Recommended Pens
Post 5 in the series: Recommended Productivity Tools
The One Rule of Pens
When it comes to pens, there is one very, very important rule: Never use a Bic pen.
If you have any Bic pens, please throw them away right now. (OK, maybe that’s a little extreme, but you get my point.)
The problem with Bic pens is that they skip frequently. This gets in the way of quick and efficient workflow. It is a frustrating to be capturing a fresh idea or action item (hopefully in a moleskine journal!), only to have the pen skip out on you every few letters. Plus, they simply aren’t fun to write with.
But finding a decent pen is surprisingly hard. A few years ago I got tired of my pens always skipping on me, so I tried a bunch of different kinds. Not many people probably do that, I grant. But I was curious to know if there was a pen that I would actually like using, without costing very much.
I determined that there are dimensions to choosing a pen: defining the qualities of a useful pen, kinds of pens, and the size of the line.
Qualities of a Useful Pen
As with all tools, you want to have a pen that you enjoy using. This doesn’t mean the pen has to be expensive. It does mean, however, that the pen should have at least four qualities:
- It doesn’t skip.
- It writes smooth.
- It isn’t annoying to hold.
- You like to write with it.
Kinds of Pens
There are two large categories of pens: disposable and non-disposable. The fountain pen is probably the most popular kind of non-disposable; there are also ballpoint and rolling ball non-disposables. We’re not concerned with non-disposables here.
I prefer a pen that is more economical, yet still writes well. This puts us in the camp of disposable pens. Among disposable pens, there are three main kinds of ink types to choose from: dry ink, gel, and roller ball.
Dry ink pens easily skip. Ballpoint pens are dry ink. The best example of the dry ink pen is Bic. The purpose of a dry ink pen is not to provide a good writing experience, but rather to be cheap. Because they use less ink, they last longer. But because they use less ink, they also don’t write as smoothly and tend to skip.
Gel pens write more smoothly. The flow is fairly even and it dries quickly. But, sometimes they blank out and sometimes they bleed/leak a bit.
Roller ball pens write smoothly and don’t skip. Also, I haven’t found them to bleed or leak at all. Hence, after testing out those pens from Office Depot, I discovered that my preference is a roller ball pen.
Line Size
When it comes to the size of pen to get, I discovered that I prefer the extra fine (which is 0.5 mm) because I write small. The next size up is the regular fine, at 0.7 mm.
Recommendation
In sum, I’ve found an extra fine roller ball pen to work the best. There are a few different brands you can choose from. My preference is the Pilot V5 rollerball pen, extra fine.
Usually I get them at Office Depot, but of late I am not able to find them. So I recently tried the Uniball Vision Elite, and found it to be just as good. So that is another good option.
At the end of this post now, I’m thinking to myself “why would I go into so much detail on pens???” Aside from the value of good tools discussed often throughout this series, the main reason is that it simplifies things. Whenever I need to get some more pens, I don’t need to think about what kind to get. Even though there are dozens of options in the aisle, it is a piece of cake to go right to the one that works and move on.
Posts in This Series
- Recommended Productivity Tools: An Introduction
- The Tools You Need to Have (And Where to Keep Them)
- Recommended In Boxes
- Recommended Capture Journals
- Recommended Pens
- Recommended Pencils and Paper Pads
- Recommended Staplers, Staple Removers, and Tape
- Recommended Scissors, Letter Openers, and Post-Its
- Recommended Paper Clips and Super Glue
- Not Recommended: Desktop Organizer Things
- Recommended Chairs and Waste Baskets
- Recommended Labelers and File Folders
- Recommended File Cabinets and Bookshelves
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About Matt Perman
Follower of Christ. Husband of one, father of three. Director of strategy at Desiring God. This blog exists to help equip Christians in good works, because that's what productivity is really about.
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I am loving this series! You brought me out of lurk status with your post on pens.
I agree with you on all points but would add that lack of smearing and bleeding is tops on my list. I tend to drag my hand along the page and often smear my writing, or it gets damp, or I write on glossy printer paper….
For this reason I love the Uni-ball Jetstream Stick Roller Ball. It writes like a gel pen, but dries like a ballpoint. Smooth – quick writing – non-smearing. Also it doesn’t leak during plane travel. My purse can testify too many gel pens that did.
