Pens....what is your favorite?

The Zieg said:
They are carried almost exclusively by Staples here in Colorado. You can also order them on Amazon. Art supply stores may also have them.

Zieg
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That's my challenge, I'm in Canada and the few Staples I've checked out had little to none of the fountain pens I was interested in trying out. I just emailed my brother in Florida to see if he can find the Varsity, the Zebra V-301 Fountain Pen, and a charcoal fine tip Lamy Safari. He's coming to visit me next week so we'll see.

Oh, I also found a link to the Varsity refill process you mentioned. - http://peninkcillin.blogspot.ca/2011/07/how-to-refill-your-pilot-varsity.html

Cheers!
 
I have several favorites. As shown: Cross Select Tip, Zebra F-701, Zebra F-402, Rite in the Rain Military model, Aldo Domani and the Zebra Expanz pen. And though they are my favorites some see less use than others in this group. I also have one other favorite; a Parker Jotter in maroon color not pictured here because it rides in my vest pocket at work. The Jotter is my most frequently used pen because its my work pen. I love my Parkers. However, of the ones posted here, the Zebra F-701 (un-modded) and the Rite in the Rain (Fisher knock off) gets the most writing time outside of my full time job.



As others have, I have used nearly all the Zebra pens, I just like their products for some reason.

Up next: County Com Embassy and a Copper Hinderer.
 
Yeah I agree, Zebra (and Pilot) make great quality writing instruments, especially for their price point. I've been using both brands for years (Pilots since my high school days in the 80s). I just placed an Amazon order for the Lamy Safari in Charcoal grey with fine tip, a 5pk of black refills and a Z24 refill converter and having it shipped to my bro in FL for him to bring for me next week. All that cost about $37US shipping in, compared to Amazon Canada which is charging $41CDN for just the pen.
 
NaturalMystic said:
Yeah I agree, Zebra (and Pilot) make great quality writing instruments, especially for their price point. I've been using both brands for years (Pilots since my high school days in the 80s). I just placed an Amazon order for the Lamy Safari in Charcoal grey with fine tip, a 5pk of black refills and a Z24 refill converter and having it shipped to my bro in FL for him to bring for me next week. All that cost about $37US shipping in, compared to Amazon Canada which is charging $41CDN for just the pen.
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Glad you got the hook up on the Lamy. Congrats!

I like the Pilot Pens. Everyone raves about the G2, and I think its a fine pen and writes very well, but in my experience its not as rugged as I need sometimes. Plastic body pens, no matter the functionality and write-ability are always my throw aways/giveaways/takeaways/"you can borrow this one" type pens. I prefer a metal body pen with the exception of the Parkers (even if the internals are plastic) and never loan them out. ;)
 
Agreed, it'd be nice if Pilot made more durable versions of some of their models like the G2, G Tec C4, HiTechpoint V5.

ETA: Thanks re: the Lamy. Looking forward to using it. I just need to read up some reviews on bottled ink to see what is most recommended for it.
Also, I can't remember what thread I mentioned it but I find it sad that a lot of schools are eliminating teaching cursive writing. It's such a beautiful art form and one I'll be sure to teach my kid(s) whether it's taught in school or not.
 
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NaturalMystic said:
Also, I can't remember what thread I mentioned it but I find it sad that a lot of schools are eliminating teaching cursive writing. It's such a beautiful art form and one I'll be sure to teach my kid(s) whether it's taught in school or not.
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Being in my 20's I can tell you cursive is a dead language where I live (USA, CA), they beat it into us in elementry that we will be using it the rest of our lives and it make our lives easier, faster to write, and all kinds of other false promises. Made it to junior high and we kind of beat it out of the people who like cursive to not use it anymore as it made it a PITA to correct their papers as everyone had their own unique style of writing in it. By high school I don't remember encountering 1 person who wrote in it anymore. It's a bit hard to read now for me, it's something I encounter once in a blue moon.

It seems one of the main things they promised us that we be using it for was when writing papers, but by the time junior high came around all papers were to be typed for their final drafts. No exceptions. Other killer for it I saw was "us" as students we just plain hated it as a whole in terms of the population of my school and found it more of an inconvenience than anything else. Didn't mean to derail this, but figure you might see that as a bit interesting.

For me though I like my Zebra 301, though having just gotten a fisher space pen recently I have to admit I do like their pressurized cartridges a lot more than the zebras. My zebra sits horizontally mostly in my notebook and even after less than an hour I have to move it around a bit on the paper to get the ink to flow. The fisher doesn't have that much of an issue with it. Though if I could find something that write like my Kuru-Toga pencil it be almost perfect.

