what's your favorite writing instrument?

i don't know the difference between a rollerball pen and a ballpoint pen, but a blue one of those

a rollerball is a ballpoint pen with less viscous ink than ordinary ballpoints. you can hear the ink sloshing around when you shake it, and it draws a thicker, smudgier line, a lot like a fountain pen.

ballpoint pen - is the most consistent, writes well on all types of paper, doesn't make a mess if you leave the tip pressed on the paper for too long, never have to worry about wet ink

blue ballpoint pen then

xp otm

used to fux exclusively w/ pilot v5's & v7's but got kind of frustrated because they kept leaking, nowadays stick with pilot or zebra ballpoints, cheap & dependable, pentel sanford et al can go to hell

Blue ballpoint pen, but lately I like felt-tip pen in on legal writing pads.

*omit "in"

ballpoint pen - is the most consistent, writes well on all types of paper, doesn't make a mess if you leave the tip pressed on the paper for too long, never have to worry about wet ink

but otoh you never know when it's about to run out -- fuck scribbling in the margins, holding it upside-down and shaking it, etc, because even when you take it apart and peer at the ink tube, you can't tell if it's empty or full, and you end up keeping it in a cup on your desk on the off-chance that it'll start working again if you let it sit for a few decades. add in the tendency for cheapo Bic pens to heat up in your pocket and explode without warning, and you've got yourself the evilest writing instrument of the bunch. it's no good for doodling either; too hard to vary line thickness. refuses to leave a mark on certain types of paper, esp. if you put the paper down on a plastic or glass surface.

ranting aside, for me it's a toss-up between rollerballs and fountain pens. the latter have the disadvantage of making you look stuffy and pretentious in normal company, so I mostly only use my Waterman at home.

the latter have the disadvantage of making you look stuffy and pretentious

tbf this isn't a problem if you're David Souter.

mechanical pencil, in fact pretty much the same make/model of mechanical pencil, since elementary school (I know, right?). I flirt with a few other types of mechanical pencils, and occasionally use rollerball pens, but I'm basically monogamous. My pencils resent the time I spend typing, though, and suspect that I long to have a means of computer I/O that will obviate the need for writing on paper.

mechanical pencil

mechanical pencils fill me with a sense of love and culture that i do not find in anything else. all of a sudden i'm in a classroom, the really good student girl is sitting behind me and her hello kitty box of all kinds of pencils is making me all kinds of jealous

xxxxp I use a fountain pen at home and a ballpoint everywhere else.

rollerball 4 eva

no "quill dipped in the blood of my enemies", no credibility

xp
http://www.peeperstv.com/pictures/275133/rollerball1975jamescaan.jpg

ballpoint pen - is the most consistent, writes well on all types of paper, doesn't make a mess if you leave the tip pressed on the paper for too long, never have to worry about wet ink

Hm, I would disagree with pretty much all of these except the last (and they still manage to smudge). Decides only to put ink down for half the word, runs out and needs shaking and tilting all the time, tears through thin paper, leaves random blobs when invisible dust sticks to the nib, and is no fun to draw with.

Gel-ink rollerballs mostly have none of these problems and are awesome fun to doodle with. Some of them leave wet ink, though, which can get annoying.

Voted rollerballs, although quality among these varies significantly. I almost always use these:
http://content.etilize.com/Large/1012679606.jpg

Agree w/spacecadet re all the disadvantages of ballpoint pens.

Second choice = mechanical pencils, mostly for music manuscript. I like a thicker lead and an eraser on the back that's covered with a protective cap.

Uni-ball pens + Miquelrius notebooks = joy

Black Bic classic ballpoint, Can't stand a blue pen tbh

I like a good rollerball but there are too many shit ones and the Bic Crystal is a total design classic, as a Southpaw I smudge whatever I'm writing with half the time anyway.

I always find that the Bics run out quickly - OTOH this Parker Jotter here goes on for ages.

I may be unfairly biased against ballpoints cz of the cheap shit ones I've stolen from work stationery cupboards, got free with credit card junk mail or bought for pennies each from the local "bargain centre".

Have to admit that the brand-X rollerballs I've used have been lousy too, but nobody hands those out like candy, so mainly the rollerballs I've used have been known brandnames I've bought for myself.

got free with credit card junk mail

Those last about five seconds. Actually the worst was a cheap biro issued by the UK's Referendum Party, way back in 1997, which didn't even last as long as the party itself.

I like Staedtler Lumocolor permanent pens, guess they must be rollerballs?

Actually prefer felt-tips, myself, cos I can draw with them as well as write.

Fountain pen - Pelikan 200 I've had for years. Comfortable in my hand, very used to it & FPs feel smoother than any other kind of pen. Downsides: looking a bit of a dick if I use in eg the office + some papers it hates.

Pilot gel-ink if fountain pen isn't appropriate or available. Dunno which category they fit. Enjoyed brief flirtation with space pen for writing when horizontal.

