Mark Shea reviews cheap pens

Back a couple of years I noted that I have a thing for cheap pens.

Mike Shea has posted a review of various cheap rollerball and fountain pens, which I found via this article in Journalisimo, which lead me another article about notebooks and pens.

Mike used to favor Pilot G2s, but now favors the Sakura Gelly Roll, which I’m not familiar with. But I’m guesing from the look and description of the Sakura that I’d find it too lightweight. In general, I don’t generally like roller balls - my somewhat odd handwriting style tends to smear gel ink.

Lately, my two favorite pens are the Pentel Ergonomix ballpoint and the Roting Skynn ballpoint. As cheap pens go, they’re on the higher priced side: the Pentel is around $8, the Roting around $15. And both are ballpoints, which don’t smear as much, and suit my writing style better. What most people notice is that they’re both thicker and heavier than most pens. I like a pen to have some heft, and the thickness just helps me write a little neater. (That’s probably a lie; nothing really helps my writing. But I like the feel of these two.)