I still don't understand the love for the G2's, then again it's probably mostly has to do with how I write as I guess I don't lift my hand up enough and it takes so little pressure with these pens to write I end up with a very fine line connecting letters. Could someone please explain to me the love for these things as I don't quite understand it.

I still need to one day give a fountain pen a shot though, it's hard to justify the $25 for the pen I want to try out the Lamy Safari with EF nib. Feel free to try to give me that extra push on this.
 
I still write in cursive even in my professional life. I use a Fellhoelter Ti-Bolt right now with a Schmidt Easyflow 9000.

One day I'll own a Pilot Vanishing Point. It's a retractable fountain pen. EDIT: And I HATE Fisher Space pen refills. They write horribly.

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Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread but thanks for your perspective as a younger person. I still think it's a pity, as far as I'm concerned, teaching proper penmanship could help eliminate the problems with poor cursive writing. Heck, people have been using cursive for centuries. I guess since we live in a digital age where nearly everything is typed, cursive will likely go the way of the dinosaur. I haven't timed myself but I'm sure I can write just as fast in either style, I just find cursive to be a much more elegant, sophisticated style of writing.

As for the Lamy, I'll let you know what I think of it when I get it. To be honest, I don't do much hand writing at all anymore, most everything is typed onto a pc or tablet. I've just had this strong urge to take up fountain pens again.

Bob6794 said:
Being in my 20's I can tell you cursive is a dead language where I live (USA, CA), they beat it into us in elementry that we will be using it the rest of our lives and it make our lives easier, faster to write, and all kinds of other false promises. Made it to junior high and we kind of beat it out of the people who like cursive to not use it anymore as it made it a PITA to correct their papers as everyone had their own unique style of writing in it. By high school I don't remember encountering 1 person who wrote in it anymore. It's a bit hard to read now for me, it's something I encounter once in a blue moon.

It seems one of the main things they promised us that we be using it for was when writing papers, but by the time junior high came around all papers were to be typed for their final drafts. No exceptions. Other killer for it I saw was "us" as students we just plain hated it as a whole in terms of the population of my school and found it more of an inconvenience than anything else. Didn't mean to derail this, but figure you might see that as a bit interesting.

For me though I like my Zebra 301, though having just gotten a fisher space pen recently I have to admit I do like their pressurized cartridges a lot more than the zebras. My zebra sits horizontally mostly in my notebook and even after less than an hour I have to move it around a bit on the paper to get the ink to flow. The fisher doesn't have that much of an issue with it. Though if I could find something that write like my Kuru-Toga pencil it be almost perfect.

I still don't understand the love for the G2's, then again it's probably mostly has to do with how I write as I guess I don't lift my hand up enough and it takes so little pressure with these pens to write I end up with a very fine line connecting letters. Could someone please explain to me the love for these things as I don't quite understand it.

I still need to one day give a fountain pen a shot though, it's hard to justify the $25 for the pen I want to try out the Lamy Safari with EF nib. Feel free to try to give me that extra push on this.
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I write cursive because of efficiency. Writing print just takes much longer for me. In fact, I write print so rarely that compared to my cursive, it's nasty looking. Now thinking about it, it is so rare these days to find people my age writing cursive, that when they see my writing, it's often complimented. Kind of sad, really.
 
Cursive is dead for me. I started printing in HS, only because I was taking Drafting and Architecture classes and print is required for that business. So, after years of doing it that way printing just stuck. I will most certainly agree that printing is slower, but like other said, its easier to read. On the flip side to this I run across people who only write cursive and I can read cursive handwriting better than most others who also only write cursive. Anyway......I used to be into the fountain pens, but nothing expensive and I found the cheap ones always leaked, so I steer away from fountains even though fountains can produce some of the best writing provided its in the hands of someone who knows how to use it properly.
 
It's amazing how my handwriting skills have suffered over the last decade or so since I do the vast majority of "writing" on a keyboard. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get back into using a fountain pen. I enjoy them so much I'll start writing again just for the fun of it. In school we had to take penmanship class and in high school I did technical drawing for a while. As a result I learned to write proficiently in cursive (italic and regular), print (all caps and regular) and use each style depending on mood or what I'm writing. My cursive has suffered most and now unless I take my time, it tends to look like I'm a family doctor writing prescriptions (just joking all you doctors!).
 
Here's what I use.

