Best Pens for 2025
67 comments
·January 12, 2025lqet
sushid
I feel the same way but with cheaper Japanese ball pens, my favorite being. I do have to disagree that a Bic Cristal feels "smooth" though. I think it doesn't glide as well as your average Japanese offerings although it does dry exceptionally well.
Personally I'm partial to the Zebra Sarasa Clip [0].
SoftTalker
They seem prone to leaking. Like they develop some kind of siphon or capillary flow of the ink out the open end of the ink tube.
criddell
You aren’t buying them from Amazon, are you? I’ve never had a genuine Bic do that, but I’ve had some cheapo bootlegs leak.
SoftTalker
No this goes back decades. Ever since I can remember.
thfuran
How can you tell it isn't actually a Bic?
khazhoux
I had to look up the name, and then realized (ha!) it's the pen I grew up on, across two countries.
My body is probably full of microplastics from chewing away at them.
throwpoaster
The Bic Cristal is my all-time favourite pen, to the point where I don’t really understand why other pens exist. I was recently thinking of getting a Mont Blanc for fancy business writing (contract signing), but went with the Cristal. Not kidding.
The one flaw: no upside-down writing.
hackernewds
Other pens exist since the Pilot G2 0.38 had to :)
ykonstant
You mean a Mont Blanc ballpoint pen? Because I wouldn't use fountain pens with their water-based inks for signing contracts (even inks that claim to be waterproof).
slavik81
Noodler's archival inks would be fine for that purpose. Bulletproof Black reacts with the cellulose in the paper so it will not wash out.
s0rce
I also realized I like smooth ball points, used to use the finer Pilot gelpoints in school. The Caran D'ache ballpoint is quite nice for a more luxury product
https://www.carandache.com/us/en/ballpoint-pen-ballpoint-pen...
onemoresoop
40 for a pen seems excessive for a regular budget even if 40 is not a lot of money anymore
kstrauser
I've had quite a few nice pens over the years. For me, Lamy Safari with its triangular grip is peak ergonomics, and its price-per-usability is fantastic. I tend to have a claw-like grip, and the Safari forces me to hold it in a way that my hand doesn't cramp after 3 minutes. It's great. I love it.
But for quick jotting, like making shopping lists or bullet journal notetaking, I'm on board with this list's top ballpoint pick, the Uni Jetstream. If all ballpoints were this smooth and pleasant to use, I never would've bothered investigating fountain pens. I think they're fantastic, supremely reasonably priced, and rugged enough to lose in the bottom of a bag without leaking all over stuff.
I love my Safaris, but when I need to jot something down, I reach for the Jetstream.
linsomniac
I'm also a big fan of the Jestreams, in particular the "Uni Jetstream Standard Ballpoint Pen - 0.5 mm". 5-6 years ago on a similar thread here or elsewhere, found a pointer to them and got a few, and I really like the precise line it makes, so I can do (what one of my coworkers called) "microwriting" between other lines of text. I use them mostly for note taking and bullet journaling. I've since gotten a few of the dozen packs, they are reasonably priced.
I wish I had a better solution for todo lists though. For a couple years I used a book and pen for managing my todo list, but always felt like an automated solution would just be better. I tried a Kindle Scribe and used that for around a year. It was a good "basic" writing experience, but really brought very little over just pen and paper (except that I never had to struggle with keeping the pages laying flat). I decided to try an Onyx Boox Note 3 as a "better Scribe", but shortly after that I abandoned the todo list entirely. Tried taskninja, but never stuck there either.
Any pro tips?
kstrauser
Not really. I have a Travelers Notebook with their own lined paper. I got that for the goofiest of reasons: so I could feel like Indiana Jones when I was taking notes for my Diablo game. I’ve started using it for bullet journaling as an experiment.
gorgoiler
The stock nib is also excellent when inverted (writing with the pen rolled over so that the “top” of the nib is now the side touching the paper). This is extremely useful when annotating diagrams, for example, as the writing is hyper fine.
I wanted to love TWSBI but our honeymoon period ended when nearly all of my barrels developed hairline fractures.
kstrauser
That's amazing and it never occurred to me to try it!
