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March 23, 2019

Yoseka Notebook's first official review on Pen Addict

Our logo on Yoseka Notebook . Thank you  @penaddict  for the great Yoseka Notebook first impression review yesterday! Before listening to the podcast, we were really excited, but also a little nervous. On the podcast, Brad gave really nice words for our notebook — and mentioned how great it works with fountain pens and pencils when he tried it. We were thrilled and moved after the podcast. Looking forward to the more in depth review on different fountain pens in the future. Thank you Cory  @penpostings  for making the intro and encouraging us to reach out, and thank you for everyone who listened to the podcast and messaged us! You can find the podcast online by searching Pen Addict podcast  #351 You can find the notebook here

Tran February 06, 2024

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Donna April 15, 2019

I placed my first order because of the Pen Addict review. I’m now placing my second order. There will be more in the future. Thank you for having quality notebooks for fountain pen users.

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The Well-Appointed Desk

For the love of pens, paper, office supplies and a beautiful place to work

Piccadilly Essential Notebook Review

Several years ago, The Pen Addict reviewed a Piccadillly Notebook and I have wanted to try one ever since. Last weekend, while browsing the shelves at our local Half-Price Books, I found that they carried a  large collection of blank books and journals, not to mention a huge wall of stationery, notecards and postcards. Half-Price Books is an untapped resource for paper junkies, for sure! What I was pleased to find was that they had the Piccadilly line of notebooks.

I purchased a plain black, lined, medium Essential Notebook which is about 5×8″ in size and comparable to the Moelskine large notebook. The book, for all intents and purposes, looks exactly like a standard black hardcover Moleskine with the black elastic, black leatherette cover, black ribbon bookmark and manila gusset pocket inside the back cover. But there are some notable differences:

• bookmark is sealed so is does not fray
• book contains 240 pages of 80gsm off-white acid-free paper. 80 GSM!
• Piccadilly’s suggested MSRP? $4.99

A Moleskine at the same size is now selling for $13-18 depending on the retailer mark-up so a notebook with a hardcover for $5 is a great deal. Based on price alone, if the Piccadilly notebook had the exact same paper as Moleskine, this would be a no-brainer. BUT… the paper is SO much better! And for me, the paper has always been the sticking point with Moleskines. Ink feathers and bleeds through. I can seldom use boths sides of the page for this reason and must limit myself to using pencil and very fine gel pens.

When I started putting pen to the pleasantly-weighty 80 GSM paper in the Piccadilly, I was thrilled. There is just enough tooth to the paper to keep my pens from sliding across the surface and nary a hint of ink feathering. The lines are light enough that even the  lightest ink colors still stand out.

From the reverse of the pen tests, there is no bleed-through and only minor show-through. Once I completed these tests, I immediately started using the notebook as my go-to book. The more I use it, the more I like it. I have always appreciated the simple aesthetics of a Moleskine — the plain black cover that belies what your contents might be. In an office environment, I can be a little self-conscious of carrying a particularly elaborately decorated or designed notebook (floral covers or Hello Kitty might undermine my professionalism) so the Piccadilly is perfect. At $5, there’s no reason not to pick one up and write it all down.

Highly recommended.

Piccadilly Essential notebooks are available in 3 sizes and come in black as well as a variety of brightly colored covers. Essential Notebooks are available in plain, lined and grid. Check out your local Half-Price Books, search Amazon or check out the Where To Buy section at the Piccadilly site..

Other reviews:

• Gourmet Pens reviews the soft-cover edition
• No Pen Intended reviewed a small grid notebook
• DIY Planner tried a small graph version
• Biffy Beans did a thorough write-up of a medium notebook (but I think Piccadilly must have changed the lines since then because my book had lines that seemed lighter than a Moleskine)
• Black Cover calls marketing on Moleskine when compared to the Piccadilly

You might also enjoy:

Written by Ana

11 comments / add your comment below.

Excellent, thanks for the heads-up and review! Moleskines are one of the most expensive journals, yet have the crappiest paper. I’ve bought similar journals from the dollar store for $2 and the paper was stellar, at least 95 GSM. Even the ones commonly available at Wal-Mart are better. I will keep my eye out for Piccadilly.

I’ve never set foot in Half-Price Books but I will this weekend. What a bargain! The paper in a moleskine does leave a lot to be desired.

I would snap up a Hello Kitty notebook in a heartbeat. I’m a fan of the feline. However I don’t need to worry about my status or my “porfessionalism” , (just gently teasing!) since I’m self-employed.

Barbara, thanks for catching my typo. Of all the words to misspell!

Thanks for the review. I disagree with the “crappy paper in Moleskines” meme, but I get the Moleskine sketchbooks, not notebooks. I didn’t have to worry about bleed with them. I tried to save $$ and get a knockoff Moleskine, but the paper was much thinner, so now I’m back to the Moleskine sketchbook. Did you notice if Piccadily made sketchbooks?

I did not see any sketchbooks in the Piccadilly line. My only issue with the heavier weight Moleskine sketchbooks is that they are oddly water-resistant. I like to add a bit of watercolor to my sketches, especially with paper as thick as the Moleskine sketchbooks and it resists water and beads. Very annoying.

As for my comparisons with the paper quality of Moleskines, I keep my comments to the notebook paper which they don’t even list any information about on their web site.

I was in Barnes & Noble last night and they had the large for $5.98 and the small for $4.98. They alos still carry the Miquelrius notebook you use, which is one of the best deals on the planet.

I am still using my FIRST Miquelrius. There is a a ridiculous amount of paper in those notebooks!

I’ve had two Picadilly notebooks… Downside? Binding. Both split from the binding when I got about 3/4 of the way through them. For $5, I just started over with a new one. 🙂

• Pingback: Plugging the Firm: Hallmark Blank Journals | The Well-Appointed Desk
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This is the first review that pops up for these notebooks despite its age.

If you are interested in these notebooks, they are available from a company called the BookOutlet. It is Bookoutlet.com in the US and BookOutlet.ca in Canada. This is a Canadian company and their retail outlet is on my hometown. The US site sells in US$.

