Favorite Pens

Pilot Frixion line of pens:

http://officesupplygeek.com/pen-review/gel-pens/pilot-frixion-erasable-gel-ink-pen/

Is the erasable gel pen. It is "erased" by heating the written ink to 60 C - then it chemically disappear. There is a rubber on the back of the pen to rub and erase the ink. Comes in variety of colours.

Caran d'ACHE 825 - plastic white ink color green. Picked up a bunch of these when in Switzerland. They might be available in US as well, I'm not sure.

Fisher SpacePen

BulletPen?, carries in trouser pocket. TelescopingPen?, also trousers. Various retractables. Combo pen/sylus.

All Fisher's pens have pressurized refills. They write at any angle - handy if someone hands you something to sign and the only flat surface is a wall. I've never change refills in less than a year. I recently lost one that I'd carried for almost 2 years, using same refill.

Mars Landing version is guaranteed to write until man lands on mars. It's a tad chunky, but that'll be good for some.

Price range: $20 - $150.

Most models available through The Writers Edge (http://www.thewritersedge.com).

There's nothing like an easily erasable pencil. Artist's wood pencils are best as they write smoothly on the page.

I never work with a pen. I've used a Pentel .5mm mechanical pencil since the '70s.

So, is there any practical difference between mechanical pencils that use "0.5 mm" lead vs the slightly thicker "0.7 mm" lead? When I stumbled across I've been ranting since long before this site began about the evils of thin lead pencils and the corruptive power they have over impressionable youth. ... (and by thin, I mean thinner than 1.8 mm); I get the impression that I've completely missed out on some superior writing instrument. -- DavidCary http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Pencil

http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Category:Pens

"So, is there any practical difference between mechanical pencils that use '0.5 mm' lead vs the slightly thicker '0.7 mm' lead?"

Yes. The 0.7mm lead can withstand greater pressure before breaking & therefore breaks less often. Also, the line it makes is wide enough to see. So, it is clearly superior. (At least to heavy-handed people with poor eyesight like me. (^_^)) -- RobertFisher

The 0.5mm lead mechanical pencil is superior to the 0.7mm if the proper softness/hardness of lead is used. It can write darker and sharper. I too, have been using these (Pentel) since the '70s. However, they have one very regrettable drawback, and so I have been trying to break the habit of late. Anything written in pencil lead, sadly fades over time. The letters and numbers simply rub away and fade to the point that what was written is no longer readable. My new found writing instrument (several years now) is the PaperMate? medium point black ink pen.

I carry a fountain pen and a backup fine-ballpoint. A fountain pen typically needs maintenance (at least mine does) and `wearing in', but fountain pens are anything but outdated. They're tactile, they don't feel like you're writing on sandpaper (yet to find a ballpoint that doesn't), deliver a thin, dark line that doesn't seem to smudge easily, and make you look professional. It also make writing feel much more important :)

They're not perfect though, they only last 1/2 an exam paper (Murphy's Law), don't take turbulance well, can be messy, and sometimes just don't work. Which is why you have a secondary, until you can `work on it' at home. -- Biggoggs

"they only last 1/2 an exam paper" - What, you mean you don't keep a backup cartridge with you? Tsk. My high school mandated the use of fountain pens and I got hooked. Ever since then I never go anywhere without my Parker Vector:

The Parker site says the Vector "[combines] a striking modern persona with an economy-conscious spirit". In other words, it's the cheap one. But I love it. -- EarleMartin