I've had good luck with TWSBI. They're so pretty! I haven't used them too heavily or outside of a desktop environment though.
frereubu
I love Safaris too, but unfortunately I handwrite very seldom and the Safaris tend to dry out quite quickly in my experience. I've got the Kaweco Sport, which sends to last much longer, probably because of its tight screw-top seal.
kstrauser
Oh, very nice. I tended to use the Safari enough to use it before it dried. Having the option to not to is nice.
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pryelluw
Every time this website gets posted I order like $30 worth of office supplies. Dunno why but it’s so tempting.
stock_toaster
I really like tactile turn pens.
My current favorites are the switch[1] and the slim side click[2] with a Schmidt EasyFlow 9000, and a Pilot G2 refill, respectively.
gnabgib
Largely the same choices, pens, photos, text from the 2024 copy of this: (168 points, 154 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38867708
https://web.archive.org/web/20240104200853/https://www.jetpe...
ghaff
I've definitely gravitated to the bold gel pens for most purposes. Some inks actually even work as better replacements in some more expensive pens although I rarely bother.
scosman
Glad to see the Uni-ball Vision Elite back on jetpens best list. Nice tactile feel, while still being smooth.
jakespencer
Yes! I have tried the G2, Pilot Precise V5, Uni-ball Jetstream, Lamy Safari, Pilot Hi-Tec-C, Fisher Space Pen and others over the years and the Vision Elite is by far my favorite!
conductr
I’m a big fan of the Sharpie S Gel in 0.7mm
vlark
Try a Parker Jotter with one of these refills:
- https://www.jetpens.com/Schmidt-EasyFlow-9000-Hybrid-Ballpoi...
- https://schneiderpen.com/en_us/ballpoint-pen-refills/slider-...
- https://www.jetpens.com/OHTO-Flash-Dry-Gel-Pen-Refill-Black/...
crq-yml
I've embraced the Pulaman over the past year. It's grungy when used on rougher paper, and wet enough to bleed through lighter weights, but the lines are full of character. It's a fountain pen with a marker tip - it fills in a certain complementary thing that Pilot nibs don't have.
I have also become a champion for Bic Gelocity, because they figured out a quick-dry gel formula that has similar viscosity and reliability to their classic ballpoints. Viscous ink keeps my writing legible, and the gel needs less pressure, so it's a great EDC writer.
Some of my bigger explorations have been with graphite - I have both new mechanicals, cheap stuff, lead holders, and vintage pencils. There is a lot of reason to go mechanical for reliability, but cheap mechanicals like the Bic pencil are unreliable - it's worth it to go for a Pentel. Similar story with lead holders - I have some from Daiso that do the job but aren't as tight as brand names. The nice thing about wood is that it handles well - the weight is lighter than metal, and it stays balanced as you wear it down. As well, for drawing, being able to cut the point you want makes a difference. There are woodless pencils which are quite a bit heavier and more brittle if dropped, but they are nice to work with to get something similar to a long point sharpen without having to get out a razor and whittle it by hand.
atombender
+1 for Pentel Pulaman. They have a weird hybrid nib that's somewhere between a felt tip and a technical pen, and you can vary the line thickness a lot. The nib flattens a bit with age, so you end up with an almost brush-like feel.
anonu
I'm not a fan of the uni Jetstream pens. Yes, they do a great job of transferring ink to a page, but they do it a bit too well. Personally, I need a bit more resistance between pen and page. Otherwise, my already terrible handwriting just looks even worse because I end up writing faster. Sometimes, friction is good.
onemoresoop
I want some friction too so it’s good there’s option for everybody
maxglute
Should have category for more innovative pen, what's new in the writing technology last yer? Their videos on overengineered Japanese stationary are great.
WCSTombs
The Uni-ball Signo UM-151 (0.38mm) is my go-to, but lately I've also been warming to the Pentel Hybrid Technica (0.4mm). Compared to the Uni-Ball, it's slightly less consistent, but I prefer the color, it being among the blackest blacks I've seen in any gel pen.
I have used a standard Lamy fountain pen for 11 years in school, and later several higher-end products (ball pens and fountain pens). But a few years ago I discovered that I really like writing with the Bic Cristal [0]. It's reliable and writing feels very smooth (even better than with some Lamy products I own). I also like that it has exactly the same shape as a classic pencil. Of course it is also very relaxing to know I can get a pack of 50 for 14 EUR. You can gnaw away on it, roll over it accidentally with you chair, lose it, break it in half - doesn't matter, because you can easily afford to have 20 of these on your desk at any time.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_Cristal