Our Editor-Tested Guide to the Best Pens for Any Writing Purpose

What may seem like a no-nonsense retractable pen at first glance is actually a total delight to use. The majority of our testers gave a perfect rating to the Uni-Ball Jetstream’s comfortable grip and bleedproof ink quality.

While the smoothness of this ballpoint pen is not as slick as other types, testers still found that it wrote easily and effortlessly; as one editor said, “It writes without a hiccup, making it a great everyday pen. Smooth to the touch and steady on the paper.” 

This particular Uni-Ball Jetstream model has a fine 0.7-millimeter tip (for comparison, the standard BIC ballpoint pen has a 1-millimeter tip), and three out of four of our left-handed testers gave it top marks for its smearproof quality.

We also tested the Skilcraft U.S. Government Ballpoint Pen, the Zebra F-402, and the Fisher Bullet Space Pen in this category.

More: Everything Our Editors Are Using in Their Work-From-Home Setups

Gel pens were a popular category with our testing group, by virtue of the gel ink’s smooth writing flow and quick-drying properties. The fine-point 0.7-millimeter tip of this particular Pilot G2 model was highly rated for its comfort in hand, smooth writing, and bleedproof qualities. 

While lefties were split on whether the ink’s smear factor was problematic for them, a right-handed user did note, “It's fairly trusty with a smooth tip and solid ink flow, but if you aren't cautious, it does smear.”

This retractable pen is equipped with a comfortable contoured grip, making it an ideal choice for longhand writing. It’s also available in 0.38-, 0.5-, and 1-millimeter tip sizes.

We tested this gel ink pen alongside the Uni-Ball Gel Grip, Pilot G-Tec-C, the TUL GL1, the Zebra Sarasa, and the Pentel EnerGel Deluxe RTX.

As far as writing smoothness goes, the Uni-Ball Vision Elite may be the best of the bunch! Our testers found its fluid ink flow quite exceptional, with one person saying, “I thought it wrote very smoothly. I also love how dark and rich the ink appears.” 

As is expected with rollerball pens, this pen’s ink takes slightly longer to dry, and is unfortunately prone to smearing. Our left-handed testers particularly bemoaned this, with one saying, “I want to like this pen because I love how thick the ink comes out, but it is just not meant for left-handed people.”

The design of this rollerball pen can also be a point of contention with users. A few of our testers loved the substantial flow of ink from its slim 0.8-millimeter tip, but found that the pen’s crosshatched grip was uncomfortable to hold for longer periods of time. Others found this design to be a major plus, and actually conducive to the writing experience. 

In any case, you may want to reserve these pens for thicker, non-glossy paper to enjoy them to their fullest.

In the rollerball pen category, we also tested the Pilot Precise V5RT and Uni-Ball ONYX rollerball pens.

Of our 15 testers, four are left-handed, and each type of pen category seemed to present its own set of challenges for them. The fountain pens and gel pens were tough categories in terms of ink smudging. Intriguingly, their only unanimous vote went to a pen in the felt-tip category.

The Pilot Razor Point II is technically a porous-point pen, with a super-fine 0.2-millimeter tip that writes like a very slim marker, without looking as dark or unwieldy. One tester even said, “It doesn't feel like a felt-tip! More like a ballpoint.” 

This pen also got high marks on its bleedproof quality and its comfort in the hand. While it definitely does not write as smoothly as the Le Pen, it may be more versatile in terms of paper thickness that you’re able to use.

Our lefties also liked the Uni-Ball Jetstream Ballpoint Pen, Pilot Precise V5RT Rollerball Pen, and the Pilot G2 Retractable Premium Rollerball Pen.

When it comes to buying a luxury pen, the sky is truly the (price) limit. We found the Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen to be one of the most affordable, yet high-quality and reviewer-beloved pens out there, clocking in at just around $15 from most retailers. Our testers voted that this model was the easiest and most intuitive of the fountain pens to use. One person noted, “This is a great pen. It’s on the slim side but still elegant, and it writes very well. Very smooth.”

This particular pen comes with a medium nib, but is also available to buy in a fine-nib size. It’s worth noting that you may need to do a little research in the event that you’d like to replace this pen’s nib, as Pilot does not appear to sell replacement nibs for their Metropolitan model. Comparable nibs from other manufacturers are available.

The Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen’s packaging is also quite impressive — it arrives in a hard-shell case that is attractive enough to function as the pen’s storage when not in use. It also comes equipped with an ink cartridge as well as a squeeze converter that can be used to fill it from an inkwell. For our purposes, we tested it using the provided ink cartridge.

We tested this fountain pen alongside the JinHao X750 Fountain Pen, the Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen, and the Lamy Safari Fountain Pen.

Our testers were pretty split on the felt-tip category overall, because personal preferences on pen barrel size widely varied. The fine-point 0.3-millimeter Marvy Uchida Le Pen won out for its smearproof ink, which even all but one of our left-handed users gave top marks to. As one tester put it, “It may be a little slimmer than the average writing utensil, but it makes writing by hand really fun.” This pen writes incredibly smoothly, requiring virtually no force to make a vivid, bold mark on the page.

We also tested the Pilot Razor Point II Marker Stick Pen, the Prismacolor Premier Illustration Marker, the Paper Mate Flair Felt-Tip Pen, and the Sharpie Pen in this category.

Every one of our testers actually said “whoa” upon picking up the JinHao X750 fountain pen — and that was before they found out how inexpensive it is! This pen was undoubtedly the thickest and weightiest pen of the group, but its surprisingly comfortable grip made it easy and enjoyable for beginner fountain-pen writers to use. 

One tester said, “The heft makes it feel expensive and substantial. Aesthetically, it’s very pleasing and the writing is easy and smooth.”

While this is definitely not a pen for extended longhand writing, its included medium-size nib gives a nice flourish to handwritten notes, calligraphic text, and of course, your signature on important documents. If the provided medium nib doesn’t work for you, you can always swap it out for a compatible model in your preferred size.

It’s worth noting that the JinHao X750 comes equipped with a piston converter, so users will need to have their own inkwell on hand to be able to refill it. We used ink from a Parker Quink inkwell. The pen’s converter mechanism worked without any issue, and we found this video tutorial from JetPens to be a fantastic guide for first-time users.

We wanted to make sure that we included a highlighting component in our testing criteria, since some pen inks, even when dry, can smear from the added layer of wet ink. We tested this with all pen categories except for fountain pens. Unsurprisingly, the viscous-ink ballpoint pens performed the best, and the Zebra F-402 was the top pen in this test. Almost instantly after writing with it, we found that the text could be highlighted without any smearing whatsoever.

This 0.7-millimeter fine-point retractable pen has a stainless steel build and a velvety grip, and it struck most of our testers as being a substantial, yet utilitarian writing utensil. One tester said, “This one felt sturdy and comfortable, not too fussy.” 

A few testers did critique the weightiness of the pen, and felt that the ink flow was too thin for it to be their top choice.