The Cheap Pen Thread.

J

jackknife

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Oct 2, 2004
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For a lot of my life, I carried a nice pen. An old Cross with a lot of the chrome worn off, an old Parker Jotter, an all metal Parker. But the last few years I've been carrying cheap pens. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like ball point pens have come a very very long way since the 'old days'. I've always liked the Pilot G2, but the Zebra Z=Grip, and Bic Gelocity do write very well with a smooth dense line. Even the cheep Bic crystal that has been around since my high school days, seems to be better now than then. Like they have refined the ink technology to a point that there is very little difference now in actual writing experience between a high priced pen and a standard Papermate stick pen or a Uniball.

For the past couple if months I've been using a Pilot G2 alternating with a Zebra Z-Grip, and both have been great pens. I find myself wondering if there is any point to an expensive pen, other than ego and status?
 
I like the idea of a high end pen. But I loose them.

I only use the uniball power tank which is basically a disposable space pen.
 
jackknife said:
I find myself wondering if there is any point to an expensive pen, other than ego and status?
Click to expand...

For me it's more the gagetry. Apart from a Uni Power Tank, the pens I carry are machined from titanium or whatever. I don't need a knife with anything better than FRN, but carbon fiber, G-10, titanium, micarta, wood, bone, etc are a lot more interesting. My pens are the same. A cheap pen is a tool, but a quality pen is a tool and a toy. A bolt action pen is fun to play with. Precision metal clickies feel better. Titanium is cool, plus it has the just right weight for me. And it's all pretty much indestructible, including the pocket clip, which I invariably inevitability break on a cheap plastic pen. I like my pens, whether or not someone else says "nice pen!" or not.

I'll also second both the Uni Power Tank and the Pentel Energel. The Power Tank has the functionality of a Space Pen, but writes much smoother. For a gel, I prefer the Energel needle points over the Pilot G2 - I like needle points, and the clip on them is far more durable than the Pilot - just make sure you get the translucent bodied one, not the opaque which has a fragile body where the parts screw together.
 
I have several inexpensive pens but really like the Ti Bolt. Use it for crosswords almost daily. It just screams quality.
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Check out Jetpens.com, they have an amazing selection of pens, pencils etc. I got a gel pen refill that fits my Parker Jotter, has a 0.38mm width. I have a couple of Jetstream pens I found there, I use them at work. they were about $3 a piece.

They have a ton of refills in different widths and they cross reference for pens and refills.

I got a Pilot Multi Ball Roller Pen there. It has a roller ball but permanent ink, like a sharpie. Writes on plastic surfaces too. Great for labeling samples the in the lab. Since it a roller ball, the tip doesn't get mashed and distorted.
 
My cheap pen is not really cheap but I buy the rite in the rain #97. They are $20 but the refills are only $6. Not the best writing pen but they are fade resistant and smear resistant. So I can use them with a highlighter and on DOT inspection stickers and get a full year visible. My fancy pen is a Benchmade longhand with the same cartridge.
 
jackknife said:
For a lot of my life, I carried a nice pen. An old Cross with a lot of the chrome worn off, an old Parker Jotter, an all metal Parker. But the last few years I've been carrying cheap pens. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like ball point pens have come a very very long way since the 'old days'. I've always liked the Pilot G2, but the Zebra Z=Grip, and Bic Gelocity do write very well with a smooth dense line. Even the cheep Bic crystal that has been around since my high school days, seems to be better now than then. Like they have refined the ink technology to a point that there is very little difference now in actual writing experience between a high priced pen and a standard Papermate stick pen or a Uniball.

For the past couple if months I've been using a Pilot G2 alternating with a Zebra Z-Grip, and both have been great pens. I find myself wondering if there is any point to an expensive pen, other than ego and status?
Click to expand...

Never been a "pen guy".
I like the Pentel "Energel" pens. Also like the Sharpie Gel Pens. The Powertank is cool, but I like the pen-to paper feel of the others.

But now that I'm back in the office, I usually carry a bolt action Civivi pen. I don't like twist pens or pens with caps. I want a clicker. But in a discussion, I tend to fold my arms, and I've ruined a good many dress shirts by accidentally depressing the clicker on the pen and having it leak into the shirt pocket. Geek I may be. But I'm not ready to go back to using a pocket protector like I did in my youth. So the bolt action works for me. One-hand operation and I don't ruin shirts.
 
knarfeng said:
Never been a "pen guy".
I like the Pentel "Energel" pens. Also like the Sharpie Gel Pens. The Powertank is cool, but I like the pen-to paper feel of the others.

But now that I'm back in the office, I usually carry a bolt action Civivi pen. I don't like twist pens or pens with caps. I want a clicker. But in a discussion, I tend to fold my arms, and I've ruined a good many dress shirts by accidentally depressing the clicker on the pen and having it leak into the shirt pocket. Geek I may be. But I'm not ready to go back to using a pocket protector like I did in my youth. So the bolt action works for me. One-hand operation and I don't ruin shirts.
Click to expand...
See. I carry a pen where I would carry a knife. So no shirt damage.

Also then my notebook doesn't rub my nipple off.

Also, also. I used to bounce so I didn't want someone else grabbing it and stabbing me with it.
 
I'll third the Pentel Energel - BL407.
solid metal construction and easily sourced refills - kind of a hi-end cheap pen
 
Do to this thread I was obligated to order up a F701. It finally got here Friday. For a top clicker I like it. And for $7 it's hard to go wrong. I do still prefer the side action on my Benchmade. As a mechanic I occasionally open the top clickers in my pocket and have ruined a few cartridges.
aIJPlR2.jpeg
 
BlindMouse2of3 said:
Do to this thread I was obligated to order up a F701. It finally got here Friday. For a top clicker I like it. And for $7 it's hard to go wrong. I do still prefer the side action on my Benchmade. As a mechanic I occasionally open the top clickers in my pocket and have ruined a few cartridges.
aIJPlR2.jpeg
Click to expand...

Great, inexpensive "fancy" pen, but the ink tubes suck. Thankfully with an easy modification you can use Fisher Space Pen refills and various plastic body Parker G2 style tubes. Inside the tip there's a tiny soft plastic insert. Trim (shave) off a bit of the narrow end a tiny amount at a time until the ink tube of your choice moves freely through it. Trim too much and it'll still work, but there'll be tip wobble/click, so only trim a tiny amount at a time. The Space Pen refill is the same length as the stock Zebra, and Parker G2 with the plastic butt is the same length as well. However, metal bodied ones won't work because the body is too thin and the mechanism will slip inside it, but plastic bodied ones will work just fine, as long as the body isn't too thick (I think I had to shave down the body of the Itoya Aquaroller to get it to move smoothly). The mini Grafton Everyman refills will also work if you pop off the tiny metal cap. Theroerically any metal bodied Parker G2 will work as long as you block the butt end.

You can find guides all over (like youtube) on how to do the Space Pen modification.
 
Thank you I appreciate the heads up. I use the right in the rain inserts for work because they don't fade in sunlight or smear under highlighters. Fisher makes them so they should be exactly the same as the space pen refill
 
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