A Variety of Pens

Last week I decided, pretty much on a whim, to try out a bunch of different pens from JetPens. I take a lot of notes at work, and my pen choices have varied from a Fisher Space Pen to the great Uni-Ball 207 gel ink pens to terrible off-brand ballpoints (no link for those).

In general I have found that I prefer finer lined pens and the look and feel of gel ink. I have also noticed that there seem to be a lot more choices in Japan than in a typical office supply store here. Or so it seems.

So I ordered a variety of Japanese pens from JetPens. They include several types of very fine Uni-Ball Signo gel pens (0.38, 0.28, and 0.18 mm), a couple “smooth-writing” ballpoints from Uni-Ball and Pilot, emulsion ink pens from Zebra, and a fine point Zebra gel pen.

I didn’t know exactly what I would like best, and pens are cheap, so I cast a wide net. I like that they all have Japanese UPC stickers on them

So far I really like the 0.38 and 0.28 mm gel pens, and the Zebra Sarasa 0.3 mm. The ballpoints write nicely, but I don’t like the finish of the ink on the paper as much. The 0.18 mm gel pen is ridiculously thin and actually hard to write with, but it does look pretty.

No, this is not important, but it’s fun. Besides, it seems like I can never find a pen in this house. Maybe that will change now.

— Steve

Posted on 11 January 2012