Hi my name is bj and I am an addict…

I have been looking for the perfect pen for a long time and have spend far far too much money trying to find the one true pen. I have come to the sad conclusion that I can’t get everything in one package, and am willing to settle for two (an edc fisher space pen) and a desk/bag pen.

I have had the same fisher bullet loaded with a fine black refill for over 25 years. I love the form factor, the toughness (25 years, many trips through the washer, almost as many through the dryer), writing outside in minus 30, on random construction scraps, etc. However, I don’t like the way it writes, both the “feel” and the line thickness. It is all function and no form. My most common bag pen is a Rotring rollerball loaded with a 0.5 mm gel refill.

My journey included a lengthy obsession with mechanical pencils, mostly 0.3mm but I have concluded I like ink better. For a desk/bag pen, I love fine line needle points and really good roller balls and gel inks. The main issue is that the decent writing ones come is crappy plastic bodies. Why the Japanese make the most amazing refills and yet so totally suck at pen bodies continues to amaze and baffle me (and yes, sigh, I am a foreign pen/stationary store junkie too). For me, a “real” pen has to have a metal body, and a knurled grip. I know all about Rotrings, and have all of them except the 800 (was rather amusing to see my wife’s reaction to the explanation as to why I did not want my step son borrowing my Rotring rollerball… “you spent how much on an old pen”). Now she just rolls her eye and sighs, when packages arrive from Japan, or eastern Europe.

I also have larger hands and carpal tunnel, and prefer a slightly larger grip. The Rotring 600 is great except for the slightly too thin grip. The Ohto NBP-507R Promecha Needle Point ticks some of the boxes but it needs to be more substantial. Clicky pens are fine but the cannot be long throw. I don’t have an issue with capped pens (slightly ODC remember, have not lost my bullet in over 25 years). I also like the hex bodies of the Rotrings.

If the Zebra F-701 bulked up, had a love child with a Rotring 600,with the Rotring knurling, and took 0.38 gel ink needle point refills, my quest might end.

Any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated.