I like ballpoint that write smooth and dark, but they are so hard to find I've almost switched to roller or gel. And don't get me started on the it has to be as big around as a bat and have a cushy rubber grip phase that has it som much of the market.

Are there any good ballpoint out there? Should I just write (pun intended) the ballpoint off and find something else?

The big fat pens are probably better for your poor, bitter arthritic fingers anyway. :)

My fiance also prefers ballpoints. I think she's crazy. Gel roller pens write much more smoothly, much more uniformly, and just glide better over the paper. The only issue is for sloppy writers who tend to smudge the ink.

What, you can't spring for a Mont Blanc?

My favorite pens are technical pens, artist's pens, and they come in a variety of colors. I use green & black, depending on my mood.

dork.

No. No Mah Blah for me.

Staples has like 6 billion pens behind the counter, surely you can find something you like there.

What do you think of Pilot ballpoints?

Pilot pens are the bane of existence, followed closely by Papermate.

WWSCD?

(What would Soviet Cosmonauts Do)

That is an urban legend. Pencil shavings and broken leads floating around to be inhaled or get in your eye are not a good thing. Fisher funded the space pen project 100% with it's own money.

Both Americans and Russians used pencils in the early years of space exploration.

Those of us with a left handed writing disposition tend to smear anything under any circumstances. I doubt I could write more than a hundred words at a time now.

I type far more than I write at this point. Eventually writing will go away. I wish someone would develop a decent chorded one-handed keyboard for my PDA.

I used to use the Uni-Ball Onyx pens. Every Staples or office-supply place has 'em. Nice black line, starts right up, no silly form factor, and they have a (not unpleasant) "creak" to them when you write. And they're pretty cheap, too.

Ok now I am feeling older than I am. I tend to write way to fast making it nearly inlegible even to me so I switched to a nice fountian pen. Makes me write at a decent speed. Making it actualy readable and look rather nice as well. You can definatly tell when a fountian pen was used. the only problem is they do not like to be shaken in a pocket ect or they will make a mess.

I have the same problem, so I invented my own style of handwriting that uses lots of short strokes. Short strokes makes it difficult to screw up, even on the subway.

How legible is that? I've seen various types of short stroke handwriting that ranges from artistic to undecipherable.

I think Mark just likes to get in as many strokes as possible.

Lots of short strokes with my pen...

Seriously, it's very legible, I was thinking of turning it into a font, or at least scanning in a sample for my website.

dork.

moron.

Not in front of the children please.

The best ballpoint is the Zebra F-301 (not to be confused with the F-301 "Ultra").

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=ZEB27110
OR
http://tinyurl.com/432wa

It's compact, writes extremely well, looks awesome, has an unbreakable stainless steel barrel, and you can even get ink refills instead of replacing the whole pen. How's that for less than $3?

There seems to be a post about Fisher Space Pens that's been killed by the dork/moron moderators :) or by the spam filter.

It folds up small enough to fit in your front pants pocket (where you won't lose it unless you carried away with short strokes), but it won't ever explode.

If you're ever in Vegas, take a side trip to Boulder City and try to get a picture with Fisher before it's too late - he's 84. (or maybe it's 94)

errr... there aren't any posts deleted or filtered in this thread.


moron.

I have a similar pen, it's more slender and fits in my wallet nicely. When you take the cap off and put it on the back, it becomes a regular sized pen.

http://www.rex6000.org/Images/stylus-retro51-passport.jpg

It doesn't write particularly smoothly, but I always have a pen when I need one. I also have a space pen, which was a gift. My girlfriend uses it more than I do, since I still prefer the Sakura Pigma Micron & similar.

>>> Fisher funded the space pen project 100% with it's own money.

This sounded like Crusty Admin was referring to a post that repeated the BS story about NASA paying millions to develop a pen while the Russians used pencils.

jerk.

Ah, so you made an assumption and then accused the moderators of wiping out posts based on that assumption, and I'm a jerk.

dick.

My favorite pen, after years of looking, is the Parker 'Jotter', with Medium point black ink. Don't buy them in the winter, because if the ink freezes it doesn't flow as well afterwards.

Buy a stock in May, or better yet in late August when they've made fresh batches for all the school kids.

I usually purchase the "Back To School" set -- two almost identical pens, one actually a mechanical pencil. They look nice, they're not terribly expensive, and they work really well -- smooth writing, with good lines, and no blotches.

I throw away pens that annoy me.* Whatever is left, I use until it runs out of ink. Then, because a pen that is out of ink annoys me, I throw it away.

*Exception - some really nice pens, especially ones I've gotten as gifts, get kept even if they annoy me. I wind up misplacing them, which is almost the same thing as throwing them away.

"This sounded like Crusty Admin was referring to a post that repeated the BS story about NASA paying millions to develop a pen while the Russians used pencils."

Not a post. Someone mentioned using a pencil which was the line from the urban legend that the US gov't spent millions creating a pen that would write in outer space while the Russions used a pencil. You can look this on up on that urban legends website.

Ah, so, I made an assumption and then made a weak joke continuing the dork/moron thing, and I'm really a moron and dick.

dork :)

(with :) this time since you missed its implied presence)

How do you know muppet didn't get the joke?

idiot.

I don't know whether he got the joke or not, he doesn't _seem_ to have gotten the smiley.

moron.

Anymore of this and the Playdoh (TM) is not coming out again.

Does anyone remember the smell of PlayDoh? That's something that stays with you for life.

partypooper.

You love the smell of almonds in the morning?

Rotring Rapido 0.3 mm is the best.

the smell of PlayDoh is still enough to cheer me up out of most funks. Luckily my daughter has lots of it.

These http://www.business-supply.com/dept/2514631/bic-atlantis-stick-ball-pen.html are nice.