Comment by the_pwner224 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by the_pwner224 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I also love rollerballs (bad name since even the shitty 20 cent ballpoints are technically rollerballs). I personally prefer the Uni-Ball Vision Elite, and compared to the cheap but well-regarded fountain Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen (which I used for 6 months before giving up on it), I really prefer the Vision Elite by a large margin.

The big 0.8mm ball feels much better to write with, and the ink is really great. While you don't have the same variety in ink as fountain pens, the black is really dark (& waterproof), and Uni-Ball has some nice BLX colors - the dark blue is also great. But the rollerballs are less sensitive to any imperfections in the paper, will write at any angle and rotation, never leak (so I don't need to constantly pay attention to what angle it is in in my pocket), don't get ink all over your fingers, and don't need special handling to take into airplanes. Just much more practical overall, and more of just a tool that works rather than an art piece that needs strict care (analogy).

Using rollerballs is more expensive over time; a bit less so if you buy refills instead of a new pen every time. But it's worth the convenience. And while I do keep them close since they're expensive, they're cheap enough that I never have to worry about losing one of the pens. I can afford to buy 12-packs and have 3 pens scattered around the house + a stockpile of extras.

You know, in my decade of using a fountain pen, I have never had a fountain pen just leak.

I have also stored them up right and so forth, I have never had a fountain pen just catastrophically leak somewhere while I was writing with it. I have made them burp before, or dropped them or waved them when I was brand new to them, but I've never had an otherwise normal riding session spoiled by ink going everywhere.

Maybe I am just lucky in what fountain pens I use? Or just lucky in general?

The large perception of fountain pens, vintage or modern, around the internet seems to be that they are like small grenades that will any moment to go off and leave you drowning in ink, and I just haven't seen that.

Anecdote not data etc

I've only had this happen when I did something kind of dumb like trying to use one on an airplane or walking outside in freezing weather with one in my pocket.

And you can react to that by saying "these things are crazy" or you can say "oh yeah, it's nothing but water, that makes sense."

There's still the occasional "too muck ink in the nib dripped into the cap" but that's hardly an explosion.

My fountain pens leak as well. Doesn't matter which one I use, Montblanc, Parker, Caran d'Ache, Waterman, Lamy, Rotring... The leaks are not severe, but holding area always has some, leaving inks on my fingertips.

You may want to check on the inner cap seal. I don't know about the others, but Montblanc might be able to do something about that.

The caps screw or use friction to connect to the body of the pens, with the cap covering the area you hold, the section. In many pens, there is an inner cap that seals over the nib and against the end of the section. It is intended to keep ink leaking into the cap from getting back on the section, but they don't always seal very well.

The adapter on my Jinhao can get disconnected from the body, which can make refilling a messy process, but that’s the only issue I’ve had.

My daily driver, a Twsbi Eco, has never leaked on me.

I was excited to bring my new fountain pen with me, on a job, outside in 105 degree weather. It was a cartridge and somehow ended up covering my head and face.

I’ve had pens leak 2-3 times while on flights. Several of the pens I use can be closed up for when you fly. But sometimes I forget.

What pens have you had success with on flights?

Vacuum fillers are known to tolerate flights well; that was part of their original sales proposition during the early jet era. Purportedly they can even write on an airplane, but I personally wouldn’t dare try.

The trick with flying with fountain pens is storage angle. The air pocket that remains in the pen is going to be at a much higher pressure than the air in the airplane, so it is going to expand. If the pen is stored nib up, that air pocket is close to the top, and can escape through the nib with minimal leakage. If the pen is stored nib down, the air pocket will expand and drive ink out of the nib.

The TWSBI pens tend to do well. A pen that doesn’t do well is the Pilot Vanishing Point.

I think the comment on what angle you keep it at until you reach flight level is spot on. If you can store it so that the air bubble is up and the feed doesn’t have a huge amount of ink in it, it should be okay.

Some variations of vacuum fillers also have a piston that you unscrew to let ink flow from the reservoir, but close when you fly.

(Sorry if this is a bit vague. I’m more of a user of fountain pens rather than a collector so I tend not to geek out as much when it comes to the technical details. I mostly tend to choose pens based on what kind of writing I’m doing :-))

Every single one of them if you keep them upright during the takeoff which isn't too difficult if you put them in your top pocket when you go to the airport (even if you don't you will be getting a reminder when you go through the TSA line and you have to make the pain run through the X-ray).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com