They sell books and stationary returned from other retail outlets. I’m nothing to do with them – just a satisfied customer for over 20 years. Check them out for these notebooks and many other fountain pen friendly notebooks at great prices. Actual books are a great price too.

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Penaddict.com Review of Our Meeting Notebook

Jeff Abbott , a contributor, for the PenAddict.com blog had some great things to say about our new Meeting Notebook. Not only did he have some great photos showing how the notebook dealt with multiple pens and inks, but also some great quotes. 

Image: Jeff Abbott, PenAddict.com

For example, when talking about the notebooks general quality he says, " Write Notepads have always impressed me with their build quality and value over the years, and the  Meeting Notebook  is no slouch." Again, " The quality of materials is fantastic, and that translates to delight whenever you get a chance to hold or use the book." Build quality is something we take pride in at Write Notepads, because what is the point of carrying a notebook if it is going to fall apart after a couple of uses. 

We have come to appreciate paper from all our pen and pencil friends around the world. No one wants to have an expensive nib clog from lousy writing paper, or have their beautiful, colorful inks feather and destroy their nice handwriting. When it came to paper quality, Jeff says, "I was pleasantly surprised after doing several pen/ink samples to find that there was practically no bleeding, show-through, or any other negative reactions. This paper is fantastic!" Thanks, Jeff Abbot we know it was a hard road getting here, but we may have found the paper that works fountain pen users. 

To read more of Jeff Abbott's review head over to PenAddict.com , let them know we sent you. 

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The Best Pen

If you’ve ever had a pen mysteriously wander away from your desk, and then you had to write with a poor substitute (the kind you might find at a bank or with some company’s phone number on it), you know how important it is to have a quality pen.

Everything we recommend

Uni-ball Jetstream RT

The best everyday ballpoint pen.

With its fast-drying ink, this pen is our go-to for everyday writing on any kind of paper.

Buying Options

Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color

A multicolor pen for enhanced note-taking.

This pen is as slim as a typical ballpoint, and you can switch between writing with black, blue, and red ink—without having to carry multiple pens.

Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity

The most ergonomic pen.

If you experience hand strain or fatigue while writing with slim pens, this pen’s large, soft grip and balanced weight distribution can make writing more comfortable.

Pilot Precise V5 RT

An inexpensive pen for writing with dark, precise lines.

This rollerball pen is great for fine lettering or drawing, and it costs less than similar pens. It doesn’t dry as quickly as our other picks, though, so it’s not the best choice for lefties.

Pentel EnerGel RTX

A smudge-free gel pen with many color and tip-size options.

This pen produces dark, crisp lines, and it’s available in a wide range of colors and tip sizes to suit various writing preferences.

Uni-ball Signo RT1

A minimalist-looking gel pen for fine-tip lovers.

This pen has an understated, single-color barrel design. It writes smoothly, with vivid inks and very thin lines.

Sakura Pigma Micron Blister

The best fineliner.

This pen’s needlepoint tip produces precise, consistent lines with archival-quality ink.

A primer on pen types

These pens are great for writing on all types of surfaces, including slick or cheap paper, which inkier pens tend to bleed through or smudge.

Rollerballs provide the smoothest writing. The free-flowing ink doesn’t require a lot of pressure, so the pen glides across the page.

Gel pens are best for writing precisely, and they come in a rainbow of ink colors. A subset of rollerballs, gel pens write smoothly but typically with thinner lines.

Fineliners’ needlepoint tips make them a great choice for detailed sketches and crisp writing, with some friction against paper.

The good news is you don’t have to spend a lot to get a pen that’s worthy of your signature. After researching 62 pens and writing zealously with 37 of them, we have recommendations for ballpoint, rollerball, and fineliner pens that are affordable and satisfying to write with.

Our picks include:

• the Uni-ball Jetstream RT , a ballpoint pen for everyday writing
• the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color , a 3-in-1 slim, multicolor ballpoint, for switching ink colors
• the Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity , an ergonomic ballpoint, for people who get hand cramps, have arthritis, or just want something with a larger barrel size
• the Pilot Precise V5 RT , a rollerball pen, for writing with a more saturated, darker line than you get from a lower-priced ballpoint
• the Pentel EnerGel RTX and the Uni-ball Signo RT1 , two gel pen picks that offer a variety of pen-tip sizes and vivid ink-refill options
• the Sakura Pigma Micron , a fineliner pen for precise sketching or writing with archival ink

In most situations, the Uni-ball Jetstream RT is the best pen for the job.

It dries quickly, so it’s great for lefties and anyone who’s concerned about smudging (especially when writing on slick paper, labels, or receipts). Thanks to its “ hybrid ” ink, the Jetstream RT produces the darkest lines of any ballpoint pen we tested. And the ink flows out smoothly and evenly without skipping—like a gel pen, but with the quick-drying advantages of a ballpoint. It’s water-resistant, fade-resistant, and formulated to resist check washing , too.

A Wirecutter pick since 2013, the Jetstream RT comes in a variety of tip widths and colors. And our testers found that it felt and looked better than other, more-plasticky ballpoint pens.

Style: ballpoint Tip width tested: 0.7 mm Widths available: 0.7 mm , 1.0 mm Colors: black, blue, red; RT BLX version: blue-black, brown-black, green-black, red-black

If you like to color-code your notes or journal entries, the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color is a thin, handy alternative to having several pens cluttering your desk or bag.

This pen is the same shape and size as our top pick, the Jetstream RT. But the Jetstream Slim Multi-Color is much slimmer than most multicolor pens, which tend to have chunkier barrels. The knocks (the buttons at the top of the pen that make the pen nibs retract) operate smoothly and with a satisfying click.

The Jetstream Slim Multi-Color has a rubber grip, so it’s pleasant to hold. And this pen comes with the same refillable smooth ink found in other Jetstream pens.

The ink refills are smaller than those in a regular Jetstream pen, though, so they’re a bit less cost-effective. But if you often write in different colors, we think the convenience is worth it.

Style: ballpoint Tip width tested: 0.5 mm Widths available: 0.38 mm , 0.5 mm Colors: black, blue, red, green

Among pens designed to reduce writing stress, the Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity is the best we’ve tested. Our testers—including a retired medical professional with arthritis—found the wide grip easy to hold, and this pen had the best balance of softness and firmness.

