Non-fountain pens: looking for the best rollerball / ballpoint for everyday carry.

[veri]

Alright, so I've got quite a few fountain pens, but for one reason or another, I tend towards retractable gels, rollerballs, and ballpoints -- roughly in that order -- clipped onto a jeans pocket.

 

Here's what I'm looking for (in no particular order):

 

• Vivid ink (if a ballpoint, must be one amazing ballpoint!);
• Available with an extra fine point -- let's say < 0.5 mm;
• Fairly quick-drying even though I'm not left-handed;
• Water-resistant ink is a plus, and;
• Must be remotely pleasing to the eye to at least some of us on this forum, heh (Pilot G-2: sorry, bud).

 

I like the smoothness of Uni-ball's Signo 207 in 0.7 mm, but it takes forever and a day to dry. The Signo 207 with a 0.5 mm point isn't bad, but it's occasionally scratchy, and I HATE that uneven line you get when making fast marks on paper (e.g., circling a number). Pilot's G-2 dries much more quickly, but I don't like the way the pen looks. Pilot's Precise V5 is nice, though I've had more than a few leak on me (especially problematic with the retractable version). Uni-ball's Jetstream ballpoints are nice but lack that visual impact seen in more dense inks.

 

What should I be trying, folks?

[jbbreau]

Have you had a look at the other barrels pilot offers, you get the same refill, but with a better looking barrel.

Check out the Coleto.

[downwiththepc27]

Check out jetpens.com. They carry many nice pens, most from Japan. The pens are mostly inexpensive and extremely thin, anywhere from .18 to .5 mm. Some of the pens come in nicer, more professional bodies that you might be interested in. One of my favorites is the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Cavalier. Since the pens aren't that expensive, you can get a bunch to try out and figure out which ones you like. Free shipping for orders over $25 too! They also have a pretty good selection of fountain pens and a bunch of Noodler's, PR, and Herbin inks. (no affiliation etc...)

[rcannonp]

I think that the Pilot Precise refills work in the G2, so it may also work the other way around. I don't have my box of pens here to check it out though. Personally, I think that the .5 G2 is one of the worst pens that I have tried. My favorite gel pen is the Pilot P-500, but it's pretty fugly and the ink could dry a little faster. When I was in Europe a few years back, I bought a Pilot pen that I think was a G-Tec. I loved that pen, and I never could find another one. None of the B&M stores that I've been in around here carry them. It had a similar line quality to the P-500 and better styling, though it still looks like a cheap gel pen.

[RayMan]

I'm not a big fan of RBs or BPs, but I do like Gel pens (I'm not aware of any brands that make < .5 mm, however). Quite a few brands of RB accept standard size gel refills (like the G2). Also, there are several BP brands that accept Parker style gel refills. The following RB brands accept the standard size gel refill:

 

Aurora

Bexley

Faber-Castell Ambition

Monteverde Invincia

Monteverde Invincia Black Tie

Monteverde Regatta

Rotring Initial

Rotring 600

Taccia

Visconti

Waterman

 

The following pens (most are BPs, but one is an RB) accept Parker-style gel refills:

 

Aurora BPs

Faber Castell--Porsche Design BP

Monteverde Mega BP

Monteverde Mountains of The World BP

Monteverde Riviera BP

Parker BPs

Pelikan BP

Taccia Aviator BP

Visconti BP

 

Itoya, Parker, Schmidt, Stypen, Visconti, and Yafa all make Parker style gel refills.

Edited February 23, 2009 by RayMan

[quattro98]

Have you tried the Uniball Vision or Vision Elite rollerballs? The Vision Elite extra-fine is easy to find in black & is available in blue-black as well. The bold point is easy to find in blue-black.

[Garageboy]

Uni Ball Jet stream meets all requirements

[veri]

Check out jetpens.com.

Ahh, yeah, Jetpens. Forgot all about 'em.

 

Personally, I think that the .5 G2 is one of the worst pens that I have tried. My favorite gel pen is the Pilot P-500, but it's pretty fugly and the ink could dry a little faster.

