Commentaries on Cheap Pens

Just this year, the world of cheap pens was revolutionized by disposable liquid-ink pens. As someone who spends hours a day writing on actual paper, I can't tell you what an improvement they are. The reason is simple: it's liquid ink, not that nasty viscous stuff that's always clotting up, and so it flows much more smoothly onto the page. They're also more entertaining than regular pens, since they include a window onto the ink reservoir. While I was travelling, I went to art supply stores in several countries looking for them, and the best was the Reynolds model, which I could only find in a single art supply store in Nice, France. (Reynolds makes a lot of other, more garden-variety pens, which are distributed more widely. Forget them.) I did find some other pens that are almost as good. The most widely distributed is the Uni-Ball Eye (called Vision in the United States), which has the advantage of coming in a range of slighly unusual saturated colors. Another good model is the Pilot V-Ball, although its barrel is a little too skinny to be comfortable. You can get a disposable fountain pen, too, the Pilot Varsity, but much like regular fountain pens it's way too much trouble.