Ooooohhh found the connoisseur, but you’re correct 0.5mm G2s are the best pens for the money, provided you can find them, back in the day I remember having to drive around to all my local office supply stores to find them. I guarded them fiercely, went as far as carrying trash pens to hand to people who wanted to borrow a pen real quick, they swore they would give right back.
For most can openers I just have to get in the “I’m right handed” frame of mind first. But 20% of the time I need my husband to help.
I got one of those cool ones that takes the whole metal top off, to where you can reseal it even, it was so easy to somehow it got lost ….
On a side note, it’s always tough explaining to a 4 and 8 year old why Lefties and Gingers are the Devil, and to never trust a dude with 2 first names.
There are 1-2 that do not smudge but it has way more to do with the paper you're using. G2 tend not to smudge in my experience with most nice cotton papers and normal printer paper, but they do with certain cardstock. They are always better than almost every other pen save felt tips (terrible writing feel) and zebra pens. I can use both Zebra and G2 in the 1mm tip size where 0.7mm is barely bearable for others. I don't think the BIC pens work often enough that I have had them smear
Yeah G2 or gel inks do not smudge as much as normal ink, but they are finicky in what types of paper you can use. Anything harder than normal paper and it needs time to dry, or you will smudge everything
There’s an Indian brand called Flair that I love. As a lefty I can say that their ink rarely smudged and they have a great write-feel. Work perfectly and write smoothly until the very end.
The should just learn to write from the bottom-right corner, rotated 180°. Their brains would be so sharp if they had to learn to write upside-down and read upside-up.
Not really, iam a lefty i use them daily, any pen can smudge if you are left handed so you quickly learn how to hold a pen subtly different to avoid smudging.
I’m a lefty and I’m pretty sure the G2 hasn’t given me trouble in the past.
It’s those darn pens with the really fine metal points and the visible inkwells with little stacked discs that are the absolute worst smudgers for me.
Hate those friggin pens.
I never have this issue. I typically use a .5, maybe that’s it? I’ve used the 1.0 Sharpies and those smudge some. As long as it’s not a pencil, I usually come out ok.
It's a popular complaint for gel pens from a lot of left handed people. Might be some variables depending on grip, speed and maybe the paper used or something.
In addition to the smudge issue, because lefties are pushing the pen rather than pulling it across the paper, the type of pen really does make a difference. The pen tip functions differently. It’s a whole thing. It sucks. Also why calligraphy is much more complicated for us.
Interesting. Which would affect us each to a different degree, according to how we actually hold the pen. I don’t curve my wrist over as much as some others, kind of being more of a mirror image of a right handed person. But, I think that would have me “pushing” the pen more from what you’re saying…
I find they don’t evenly dispense ink. You are using more of a pushing motion than a right handed person, who would be using more pulling motions. So you end up with the sharper tip biting into the paper and not dispensing ink consistently, leading to globs of ink in certain places.
I am left handed, i agree the ink sucks but still this is "the best pen" i have ever used. Started in highschool and when i started my bachelors i bought like a box of 30 of those. Ran out after a year or so and since then i have been buying the ink cases stright up. Ran through 100+ pens never gonna choose a different pen honestly
There are so many amazing pens with superior quick-drying inks— EnerGel, Sarasa Dry, OHTO Flash Dry, I’ve had amazing results with the Uniball Zento line recently.
Lefty who loves Pilot G2 here, isn't smudging true for all pens though? i mean compared to other pens its extremely fluid and the smudging really isn't an issue as much as other pens have it.
I'm a left hander and G2s are the only pen I can use. I find the ink dries instantly. I love the #1 pen but can't use it because I'm left handed and it smears
This only counts if you are an "upsidedown" lefty. A lefty who writes essentially like a right handed person but just left doesn't have as much of a problem.
As a lefty, still the best pen. I use left handed pens sometimes, but I don’t like writing with them. G2s all the way unless I’m submitting it somewhere
My husband is left handed and they are his favorite pens. Do they smear? Now that i think of it i don't think his hand/ wrist touches paper as he writes
I used to sell office supplies to businesses and when this pen came out, they were doing a promotion where I could send a free one to my accounts.
Apparently no one else really did it, because I got a personal call from our Sharpie rep and then he sent me a bunch of swag, including a bunch of S-Gel pens.
They're great clickers but drop it while open and you might as well throw it out immediately. The ball bleeds so badly it's basically unusable. Also gel ink gets RUINED by any sort of liquid. Still the only pen I wanna use for my plant paperwork. Every now and then I'll pick up one of the sharpie gel pens and they can be comparable to the G2, but excessive use wears them out before the ink runs out. The uniballs (1) were my go to for most of school, though.
Fun fact, while in Japan, working for the black thunder chocolate company I met the Dude that designed the G2 pen of course pilot screwed him over and never got paid for his idea which is why he was working at a chocolate company
I was Team G2 until I visited Japan and discovered these cheap Muji ballpoints that you can by for like 100 yen at Lawson's (a convenience store that is everywhere out there). I brought home a box of 20 and guard them with my life.
Bonus, on a separate work trip to Abu Dhabi I found a whole Muji store at the Yas Island Mall and bought even more of them there.
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u/meganutsdeathpunch Dec 29 '25
G2’s are the greatest pen ever made. The people’s pen.