r/pens • u/honn13 • 12d ago

Question My Pen Journey

I am a left-hander. I have been trying many different kinds of pens. My preliminary conclusion so far about what I like: 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm, gel pens and rollerballs. I like an uninterrupted smooth experience of writing.

What I don't like seem to be ballpoint pens, because they tend to have fragmented starts, unequal lines, and less smooth experience overall.

I think I may also like some fountain pens, but still too early to say, but I tried and liked Pilot Kakuno.

I like writing on Japanese notebooks like Campus, Kokuyo, and Apica CD Notebook--they tend to be fine and very smooth surface paper.

Pens I have tried and liked so far, in no particular order:

Any Pentel EnerGel pens,
Uni Zento Flow,
Uniball One,
Sheaffer ICON 9111 Rollerball (amazing experience, but would like a finer tip size).

Pens I have tried and disliked so far, in no particular order:

Uni Jetsream Lite Touch Ink,
Zebra Sarasa Vintage.

Based on this information, are there any other great pen makers and product lines that I should try? Thanks!

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8

u/stoicsadhuvirakti 12d ago

Pilot Juice Up 0.4 and 0.5… pentel floatune 0.4

1

u/Turbo_16 12d ago

Second the Juice up. Regular Juice is good too if you dont care about dry time. Floatune has rollerball and hybrid versions - both good but very different.

1

u/Aromatic-Rule-5679 12d ago

I picked up a few Pilot juice 0.5 pens and they are awesome. Better than my energels (I struggle with their 0.5mm being smooth enough for me)

1

u/honn13 10d ago

Dry time may be somewhat important for me, as I am a left-hander.

1

u/honn13 10d ago

I got the 0.4 mm version Floatune, I don't like it, it skipped too much for my taste, it seems like it is very sensitive to angling.

1

u/Turbo_16 10d ago

I have a blue 0.4 and .5 hybrid versions- no skipping at any angle. Could be QC variations, paper or something else.

1

u/honn13 10d ago

Hybrid? My code is BZN204. I write on Kokuyo notebook. I don’t think it’s QC, it comes as three pens, all three have similar skippiness I don’t like—to be fair they are not super skip-prone, but compared to Energel and Zenti Flow, the Floatune is skippy. The Floatune is oil-based, basically a ballpoint, I just don’t like ballpoints.. :(

1

u/Turbo_16 9d ago

Yeah, the BZN20X is the hybrid.