Bic – Round Stic Xtra Life (ballpoint): The Bic felt like a standard, uninspired office pen. It was uncomfortable to hold, required a decent amount of pressure to write with, and the ink often felt dry and uneven. Like a popular celebrity, the Pilot- G2 inspires polarized opinions. People seem to either love or hate the G2 — and we have our suspicions that some hate it just because it’s so well-loved! After the focus group, we tested our worst offender and best pens on cheaper notebook and scratch paper, to see how they’d act. We found the results to be just about what we expected; lesser-quality pens wrote even more poorly on cheap paper, and good quality pens wrote about the same, save for a slightly less-smooth flow. The best overall: Pilot – G2

Papermate InkJoy 1.0 mm Medium Tip Stylus Ball Pen - Black Papermate InkJoy 1.0 mm Medium Tip Stylus Ball Pen - Black

uni-ball – Vision & Vision Elite (rollerball): Both uni-ball’s Vision and Vision Elite feathered, bled and smudged. The Vision also failed to deliver a smooth flow or a uniform line. The bottom line We started by rounding up a group of designers at our content marketing agency in San Diego, and gave them each a few pens and a Moleskine notebook to call their own. In the weeks leading up to our formal focus group testing, they were encouraged to use the pens daily, whether it be for journaling, making grocery lists, signing cards or sketching out plans for the next photoshoot. Then, we asked them to join us in a focus group, where they wrote assigned sentences (using every letter of the alphabet). Then, they had “free time” to use the pen however they pleased. After this process was complete, they filled out a survey about the experience using each pen.

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Ink flow: You want a pen that creates a clean, consistent line. It shouldn’t skip, bleed through the paper, or feather out into more tiny lines. Similarly, the ink should come out easily, requiring you to put very little pressure on the pen.

InkJoy Ballpoint Pen, Assorted Colors, 8-Count Paper Mate InkJoy Ballpoint Pen, Assorted Colors, 8-Count

It should be noted that while some of our testers used the pens to freehand draw or doodle, we did not test pens that were created explicitly for drawing purposes. (That’s another review for another time!) Compare the best pens Pen It’s available in four sizes (.38 mm, .5 mm, .7 mm and 1.0 mm) and comes with a comfort grip. (Though, many pen enthusiasts will tell you that these included rubber grips don’t necessarily add to the comfort.) Pilot – Precise V5 (ballpoint): Pilot, the makers of our best pen overall, also did a good job with the V5. Our testers loved the way this pen writes, and appreciated its uniform and even ink flow. It didn’t bleed or feather, and it required only a small amount of pressure to write. Our only gripe with the V5? It doesn’t have much of a grip, which can make it hard to hold. Pens we don’t recommend Here at Stapleswe are proud to supply a range of Writing Supplies, including Gel Pens, Ballpoint Pens, Rollerball Pensand more. Key Information:A pen can seem like a deceptively simple product, but there’s a lot that goes into making one great. Ask any pen aficionado and they can wax poetic about nibs and ink flow for hours. However, for the purposes of the everyday pen user, there are only a few things you need to keep in mind: They found that the pen didn’t bleed or feather, and it didn’t smudge either. They thought the pen’s grip was solid and comfortable, which led to nice, uniform lines. The one minor discrepancy with the Paper Mate was that each new pen requires a bit of “warming up” the first time around before it stops skipping and starts writing smoothly. At most retailers, the InkJoy will cost you well under a dollar per pen. Other finalists we tested Pens we recommend But while there are a number of youthful-looking gel pens on the market (like the Gelly Roll we tested), there are also plenty of quality, businesslike pens that you may not know use gel ink. Gel ink is simply pigment in water-based gel. If you’re looking for strong colors and sharp, featherless lines, then a gel pen is probably a great choice for you. Those who aim to be more eco-friendly will like that the Onyx is made from 80 percent post-consumer recycled electronics — a fact uni-ball is proud of, as evidenced by the “eco” logo on each pen. uni-ball says that their Onyx ink also protects against “water, fading and fraud.” However, we didn’t test for this. The best ballpoint: Paper Mate – InkJoy