What sets this pen apart the most from other ergonomic pens is its weight distribution: It’s balanced closer to the tip, so writing is effortless and requires less pressure.

The Center of Gravity is also just a great pen in general. Its hybrid ink combines the long-lasting elements of a ballpoint pen with the dark, vibrant lines of a gel pen.

Style: ballpoint Tip width tested: 1.0 mm Widths available: 0.7 mm (fine), 1.0 mm (medium) Colors: black, blue

If you like dark lines, prefer a bit of resistance from your paper when writing and drawing, or have handwriting that produces especially small letters, consider the Pilot Precise V5 RT .

Some experts—and most of our testers—preferred this pen’s finer point compared with other rollerballs’ points, which produce wetter, thicker lines.

Although the Precise V5 RT doesn’t dry as quickly as the Jetstream, and therefore can smudge (not ideal for lefties), it performs well on most paper. It’s also the least expensive pen we recommend, on a per-pen basis.

Style: rollerball Tip width tested: 0.5 mm Widths available: 0.5 mm (V5), 0.7 mm (V7) Colors: black, blue, green, pink, purple, red, turquoise, orange, yellow, lime green, navy, burgundy, hunter green, caramel, periwinkle, teal

If you like writing with dark, vivid lines and can’t bear any smudging, the Pentel EnerGel RTX is our gel pen pick.

In our tests, the EnerGel RTX wrote smoothly—never skipping or smudging—and its needle-point tip was as precise as that of the Pilot Precise V5 RT. Available ink colors include options we haven’t seen often with other pens, including gray.

The EnerGel RTX has a slightly thicker barrel and grip than the Jetstream and the Precise V5 RT, so some people might find it more comfortable to hold. But this pen’s bright blue body and colored grip section are pretty flashy-looking. If you prefer a more-incognito pen, consider the similarly performing Uni-ball Signo RT1 .

Style: rollerball with gel ink Tip width tested: 0.5 mm Widths available: 0.3 mm , 0.5 mm , 0.7 mm , 1.0 mm Colors: black, blue, red, brown, orange, sky blue, green, pink, lime green, violet, magenta, gray, lilac, yellow, turquoise

A pen’s aesthetics can contribute to the overall writing experience. And this was confirmed in our testing: Several of our testers preferred the Uni-ball Signo RT1 to the Pentel EnerGel RTX due to the Signo RT1’s understated (albeit all-plastic) design.

In our tests, the Signo RT1’s performance was nearly identical to that of the EnerGel and the Precise V5 RT (with just a bit of smudging when we forced it). The main difference between these pens is how they look, plus their available colors and tip sizes.

Style: rollerball with gel ink Tip width tested: 0.5 mm Widths available: 0.28 mm , 0.38 mm , 0.5 mm Colors: black, blue, blue black, light blue, violet, green, lime green, red, orange, baby pink

The Sakura Pigma Micron writes smoothly and predictably without skipping, feathering, or bleeding. Often used by artists, this technical pen can be used for detailed drawings as well as any archival-quality handwriting projects, such as journaling or scrapbooking. Its pigment-based ink is fade-, water-, and chemical-resistant.

Unlike other fineliners and felt-tipped pens we tested, the Micron offers pleasant feedback when writing on typical paper without being scratchy, and the barrel was the most comfortable to hold. You don’t need to apply a lot of pressure to get satisfying, dark and crisp lines.

Style: fineliner Tip width tested: 0.25 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.35 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.5 mm Widths available: 0.15 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.45 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.7 mm Colors: black

The research

Why you should trust us, who this is for, how we picked and tested, our pick: uni-ball jetstream rt, also great: uni jetstream slim multi-color, also great: pilot dr. grip center of gravity, also great: pilot precise v5 rt, also great: pentel energel rtx, also great: uni-ball signo rt1, also great: sakura pigma micron, other good pens, the competition, frequently asked questions.

Wirecutter senior staff writer Melanie Pinola has researched and written about all types of home-office gear, including notebooks , since 2011. For years, she has written most things in longhand, including article drafts, journal entries, and short stories. And although she’s not as fanatical about stationery as some people, her favorite type of store is an office-supply store.

Our panel of testers included Wirecutter staffers who are fanatical about stationery—they collect pens as a hobby, and they’re more knowledgeable and opinionated about pens than most people. In testing our ergonomic pen options, our panelists included two medical professionals (one who has had rheumatoid arthritis for over 30 years).

Like notebooks , pencils , and other everyday stationery essentials, pens are a utilitarian tool that most people don’t think much about when they’re buying them. Sometimes you can go long stretches without purchasing any pens, relying instead on freebies from hotels, offices, conferences, and other places to stock your home or desk.

But if you spend about $2 to $3 to get a good pen, your handwriting could be more attractive—and possibly more readable—thanks to the darker and better-flowing ink.

And since people have different hand sizes, comfort preferences, and aesthetic sensibilities, it’s worth it to find and invest in a pen with a comfortable grip, a tip size you prefer for your specific handwriting, and a design you like.

The majority of pens we recommend all have refillable ink, too, so you can keep the pen body and replace the ink when the original dries up. By using a refillable pen—and actually remembering to refill it—you will reduce the number of pens you buy (or otherwise acquire) and create less waste for the environment.

For this guide we focused on inexpensive pens—$5 or less for a basic pen and $15 or less for a specialty pen (including ergonomic and multicolor models). We also targeted pens that can be purchased at big-box retailers, office-supply stores, or major online vendors, such as Amazon.

Following feedback from readers and experts (as well as our own conscience), we also focused on pens that are refillable and therefore more eco-friendly than disposable pens.

These pens may seem boring, but they’re meaningful upgrades over giveaway pens and are great for everyday carry (EDC). If you want something a bit fancier, we’ve also included, in our Other good pens section, a few recommendations for nicer-looking or more-distinct (yet still under-$20) pens that you might keep at your desk.

And though we love fountain pens, that’s a whole can of worms we’re saving for another time.

