Ballpoint refills

[ApplemanIINotActive]

I wish I could use the Uni Ball 207 refill in something cool

 

 

With a little trim it can be used in Sheaffer rollerballs and think rollerballs.

[ApplemanIINotActive]

I have several ballpoint pens that use a Parker type refill. I have been having trouble lately finding Parker brand refills that write smoothly. Several years ago Parker discontinued a ballpoint line called "Golden Touch." I found these to be the best Parker type refills at the time.

 

Does anyone know of a different brand that performs better than the latest Parkers?

 

Also are there any tricks to improve a ballpoint refill performance?

 

 

Try taking the refill out of Staples Clik brand of pens. Lots of colors and parker style refill.

[gregoron]

Try a Cross broad point.

 

Does anyone know who sells a good "Type E" ballpoint refill, especially a nice blue color or at least a dark black? The refill I have is such a grayish black. I love the pen (It's a Sensa Cloud 9 pen), but I hate the ink in it. Thanks.

 

[gregoron]

I'm intrigued by these refills. How do they perform when soaked with water? Parker gel refills tend to get washed away.

 

I'm a fan of the Visconti gel ballpoint refills. They're the only gel refills I've liked. They're Parker style.

 

[Betty]

Hi JetPens!

 

I just ordered a gel timeline from you guys. Can't wait to get it. Once I get it, I can possibly play around with it and see what pens the refill will fit. But of course, 95% of my ballpoint and gel pens are Japanese ones that you guys have in stock already. LOL.

 

Hi Betty!

 

I just saw your order today too w/ the Gel Timeline. Nice to see you on the forums!

 

Thanks for playing around with the refill, let us know if you get any insights!

 

Hey JetPens! Got time timeline today! I LOVE it a lot, especially the pretty purple/pen color!!! Anyway, I got to play with the refills (I brought both a ballpoint and gel ink refill even though I only got the gel pen). Good news! The ballpoint refill fits into the gel timeline, even though the tinyest point (less than 1mm) remains when you twist close the pen. but you can easily push it in with your finger.

 

The ballpoint refill also fits the "Pilot Center of Gravity" or "Pilot G-Spec" ballpoint pens, but not the gel refill. This is excellent for me because I can finally use a pretty blue in the G-Spec pens. Before, they only had black refills for this pen. If I wanted black, I would buy the G-Spec refills instead because it's cheaper and still writes extremely dark.

 

The blue ballpoint refill color is the same as that of the single uni-Jetstream pens. They're both so pretty. The refills look like Parker refills, but I can't confirm because I don't have their pens.

 

The refills are shorter than the Pilot G-2 refills, so no luck there.

[Sapphire]

The great thing about the Fisher Space Pen refills is that they are under pressure, so the ink does not "move around" in the shaft. I can't tell you how many times I've had perfectly good refills become unusuable because the sticky ballpoint ink shifted (perhaps due to temperature or air travel). I keep a little Fisher Space Pen bullet in my laptop bag--assured writing anywhere, anytime.

 

I didn't know that standard Fisher refills are compatible with Parker, though--VERY nice to know--thanks!

 

There's a little converter thingy that comes with the refill.

[gmorgan]

Thanks.. it is refreshing to see some manufacturers giving us better ballpen technology. I tried some regular Scmidt Cross type

refills and they wrote worst than the Cross refills...I was surprised as the Cross refill ink system must date back to the 60's or 70's.

Only, briefly in 2001 did I have some Cross refills that wrote quick and smoothly; they seemed to be an anomoly.

 

I'd certaintly like to try these new Schmidts in any style. I continue to use the regular Parker refills as the ink (while maybe not the

most durable) seems to be Papermate ink; with some work or technology put into it so it writes smooth and puts ink on the paper.

 

Please give some feedback if you buy these refills. I'm very interested in what kind of ink this is. Though Schmidt produces here in Germany, I haven't found a shop that sells their original refills. They probably have an arrangement with the pen manufacturers that they can sell their relabled ones. "Passion4Pens" is the only webshop I have found which carries the easyflow 9000 (http://www.passion4pens.com/site/735447/product/R148) - and they are located in the U.S.

 

BTW, I'm not affiliated with Schmidt or Passion4Pens in any way.

 

Any feedback on the easyflow 9000? Is it a traditional ballpoint or gel? What's it's consistency?

[Deirdre]

I'm intrigued by these refills. How do they perform when soaked with water? Parker gel refills tend to get washed away.

Actually, they're probably made in the same factory as Parker's, so the performance is quite probably the same. I haven't had occasion to try since you asked.

[Jim Holzemer]

I have several ballpoint pens that use a Parker type refill. I have been having trouble lately finding Parker brand refills that write smoothly. Several years ago Parker discontinued a ballpoint line called "Golden Touch." I found these to be the best Parker type refills at the time.

