Are Ballpoints Better Than Rollerballs, Or The Opposite?

[Flippy]

Hi, all!

 

Hence my name, I'm very into rollerballs, but also into fountain pens. Since my wallet fits more money for rollerballs and ballpoints, I stumbled upon a question: Which is better? I was going for a Hemisphere, and I decided between the ballpoint or the rollerball.

 

What is really better, a rollerball or a ballpoint? I look forward to hearing your opinions.

 

Thanks

Edited February 7, 2016 by CaiptainRollerball

[FeuBleu]

Rollerballs. Especially if you like the smoothy mcsmoothness of the fountain pen.

 

http://www.penheaven.co.uk/blog/rollerball-pens-vs-ballpoint-pens/

[RMN]

Personally: given the choice: BP with a gel refill.

 

I have seen too many RBs which wrote uneven, blotchy and had hard starts.

 

 

D.ick

[usk15]

I will go for ballpoints with G2 refills (Parker type) and gel pens, particularly that ones with the click action.

[the_gasman]

BP with a gel refill.

 

Would that be easily available for, say, the Lamy 2000 ball-point pen?

If so, that would swing my intended purchase.

 

Cheers,

David.

[usk15]

 

Would that be easily available for, say, the Lamy 2000 ball-point pen?

If so, that would swing my intended purchase.

 

Monteverde M16 refills or Pilot G2 refills with a home-made spacer.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/131633-lamy-2000-rb-pilot-g2-refills/

[The Blue Knight]

I'm not a fan of higher end ball points and rollerballs as essentially your paying for the aesthetic and ergonomic qualities not an improved writing experience. You can easily make a Pilot G2 write like a Mont Blanc if you have Mont Blanc refill to hand.

 

I have fairly utilitarian preferences towards these sorts of pens I Like the Parker Jotter ball point. My favorite rollerball is the refillable version of the Stabilo Bionic which goes for about £5, it writes very smoothly and is ergonomically sound.

[dogpoet]

Which is better depends solely on what you want the pen for, and why you want it. My own feeling is that, on balance, a ballpoint's virtues outweigh a rollerball's. That said, I am speaking as somebody who is only currently using three rollerballs, two of which run off fountain pen cartridges, and one of which contains a fibretip refill, rather than a rollerball refill. This all ties in to my big issue with rollerballs, which is that they just don't last: they empty out even faster than a gel pen. A ballpoint, on the other hand, lasts an absurdly long time, and that more than makes up for the fact that the ink is a bit less vibrant.

[Mr. Pink]

What's a "Ball Point"?

[pajaro]

I like the esthetic qualities of a few of the higher end ballpoints, and I use them with pleasure. I have been doing so for about forty years. I prefer the ballpoints that I use, because they tend to not be slick as rollerballs are.

 

I use my ballpoints to jot down a collection of mindless trendy sayings for later enjoyment.

[I like mango cheesecake]

Rollerballs are way better than ballpoints IMO

 

The Monteverde ones are actually pretty good substitutes for other pen manufactures

[Flippy]

Thank you for your help guys!

 

That was helpful and due to your information, I will be buying a ballpoint with a gel refill,

 

I was wondering, don't gel refills explode in heat?

[thomasrhee]

FP > Fibertip > RB > BP. At least for me. But the whole RB vs BP debate really boils down to the particular refill in question.

[Zookie]

I use Avant pens with gel refills of the same name. They are sold by Staples here in the US, but are made in Korea. Great pens, very smooth writers, and don't cost much. Sorry, but I don't know the name of the manufacturer.

[TheRealMikeDr]

I too have a number of pens that came with ballpoints in them - which I switched out for capless gel refills.

 

Specifically I have a Montblanc Meisterstuck with a Monteverde gel refill which writes very nicely and feels awesome in my hand. Is it any better than a $2 Pilot G2 Gel pen - not in function - no. But in form it's 100% better!!

 

I also have a Pelikan Souveran K800 pen which is beautiful and takes the standard "Parker G2" style refill - which is a capless gel right now and it writes great!

 

I think the capless Gel refills are great and even better when they're in a very nice pen.

 

Enjoy!!

[rofl]

http://blog.tigerpens.co.uk/ballpoint-rollerball-or-gel-which-pen-is-best-for-you/

 

Quite a good comparison between the two.

[SmurfK]

I think it's more of personal preference. If you need to write on napkins, toilet paper, whatever, and you also need to leave your pen uncapped for long periods of time, and make use correction paste, you can't beat a ballpoint.

And an quick example. If i would manage an office where i would need to provide pens for people to fill out forms or sign documents, i would definitely make ballpoint pens available for them, just because they can be more reliable in these kind of random situations. People will not care too much about putting the cap on them, they might fill their forms on bad surfaces or bad paper, i would want something that works good in harsh conditions.

 

For my personal notes, for example, i use rollerball and fountain pen, simply because i know that i'll always have my notebook around, and i won't depend on writing surface or the paper. Anyway, i always have a ballpoint in my backpack, just in case.

 

I personally don't see any reason to spend a lot of money on expensive rollerballs and ballpoint pens, if they might be an financial effort. You can find plastic, cheap ones, with great grips, and pretty good ink at around $2. You are mostly paying for the aspect, as the writing parts remains the same. As some other people said, your $2 Pilot, loaded with an Mont Blanc refill, will write exactly the same as an $600 Mont Blanc rollerball pen.