Here’s a quick primer on a few pen terms you’ll see throughout this guide:

• Feathering refers to ink bleeding from the edge of letters, versus crisp lettering.
• Bleeding refers to ink coming through to the other side of the paper or even to the next sheet.
• Skipping refers to ink not consistently connecting lines or letters, particularly when you’re writing in script.
• Smudging is when the ink smears and the letters you write blur. It’s particularly noticeable if you write left-handed or try to highlight something you just wrote. (Slow-drying inks that typically smudge can even transfer to other paper.)
• Blotting refers to the pooling of ink in one spot when you’re writing, because the paper hasn’t yet absorbed the ink.

When completing evaluations, each tester used every pen to write at least four pages in a notebook filled with paper that works well with all types of ink. Testers considered:

• Ink smoothness: How freely did the ink flow, and how much pressure was needed to write clearly?
• Precision and consistency: We looked for pens that create uniform, crisp lines. Was there any smudging, feathering, skipping, or blotting? Did the ink bleed through to another sheet?
• Comfort: For example, how easy was it to grip the pen when writing for an hour at a time?

Finally, we asked testers which pen they would buy for themselves or recommend to others, based on the qualities above and the pen’s design and aesthetics.

Our testing group agreed with our experts: The Uni-ball Jetstream RT is the best pen for most everyday writing tasks. It’s smoother to write with than nearly any other ballpoint, and its ink flows without blobbing, skipping, feathering, or bleeding through pages. And it dries quickly, without smudging.

It’s been a panel favorite for a decade. Our testers unanimously selected the Jetstream RT as the best ballpoint pen, with two testers choosing it as their favorite pen overall. This has been the case since we made our initial pen recommendations, back in 2013.

“The Jetstream just feels like such a solid, trusty pen—the ink is dark, it flows well, it’s sturdy, and feels good in the hand,” said Wirecutter’s Janet Towle. “It’s not an exciting pen, but maybe I’m making my peace with that.”

Other ballpoint pens we tested, such as the Zebra Pen F-301 , were less expensive, but they were also less comfortable to write with, felt cheap, or inked fainter lines.

Its ink dries quickly and almost never smudges. You may have been turned off of ballpoint pens in general because their inks aren’t satisfyingly dark, or because they’re not as smooth to write with as other types of pens. The Jetstream RT could change your mind.

Our testers noted that this pen’s dark ink dried quickly and smudged the least of all the pens we tested. And the Jetstream RT’s ink was the least visible on the other side of a notebook’s page. In our testing, we used the 0.7-mm medium-to-large point size, yet our writing still felt precise.

It comes in a wide range of tip sizes and colors. If you don’t love the feel of the standard Jetstream RT’s barely there grip or the width of its tip, there are a lot of other options, if you’re willing to venture outside your office-supply store or shop online.

The standard 0.7-mm “fine” tip comes in black , blue , and a black/blue/red multipack . Uni-ball sells a 1.0-mm “bold” tip , but it produces only a subtle change in line size. Although 0.5-mm and 0.38-mm tips do exist, they don’t write as smoothly, according to our experts. Still, if your handwriting is extremely small, you may enjoy their precision. Or you could consider our gel pen picks, the Pilot EnerGel RTX and the Uni-ball Signo RT1 , which write smoothly with fine tip sizes.

Uniball ink is forgery-resistant and works well on all kinds of paper. Jetstream pens feature Super Ink , which is resistant to removal with acetone as well as more-mundane threats, like water spills and fading. In addition, this ink writes well on glossy paper, including receipts.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The most consistent complaint among our staff testers was that even though the Jetstream RT produces darker lines than most ballpoint pens, its ink still isn’t as saturated or dark as ink from rollerball and gel pens.
• The Jetstream RT won’t turn heads. If its humble, utilitarian looks aren’t to your liking, some of the Jetstream variants are arguably better looking. And you can find other pen bodies that will take Jetstream refills.

Most multicolor pens—including the nostalgic BIC 4-Color pen from the ’70s and ’80s—have thick bodies that can feel unwieldy. Not so the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color , an elegant pen that’s the size of a single-ink ballpoint pen, like the Jetstream RT .

It’s a color-changing pen without the bulk. For annotating documents or color-coding your notes, you can switch between black, blue, and red. And the ink is as smooth-flowing and consistent as ink in other Jetstream pens.

We found this pen’s soft rubber grip comfortable to hold, and we thought the subtle pattern on the monochromatic body was aesthetically pleasing. In our tests, switching between colors was seamless. And because of this pen’s size and versatility, we think it’s a great option to carry every day.

It writes better than other multicolor pens. After testing two other multicolor options, we found that the Jetstream Slim Multi-Color offered the best writing experience overall. The 0.5-mm version we tested laid down crisp, smooth lines that never skipped or blobbed.

It’s easy to change colors. This pen’s angled, wide knocks made switching ink colors easier than the tinier knocks on the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto or the Uni Jetstream 4&1 .

The Jetstream Slim Multi-Color’s knocks also operated smoothly, with a satisfying click, and they held their position (unlike the Hi-Tec-C Coleto’s knocks).

It’s comfortable to hold. Thanks to its relatively light weight and soft grip section, the Jetstream Slim Multi-Color doesn’t wear out your hand during extended writing periods.

It looks great, too. We appreciated the subtle, stylish, light colors the pen comes in (including white, pink, mint green, and lavender).

It has one notable flaw. Our main complaint about the design is that the color of each ink is imprinted on the body of the pen, not on the knock. So if you reload the pen with different colors or gel inks , you’ll have to remember which knock belongs to which color.

If you prefer a larger grip than typical pens offer, if you have arthritis, or if you get hand fatigue when writing, the Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity is the pen you should turn to.

Of the pens we tested, it’s the most comfortable to use. Our testers—including a physical therapist who takes a lot of patient notes and a 76-year-old retired physician who’s had rheumatoid arthritis for over 30 years—unanimously chose the Dr. Grip Center of Gravity as their favorite pen.

The wide, rubbery grip section is easy and comfortable to grasp, and the unique weight distribution close to the pen nib makes writing less stressful on the hand and wrist, compared with standard pens that have slim grips (including our other picks).