Mhm. I don't like the 0.5 mm version of the G2 because of its scratchiness; feels like I'm writing with an itty-bitty grain of sand stuck on the end. The 0.7 mm version isn't too terribly bad.

 

I'm not a big fan of RBs or BPs, but I do like Gel pens (I'm not aware of any brands that make < .5 mm, however). Quite a few brands of RB accept standard size gel refills (like the G2). Also, there are several BP brands that accept Parker style gel refills. The following RB brands accept the standard size gel refill:

 

Aurora

Bexley

Faber-Castell Ambition

Monteverde Invincia

Monteverde Invincia Black Tie

Monteverde Regatta

Rotring Initial

Rotring 600

Taccia

Visconti

Waterman

 

The following pens (most are BPs, but one is an RB) accept Parker-style gel refills:

 

Aurora BPs

Faber Castell--Porsche Design BP

Monteverde Mega BP

Monteverde Mountains of The World BP

Monteverde Riviera BP

Parker BPs

Pelikan BP

Taccia Aviator BP

Visconti BP

 

Itoya, Parker, Schmidt, Stypen, Visconti, and Yafa all make Parker style gel refills.

Thanks for the info -- useful list

 

Have you tried the Uniball Vision or Vision Elite rollerballs? The Vision Elite extra-fine is easy to find in black & is available in blue-black as well. The bold point is easy to find in blue-black.

I have -- both. I used to use the VEs religiously, but I'm after something just a touch finer. I love most things about them (save for maybe the price at my local Office Depot), but they're not too terribly bad. I've still got several black VEs in 0.5 mm around here.

 

Uni Ball Jet stream meets all requirements

Meh, I dunno about that. If that ballpoint were more vivid (as aforementioned), it would be wonderful. But alas...

Edited February 23, 2009 by veri

[Rugrat]

+1 for JetPens selection. They have great customer service as well! They replaced a $15 pencil damaged in transit for me at no charge.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Eskie]

Though I haven't tried everything out there, I will mention a couple things. I second the Jetpens recommendation. For $25 you can make a nice order of a bunch of pens and get them shipped for free (within the US). Well worth experimenting at that rate.....because there's probably plenty there any of us could get excited about.

 

I believe it's in their PenPedia section they have a water/ink test.....which shows which of their common pens are more waterproof than others. Generally speaking, the UniBalls came out far ahead of most the others. Pilot was one of the worst, and Pentel had some issues in some of their lines for waterproof matters. But, all of those brands, as well as some others there, carry some sub .5mm point pens. Just boils down to your preference in appearance and point style (pilot tends to have lots of needle points, pentel and uniball trend more toward conical points....but with some needles as well), and so on.

 

My own preference for a rollerball has been a Pentel Superball in micro (.5mm) point for some time now. They are just a classy looking pen (matte black plastic finish in a flat end cylindrical format). No frills, does the job, and looks great in a business setting as well as a classroom taking notes, or just at home jotting something down. I have yet to find a RB that I like better. The one drawback to these is they are hard to find. The regular fine point (.7mm) is easier to find, but I've had to order my most recent micros. BTW, if you want waterproof ink, they make a Permaroller version that is the same as the micro, only in a glossy black finish and permanent ink. UniBall makes a fairly similar RB that you can find at OfficeMax for about $11 for a dozen. These are just called a Rollerball and only in the dozen packs...black matte finish also. A slight bit smaller than the Pentel, but overall similar principle. If you're looking for an everyday pen, those might be worth looking into.....the UniBalls in particular for under $1 a pop, you don't feel bad if one gets lost or stolen, but you also feel like you've got something better than you can find at WalMart.

 

For ballpoints, I've been carrying a Zebra F-301 around quite a bit lately. Not the highest range pen, but affordable (about 1.50 each), refillable, and again, classy enough to fit in any setting well. The fine point is nice, and write fairly smoothly. There is an F-701 with a more upscale body as well. JetPens offers a Zebra Technoline with a .4mm point that's quite nice as well. Those are a bit pricier, but still good pens.

