The Pentel EnerGel Euro uses a liquid gel ink that writes very smoothly and dries quickly. The line is crisp and a true 0.5mm. The pen has a blue almost metallic-looking body made of partially recycled plastic. The body has a lot writing on it as well as a bar code which make the pen ugly and generic looking. The latex free grip is quite comfortable and I like translucent blue plastic between the grip and the metal tip; it has these unusual faceted points. The cap also snaps onto the body when posted which is a feature I love.
The EnerGel Euro comes in black, blue, and red as well as four tip sizes 0.35mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm and 1.0mm. The EnerGel Euro costs $2.75 and is not refillable. This is an excellent pen and if you don’t mind the generic looks I highly recommend it.
Here are some great reviews of the Pentel EnerGel Euro:
The Morning Glory Mach 3 is a disposable roller ball pen with a fine 0.38mm tip. The Mach 3 writes with a crisp and clean line but it is not very smooth. The ink is neither waterproof nor archival safe. There is an ink level window on the pen body and the grip is made of a translucent plastic that lets you see the feed. I like that the cap snaps onto the body when posted. The look of this pen is pretty mediocre and the clip has rough edges that gives an air of cheapness. At $2.00 the Mach 3 is well priced but for a little bit more you can have a much better pen such as the Pilot Hi-Tec-C and the Otho Graphic Liner.
Here are some other reviews of the Mach 3:
(I have no affiliation with the sites linked below)
The Pilot Vanishing Point is an extremely popular fountain pen with a click mechanism that retracts the nib. I have had mine for several years now and while it’s frequently inked it’s far from my favorite pen. To me the Vanishing Point is purely a tool; it’s reliable and can be operated with one hand for quick notes but it’s not fun to write with. My VP has a brown lacquered brass body with rhodium accents weighing in at 30.9 grams with a full converter. The VP measures just under 5.5″ long and is about half an inch thick at its widest point. The Vanishing Point is a pretty ugly pen; it’s definitely not a show piece. The VP looks the most dignified in matte black and unfortunately for me it was released well after I purchased my brown one.
The stiff 18 carat gold medium point nib has no personality but is smooth and reliable. The medium point is a bit finer than most European mediums and the flow is pretty average.
Namiki marking on the nibNib extendedNib retracted
Depending on how you hold your pen the clip may be an issue because it is so close to the tip. Having a pretty standard grip it does not bother me but this pen definitely wont work for everyone. Also, I do not find the VP to be comfortable for long writing sessions as the grip area is relatively wide and the pen is quite heavy. The Vanishing Point comes with a converter, a cartridge and a metal cartridge cap (that prevents the click mechanism from crushing a plastic cartridge). The VP offers a lot of pen for the money with an average street price $140. The build quality is excellent as with all Pilot products and it has held up well quite well for me. The nib has a lot of tipping material so I may have it ground down into a stub to give this great pen some character. I recommend trying the Vanishing Point in person before purchasing.
Here are some great reviews of the Vanishing Point:
The Uni Woodnote has a body made of North American cedar that is the same width and shape of a wood pencil, together with a bright green cap the pen looks fantastic. The Woodnote uses a Uni Signo gel ink refill and can take refills from the Uni Style Fit Multi Pen System so there are a lot options.
Everything sounds great right? WRONG! This the only pen that I can think of that is actually painful to simply hold. You have to be careful where you grip the pen because there are sharp points where hexagon body meets a cylindrical plastic section. The cap is loose when the Woodnote is capped and posted; this creates an annoying rattle. Take the cap off and you can hear the refill rattling in the body as well. The Woodnote is not a heavy pen by any means at 5.5 grams but it is too heavy to feel like a wood pencil. The Uni Signo 0.38mm refill is good quality and writes well for such a small point but considering the Woodnote is painful to use and costs $4.60 you would have to really like the pencil shape and/or pain to have a use for this thing.
When I think of Stabilo I don’t think of great pens, I think of highlighters, as that is what they are most famous for. I have never been a fan of their pens but the Bionic Worker is the first that I would actually buy again.
The Bionic Worker is an unusual rollerball pen with a rubberized orange body. Stabilo labels this pen a 0.5mm but it’s definitely much wider than that; it seems like a 1.0mm to me. The rollerball is ultra smooth (as you would expect a 1.0mm tip to be) and the ink is nice and dark. Stabilo calls the nickle silver tip indestructible. I really like the details on this pen. There is a little knob on the side of the body that keeps the pen from rolling off the desk. The cap closes and posts flush with the body and there are three little portholes on each side of the pen that allow you to view the feed and ink level. The metal clip features the Stabilo swan and feels sturdy.
The Bionic Worker comes in black, blue, red and green ink with “0.5mm” and “0.3mm” tip sizes. This pen is not refillable which is too bad because it is expensive at $3.85. Next time I am going to buy the 0.3mm tip as I suspect that will be a bit closer to a true medium.