“This is one pen that helps manage the many challenges of rheumatoid and other arthritis,” said the retired physician on our panel.

It writes smoothly, too. The physician noted that the pen wrote well at all angles, including upside down while she was lying in bed. In our tests, the Dr. Grip Center of Gravity’s ink never smudged (as the Dr. Grip Limited ’s did), and it skipped less than the Jetstream Alpha-Gel ’s ink.

The squishy grip does have one downside. The rubber grip collects lint, which is an annoyance. But that is a small price to pay for a pen that writes so well and so comfortably.

The Pilot Precise V5 RT is worth considering if you prefer a darker, richer line than the Jetstream RT provides, if you write smaller letters or draw with fine lines, or if you like a bit of resistance between your pen and the paper.

It delivers on the promise of its name. Experts and Wirecutter testers praised this pen’s needle-point tip, its comfortable grip, its smooth ink flow, and the way some friction made handwriting more, well, precise.

It was a panel favorite. All but one of our seven testers gave the Precise V5 RT either four or five stars (with five being the best), and two chose it as their top pick overall.

“Of the pens we tested, the Pilot Precise V5 RT is my favorite,” senior staff writer Kimber Streams said. “It writes smoothly and evenly and has a crisp, dark ink, but the line isn’t too thick like the Lamy Safari . The grip is comfortable enough, and the body doesn’t feel cheap or rattly like the EnerGel and Signo do. It also has the crispest, most satisfying click of the clicky pens.”

Its ink is wetter than the Jetstream RT’s ink, but it still creates sharp lines. The Precise V5 RT (and its sibling, the V7, with a 0.7-mm pen-tip width) produces a crisp, dark line, one that is wetter or “inkier” than the Jetstream RT’s.

But unlike other rollerball pens that flow very quickly (making you feel like you have to keep up with the pen to control the writing), the V5 RT’s point offers more control.

It can smudge more than the Jetstream RT. Our main concern with the V5 RT is that the ink doesn’t dry as quickly as that of the Jetstream RT or gel pens, including the Pentel EnerGel and Uni-Ball Signo RT1 .

This is an issue for those who write on slick paper, like receipts or labels, or for those who write very quickly and don’t want the ink to transfer to other pieces of paper. Lefties should probably avoid this pen.

The V5 RT’s ink bled through cheap paper, and its ink showed on the other side of paper more than our gel pen picks did.

Its knock’s tactility is extremely satisfying. If clicking the knock on a pen provides you with some stress relief or general satisfaction, the V5 RT is the pen for you. It gives the most clicking feedback of all the pens we tested, except for the Parker Jotter .

It has a compact, attractive design. Our panelists appreciated that this pen is about a quarter of an inch shorter than the Jetstream RT, with a thinner body. They also thought the silver-and-black color scheme was fairly attractive, for a pen that costs just a couple of bucks.

If you’re seeking an especially versatile pen, the Pentel EnerGel RTX has the most refill options of the pens we tested: There are over a dozen ink colors and four tip sizes (from 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm) to choose from.

Its gel ink is crisp and smudge-free. This pen writes with crisp, dark lines similar to those of the Pilot Precise V5 RT , but it never smudged in our tests. It was our left-handed tester’s top pick because of how fast the ink dried.

It’s comfortable to use, but its looks are divisive. All testers found this pen’s textured grip section pleasant to hold, but they disagreed on the pen’s looks. It has a very busy design, with a lot of chrome and bright accents reflecting the color of the ink. It also rattles a bit more than our other picks.

Those refills, though. You can get refills in a 0.3-mm size (for small lettering), 0.5-mm and 0.7-mm (medium) sizes, and a 1.0-mm (thicker) size—and all come in a rainbow of colors.

The Uni-ball Signo RT1 is a great option for people who have small handwriting and like to write with dark lines.

It writes well and comes in lots of colors. The RT1 has satisfyingly saturated ink and comes in 0.28-mm, 0.38-mm, and 0.5-mm pen-tip sizes. And in those small pen-tip sizes, the Signo RT1 has more color options than similar pens.

“No smudging. No hard starts. No skips,” Wirecutter’s Erin Moore remarked. Like our other gel and rollerball pen picks, the Signo RT1 writes darker and “inkier” than the Jetstream RT ballpoint.

Its minimalist design won’t be for everyone. Although the ink performs well, the Signo RT1’s short, plastic clip makes the pen feel cheaper than similar pens that have metal clips.

But some testers preferred its monochromatic body to those of more-decorated pens, and they liked its smooth rubber grip. The non-black versions of this pen have a clear window to show the ink level, which is handy.

Like the Pentex EnerGel , the Signo RT1 also rattles more than our other picks.

If you want a technical pen for precise drawing and/or writing, we recommend the Sakura Pigma Micron .

It produces saturated, predictable lines . The Micron’s needlepoint tip produced the most stable, consistent strokes—ones that don’t vary in width—of the fineliners and felt-tip pens we tested. Other fineliners we tested, including the Staedtler Pigment Liner , were streaky at times. The Micron is available in widths from ultrafine (0.15 mm) to broad (0.7 mm).

The permanent ink is archival . The pigment in the Micron resists water, fading, and chemicals, making the pen ideal for writings or drawings that you want to last forever—or checks that you want to secure from check washing. Unlike our other picks, the Micron is labeled as having pH-neutral ink, which means it won’t degrade paper over time.

It’s great for use with a ruler or stencils . Because of the long metal tip, you can use the Micron along the edge of a ruler or template without harming the plastic nib.

It offers feedback without being sticky . The Micron doesn’t glide over paper as smoothly as the Jetstream—there’s some friction or feedback similar to the Pilot Precise V5 RT. That can make for more careful and deliberate writing or sketching. It doesn’t have as much friction as marker-like felt-tip pens such as the Sharpie Felt Tip and Paper Mate Flair pens do.

But it’s not refillable . This high performing pen is the only one we recommend that is disposable. If you’re willing to spend a bit more for a refillable fineliner, consider the Copic Multiliner SP.

