Editing The Pen Addict 732/transcript (section)

== Traveler's Notebook ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Tomos asks, I'm carrying a traveler's notebook and one pen attached to that for quick notes in my back pocket. At the moment, I'm using a basic edition of the Retro 51 because I like the way it writes, but it occasionally leaks in my back pocket and the ink doesn't last, probably related. I want suggestions for a capped rollerball or a gel pen that's also a nice object rather than plastic fantastic supermarket pens. This is right up my alley because I think about this all the time. I'm assuming that the nib is being engaged accidentally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay, so my philosophy is any open-ended barrel, which is your twist mechanisms or your retractable mechanisms, you can't beat gravity. You can't beat shaking. These things are moving all the time. It does not have to engage to give you some bit of worry. Most of the time, you're going to be okay, right? But for the same reason Tomos is talking about, I don't carry these pens in a pocket or in a bag just because there's probably a 5% chance that it leaks, which is honestly pretty high if you're worried about it leaking, right? Carry them in a pen case, do anything else to protect them, that's fine. But I don't carry them essentially exposed or like clipped into something without any like barrier. So yeah, this is like a big deal for me when I'm thinking about this. So then the challenge that Tomos is finding is that there's not a lot of capped pens that solve the writing experience that you want for this, right? For like the portability stuff, for, you know, just ease of use and carry, for throwing around in a backpack and getting it banged around. We generally prefer like the performance of like a retractable pen. So I always kind of defer back. I have one primary pen that doesn't solve Tomos' problem. I use the Secura Pig Micron for this. That's why, number one, I love the pen, but it's not a rollerball or gel. It's a fineliner. It's a little bit more fragile. It's not going to hold up to, it's not going to hold up to mass usage like a standard pen would. Secondly, I'm going into the Uniball Signo DX, which is a capped gel ink pen. That's like my favorite gel ink pen. And to do a bit of self-promotion, and we probably don't even have them in stock right now, but the Spoke Model 2 is our fancy capped pen for the DX refill. And that's what I use the most. So it's a short list for solving what should be a really easy solvable problem. We also make one for a different one called the Rode XL, which holds an inner gel that's also capped. But most of these pens are going to be, have an open end. They just do.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm just looking around my desk, even at things like I'm not thinking about, and it's like, oh, Zento retractable, Friction retractable. So one retractable. Jetstream multi-pin, right? Mark 1 open-ended. A Johto pin open-ended. Spoke click Model C open-ended. Ooh, I might have found it, Myke. Uniball's into signature.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Uniball's into signature. I would actually throw the Mark 2 in there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, the Mark 2's capped. Yes, so that's the short one. Yes, Shorty uses the rollerball, uses the short Schmidt P8127 rollerball, which not a lot of people are familiar with that refill, but it's the same refill in a shorter version.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I actually, this is the thing I recommend for Tomas, because it's, Tomas likes the way the Retro 51 writes. It's just writes the same, is little, and it's got a cap and an optional clip. You can choose if you want to clip or not, so whether that works for you or not.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The clip's pretty streamlined. Like, I'm generally, like, pro-clip on that model.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I also, this one is really rolly, so I actually like the clip on this, where I would never put the clip on the Mark 1. The Mark 2 is a little bit more rolly for me. And also, it is a, I use it as a pocket pen, and so, like, I like having the clip on it, because you can just clip it to things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, so that's a good shout. So, like, we have the Spoke Rohde is our pocket one, but that's generally, you're going to have to switch out the refill, because we sell it with a ballpoint. The only gel refill that I like is the Oto Flash Dry, which is a needlepoint gel. But I like the short Schmidt P8127 roller that they use, and not a lot of people use that refill. It's great.