Hear is the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/uni-ball-Jetstream-Point-Roller-33931PP/dp/B000JKR4CI/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1251826134&sr=1-7. They make it in a .7mm as well (which is what I prefer – found at Staples).
Now that I’ve finished straightening up my desk (after reading the first post in this series), I can already feel myself being more productive!
Excellent pen recommendations, too. I started out as a rollerball guy, but after testing way too many pens in my Moleskine, I noticed that the gels actually feathered less than the rollerballs. Now I’m almost exclusively a gel pen guy (I don’t fly much, so I haven’t experienced leaky pens).
The Uniball Jetstream that Chris mentions above is also impressive, and has quite a cult following. It seems to use some sort of hybrid ink.
Here’s a more detailed account of my pen tests:
http://penreviews.blogspot.com/
Matt: I’ve had great luck with the Uniball Signo RT Gel (0.38mm). Great series by the way. Thanks!
Does anyone else take strength of clip into account when picking out a pen? I always have a pen clipped to my pants pocket, so the clip is just as important to me as the quality of the pen’s writing. I also go through more pens this way, both by losing them and by breaking them. My pen of choice is the Pilot G2 gel pen (as small a point as I can find), because it balances writing quality and durability.
There is also the question of whether you choose retractable or with a cap. I am constantly putting my pen down and picking it up at my desk. The retractable keeps me from dealing with that cap all the time. I’m using a Universal Gel Ink Pen .7 mm. I works well for writing quickly.
Great post (and series)!
I like using Pilot G2′s and the Uniball Signo’s, but I eventually realized that there is no disposable that can fill the need I had for a consistently good pen.
Thus I joined the Fountain Pen cult – but only a little. I found that of all the FP’s I tried, I really liked the cheaper Lamy Safari with an extra fine nib. It writes VERY well, is a joy to hold and with which to write, and the clip is very sturdy.
Granted, it is $20+ dollars (depending on where you purchase it), but it has paid for itself in length of use (2 years now), dependability, and ease of use.
Thanks again for the series! Moleskine can’t get enough free promotion!
The Pilot G-Tec C4 0.4mm is a favourite of mine. It’s a rollerball with a really fine tip. Like yourself, I write small and a fine tip helps in this.
I too am quite enjoying this post.
I’m more of a good-ballpoint-pen guy; I don’t have a whole lot of experiences with rollerballs, but I find gel pens too heavy and runny.
I’ve grown quite fond of the Zebra F-301 series lately, though. Quite reliable, they look fairly good for a reasonably-priced pen, and the F-301 Compact is an excellent form factor for putting in your pocket.
you need to put a fifth quality for a good pen (for us lefties out there).
5. ink doesn’t smear as you write
The other qualities just don’t matter if the ink smears. Now it may seem trivial to your rightys out there but all us leftys know the pain of smeared notes and ink down the side of our hand.
I’m a big fan of the Pilot G-2 because it’s a click pen and I don’t have to worry about cap issues.
I’m a lefty and I don’t have much smearing with the G-2, unless I’m using the 07 or thicker, which tends to gum up when sketching or writing heavily. The 05 is perfect though. Note taking is a dream.
Matt, you don’t talk about the ink colour. How do you choose that?
I too use a Pilot G-Tec C4 0.4mm with red or light blue ink. Or a pencil.
Gareth: I use black ink. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s definitely my preference. I keep a red and blue pen around, though, just in case. Sometimes I find red useful if I need to mark a document.
I’ll be the voice of dissent regarding this article. Of the four criterion you give, the first three, if they matter, will be covered by the fourth. I would say that the universal criterion for any tool is “Does it meet the users need?” and ultimately, over time “The user likes to use it” will converge with this result.
The fact is I spent years questing for the ideal pen for my needs, and ultimately realised until recently that the best fit was the humble Bic ballpoint. Why? Well,
1) I also have small handwriting, although not unusually small. As a result I can write at my most smoothly and legibly with a pen which produces a fine line. Rollerballs seem to often seem to be marketed on the basis of how fine their point is – which they need to be, because unlike a dry ink pen, the ink spreads out when it hits the paper. So they don’t produce a particularly fine line. I’ve tended to get a much better result with a fine (ie. orange body) Bic ‘biro’.