The pen labeling can be confusing . These pens are labeled from 003 to 12, but those numbers don’t match up with the pens’ tip sizes. For example, the Micron 02 has a 0.3-mm tip and the 05 has a 0.45-mm tip, according to Sakura. Be aware that the stated tip sizes lay down thicker lines than you might expect; the Micron 08’s 0.5-mm tip is closer to the 1-mm or wider tip of other pens. In clothing terms, these pens can “run large.”

If you sometimes like to write in pencil and want colors other than the standards: The Uni Jetstream 4&1 offers that versatility. It adds a green ink and a mechanical pencil (as well as an eraser) to the barrel. However, the 4&1 can cost a bit more than the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color , and it has a thicker barrel, which some people may not prefer.

If you want a relatively inexpensive pen that’s attractive enough to give as a gift: Consider the Parker Jotter . With its slim, tapered design, this iconic, all-metal pen has the most satisfyingly clicky knock of any pen we tested. It’s remarkably affordable compared with other aficionado-approved “high-end” pens, such as the Retro 1951 Tornado and the Baron Fig Squire . Because it’s a bit shorter than other pens, the Parker Jotter is great for everyday use, but we wouldn’t want to lose it. We tested the ballpoint and gel ink versions, and we covet both.

If you want a pretty pen with a lower center of gravity: Check out the Pilot Acroball 1000 . It has a slim and tapered design, similar to that of the Parker Jotter, but only its lower grip section is metal. This moves the pen’s weight toward the bottom and makes it more comfortable to hold and write with than most slim pens. However, this pen doesn’t have as many color- or tip-refill options as the Parker Jotter or our other pen picks.

If committing to writing in pen makes you nervous: Consider Pilot’s FriXion Clicker Erasable Retractable Gel Pen . It’s the best erasable pen we’ve tested, with quick-drying ink and an easy-to-hold body. It erased more cleanly than the other erasable pens we tested, too. However, it does leave a trace of writing behind, and its overall performance is just okay, with some skipping.

If you want a refillable fineliner for drawing and writing : The Copic Multiliner SP fits the bill. Not only is the ink refillable, but you can replace the tips as well, whether you need to because the tip has worn down or you need a different size. The Copic wrote smoothly in our tests and it has an attractive metal body, but in one instance the tip bent (be careful with how much pressur you use). It also needs a bit more drying time than the Sakura Pigma Micron.

If you like the feel of a marker on paper but want a fine nib size: Take a look at the Sharpie Felt Tip Pen . It was the only pen in our felt-tip and fineliners tests that didn’t smudge at all. It’s available in a rainbow of colors and writes with that slightly scratchy marker-like feel. We found the black and colored pens to be less vibrant than we were expecting.

There are other pens we tested and loved that exceeded our (admittedly arbitrary) $20 limit, including the Tombow Rollerball , the OHTO Horizon Needle Point Knock Ballpoint , the OHTO Horizon Gel , and the Caran d’Ache 849 . But despite their higher prices, in our tests they didn’t deliver notably better writing performance than our picks. In other words, you’re mainly paying for look and feel—which is not a small thing if you love writing with pens.

This is not a comprehensive list of all pens we’ve tested. We have removed pens that are no longer available or that do not meet our testing criteria.

The Pilot Dr. Grip Limited , for example, has an ergonomic design similar to that of the Dr. Grip Center of Gravity ballpoint, but the Limited version’s gel ink smudged.

The Uni-ball Signo 307 , a former pick, produced inconsistent lines (some thick and some thin) and smudged. And, unlike the Pilot Precise V5 , it isn’t refillable.

The Paper Mate InkJoy wrote with dark gel ink, but it smudged, and it isn’t refillable, unlike the Pentel EnerGel and the Uni-ball Signo RT1 .

The Lamy Safari rollerball was well liked by only one of our seven testers; most preferred our other picks, with their thinner barrels, which are interchangeable with other brands’ refills.

The Zebra Pen F-301 produced fainter lines than other ballpoints, and its ribbed plastic grip was uncomfortable to hold.

Similarly, the Pilot The Better Ballpoint ’s ink was a bit light, the plastic grip uncomfortable to hold, and the pen body too rattly.

The Uni-ball Alpha-Gel and the Pilot Juice Up 04 Knock both skipped and required more pressure when writing than the Jetstream RT .

The Morning Glory Pro Mach rollerball produced thicker, more-inconsistent lines than its 0.38-mm pen tip should have, and its pen cap required some force to remove.

The Stabilo Worker Colorful Rollerball ’s heavy, thick ink blotted and smudged in our tests, and the barrels (which are perhaps too brightly colored) aren’t refillable.

The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto multicolor pen has slots for five ink colors and over a dozen color-refill options—more than our multicolor pen pick, the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color . But it also has a shorter grip section than the Jetstream RT, so it’s less comfortable to hold if you don’t normally hold a pen near the tip. One of its ink slots was impossible to use, and the pen we tested kept getting stuck. This is an issue several owners have reported on Amazon .

The Pilot G2 , though highly popular, didn’t compare well against other pens. It skipped, feathered, and blobbed more than our picks, and it also took a notably long time to dry.

The Sharpie Pen is technically a marker with a very fine tip, so it feels different from nearly any other pen, and that made it divisive for our testers.

Schneider pens, including the Slider Rave XB and Slider Basic , are smoother and faster-drying than a typical cheap office pen. But these German-made pens aren’t as widely available as our picks, and we found the Basic’s thin grip less comfortable to hold than those of other pens we tested.

The Bic Atlantis (available in 0.7-mm and 1.0-mm tips) was recommended to us by commenters as well as by a couple of pen enthusiasts at a coworking space, who called them a good-enough upgrade from traditional Bic sticks and crystal pens. But the Atlantis blobbed and feathered more than any of our picks. It’s better than the cheapest pens at the store, but you can find the far better Precise V5 RT on the same shelf.

Office Depot’s TUL brand is available in a gel pen and a ballpoint . Their exclusivity makes them less interesting as a generally recommended pen (and you can buy all of our other picks at Office Depot). Reviewers ding the gel pen for its long drying time, and they recommend the line more for stocking an office than for getting a nice pen for yourself.

