Why do people use Ballpoint pens ?

[LuckyKate]

I love my fountain pens! But when I am taking roll, then teaching three classes in a row, which is an out-of-body experience allowing zero contemplation of my treasured pens, and then wake up from six hours immersed in students, I don't want it to dawn on me that my pen has vanished into the hands of someone I don't even remember borrowed it. I keep a collection of cheap pens on the desk at the beginning of the semester. By the end of the month they are gone. That's what ballpoint pens are for: to vanish without a single regret.

[TSherbs]

 

Here u are ... :-)

 

 

Ha! Love it. The stubby E.A.S.T pen is cute.

[chaik76]

I haven't read all of this thread, so this might have been mentioned before.

 

Filling out forms. I just had a bucketload of school forms to fill out for my children and they will bring home tons more tomorrow after their first day. I actually tried using a fountain pen, but it just feathers out, and will make it hard for the teachers to read. Switched back to my Bic Cristal for those.

[Dorf]

Because you can lend most ballpoints to someone without caring whether they drop it on the marble floor, lose it, yank on the cap, or knaw on the end.Because ballpoints don't have to be held "exactly so" for writing.Because sometimes a note on a post-it-note to call back doesn't require flowing cursive.Because you don't have to think about whether that note in your pocket is written with Noodlers during a rainstorm.And because there will always be some folks that care more about the ends than the means.I see it as a spectrum:Highest Convenience ----------------------------------------> Highest Writing "Ritual"Ballpoints -> Rollerballs -> Cartridge FP -> Converter FP -> Other FP -> Dip Pens

Well said!

[Psaartje]

Once upon a time I learned to use a dip pen lefthanded. Having become a copywriter, a fountain pen really makes an awful mess. So I carry Pelikan Kugelschreibers in each and every pocket.

 

[SSD]

Airplanes. Yes, you can travel with a fully inked fountain pen, but one disaster with an inked pen on an airplane will really make you cautious.

 

Ball points were in part created with airplane travel (or really, fighter planes) in mind.

 

And the ubiquity of cheap pens, carbon forms, and the increasing de-emphasis on learning cursive in U.S. schools also helped.

[Zookie]

I go through a lot of BIC Crystal pens in med. black. They're cheap and very good.

[Studio97]

Montblanc ballpoints are incredible.

I have three of them and only use broadpoint refills in them. One in striped sterling silver older model, one black classic and a burgandy nobless oblige.

[Aquaria]

 

I would recommend for you to try these hybrid ballpoint refills: Schmidt easyFlow 9000, Jetstream and InkJoy, extremely smooth ballpoint refills!

 

I've tried them all, and they still aren't as smooth as a FP.

 

I use Jetstreams for my knockabout BPs for writing checks, signing legal/medical documents and taking some college tests on cheap paper. But my hand hurts like mad from using any of them, some immediately, if it's not a Jetstream or Signo. Even if it's one of those, my hand will hurt after only 5 minutes.

 

The reason I came back to FPs was the hand pain issue. Having excruciating pain when writing is devastating to someone like me, who loves writing extensively by hand (stories, journaling, letters, class notes, etc.). Even good and expensive BPs cause the pain. They aren't the same as FPs in keeping me pain-free, and that's why I use BPs only sparingly for that reason.

 

I hope no one here ever has to go through surviving a hand injury or arthritis and knowing the all too well in how differently the two types of pens feel in the hand when writing with them. Because they are completely different.

[flatline]

 

I've tried them all, and they still aren't as smooth as a FP.

 

I use Jetstreams for my knockabout BPs for writing checks, signing legal/medical documents and taking some college tests on cheap paper. But my hand hurts like mad from using any of them, some immediately, if it's not a Jetstream or Signo. Even if it's one of those, my hand will hurt after only 5 minutes.

 

The reason I came back to FPs was the hand pain issue. Having excruciating pain when writing is devastating to someone like me, who loves writing extensively by hand (stories, journaling, letters, class notes, etc.). Even good and expensive BPs cause the pain. They aren't the same as FPs in keeping me pain-free, and that's why I use BPs only sparingly for that reason.

 

I hope no one here ever has to go through surviving a hand injury or arthritis and knowing the all too well in how differently the two types of pens feel in the hand when writing with them. Because they are completely different.

 

If your hand is getting tired because you're applying pressure to write, then something else is wrong. Modern gels and rollerball pens take almost no pressure to write. Ballpoints with hybrid ink are the same. The weight of the pen itself should be sufficient to write.

 

Perhaps the way you hold your pen is incompatible with the balance of your pen?

 

--flatline

[pajaro]

My Pelikan K200 pen with Pelikan or Jotter refill requires no more pressure to write than my M200 fountain pen. I like using this clicker pen when out of the house. It's easy to use. My Cross Century also doesn't take pressure to write. I think the "press down hard" concept is not factual. Way overblown.

[bemon]

Sometimes I just feel like it. Still love the feel of a Cross and especially Montblanc ballpoint.

[Shaggy]

I write with a lot of Uniball Signo gel pens (I particularly like the 207 BLX series, with off-black colors) and with a Fisher space pen refill in a Sensa pen. Sometimes I need to write at odd angles, like upside down, and sometimes a fountain pen is just too inconvenient.

[JotterAddict62]

I always have two Fp's with me and one or two Jotters at all times. All pens are Parkers.

At this time I carry a Parker Vac major, P51 Aerometric, P51 BP and one Jotter.

[pajaro]

I always have two Fp's with me and one or two Jotters at all times. All pens are Parkers.

At this time I carry a Parker Vac major, P51 Aerometric, P51 BP and one Jotter.

 

Parker 51 ballpoint.

[mitto]

I have lately started using Parker 51 ballpont pens and that is because I like everything in the P51 line be it a FP or a MP or a BP.

[mitto]

Deted for being double post.

Edited September 26, 2017 by mitto

[lilyofthevalley]

I use ballpoints for other work stuff that requires carbon paper or carbonless copy paper. Those things need the pressure in order for the words to be transferred onto the succeeding paper so no fountain pens for that. The office issues a cheap retractable ballpoint from Faber-Castell which name is apparently RX P5 (thanks google) but I personally carry around a Pilot G-Tec-C Gel Pen for other things.

[Stef]

I use a ballpoint pen when I need to fly. (Actually I use a multipen so that I can also do crossword puzzles)

[calvin_0]

Why do people uses Ballpoint Pen?

 

because it's widely available.. and everyone grow up using it...