When you start to dig into pens just a little bit you’ll see that they are separated ink a few major varieties based on the type of ink they use. These categories are blurry and ultimately not very well defined, but it’s helpful to know the basics about them so you have some idea of what you are buying. This guide will run through the major types of inks in order to help you get a better understanding of the major types of pens, how they write, why you might prefer one over the others, and the best uses for each.
Don’t miss our Pen Refills Guide so you can learn about the types of refills these inks go into.
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The Pilot Varsity is a disposable fountain pen. As the name implies, it’s aimed at students, but it really is an excellent all-round affordable fountain pen.
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Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods, Norse Mythology, The Graveyard Book, and many other titles is a dedicated fountain pen user. He’s talked publicly about his love of fountain pens many times, so with some research it wasn’t too hard to figure out what he’s been using over the years. He famously handwrites the first draft of his books using a fountain pen and then later edits them.
Gaiman, in 2012, mentioned that he has had between 40 and 60 pens, so this list will not be in any way complete but we’ll cover the pens he has talked about publicly.
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The Pilot BLGS is a family of rollerball refills that are most commonly seen in the Pilot Timeline pens. These looks like short Pilot G2-style refills and are sold in 0.5 mm — the BLGS-5 — and 0.7 mm — the BLGS-7 — sizes. There is no 1.0 mm size available.
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If you have been learning about fountain pens and have dug deep enough to get into the world of specialty nibs, perhaps you have come across the term “music nib.” After some immediate confusion perhaps you took a guess and figured out it’s a nib for writing musical notes… or is it a nib that produces wonderful music as you write? Just kidding — it’s definitely the former — but what does that mean in practice? What is a music nib and why might you want to own one?
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The Pilot Legno is a wood body pen with a curvy, comfortable design. It’s made of maple wood and uses Pilot’s popular BRF series of refills, just like the Dr. Grip pens. The Legno is often compared to the fancier, and only slightly more expensive, Pilot S20.
If you are shopping for this pen, make sure you get the “Pilot Legno Ballpoint” or shop by the model number, BLE-1SK, as Pilot Japan calls a few different pens the Legno (like the high-end Pilot Legno 89S).
The Acroball 4 is a multi-pen from Pilot that uses Acro hybrid ink. This is a highly regarded multi-pen that is known for its excellent ink and relatively slim body. Like the other Acroball pens it has a “sneaker grip” which has a high-traction sneaker-like pattern that is very comfortable to hold.
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The Pilot Timeline is the gel version of the Pilot Ageless ballpoint pen. It’s a double-knock pen that comes handsomely presented in a cylindrical carrying case.
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This is the Japanese version of the Pilot Frixion Ball Clicker,which is the United States variant of the pen.
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The Pilot Ageless is a retractable pen with a double-knock mechanism and a high-end design that makes it quite a desirable pen. It’s sold under a few different names, like Ageless Future and Ageless Present, but they are the same pen. There is also the Ageless Mosaic, but opinions different on if that’s separate model or just another colorway (it has a mosaic, weave pattern).
We have consolidated all the Pilot Ageless pens here to avoid confusion.
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Picking the best pen is never an easy task, but one thing is clear: there is a big difference between a pen that you will use for a few minutes here and there and one that has to be used for sustained periods of time. Just like when you are running and marathon shoes are different from sprinting shoes, pens for writing a lot tend to be very different than other pens.
The thing with pens though, is that there is no category of pens for extended time periods or distance, so we need to come to our own conclusions.
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The Pilot V7 Grip Hi-Tecpoint is a needle-tip rollerball pen with a cap. The V7 is the 0.7 mm medium size of this pen. This pen is sold in a non-grip version in the United States as the Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint
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Pilot’s HERFS-10 is a set of eraser refills that sells in Japan for 100 JPY. In Japan the set is known as the Sharp rubber S.
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The Pilot BRF-25-B-B is a 1.2 mm super thick ballpoint refill. This refill is generally not available in the US but can be ordered from Japan using Ebay, or similar service.
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The Pilot BRF-25-BB-B is a ballpoint refill. This refill is generally not available in the US but can be ordered from Japan using Ebay, or similar service.
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