Cheap Gel Pens
For connoisseurs of handwriting, nothing can beat a fountain pen. Ballpoint pens, while dependable and ultra-cheap, have never been able to match the fluid, graceful beauty of writing with a fountain pen. Regular roller ball tips allow more ink to flow, while better, are still inferior to the easy line that a good fountain or technical pen can lay down. Recently however, cheap gel pens have achieved the dense inking of a fountain pen. In ignorance I had equated gel pens with school girls, ink the color of nail polish, and handwriting marked by i's dotted with little hearts. True enough, but serious gel pens are now available. Tipped off by Phil Agre's research page on "cheap pens" (see below) I began to try out cheap gel pens and have been amazed at how fine they are.
My favorite gel, one that feels like a fountain pen to me, is the horribly named Pilot Dr. Grip Gel. It's a fat pen, with rubbery contoured collar at the writing end, and retractable tip. The ink flows out densely and evenly, with little pressure, exactly when you want it to. There's no leakage or muss or fuss of fountain pen maintenance. The pen glides over the page, leaving a fine line. And its cheap, about $6. I use it all the time now.
My other favorite gel pen replaces a pen-type that most architectural and graphics artist came to adore: the Rotring Rapidograph. This is a technical pen that produces a consistent very fine black line -- perfect for detail and precision drawing. I now use a Pilot P-500 (Extra Fine) G2 Gel, with a needlepoint tip. Unlike the old Rapidigraph, it won't clog, doesn't need periodic cleaning, can't dry up, can be retracted to fit in your pocket (Q-7 version), and is cheap -- $2. It inks as well or better as the Rapidigraph -- but it is not waterproof, which may make a difference for some artists. (I have not used newer Rapidograph models, which claim to be clog-free, but are still expensive.) The retractable version, Pilot Q-7 Needlepoint Gel, also sports a fat fatigue-free grip.
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Pilot Q-7 Retractable Gel Needle Point
Devout fountain pen lovers will still find fault in the gel pens, but most of us will find their convenience and bargain price makes them the pen to use. If you know of better cheap great gel pens, let me know.
--KK
Pilot Dr. Grip Gel Pen
$7
From among others, Amazon
Pilot P-500 Extra Fine Gel Pen
$2 for 12
Amazon
Pilot Q-7 retractable Gel Needle Point
$4
Amazon
Various Dr. Grip incarnations are also available from JetPens
Manufactured by Pilot
Cheap Pens by Phil Agre
Favorite (15)
Gel Pens
that really cheap!
thanks for sharing
David
I like to use the Bic Cristal Gel. I get it at my college bookstore for $4 for a pack of 7 but you can get it much cheaper online. Unfortunately it's not available at Wal-Mart, so I pay a marked up cost.
It has the cheap plastic feel of a ballpoint pen, but it writes like any other Gel Pen, and are cheap in the eyes of a college student.
Ira
The Uni-ball Signo Premier 207 is fabulous! I don't remember the exact price, but am pretty sure it's under $10. A little like the Pilot Dr. Grip, with the squishy grip, but feels better in the hand. It is the smoothest gel pen I've encountered to date. It comes with a 0.7 mm tip, but I've tried a 1.0 which works well and gives a nice, thick line. I'm sure the 0.5 would fit, too, for those who prefer a fine point. It's also anti check fraud -- the ink is supposed to permeate the paper fibers and make it difficult to alter a check.
Oryctolagus habilis
One nondescript little pen that I think is vastly underappreciated is the Pilot "Better": though trying to buy one can be a bit like a "Who's On First" routine. These are rollerball / micro-ballpoint pens that have a very smooth writing feel, even in Fine tip. I dislike most ballpoints for their rough writing & needle-tips for scratchiness, but gel pens actually seem not to offer enough resistance for control in arthritic hands. Don't let anyone tell you that they use the same refills as the Pilot Dr. series: they can accept them, but are somehow different. By the box, they're cheaper than Uniball V7s. These just might bring you back to cheap ballpoints!