Hacker News Reader

Comment by lqet | Hacker News Reader

I have used a standard Lamy fountain pen for 11 years in school, and later several higher-end products (ball pens and fountain pens). But a few years ago I discovered that I really like writing with the Bic Cristal [0]. It's reliable and writing feels very smooth (even better than with some Lamy products I own). I also like that it has exactly the same shape as a classic pencil. Of course it is also very relaxing to know I can get a pack of 50 for 14 EUR. You can gnaw away on it, roll over it accidentally with you chair, lose it, break it in half - doesn't matter, because you can easily afford to have 20 of these on your desk at any time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_Cristal

View on HN

I feel the same way but with cheaper Japanese ball pens, my favorite being. I do have to disagree that a Bic Cristal feels "smooth" though. I think it doesn't glide as well as your average Japanese offerings although it does dry exceptionally well.

Personally I'm partial to the Zebra Sarasa Clip [0].

[0] https://www.zebrapen.com/pages/discover-sarasa-clip

As far as I have experimented, nothing can replace a good fountain pen for me. Being able to use one for decades and use a bottle of ink for 4-5 years is also a great plus for sustainability in my book.

If I can't use a fountain pen, I fallback to a Uniball Elite or Uniball Signo 0.7/0.38.

On the ballpoint department, you can't get my CdA 149 from my dead, cold hands.

If you really want to use a smooth Bic, try Cristal Soft. If you want something flies, try Uniball JetStream.

> I feel the same way but with cheaper Japanese ball pens, my favorite being.

Torture for a pen enthusiast! Your favorite being what? Is it the Sarasa Clip you mention later?

I bought my daughter a set of multi-colour Bic Cristal pens and, aside from a weird plug that had to be removed from each tip (intentional? dried-up ink from the manufacturing process?) the textural quality of the ink is wonderful. I don't know what it is or how it's different from normal Bics but they are a pure joy to write with.

So I bought myself a set and now write in pink at work... .

Yes, the "plugs" on top of every tip of pens are very much intentional.

They are found on every new ball pens and refills in India. I don't know the exact purpose of their existence, but I guess it has to do with leakage of ink.

I never thought I would see this question here! I now write with FPs exclusively, but removing those beads from newly bought pens were special experience to us as little kids! We fondly associated them with the joy of new pens. We used to call them "pearls".

I had to look up the name, and then realized (ha!) it's the pen I grew up on, across two countries.

My body is probably full of microplastics from chewing away at them.

The Bic Cristal is my all-time favourite pen, to the point where I don’t really understand why other pens exist. I was recently thinking of getting a Mont Blanc for fancy business writing (contract signing), but went with the Cristal. Not kidding.

The one flaw: no upside-down writing.

Other pens exist since the Pilot G2 0.38 had to :)

You mean a Mont Blanc ballpoint pen? Because I wouldn't use fountain pens with their water-based inks for signing contracts (even inks that claim to be waterproof).

Water based inks come in tons of flavors. You can have washables (most of your royal blues), "permanents" (most blue blacks and special formulations) which leave a faint mark you can't remove (GvFC inks sans Royal Blue, Pelikan 4001 Blue Black, etc.), pigments which cling to your paper like their life depend on it or you can go full send and get "cellulose reactive" inks which will not leave your paper unless you destruct the said paper.

Many "permanent" inks on permanent rollerballs and gels (e.g. Uni SuperInk) is also water based, yet they don't and won't leave your paper, because they're made of UV resistant pigments.

Right, or you can use an oil based ink with a good ball point pen and not have to worry about where to find "cellulose reactive" inks and how they will interact with your fountain pen.

Noodler's inks are dime a gallon, esp. in the US, and they're guaranteed to be pH neutral in most used colors (bottles state if they pH neutral), so they don't damage any pen, modern and vintage.

They're specifically designed to be that.

Bulletproof Noodler's inks are as follows: https://noodlersink.com/product-tag/bullet-proof/

They even have 16 Oz. bottles if you want "buy one, leave for grandchildren" amount of ink in one go.

If you want a more mainstream archival ink, go GvFC, Pelikan 4001 Blue Black (not available in US), MB midnight blue or Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite.

Noodler's archival inks would be fine for that purpose. Bulletproof Black reacts with the cellulose in the paper so it will not wash out.

I was curious so I tested it myself: https://honeypot.net/categories/ink/

Noodler’s Baystate Blue is at least as waterproof as the paper it’s on.

Archival is not just about being waterproof, that's the problem.

I was going to go fountain, yes. Excellent “tip”, thanks!

They seem prone to leaking. Like they develop some kind of siphon or capillary flow of the ink out the open end of the ink tube.

You aren’t buying them from Amazon, are you? I’ve never had a genuine Bic do that, but I’ve had some cheapo bootlegs leak.

No this goes back decades. Ever since I can remember.

Interesting, I never had this problem with a Cristal. With cheap marketing pens, sure, after some use, they leak and smear, and some of them seem to have only small amounts of ink in them.

How can you tell it isn't actually a Bic?

I also realized I like smooth ball points, used to use the finer Pilot gelpoints in school. The Caran D'ache ballpoint is quite nice for a more luxury product

https://www.carandache.com/us/en/ballpoint-pen-ballpoint-pen...

40 for a pen seems excessive for a regular budget even if 40 is not a lot of money anymore

Yes, like the GP says, it's a luxury pen. They didn't buy it for purely utilitarian reasons. They might like that it has an all-metal construction or that it weighs 88g. They might prefer the ink formulation used for the cartridges. They might like how the pen works in their preferred notebook. For many people, tactility (and other sensations too) is just as, if not, more important than, utility.

Only if this pen were a daily driver and not just kept in a case because, well, it’s expensive and we collect stuff..

Its a totally usable pen everyday if you want. I don't think most people spending $40 on a pen put it in a display case, its not a $4000 pen.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com