Felt tip first preference. I really like a very specific type of thin felt tip (.5 or .7 prefered for text, though I'll use thicker for drawing) - the fine point usually flattens down in a way that produces a very nice variable thickness line that produces an italic effect.

Fountain pen at home, but I don't carry one with me for fear of leakages. (I have enough blue spots in my bag from forgetting this.) After that, rollerball.

At work I just use generic ballpoints because, seeing as my desk is the first one in the door of my department, everyone nicks my pens anyway. Can't keep good ones, but people nick shitty ballpoints less frequently.

Pilot gel-ink if fountain pen isn't appropriate or available. Dunno which category they fit.

iirc gel ink pens are rollerballs (but not all rollerballs are gel ink). At least I hope that's right as they're my choice and I clicked "rollerballs".

I like pencils for doodling and rough notes too, but the fading is not good for things I might want to look at several months later

All day every day:
http://p.pens1000.com/iz/BICMP11.jpg

seeing as my desk is the first one in the door of my department

I used to work in a large open plan office, and it turned out that my desk was right where everyone passed by. I couldn't have a pen for more than a couple of hours before someone nicked it.

xp as far as mechanical pencils go, I use this Pentel Sharplet-2, 0.7mm lead, made in Japan

Ha ha, there is a locked draw in my desk - which has been locked since before I started working here - which I am completely convinced is chock a block full of really amazing writing instruments.

probably just dead mice though

I like Staedtler Lumocolor permanent pens, guess they must be rollerballs?

no, they're felt tips

(I work in a pen store selling pens. I am here to answer all your questions.)

pilot p-500 or cheap ballpoint pen. i really like wooden pencils but i rarely use pencils for anything.

Uni-Ball Micro, black

cheap Bic mechanical pencils, 0.7mm

o hai remy, I work for a writing instrument manufacturer

where is the "keyboard" option?

try the what is your favorite typing instrument poll

I am using a LE Retro 51 Tornado fountain pen w/ indigo-blue lacquer. I have a converter so that I can use the Parker Quink in blue-black, but sometimes I use some of the funkier J. Herbin colors, or a Pelikan cartridge.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MR0JQ960L._SS500_.jpg

this thread reminds me of the time I got all excited cause I read you can use mont blanc cartridges in a pilot G2, then I did it and discovered mont blanc cartridges kinda suck compared to pilot cartridges

Mont blanc are lame, and they have basically stopped letting pen stores/stationers carry their wares any more. They now sell almost exclusively to high end jewelers.

I refuse to write with anything except this

http://www.joonpens.com/db_image/KR_moby_dick_rb.jpg

Krone honors Melville and his renowned novel with a stunning Limited Edition. The barrel is crafted from Mammoth Ivory, which is at least 10,000 years old, and the cap is made of African Zebra wood panels framed by Briarwood. The rich, delicate, sepia-colored scrimshaw artwork features a portrait of Herman Melville as well as a scene from the story. Trimming the top and bottom of the cap are hand-wrapped insets of antiqued twine, simulating a ship's rigging. A Mammoth Ivory disk with a scrimshaw Compass Rose and a bronze band with Herman Melville's signature add the finishes touches. Only 288 fountain pens and 38 rollers available worldwide.

^ only $4000

once you go mammoth ivory you never go back

288 fountain pens is the sum total of mammoth tusk available on the planet

i use the pilot precise v5--ballpoints are too smudgy and i have really weird handwriting so a fine line usually helps a lot w/legibility

i remember always loving the pentel RSVP ballpoints in 7th grade or so but they smudge worse than anything, lots of ink blobs. seems like whenever i get one of those cheap clicky ballpoints free somewhere they're the best pens and don't smudge at all.

hahah the pentel RSVPs were what I bought during back to school shopping too

yeah I don't get people itt whose ballpoints are smudging, ime they are the least-smudging writing instruments of all, especially if you have to write on glossy surfaces

a lot of left-handed people smudge because they curl their hand around so it drags behind them but somehow i figured out how to not to that

Oh those Tornados are nice-looking. Not gaudy, not dull.

I usually go for black or blue-black Quink. I've got a bottle of black noodler's around, but I don't feel it makes things better in any big way. Also some private reserve blue-black. It smells funny.

It's not the smudging that gets me with ballpoints, it's the weird clots of inky goo they occasionally spit out in the middle of an otherwise clean line.

As a teacher who has a number of private lessons (ie-no blackboard), this is far and beyond my fav pen:
http://content.etilize.com/Large/11960987.jpg

Oh damn yes I need a new one of those. I lost my 4-colour biro & it's such a good editing pen (it's not even really the practical usefulness of the colours – I just like giving the impression that I am a freelancer who turns up well-armed to write in a colour that contrasts well with others' marks.)

Tell a lie, I sometimes use one of these bad boys, too:
http://www.office365.co.uk/im/pim/013909.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

It's so weird to me that people prefer blue ink over black ink. I think black ink always looks more professional and classy, blue ink makes me think of people doodling on notepads in high school.

Gel gel gel. Black ink. I get really upset if I go out without one and wind up having to make notes in pencil or biro.

