Pendecision

[erechtheus]

I'm not entirely sure what direction (if any) I should take my pen collection. My collection currently revolves around Parker ballpoints. That's sort of strange because rollerball pens sparked my childhood obsession. Rollerball pens suck, though. The write-out on a rollerball refill is pathetic, and they dry out far too quickly. A good percentage

Comments

[mia_nueva]

I recently started using the Uniball Elite (a rollerball). I don't know much in terms of pen terminology, but I LOVE this pen. I can't find refills for it though, and I do agree it runs out (or dries up) quite quickly for such an expensive pen. But my number 1 quality for a pen is its..inkflow...smoothness of writing. Not sure what you call that. But I love the way my uniball writes. Smooth, not scratchy, flows, etc.

[erechtheus]

If you're talking about what I know of as the Vision Elite (clear but rubbery grip), the pens are refillable in theory. I have seen refills in black before, but they cost just as much as the pen was. Those pens are amazing. I mostly used them for writing my essays on the bar exam. I think I took 3 of them in and 2 Parker ballpoints and rotated between the pens each essay to have a different grip.

I will tell you that for my money, the plain Vision rollerballs give you 99% as good a writing experience for slightly less money. They're not refillable even in theory and will set you back more than most pens, no disposable pen I know of writes as smoothly as the Vision and Vision Elite series. A decent inexpensive fountain pen writes just as well, and I imagine you could buy $30 worth of pen and ink and come out ahead versus buying the rollerballs. I admit that there are down sides to that strategy, though. If you lose one $3 rollerball, you have $27 worth of them left. If you lose a $20 fountain pen, you just have a jar of ink.

[sweet_byrd]

I'm rather fond of the Parker Arrow Ballpoint, myself. The Parker Jotter is nice to work with too.

[erechtheus]

I don't think I have ever owned a single Parker Arrow. I've had many Parker Vector pens in all modes, but the Arrow is a much rarer pen based on what I have seen on eBay over the past couple of years.

The Jotter is a true classic. I have to admit I can't stand using them due to the dimensions because the pen is far too short for my comfort, but the design is outstanding. Every time I go into a store looking at the selection of pens and I see one of the stainless steel Jotters, I'm tempted to buy it even though it's not really such a functional pen for me. It's a thing of beauty. The same goes for the 50th anniversary Jotter designs from a couple of years back.

[erechtheus]

MB pens usually leave me cold, but I must admit there is something striking about that pen. I will advise you that I hear their "precious resin" has been reformulated in recent years and is a lot easier to crack now than it was in the past. I know a lot of pen lovers hate MB for that change and their curious decision to ban their dealers from advertising on the Internet (particularly where price is concerned), but they are pretty much the choice of the wealthy by a pretty large margin