 

Anyway, hope you find something you like for carry usage.

[SF Susan]

I agree with the suggestions that you experiment with Jet Pens. I bought a lot of gel pens from them. Since you seem to find the finer points scratchy, you might try the Uni-ball Signo DX in the 0.5 size. They're not scratchy at all. The only problem is that they're capped and I think you said you wanted retractable. They also make a 0.38 and 0.28. The 0.38 is nice; the 0.28 too fine for general use. They come in a fairly wide range of colors--my personal favorite for everyday use is brown-black, but there are lots of more vivid colors as well. The Pentel Slicci is worth trying, and probably has a wider range of colors than the Uni-ball; I have a lot of their 0.4mm size.

 

None of these cost more than around $3.00, but I never feel like I'm writing with a cheap pen when I use them.

[Greenpiece]

Last week I went into a local stationary store which has a large selection of ballpoints, gels and rollerballs sitting out with pads of paper to make it easy to try whatever pen you like. I tried most of the pens they had, since I like these types of pens almost as much as fountain pens. My three favorites by far, which I bought for myself, are:

 

Uniball Jetstream

 

Uniball Gel Impact

 

Pilot Precise Grip

 

 

 

Going in to the store, I thought I would like the Uniball Vision Elite, Uniball 207 and Pilot G-2. But the three pens listed above were much smoother for me.

[rroossinck]

Having dealt with this before, I've settled on the refills from the Signo RT Gel 0.38 hacked into just about every rollerball I carry. Toss a spring from a retractable into the barrel of a Lamy Safari and these'll work; tweak a Rotring CORE a little bit and they'll fit into those, too. I did a little bit of modifying to a Stipula Club rollerball and got one to fit in there, too. Just a little trial and error and you'll find exactly what you're looking for.

 

Visconti's Parker-style refill works great in retractables, too.

[Dave S]

Have you tried the Uniball Vision or Vision Elite rollerballs? The Vision Elite extra-fine is easy to find in black & is available in blue-black as well. The bold point is easy to find in blue-black.

The Vision Elite is my go-to "I don't care if it gets trashed at work" pen.

[swarden43]

What should I be trying, folks?

 

The Lamy Safari. It's what I clip into my jeans if I'm wearing just a t-shirt or sweat shirt.

 

[rnjl]

I have found both Pentel Energel and Jetstream pens to be really smooth- the Energels are available in colors and the refills will fit many standard rollerball bodies.

 

The Jetstream rollerballs are very, very smooth but you have to pop the cap off the back to have it fit another rollerball body- I got it into a Rotring rollerball and I'm sure it will fit other capped pens as well.

 

njl

[michael_s]

Pilot's G-2 dries much more quickly, but I don't like the way the pen looks.

 

Have you looked at the G2 Pro? If the rubber grip is what you don't like, then don't bother with it, but otherwise the G2 Pro looks and feels better than a regular G2. Wider opaque barrel, and metallic tip and clicker.

 

-Mike

Edited February 24, 2009 by michael_s

[veri]

Pilot's G-2 dries much more quickly, but I don't like the way the pen looks.

 

Have you looked at the G2 Pro? If the rubber grip is what you don't like, then don't bother with it, but otherwise the G2 Pro looks and feels better than a regular G2. Wider opaque barrel, and metallic tip and clicker.

 

-Mike

 

Saw it in CVS the other day, but I haven't actually tried one. I've got a 207 Premier, but not a G2 Pro.

[McPete]

I'm a big fan of the Pentel Energel series. Very nice pens.

 

I've also tried a Parker gel refill in an 51 BP, which isn't bad, but not as nice as the Energels.

[drifting]

If you still want to use your fountain pen inks, you should search the forum for the reasonably priced Herbin rollerball and the not so reasonably priced Monteverde inkball pens. They might be of interest to you.

 

Ryan.