 

Does anyone know of a different brand that performs better than the latest Parkers?

 

Also are there any tricks to improve a ballpoint refill performance?

Hello Folks! Just received a Schmidt Easy Flow 9000 and am quite impressed. It combines the best of ball/roller performance. It is remarkably close to the Uni Jetstream as far as ease of flow/quick drying that is quite nice to be sure. It is in Parker format that makes it very versatile. Well worth a look. Hopefully they'll come out w/ a fine point!

[gregoron]

I'm intrigued by these refills. How do they perform when soaked with water? Parker gel refills tend to get washed away.

Actually, they're probably made in the same factory as Parker's, so the performance is quite probably the same. I haven't had occasion to try since you asked.

 

In that case, they'll wash off with water as my experience with the blue Parker gel refills. The black ones are more water resistant.

 

[quattro98]

The Schmidt 9000 Easy Flow refill is very similar to a Uniball Jetstream, but I like it more than the Jetstream because it has a little bit more friction which prevents the very slippery feeling of the Jetstream. It doesn't run at all when it gets wet, but the line it makes looks like a very dark ballpoint line instead of the darker line made by a rollerball, gel, or fountain pen. I haven't used one up yet, but supposedly they last as long as ballpoint refills which would be a big improvement over gel refills.

 

The refills are usually expensive, around $6 each in the US, but Levenger sells them as their Easy Flow refill which costs $6 for 2 or $16 for 6. My local Macys has a Levenger store-in-store which carries the 2 packs.

[rsx]

I just found these Easy Flow 9000 refills from Yafa in the USA at $21 for 6. They write pretty well, somewhat like the Uniball Jetstream or Pilot Dr. Grip ballpoint. Good point is that it is the only refill of this type for Parker-style pens. Bad point is that the refill is not as smooth as it should be. It writes rough or 'jerky' on any upward stroke. Really weird, but all six refills do the same so it is some defect in the design or manufacture.

 

Anyone else have this experience?

 

The Schmidt 9000 Easy Flow refill is very similar to a Uniball Jetstream, but I like it more than the Jetstream because it has a little bit more friction which prevents the very slippery feeling of the Jetstream. It doesn't run at all when it gets wet, but the line it makes looks like a very dark ballpoint line instead of the darker line made by a rollerball, gel, or fountain pen. I haven't used one up yet, but supposedly they last as long as ballpoint refills which would be a big improvement over gel refills.

 

The refills are usually expensive, around $6 each in the US, but Levenger sells them as their Easy Flow refill which costs $6 for 2 or $16 for 6. My local Macys has a Levenger store-in-store which carries the 2 packs.

 

[brianlg]

sorry to bump such an old thread, but I need help.

 

I have been searching for a nice rollerball pen, and have come up with some options where I am close to buying one.

However, I came across a beautiful ballpoint pen that I would love to own. I dislike ballpoints, and would prefer a rb, so my question is..

 

How would adding a gel refill to a ballpoint change the way it writes? Would it emulate a rollerball with the gel? Would there be any difference between the bp and an rb at this point? or should I stick with buying a rollerball

[RLTodd]

Several make Parker "Jotter" style refils that are Gel for the rollerball experience in a Parker refill type ball point pen.

 

I have one Parker Gel refill that leaked out the clear stuff above the ink. What a mess. Just thought I would add that because someone told me a couple of years ago how great the Parker Brand gel refills were. GRRRRRR...

[Papermate]

Schmidt 9000... Still about the best Parker-style BP refill. Maybe someday other companies will catch-up with the new ink technologies.

[macgee]

Does anyone know if Parker still makes .5mm gel refills? I can only find .7mm

[macgee]

sorry to bump such an old thread, but I need help.

 

I have been searching for a nice rollerball pen, and have come up with some options where I am close to buying one.

However, I came across a beautiful ballpoint pen that I would love to own. I dislike ballpoints, and would prefer a rb, so my question is..

 

How would adding a gel refill to a ballpoint change the way it writes? Would it emulate a rollerball with the gel? Would there be any difference between the bp and an rb at this point? or should I stick with buying a rollerball

 

In my opinion adding a gel is a great solution over a typical ballpoint and yes it greatly changes the way it writes for the better. There's several makers of gel's and my current two favorites are Cross .7mm and pilot G2 .5mm. Cross doesn't make a .5mm.

 

Pilot gels fit a lot of ball point pens but not all. See graph below.

