Call me old-fashioned, I guess. When I find something that works, I stick with it. For a very, very long time.
The best pen I've ever used was a stainless steel Parker Jotter ballpoint pen. It had two problems. First, genuine Parker refills are expensive, and non-Parker refills are lousy. Second, people borrow it and don't return it, and it's too expensive to give away like that.
The second best pen I've ever used was a Hello Kitty ballpoint pen I borrowed from my daughter and never returned. Its only problem? Hello Kitty merchandise goes in and out of style, and I couldn't find a replacement when mine finally ran out of ink.
The third best pen I've ever used was, and is, a Pilot Better ballpoint pen that my daughter turned me on to after I ran her (I mean my) Hello Kitty pen out of ink. It always writes instantly (no need to doodle swirls in the margin to get the tip warmed up). The ink doesn't ball up or smear, it doesn't soak through paper (even the thin paper that Bibles are printed on), it doesn't fade over time, and it goes precisely where you want it and nowhere else.
The Pilot Better ballpoint pen comes in a capped version and a retractable version, with a choice of medium (1.0 mm) or fine (0.7 mm) point, and three different colors of ink. It has a textured grip, but not a rubber grip. I've tried several pens with rubber grips, and haven't liked any of them, so the Pilot's lack of a rubber grip doesn't bother me.
The Pilot Better Retractable ballpoint pen is cheap, and therefore I don't mind people borrowing mine and not returning it. I can buy a box of a dozen for about the same price as two Parker stainless steel pens.
Finally, it's not made in China; it's made in Japan. That's where Hello Kitty comes from.
Note: This is not a paid endorsement. Parker, Hello Kitty and Pilot don't know I'm writing this, and they're not paying me a single quatloo for my words. See my post, Blogging for Dollars, for my position on endorsements.
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