Editing The Pen Addict 674/transcript (section)

== Harmony's Question on Gel Ink in D1 Refills ==

* All right. Our next question comes in from Harmony. Who says. I have a pocket ballpoint pen. That uses a Schmidt Mini 635 refill. But I don't love it. Ideally. I'd replace it with a gel refill. But I can't figure out. If there is a compatible one. Is there such a thing. As a gel refill. That would work here. Or even. A better performing ballpoint refill. Like the Jetstream that would fit. And we also have a question from Alan. Who says. I recently picked up a rotary multi pen. With the gravity mechanism. Which is absolutely cool. Now I need to figure out. What refills to put in it. But I don't know standard pens. The multi pen. Takes standard. D1 refills. I almost exclusively use fountain pens. I like things smooth. With great colors. Especially blues and greens. Do I go that way with refills. Or should I go the opposite. To make the multi pen. Complement to the fountain pens. What do I need? We love all of our D1 refill questions. Here at the pen addict. So Harmony. That's what you have. So the Schmidt Mini 635. It's called a D1 refill. And just you know. Regular stationery nomenclature. And Alan. That's also what fits. The Rotaring multi pen. Which I agree is excellent. So.
* Taking. The gel. Question. From Harmony's question. The reason why you don't see. Many gel. Refills. They're out there. Which I will get to.
* In a D1 size. Is because. Of the way. Gel ink. Is formulated. You burn through. Ink. And given the size. Of a D1 refill. You will not be happy. With the price. You have to pay. For a Zebra. D1. Gel ink. Refill. And how long. It will last you. I cannot believe. How fast. Those refill. Go from. A hundred. To zero. They. I cannot. Recommend them. In any way. Shape. Or form. Despite the fact. That they're gel ink. And they look cool. They are. One of the. Like. Least value. Products. Out there. Because.
* That's how D1 refills are. Right. They're made to be small. And fit in these smaller pens. Or. In a multi pen. That takes multiple refills. Right. You need a small capacity. Gel ink. Is not made for that. Because. It just burns through. And refills. You'll notice that. If you use any. Larger. Capacity. Standard pens. Like a pilot. G2. Pentel inner gel. Like you obviously. Get a lot more writing. Out of that. But those refills. Do. Like run out quicker. Than you would think. So.
* What you do want. And I think. Is kind of the answer. That Harmony was alluding to. And it's probably the right answer. For Alan. Jetstream. The Uniball Jetstream. Makes the best D1 refill. In my book. It's ballpoint ink. But it's smooth. The lines are very. Very clean.
* Unlike some ballpoint inks. Especially in the D1 category. They can get a little bit skippy. The Jetstream. Is the best D1 refill. And I don't think. It's particularly close. Like I've used some other ones. That are nice. Like the Kaveka ones. I find to be nice. I don't know who makes them. If Schmidt makes them. But like Harmony saying. She doesn't like the Schmidt Mini. 635.
* But yeah. It's. It's kind of the Jetstream. Or nothing for me. At this point. In the D1 game. I would certainly avoid gel.
* It's just not worth the money.
* As much as you'll enjoy them. For the 30 seconds. You write with them. You're going to need to replace it. Way way too often. And then. With the Jetstream. They do also offer colors. You know. A blue. Red. Black. I don't know if they have the green D1. I think they might. I didn't double check that. Before. Before the show. But Jetstream. Ballpoint ink colors. Have the most color richness.
* Ballpoint. Standard oil based ballpoint colors. Like green. Are super difficult to. Get any kind of depth of color. In there. They tend to be washed out. Even the red sometimes. The Jetstream red. Is great. And the green. Is pretty good. Like it's better than a standard. It's not like. A crazy crazy green. But you can tell a difference. Between a Jetstream green. And a standard ballpoint green. In the ink formulation. So. Color wise. That's the way I'd go. I don't think we really have.
* Outside of those. Zebra gel. Refills. That I don't recommend. They. They do. With the gel. They can do things. Easier. Like oranges. And purples. And greens. But ballpoints. Don't really have that option. Right now. In the D1 refills. So.
* D1. I'm sticking with Jetstream. And running with that. And you're not going to find. Much better.