 

Gels have great flow, control and dries quickly but they don't last long. There is also the Pilot Precise V5 (same sz as G2) which I think is a rolling ball but I'm using it everyday in my Aurora Hastil & in a Dunhill and I'm loving it; it's very precise and great for filling out forms and small note work. These are easy to find and cheap refills but for me work great compared to a lot of the other more expensive & exotic refills . All these are way better than the ball points that we grew up with and a big improvement so I highly recommend giving it a try.

 

The Cross .7mm Gel is very nice, I have them in my Rotring 600 rollerball and Cross Townsend rollerball pens. The black is quite vibrant compared to the .5 pilot gels but it's a little too thick lined (wet but dries quickly) for my type of use but I would think most would be very happy with it. I'm a lefty and do a lot of small print work so the Precise V5 works better me but I do prefer the vibrant black inkof the cross but that's probably just because its .7 (more ink) over .5

 

You just need to know the correct paring of pens you like and type of refill you want. I agree with the above post, I also recently tried parker .7 refills with my rollerball pens and I much preferred the Cross Gel refills, they were smoother. I have a Rotring 600 ballpoint and Waldmann Tango that only take parker style refills, I quickly sold them.

 

Hope this helps

Edited May 14, 2013 by macgee

[rminj]

sorry to bump such an old thread, but I need help.

I have been searching for a nice rollerball pen, and have come up with some options where I am close to buying one.

However, I came across a beautiful ballpoint pen that I would love to own. I dislike ballpoints, and would prefer a rb, so my question is..

How would adding a gel refill to a ballpoint change the way it writes? Would it emulate a rollerball with the gel? Would there be any difference between the bp and an rb at this point? or should I stick with buying a rollerball

 

This thread deserves to be bumped..

 

You didn't specify what type of ballpoint you found...there are a lot of refill options out there. Some of the gel refills

are very similiar to rollerballs.

 

For Parker style BP refills the Parker Gels and Schmidt Easyflow 9000 are popular. The Parker Gel would be closer

to a rollerball experience..that don't offer many point sizes though. The Easyflow 9000 is more like a very free flowing regular ballpoint..many have compared it to a gel or rollerball; but when the ink dries it looks more like ballpoint writing. Again , no point sizes offered with the Easyflow.

 

I've been writing with the blue Easyflow 9000.. The black is nice also. I've settled on it mainly because the it has good permanence and puts a good amount of ink on the paper with little drag.. I really like the Parker blue gel better but it's water washable.

[MYU]

Schmidt refills have been a kind of "mixed bag" experience for me. I had bought one of their "capless" rollerball refills (the "Superbowl") and while it looked to be great in the beginning, I eventually discovered that they dry out rather quickly. Not only that, even when sealed! I had bought a pack of 12 that came in a plastic box, all with their tip covers in place. But after two years, I discovered that they all dried out (I had made use of only 3 by the time I discovered this). Rather shocking, considering how they were supposedly "sealed." I contacted the Schmidt corporation about this, and got no help whatsoever. Lost my business, I can tell you that.

 

I find that the Pilot G2 does very well for long term writing. To me it's almost the perfect refill, for price/performance ratio. Also, I had a blister pack of 2 G2 refills that sat for 3 years, but despite all the time wrote perfectly when inserted into a pen.

 

If anybody else has some long term experience with "gel" type refills, please post about it here.

Edited May 14, 2013 by MYU

[macgee]

Schmidt refills have been a kind of "mixed bag" experience for me. I had bought one of their "capless" rollerball refills (the "Superbowl") and while it looked to be great in the beginning, I eventually discovered that they dry out rather quickly. Not only that, even when sealed! I had bought a pack of 12 that came in a plastic box, all with their tip covers in place. But after two years, I discovered that they all dried out (I had made use of only 3 by the time I discovered this). Rather shocking, considering how they were supposedly "sealed." I contacted the Schmidt corporation about this, and got no help whatsoever. Lost my business, I can tell you that.

 

I find that the Pilot G2 does very well for long term writing. To me it's almost the perfect refill, for price/performance ratio. Also, I had a blister pack of 2 G2 refills that sat for 3 years, but despite all the time wrote perfectly when inserted into a pen.

 

If anybody else has some long term experience with "gel" type refills, please post about it here.

MYU,

 

If you like the G2, I suggest trying the Pilot Precise V5 or V7 (.5mm & .7mm) rolling ball refills. There similar to the G2 but I found them a little smoother and more precise (no pun intended). The G2 may be better than the V5 if your hard on your tips. Someone also recently suggest to me to also try out the Pilot P-500 which is the gel equivalent of the V5 and have yet to do so.

The only problem I find with the Pilots is the blue color, it's too light blue for my taste; I prefer a darker, deeper blue.

 

There both great refills for my pens.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Precise-Retractable-Rolling-77273/dp/B001TQDI80/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61hf6XiUrVL._SL1472_.jpg