Here are some great reviews of the Stabilo Bionic Worker:
The Pilot Down Force is a pressurized ballpoint pen that is designed to write at any angle. I don’t have any need for a pressurized pen but I liked the loud yellow body so I bought it as an impulse buy. My favorite thing about this pen is the satisfying click it makes, apart from that and the bright yellow body I didn’t find much else to like. The plastic body is a bit too fat for my taste and the 0.7mm refill is okay, not as nice as what you find in a Pilot Acroball. The line is darker and sharper than a Fischer Space pen’s and it’s cheaper but at $8 its not cheaper than a Uni Power Tank. The Uni Power Tank is writes better, is pressurized and costs less than half the price of the Down Force. If you really enjoy clicking pens the Down Force might be worth a look but if you just want a nice pen don’t bother; this one’s crap.
Here is another review of the Pilot Down Force: (I have not affiliation to the site linked below)
Lamy’s Dialog line features high end pens designed by prominent industrial designers. The Dialog 1 was designed by Richard Sapper, most famous for the Tizio Lamp by Artemide and the original IBM Thinkpad. The Dialog 1 features a metal triangular shaped body with a matte titanium finish. The pen weighs about 24 grams, which is pretty lightweight for a metal pen. The triangular shape of the body is comfortable to use. The bottom side of the pen is lightly rounded and has two little plastic feet to steady the pen on a flat surface. The Dialog 1 uses a push click mechanism and has a spring-loaded metal clip. Underneath the clip is the Lamy logo etched into the body.
The Dialog 1 only takes propriety Lamy M16 refills that come in black, blue, red with a fine, medium, or broad tip. They write well for a standard ballpoint and last a very long time. The ink is archival and states “for documents ISO 12757-2 HM DOC” on the body of the refill. The sample above is written with a red fine tip M16 refill. To change a refill you have to use the non-writing end of an M16 refill to poke the small dot on the black plastic portion near the tip of the pen; this releases the front section of the pen so that you may load the new refill. It is an interesting way to change a refill but necessary to keep the lines of the pen ultra clean. Also worth noting is that the matte titanium finish does attract fingerprints; I usually don’t like metal pens for this reason but the matte finish makes it more bearable.
The Dialog 1 retails for $130, that is a pretty big investment for a pen that uses a $5 refill. I bought the Dialog 1 because I love the beautiful utilitarian design and wanted a nice pen to travel with. The Dialog 1 is a real conversation starter without being flashy or over the top; I highly recommend it.
The Itoya Paper Skater is one of my favorite non-fountain pens. It features a low resistance gel ink rollerball refill in a simple plastic body. The Paper Skater glides across the paper effortlessly and lays down a bold deep black line. The plastic body is very clean and dignified without any ugly logos or barcodes. The cap has a satisfying click and features Itoya’s signature elliptical clip. The Paper Skater comes with a blue, black or white body a black 0.7mm refill. I incorrectly stated in the written review that you can only get black refills; you can actually get blue, purple, green, and red; you just have to purchase them separately. Also, you can fit the 1.0mm and 0.7mm Itoya AquaRoller refill in the Paper Skater. If you don’t mind a thicker line I highly recommend the Paper Skater; it is a pleasure to use.
The Otho Graphic Liner is a roller ball pen with pigment ink that is both water proof and fade proof. There is a line width for everyone, 0.3mm to 1.5mm. The 0.5mm is my favorite as it is ultra smooth while still laying down a fine and sharp line. The Graphic Liner feels a bit like a porous tip fine liner with the smooth ink flow and a bit like a roller ball with the hard metal tip; it’s a great combination. The O.3mm is a little more needle-like than I prefer but it is still smoother than most 0.3mm pens I have tried, including the Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pen. These pens are labeled with numbers that correspond to their various line widths, however they aren’t labeled in millimeters, instead the 0.3mm is a 005 and the 0.5mm is a 02 so be careful when you purchase. The Graphic Liner isn’t the most attractive with it’s black body and orange accents. The clip is strong and functional.
Otho classifies the Graphic Liner as a “free ink roller pen”, meaning that the pen has no “fibrous ink reservoir” (if anyone knows what that actually means please let me know). The Graphic Liner only comes in black but Otho makes other free ink roller pens that come in multiple colors, so I will definitely be giving those a try. At $2.50 ($2.65 for the 005) I highly recommend it; it is easily one of my favorite non-fountain pens.
Here are some great reviews on the Ohto Graphic Liner:
Pilot Ageless Pen – tip position 1 – fully retracted
The Pilot Ageless line comprises high quality pens with a patented two staged twist mechanism that completely retracts the pen tip. They come in two flavors: gel and ballpoint (the refills are not interchangeable). There are two barrel options that come in a variety of colors, the Future has a metal barrel with a silver grip section and the Presence has a plastic body with a translucent grey grip section.
Pilot Ageless Future – tip position 2Pilot Ageless Future – tip position 3
The design of the pen is nice and clean and is great for pockets as the tip completely retracts; no more getting stabbed by your pen. I like the Carbon Grey body of the Future which looks and feels high quality. The clip is small but strong. The Future is nicely weighted without being too heavy.
The Ageless Gel is one of the smoothest gel pens I have used. The refills only come in fine 0.7mm with blue or black ink and they aren’t that cheap; a pack of 12 costs $37 (about $3 a refill). The fine 0.7mm line is on the fatter side and the ink doesn’t look that sharp but I do enjoy writing with this pen and I can’t say that about many gel pens. The pen comes in a white tube which works as a storage box as well as a pen stand. The Pilot Ageless Future Gel makes a really nice gift for someone who wants a great everyday pen.
