I used to not really care about stationery. That changed when my uncle showed me his fountain pen. I had never used one before. I couldn’t believe how smooth it was. He suggested I went to stores and tried different pens. That way, I’d find what I like. And that’s exactly what I did in the last couple of weeks.
I found out exactly what I like at a price that is reasonable for me. When I now have to write something by hand, I get excited about it!
Everyone will have different tastes, but here’s what I learned for myself:
- Lamy Safari Rollerball sucks. I thought I was getting a pen for life, but the ink flows inconsistently. This same problem has been reported by other people online. This pen was not designed for rollerball. It was designed as a fountain pen.
- InkJoy Gels are alright. They’re an improvement over normal ballpoint pens, but they’re not as good as other gel pens, such as the G-Tec-C4.
- G-Tec-C4 is my new go-to. They’re relatively cheap and the experience of writing with them is amazing.
- I rediscovered mechanical pencils. I tried one that had buttery-smooth lead. I fell in love. I won’t buy any yet, because I have pencils at home, but I know what I will eventually buy (a metallic mechanical pencil with Uni lead).
- Point balls are not my thing. I haven’t found one I like. Unfortunately, they are probably the most environmentally friendly pen that is both convenient and cheap. If someone has a good recommendation, I’m open.
- Fountain pens are amazing for writing, but they’re not resilient. I need pens that will survive my life. I fling my backpack around. I don’t want to have ink spill all over. A fountain pen is an amazing writing experience that doesn’t fit naturally in my life. I could be wrong. Are there resilient fountain pens?
IMO the best value pen experience you can get is a TWSBI Eco. More or less as versatile as a rollerball, but it's a nice fountain pen. Lots of nice features and really well priced.
This sounds amazing. It seems to me as the most environmentally friendly way of writing. It also probably can be quite cheap, if the cost of the pen is amortized over a long-enough period and the ink isn't crazy expensive.
I'd be scared of taking it with me when traveling in the city or on a plane. In the city, I'd slosh it violently. In the plane, the air pressure would suddenly change. I don't know how likely these worst-case scenarios are, but for now I'm okay with using fountain pens at home! In fact, I like the idea of getting this pen. Thanks for the recommendation!
It's pretty much completely sealed with the cap on, you can carry it around in your pocket and slosh it around all day, no problem. I've never flown with one because I'm too poor to fly really, but I bet other people have, who have shared their experiences online. It's a very popular pen.
TWSBI is the best I've found at making fountain pens that completely seal when capped, although Kaweco is also quite good for that. I currently EDC a TWSBI Mini Vac, where the caps seals and the ink chamber can be separately sealed closed. After more than six months in my pocket it has yet to lead.
TWSBI also has some amazing technology for refilling the pen. If you use their special ink bottles, you can refill them without coming anywhere near the ink. You can also buy a "snorkel" that screws onto most of their models that does something similar with a regular ink bottle. (Note that the Eco, is one of their few models that does not support any of the fancy refilling options.)