From left to right:

Pilot G2 Mini (I don't use this one too much, but it does sit on my desk)

Uni-Ball Signo 207 (Pigmented archival "Super Ink" helps prevent check washing and resists fading and water, I have a dozen of these in multiple colors)

TWSBI 580 fountain pen (filled with Noodler's ink. My pen for contemplative journal writing, I use on a Rhodia Webnotebook, 90g French made paper)

Fisher Cap-O-Matic Space pen '"Chrome plated" (this one sits on my desk and is my primary writer)

Fisher Cap-O-Matic Space pen "non-reflective desert tan" (this pen lives in my Tom Bihn back pack)

Fisher X-Mark Bullet Space pen (lives in my front left pocket, my go to pen while I'm mobile)

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NaturalMystic said:
It's amazing how my handwriting skills have suffered over the last decade or so since I do the vast majority of "writing" on a keyboard. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get back into using a fountain pen. I enjoy them so much I'll start writing again just for the fun of it. In school we had to take penmanship class and in high school I did technical drawing for a while. As a result I learned to write proficiently in cursive (italic and regular), print (all caps and regular) and use each style depending on mood or what I'm writing. My cursive has suffered most and now unless I take my time, it tends to look like I'm a family doctor writing prescriptions (just joking all you doctors!).
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Fully agree. Handwritten items are great. By the way, I found out that they no longer teach cursive in school here a more. All the kids have iPads and have computer classes. While I agree that computational classes are important for future job training and opportunity, cursive is important as well.
 
It's almost like a dying artform, writing I mean. Straying slightly off topic, but things like birthday cards for example. For one thing, I will purposely pick one with the least amount of writing in it just so I can fill up the card myself with pen and ink. Cursive of course. It's a bit more personal that way. Then again, a lot of times I feel that the card accompanying a gift (if there is one), is a lot more meaningful than the gift itself. Without the card, the gift has little meaning; it's just some material possession.

I think I'll pick up a Vanishing Point in the near future. Would go nicely during office hours.
 
RevDevil said:
Fully agree. Handwritten items are great. By the way, I found out that they no longer teach cursive in school here a more. All the kids have iPads and have computer classes. While I agree that computational classes are important for future job training and opportunity, cursive is important as well.
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No cursive in school anymore astounds me. For new hire paperwork at my job it asks you to print your name and also sign your name. One of my newest hires signed it in regular print and not in cursive. I guess that's what the school systems are considering your John Hancock to be now.

My favorite pen is a Zebra F701. Finally found something that hopefully won't break on me because I'm not too careful with my pens. Either the clip will break or the threading on the grip will.

It replaced my Parker which was absolutely fantastic! Until I ran it over with my car. It doesn't click anymore and it's dented and the clip is way loose. But it still writes!
 
Wow they don't even teach enough for you to sign your name. I admit it's a dead language and for the most part is becoming more and more obsolete as each day goes by but even I think that is a little drastic. I think they should at least give a quick crash course so you know how to sign your name and read it so there isn't a complete language gap when you encounter it. Sounds like the day I have kids I may have to give them a quick crash course on this stuff.

I just modified a Zebra F-301 to take the Fisher Space Pen cartridges and used the cartridge from my Stowaway as a test setup so once I order my permanent replacement cartridge for the F-301 I think that will be my favorite pen. I was looking at full size Space Pen options for awhile but I kept finding things I didn't like or hating the price of every pen they had so I finally bit the bullet and modded the pen. Came out better than expected. Considering I raided the dollar store of all the F-301's they had back in December so I have close to 10 stockpiled and finally opened pen number 2 to do the mod I think I feel fairly comfortable carrying these considering the refill costs $5 for a total cost of $6 for a space pen that's in the form of what is probably my favorite pen :). Now I just have to avoid you guys so you don't rub off your expensive taste on me lol.
 
jkwithawave said:
No cursive in school anymore astounds me. For new hire paperwork at my job it asks you to print your name and also sign your name. One of my newest hires signed it in regular print and not in cursive. I guess that's what the school systems are considering your John Hancock to be now.
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I work in a staffing agency part-time. I had a guy in who had just graduate high school and was just looking for some summer work. A lot of our paperwork requires a printed name and signature. His signature was identical to his printed name. I asked that he sign his name, and I swear to you his answer was "I don't know how." And this guy had just graduated high school.

Harkamus, I have a vanishing point with the carbon fiber wrap It's OK. Not my favorite pen I have, but no my least favorite.

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My guy is still in high school. I graduated in 2006, we learned cursive back in 2nd grade I think. So have they not been teaching cursive in schools for the last ten years?
 
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