We considered the very wide array of Uni-ball pens for this updated guide, and we tried the Vision Elite with BLX inks . For everyday writing, this pen is very, very wet, and it will likely leave the side of your pinkie or palm shellacked with dark ink. For anyone who wants a bold, colorful pen to do sketches or illustrations, this pen’s color selection and dark, thick ink may appeal.

Of the erasable pens we tested, here’s what we found: The ParKoo Retractable Erasable Gel Pens were a little streakier than the Pilot FriXion pens. The Pilot Erasable FriXion ColorSticks didn’t have a grip that would allow someone to comfortably write for a long time. The R:E Erasable Gel Pen ’s off-black ink was too light for our taste. And Paper Mate’s EraserMate Erasable Pens were drier than the others we tried and didn’t erase as well.

The Zebra Clickart felt-tip pens produced saturated but very thick lines, and they were hard to write precisely with. One of the pens dried out quickly despite marketing claims that the ink is long lasting. (Also, they don’t have a microSD slot with 512 GB of storage, contrary to Amazon’s listing.)

The Paper Mate Flair felt-tip pens felt too sticky against the page—almost like trying to write on the adhesive side of tape. The Amazon Basics Felt Tip Marker Pens and the Mr. Pen Felt Tip Pens likewise were not as smooth as the Micron.

The Stabilo Fineliner ’s thin, hexagonal body was uncomfortable to hold for several of our testers, and its signature orange color was divisive.

What's the difference between a rollerball and a ballpoint pen?

Rollerball pens use a water-based ink that flows smoothly and usually creates a lighter, finer line on the paper. Ballpoint pens use an oil-based ink that’s thicker and usually creates a thicker line. Ballpoint pens also tend to require more pressure when writing than rollerball pens.

What's the best pen for lefties?

Ballpoint pens, like the Uni-ball Jetstream RT , have ink that dries quickly, so they’re ideal for anyone concerned with smudging. Left-handed people should try to avoid rollerball or gel pens since their ink tends to take longer to dry and smudges more during writing.

How do you refill an ink pen?

Every pen has its own unique refill cartridge and process, so start by looking up what kind of refill your pen needs. This guide can help you figure out what to look for .

Ana Reinert, email interview , July 15, 2021

Brad Dowdy, email interview , July 12, 2021

Meet your guide

Melanie Pinola

Melanie Pinola covers home office, remote work, and productivity as a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, work, and lifestyle/family topics. She’s thrilled when those topics intersect—and when she gets to write about them in her PJs.

Further reading

The Best Notebooks and Notepads

by Melanie Pinola

These notebook and notepad picks offer a satisfying writing experience with different types of pens and pencils.

This Pen Has Been Our Top Pick for a Decade. And No, You Can't Borrow Mine

by Kaitlyn Wells

Never lend out the Uni-ball Jetstream—it will invariably be “borrowed” permanently.

Why I (Still) Carry a Notebook Everywhere

by Martha McPhee

Novelist Martha McPhee explains why, in this digital age, she finds notebook and pen not only relevant, but necessary.

These Lovely Little Notebooks Help Me Get Ideas Out of My Head (and My Face Out of My Phone)

by Elissa Sanci

The Field Notes Memo Book is my everyday companion.

Notebook Stories

Notebook addict of the week: from the pen cup.

This week’s addict is Mary, the blogger at From the Pen Cup . Her website features lots of pen and notebook goodness, including these photos:

I started my third Field Notes Storage box this week. That’s a picture of a portion of the first two boxes, crammed with as many completed pocket notebooks as I could jam in there. I keep a “personal” and “work” notebook running all the time, and enjoy using not just Field Notes, but also Nock Co., Story Supply, Write Notepad & Co., and Log & Jotter notebooks.

Every time I see those nice wooden Field Notes crates, I am wildly envious! I might have to buy one to store my various small softcover notebooks even though most of them are brands other than Field Notes. Mary’s leather notebook cover looks very nice too.

Source: My Life In Notebooks | From the Pen Cup

One thought on “Notebook Addict of the Week: From the Pen Cup”

I’ve got one of the Field Notes storage box. For the price, it really couldn’t have been made any cheaper. I would like a sturdier box, made with better materials, but it does do the job. The file cards supplied, are a plus.

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Review: HP Spectre x360 14 (2024)

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Once an edgy alternative to stuffier laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad line, the HP Spectre x360 series has settled into a much more corporate groove of late. Back in the late 2010s, Spectres looked like props from Tron , with sharp edges, cut corners, and gold trim on some models, for Pete’s sake.

Alas, those days are over, and while the Spectre x360 is still a top-shelf ultralight Windows laptop , it has traded in style for consistency. All-gentle, OSHA-friendly curves clad in corporate black, silver, and blue give the sense that the Spectre didn’t sell out, but rather bought in.

The 2024 rendition of the Spectre x360 sticks closely to the design of the 2023 model, all built around showcasing the “360” portion of the name. A pair of hinges allows the screen to fold back 180 degrees, converting the laptop into a 14-inch tablet. A fingertip works on the screen, as does the stylus included in the box, and the rechargeable active pen snaps magnetically to the side of the chassis when not in use.

As with most new machines hitting the market this season, the major upgrade here is the introduction of the AI-infused Intel Core Ultra CPU—in this instance, the Ultra 7 155H model, backed up by a beefy 32 GB of RAM and a 2-TB solid state drive. The unit is a bit light on ports, with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports (one used for charging) and a single USB-A port partially covered by an awkward and unnecessary spring-loaded, flip-out panel.

Sure enough, there’s ample power in those specs, and the Spectre x360 turned in the best performance I’ve seen to date on general business apps—by a healthy margin of 20 percent or more versus other Core Ultra laptops on many tests. It was about par for the course on graphics apps, though no slouch in this department either. Despite improvements in the Core Ultra’s integrated GPU, you’ll still need to upgrade to a laptop with a discrete graphics processor if you want to undertake significant gaming or rendering activities. On AI tasks, the Spectre fell just a hair shy of the high mark set by the MSI Prestige 13 AI Evo in my prior testing.