To me, writing with a pencil just feels like a lesser degree of scratching a chalkboard. I don't know how people stand it.

Blue ink, blue ink, blue ink.

Mainly because I am forever scribbling on computer printouts, and I need to be more easily able to spot where my important notes are in the sea of black type.

Because I do so much programming, really, I like to have 3 different coloured pens at my desk at all time - usually black, red and blue. So I can scribble different things in different colours that need to stand out, separate actual code/formulas from bits of notes to self, have table names vs. field names stand out more easily, that kind of thing.

yeah i used to be black ink only at all times but i also write on computer printouts a lot and it's easier to see

However, with my drawing pens, I always use black ink, and half the time those end up getting used for writing longhand in diaries and the like.

blue ballpoint but got love for wooden pencils too tbh

blue black, people.

I remember intentionally changing my fountain pen cartridges from blue to black ink - with an extended period of using lamy blue-black ink - during school as a kind of growing-up, marking-myself-as-different measure. esp since if you made a mistake in black ink you had to use tippex to erase it, not an ink eraser.

(i am boringly brand-loyal with stationery: pentel e-sharp 0.5 mechanical pencils, muji 0.38 gel ink pens in black-red-blue. I sometimes use a Lamy fountain pen but even with the 'extra fine' nib it doesn't feel thin enough for my scratchy handwriting.)

lamy safari

I prefer writing in the blood of my slain enemies with my fingers

blue ink since I use ballpoints, black ink from a ballpoint looks awful

people are so awesomely weird about pens and pencils

for a while this was my one true pen (fine though, not extra fine get that shit outta here)

http://images.discountofficeitems.com/size/400/6c7/812/eb15d043833521ec96003de6f7f9160596.jpg

find that type of pen too 'sharp' when writing tbh.

I can never have enough of these:
http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/JM20.jpg
Though not in blue.

xp it was a lot better than the pilot v5 in terms on sharpness, also everybody uses a v5/v7 so you get to be a contrarian

oh yeah for sure. i hate pen trendfollowers they're the worst imo

xxp I used to use Fountain Pentels when they first came out (mid 80's), but they were k-crap back then, the tip used to wear down really fast.

My mom had a silver Cross pen in her purse, always with blue ink, my entire childhood. I think it was a college graduation gift or something: the slimmest, sleekest little ladies' pen, actually almost child-sized, the barrel was so narrow. Very dainty.

I guess it was the Classic Century in silver. It's an icon of my mother, to me.

Apparently my current main pen is a Pilot V-Ball 0.7 and it's really nice to write with but the ink line comes out a lot wider than other 0.7s I've used so I should probably look for a thinner one as my writing is small and spidery at best
(I don't think it's any smaller than anyone else's, maybe "your writing is so small" is a nice way of saying "man, your writing is terrible")

Don't like the really fine-tipped Pilots, though. Scratchy and no good to draw with.

While trying to find a picture of some pens I use I found the "officesupplygeek" blog and saw a comments reading "Honestly, I don't use any of these. I feel like those are the top 5 gel pens for people who don't know better" and now I feel like I should probably stop talking about pens before I turn into one of those people

uniball micro 4vr

http://www.promotional-items-inc.com/catalog/media/products/pens_pencils_highlighters/uniball_pens/uniball_pens-micro_roller_ball.jpg

For looks and general pop-cult-ness, these are my favorite disposable pens in the whole world:

http://www.artstuff.net/images/PilotRazorPoint.JPG

Ugh rollerballs are so smudgy and take time to dry, wtf!! Black retractable ballpoint ftw!

I've never thought of the blue-pen-on-copy issue before, but why blue and not red? Not that I'm stanning for an ink colour.

I stan for contrast -- use red almost exclusively at work altho I like green ink too.

blue just because it's the next best thing to black and red doesn't stand out the same against white, it's harder to read xpost

We're obliged to use black ink at work (UK Civil Service LOL) For just the sheer physical pleasure of writing, nothing can beat a fountain pen on lovely smooth paper. Once the pen has been worn in for a bit, everything just seems to flow so beautifully. I find my handwriting getting more loops in it just because the sensation of making them is so much fun.

Maybe I should get out more... :S

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

about to descend into the deep dark inkwell of fountain pen snobbery

I got some Rapidographs recently as a gift and it is insane how fucking awesome/superior they are for crosshatching. "Use the right tool for the job" = truth

unless this is strictly a writing poll the wooden pencil showing is depressing me

or i hope it's some generational divide shit. i know they have uses but i kind of hate mechanical pencils

this is all i fuck with right here, except most of mine don't have the grip

http://content.etilize.com/spr/EJ/2510818.jpg

http://content.etilize.com/spr/EJ/2510818.jpg

unless this is strictly a writing poll the wooden pencil showing is depressing me

or i hope it's some generational divide shit.

I'm 36, hate wooden pencils. Mechanical all the way.

fountain pen snobbery

Parker 45 (they stopped making them a few years ago) with 24 carat gold plated bits.