lot of good reasons for their fountain pen preferences, but since it's risen up on the board from more recent postings, I thought I'd comment. I do generally prefer fountain pens (FPs), and I think it's mainly because of the ease of writing. Storing my FPs nib-up, it can take a bit to get the ink flowing, but often holding it nib-down for a bit and a few light presses on the page will get it started for me. Once the pen's ready to go, writing is generally very easy and smooth, and it requires little to no pressure of the nib downward on the page to write. The Ink just flows. Also, writing with a FP tends to be more expressive -- a nib with some degree of flexibility can create thinner or thicker lines as you write, and speed and pressure can change how the lines look. That adds another interesting aspect to the writing. FPs can get expensive, but there are less expensive ones that work quite nicely IMO, so it's not something that has to cost a small fortune.

 

Although I generally prefer FPs and use them most of the time, I do also use ballpoint pens (BPs) sometimes. A few of the major examples are on surfaces where a FP won't write well (e.g., glossy business card) and on envelopes where I'm always a little worried that a FP's liquid ink could smear or run should the envelope get wet in transit, leaving the delivery address unreadable. I also don't like letting others borrow my FPs, some of which aren't exactly cheap, so I like to have a BP or two on hand to let others use instead, if needed. Also, I have to agree with Aquaria that BPs take more pressure to write with than FPs. While GClef may have a point about incorrect pen use causing hand cramping, I just did a quick test of one FP (Waterman Phileas) and one BP (Cartier Diabolo). I wrote with the FP first, since I normally use FPs, then tried using the BP at about the same amount of pressure as the FP. The BP did write, but rather lightly and even seemed to skip in a few places. It wasn't until I purposely applied some downward pressure that the BP wrote with a darker, nicer line that was easier to read. Having to apply that pressure is something I could feel in my hand and is part of what I don't like about BPs, since it takes practically no pressure to get a FP to work. I think that extended writing with a BP would bother me a lot more than extended writing with a FP.

 

So those are some of my thoughts. I hope it's of some use. Maybe when I have more time I'll read through the past replies in more detail (I only skimmed over them; it's getting late here now), and see what others have to say.

[fountainpenlady]

When I write with a ball point pen is is strictly for function. Routinely, it is either because something requires black or blue ink specifically. It is something which needs pressure when it comes to my signature or filling out information on a form or check. I am being required to use a ballpoint pen. For that reason, I keep a couple of advertisement ballpoint pens, one black gel pen handly. I only hope the pen won't skip and will last in ink long enough for me to complete whatever I need to use it for and then it returns to virtual obscurity.

 

However, when I write with a fountain pen it is for pleasure, no matter what the reason. I enjoy removing the cap, watching its ink flow, glistening before the ink dries on paper. I love the way my writing becomes important, more beautiful; I am not rushing to get through whatever I am using it for and there is a sense of deliberate motions. Love how I enjoy having several fountain pens and putting them in rotation; may in mid-stream replace one fountain pen for another simply because I want to feel the experience of another pen between my fingers, watch what ink flows. There is a pleasure factor involved when I clean my pens, select inks, fill my pens, it all comes together like a symphony. Who could get excited about another ball point pen with blue or black ink? Yet, when I get a new fountain pen? batch of sample inks? When I look at my Iroshizuku ink bottles? Joy. Contentment.

As close to Nirvana as I care to experience and all because of my love for fountain pens.

Edited March 30, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[tleek]

I haven't read through the rest of the posts, so I do not know if others have said the same things, but I feel that a fountain pen is much more enjoyable to use, but a ballpoint is way more hassle free and versatile.

Fountain pens appeal to me for several reasons. I like the way they deliver ink through a feed and peace of metal to the paper, I think ink flow is interesting, I like how thy hold and draw ink. They really are instruments that need to be tuned and just the way they work is appealing to me. I like that they are not disposable. They are something lasting and something to take care of and can be repaired etc. Even high end ballpoints need refills. From a utility standpoint, I like their smoothness and writing comfort. You do not need to press as hard as with other types of pens, and the experience of dragging even a cheap but well tuned across paper is more enjoyable to me than writing with a ballpoint. Further, the ink comes in an infinite number of colors with different qualities etc, and that is something ballpoints cannot offer.

However, fountain pens are picky. They soak through cheap paper, and you have to kind of baby them a bit more than a bic crystal or something. Ballpoints, while they may not write as nice in my opinion, are sometimes simply a lot more convenient and I am sure that is why they have more or less replaced fountain pens. I always have at least three fountain pens inked up at all times and do most of my writing with them, in class and at home, but have a parker jotter clipped to a pocket pretty much all of the time, whether or not my fountain pens are staying home.