If you’ve searched online for pens, you know that there are hundreds and hundreds from which to choose. So, we narrowed down our prospects by focusing only on gel, ballpoint and rollerball pens. These are the pens most commonly used in people’s everyday lives, rather than fountain or calligraphy pens. If you’re only interested in gel pens, we’ve also exclusively reviewed the best gel pens in another post.

Bic Gel-ocity Stic Gel Pens Fine Point (0.5mm) - Assorted Bic Gel-ocity Stic Gel Pens Fine Point (0.5mm) - Assorted

But while there are a number of youthful-looking gel pens on the market (like the Gelly Roll we tested), there are also plenty of quality, businesslike pens that you may not know use gel ink. Gel ink is simply pigment in water-based gel. If you’re looking for strong colors and sharp, featherless lines, then a gel pen is probably a great choice for you. By working with a variety of trusted Range Plus Partners, we’re able to offer our customers a wider selection of products. Me? I’m a peacemaker. I love all pens. That being said, I rarely use gel pens in my journals. For doodling, drawing layouts, and everyday planning, I prefer the uniformity and precision that a felt pen provides. I love my gel pens, but I love my felt tips just a smidgen more for journaling.They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Tell this to the journaling community and they’ll ask, “Which pen?” However, a rollerball’s intense ink can sometimes bleed through paper if you’re not careful, and the pen can leak if it’s left uncapped or taken to high altitudes. Conventional rollerball pens come in three sizes: micro (.5 mm), fine (.7 mm) and bold (.8 mm and wider). Important features to consider After the focus group, we tested our worst offender and best pens on cheaper notebook and scratch paper, to see how they’d act. We found the results to be just about what we expected; lesser-quality pens wrote even more poorly on cheap paper, and good quality pens wrote about the same, save for a slightly less-smooth flow. The best overall: Pilot – G2 I recently shared my top 6 journaling supplies, which featured felt-tipped artist pens. I’m partial to felt pens in my journal, but it didn’t feel right to completely ignore gel pens, especially since they have a huge fan base. Gel pens have a number of pros and cons, but by the end of this post, you’ll be a bona fide gel pen aficionado! What is the difference between ballpoint and gel pens? Keep in mind, not every gel pen is created equal. For every wonderful gel pen you try, you’ll find two more that skip, dry out, and smear like yesterday’s eyeliner. However, they do have some common pros and cons that push people to either the “Pro-Gel” or “Anti-Gel” crowds.

BIC Gel-ocity Quick Dry, Ultra Fast Drying Refillable Gel Ink

Conventional gel pens come in three sizes: micro (making lines .5 mm wide and thinner), medium (.7 mm) and bold (1.0 mm). Rollerball pens Those who aim to be more eco-friendly will like that the Onyx is made from 80 percent post-consumer recycled electronics — a fact uni-ball is proud of, as evidenced by the “eco” logo on each pen. uni-ball says that their Onyx ink also protects against “water, fading and fraud.” However, we didn’t test for this. The best ballpoint: Paper Mate – InkJoy Ink flow: You want a pen that creates a clean, consistent line. It shouldn’t skip, bleed through the paper, or feather out into more tiny lines. Similarly, the ink should come out easily, requiring you to put very little pressure on the pen.Bic – Round Stic Xtra Life (ballpoint): The Bic felt like a standard, uninspired office pen. It was uncomfortable to hold, required a decent amount of pressure to write with, and the ink often felt dry and uneven. Ballpoint” refers the the mechanism of the pen: a tiny ball in the tip transfers the ink to the paper. You probably already knew that. Every office supply closet has boxes of basic ballpoint pens. They’re utility pens. They get the job done. Good ballpoint pens write smoothly, though even the best have occasional skipping and ink globs (that’s a highly-technical term for a pen booger).

BIC Gelocity Smooth Gel Pens, Fine Point (0.5mm), Assorted BIC Gelocity Smooth Gel Pens, Fine Point (0.5mm), Assorted

Bic Gelocity illusion Gel Pen Refills fit Bic Illusion erasable gel pens. The refills have a 0.7mm tip and a special ink that disappears when heat is applied via friction with its eraser. Paper Mate – InkJoy (gel): Though Paper Mate’s ballpoint version of the InkJoy was the best in our tests, we weren’t as impressed by the gel version. We found that it feathered, bled and tended to smudge. You can make your pen even more comfortable to hold by using it correctly. This may seem like an elementary skill, but many of us are doing it wrong (or have forgotten proper form in the age of the keyboard). Remember to: With nearly a decade of experience in the pen industry, I successfully ran an online pen business for 9 years.Then, we asked them to join us in a focus group, where they wrote assigned sentences (using every letter of the alphabet). Then, they had “free time” to use the pen however they pleased. After this process was complete, they filled out a survey about the experience using each pen. Like a popular celebrity, the Pilot- G2 inspires polarized opinions. People seem to either love or hate the G2 — and we have our suspicions that some hate it just because it’s so well-loved! Finally, we chose to focus primarily on .7 mm pens, which create medium-sized lines and are a good writing choice for a lot of people. However, we also tested some smaller and larger pens for those who want range.