Size and weight are fine, although the unit is heavier than the similarly sized Lenovo X1 Carbon , with 19 millimeters of thickness and a 2.4-pound weight. That’s not bad considering the inclusion of a touchscreen and the 360-degree hinge. The extra weight may also reflect a slightly larger battery. My testing (with a YouTube video playback at full brightness) achieved 10.5 hours of running time—significantly better than other Core Ultra laptops I’ve tested to date.

The OLED screen is dazzlingly bright, which is right in line with the rest of the market today. The speakers on the unit are also excellent, with top-firing tweeters and two front-firing woofers, improved by an impressive cooling system that barely saw the super-silent fan kicking in at all.

My only real complaint is a fairly mild one. While the Spectre’s keyboard is fine, the haptic touchpad can be erratic, missing taps and clicks, depending on where you hit it. I don’t know whether this is a simple user error due to freakishly long fingers, but it’s an issue I’ve had with various Spectres for years. It has arguably improved a bit with the new touchpad, but it’s still a thorny problem that created a minor headache for me during extended use.

Pricing is tricky, as the exact specification I was sent isn’t readily available. You can get a close version for $1,400 on HP.com with 16 GB of RAM, but if you configure it on HP's website, you'll come up with a price of around $1,850. Even at the higher price, I'd say the exceptional performance, battery life, and usability options merit the outlay.

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Tom holland’s ‘romeo & juliet’ to “transfer to broadway after tickets sell out in two hours”, ‘the notebook’ broadway review: romantic saga takes another step in sentimental journey.

By Greg Evans

NY & Broadway Editor

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To say The Notebook had a devoted, built-in audience before it sang so much as a note on Broadway would be an understatement this romantic tear-jerker never attempts.

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The reference to muzak, by the way, isn’t meant to suggest that composer Ingrid Michaelson looks back quite that far for her musical inspirations. She has a lovely way with a melody, even if so many of the songs in Notebook are samey mid-tempo ballads sung directly to the the audience as if anything less obvious might risk one or two folks in the balcony missing some the point: Ally and Noah love each other. Really, really love each other.

Of all the show’s disappointments planted like so many wild flowers ready for plucking, none stings quite so much as Michaelson’s score. Not that it’s bad – it isn’t, far from it – but in more than 2 hours of music you’d be hard-pressed to find two minutes and 17 seconds as melodically lovely or as lyrically clever as the singer-songwriter’s charming 2007 indie pop hit “The Way I Am,” with its sweet pledge of young love “I’ll buy you Rogaine/when you start losing all your/sew on patches/to all you tear.” An early duet between the Younger Ally and Younger Noah – “Carry You Home” – comes close, though, thanks to its lighthearted spirit.

At least in this latest adaptation – which had a successful 2022 run in Chicago – book writer Bekah Brunstetter (who trafficked in the same audience-pleasing sentimentality as writer and producer on NBC’s This Is Us ) wastes no time hiding the fact that the old man and the old woman are later-gen versions of the younger versions sharing the stage. Anyone still confused by the concept would be well advised to pay attention to Katie Spelman’s choreography, with its simultaneous gestures for each generation. When, early on, the old man touches his neck, so do Middle man and Younger man. Not exactly subtle, but it does the trick.

The couple first meets as teenagers in a mid-Atlantic coastal town where the moneyed Ally (Jordan Tyson) falls hard (and vice versa) for working-class townie Noah (John Cardoza). Despite the snooty pooh-poohing of Ally’s parents (Andrea Burns, Charles Wallace), the kids while away a few carefree and starry-eyed weeks before the old folks cut the family vacation short and whisk besotted daughter from whence she came.

The action picks up about 10 years after the summertime separation (though the time periods swirl around abnd through one another in performance, with all three generations frequently sharing the stage). Noah spent the first couple of years away at war – Brunstetter has time-jumped the conflict from World War II in the book and movie to Vietnam for the stage, perhaps to avoid any overly musty period details. Neither Paloma Young’s costume design nor the co-direction of Michael Greif and Schele Williams make undue (or any, really) fuss over decade signifiers – no groovy ’60s garb or ’70s lapels in sight. Timelessness seems to be the point, but it’s also kind of joyless drag.

By the time we get to Act II, the Middles get the focus, and while Ryan Vasquez and Joy Woods are in fine, strong voice, they can do little to up the drama tension: Brunstetter’s reluctance to play gotcha waiting games, so welcome early on, backfire when we’re suddenly expected to entertain the notion that Ally’s barely seen fiance could actually keep any of us away from our date with the nursing home. The Middles’ will-they-or-won’t-they is made all the more tedious by a silly, multi-year effort by mommy dearest keep the lovers apart, a duplicitous ploy involving hidden lover letters that would embarrass any stuffy old soap opera matriarch.

Played out mostly on a nursing home set by David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis that manages to be both attractive and suitably off-putting (Noah’s renovated antibellum farmhouse hits nostalgic notes without summoning unwelcome ghosts), The Notebook gets to its final pages – or very nearly so – without letting its manipulations become too overbearing (more about that “nearly so” in a moment), yet it never approaches the finer works of nearly everyone involved (director Greif gave us Next To Normal and Dear Evan Hansen ). The wonderful Plunkett nails the confusion and panic of dementia from the get-go, meaning she has little place to go. Woods, as Middle Ally, breaks through the musical sameness with the production’s unequivocal showstopper (“My Days”), though her musical theater brassiness seems to have no counterpart in either the character’s younger and older versions.

Title: The Notebook Venue: Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Director: Michael Greif and Schele Williams Book: Bekah Brunstetter Music And Lyrics: Ingrid Michaelson Cast: Jordan Tyson, Joy Woods, Maryann Plunkett, John Cardoza, Ryan Vasquez, Dorian Harewood, with Andréa Burns, Yassmin Alers, Alex Benoit, Chase Del Rey, Hillary Fisher, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, Dorcas Leung, Happy McPartlin, Juliette Ojeda, Kim Onah, Carson Stewart, Charles E. Wallace and Charlie Webb. Running time: 2 hr 10 min (including intermission)

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