2) They are easily replaced. Bics sometimes do skip (although how frequently depends to a great degree on writing style and whether they have been left unused for a long time). But whether they ultimately die through frequent skipping, or from their ink supply running out, a new one need never be far away. Whilst there are more durable and expensive refillable ballpoint pens around, many manufacturers don’t do a point size below ‘medium’ or vendors do not sell the ‘fine’ refills. Plus, I often lose pens. Having 3 or 4 spare new biros in my bag is no great hardship, nor is a pen which starts skipping, when I have some more to hand.
Some may consider point 2 rather wasteful, but actually I tend to find the useful lifetime of a pen which is not enjoyable to use is considerably shorter simply because I’ll replace it with another one and leave it to collect dust at the bottom of a drawer. A Bic will usually last me weeks if not months of daily frequent use. And it works out very well financially.
I think the biggest drawback of a Bic is the risk of leaking, so it’s important to be careful not to leave it in trouser pockets etc.
There are some other good fine ballpoints around – I know Staedtler do one. Having said all the above, about six months ago I stumbled upon the Pilot G-Tec C4 mentioned by Stuart above and find it’s a brilliant pen; the only rollerball I’ve used (and I’ve used many) which actually does produce a fine line (despite being a 0.4mm point, the resulting line is supposedly 0.2mm). That’s my pen of choice nowadays, although I still have a few orange Bics to hand – for emergencies
In my opinion there is no better pen than the Uni-ball Jetstream Stick Roller Ball.
The Pilot G-2 0.38 is my pen of choice.
I’m just now catching up on this series. Matt, have you ever tried the Pigma Micron pens for use with the Moleskine?
I prefer the 01 size. They are smooth writing and archival ink. I use one with my capture journal, and one with my sermon/conference notes journal.
Brance: I haven’t seen those pens before. Thanks for the pointer.
Matt, You distinguished the dry ink pen from the rollerball pens. You mentioned that Bic pens are dry ink pens.
I looked at a Bic Pen in my drawer and the tip looks like a roller-ball. Is there such a thing as dry ink pen? I searched online for “dry ink pen”, but found nothing. Aren’t Bic pens really rollerball pens?
Jeff,
It is ballpoint pens that are dry ink. My main point when I say to stay away from Bic pens is to stay away from the Bic ballpoint pens.
Bic may make some rollerball pens in addition to the ballpoint pens that they make. I actually have never come across those. In general, when I think of Bic, I think of their ballpoint pens — and I myself would be skeptical of any other kinds of pens they make also!
Matt
I must admit that my eyes probably did a quick roll as I read this post… c’mon, a pen is a pen is a pen for goodness sake! Oh, how I must now confess my lack of knowledge in this area… I have since ordered (and am loving!) my new PILOT PRECISE V5 roller ball pens. Thanks for the post, Matt!!
Great post – even though I’m late to the party! I’ve tried a couple of them and love the pens…even though I had too many pens already.
These are great for office use, but here’s another “pen” question for you. What do you use for studying/marking up your Bible? What type of pen is best for that?
Thanks!
Kevin
Great question. I use the same pen to mark up my Bible–used to be the Pilot V5 and, once those became hard to find, the Uniball Vision Elite (extra fine).
I find that this works great–the line is clear without being too thick, and it doesn’t bleed through the page (at least, in my experience it hasn’t).
Great, thanks!
Do you find the Pilot vBall retractable to be the same as the one you reference? I haven’t had problems finding those, but the V5 don’t look like the picture you showed. The V5s I’ve found are these
http://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Precise-Rolling-Barrel-12-Count/dp/B00006IEBI
Sorry if this seems a bit anal, but hey, you started it!
God Bless
No problem! Yes, kind of funny to get into detail on pens.
But it saves time and trouble not to have an annoying pen!
I don’t think I found the vBall retractable to be the same. (Or, it might have been the same, but I didn’t like using a retractable pen!) The rolling barrel one for sure is different.
Here’s a link to the Pilot rollerball one in the post: http://www.amazon.com/VBall-Liquid-Rollerball-Extra-PIL35470/dp/B001B09HSY%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAJU4EJZVEHPCETCAQ%26tag%3Dwhsbene-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB001B09HSY
Here’s a link to the Uniball Vision Elite: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JKR4DM?ie=UTF8&tag=whsbene-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000JKR4DM
Whatever you do don’t buy the Uniball Jetstream 0.7 black (which is in a blue housing). I love them and there are never enough on the shelf!!