I am in search of a new pen for work. My daily tasks include filling out charts and writing in small spaces so I like fine tip pens. Other than that it must be a retractable of some type and no gel pens of smearable ink. For the past few years I have used a zebra F-301 which I really like but the plastic threads connecting the grip and barrel constantly break, recently I picked up some BIC Atlantis exact? pens which I like but it has a flimsy plastic clip and is just a tad too thick for my liking. Ideally I think I would like a pen the thickness of the f301 but with a solid metal body... does anyone know of anything like this?
Depends on what you mean by "fine tip", but my go-to recommendation for these types of requests is always the black matte Fisher Cap-o-Matic. The Fisher fine refill is approximately 0.7mm which really isn't what I would consider "fine" (I enjoy microtip pens.) But the pen itself is fantastic - all metal, built like a tank, nothing flimsy about it, retractable. Pretty affordable, too, usually around $12 on amazon. And the refill writes very nicely, like I said, it just depends on how fine you like your refills.
I agree with going with the F-701 zebra pen I have been using that pen for years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The F701 can be modded with a Fisher refill as well, and a Metal clicky from another Zebra pen, I wanna say a 402, to make an all steel pen body. That's my current back up pen that rides in my jumbo along with my rite in the rain notebook.
+1 for the Zebra F-701. I carry an unmodded F-701 daily in my job as an aide at a school. It looks good, writes decently, and is easy to quickly bring out, jot a few notes, and put away again. As mentioned above they can be modded to take other refills and you can swap parts in from a F-402 to make it an all metal body. There are posts, articles, videos etc. out there on how to mod the F-701, just google it. You mentioned a "fine tip". Many companies make refills with different writing styles. The Fisher space cartridges come in fine, medium, and bold. So, if you get a pen that can take various refills, you can change them around to fit your needs. Another popular pen around here is the Parker Jotter. They're only a little bit pricier than the F-701 and look just as nice. I haven't had one myself, but there's a few threads on here that talk about the Jotter. The Jotter does come in different body styles, some are all metal and some are not. It doesn't have knurling on the body the way the Zebra F-701 does though.
I would also recommend the Zebra F701. I did the swap with the 402 and it's a great pen. I have a couple and use Uniball Jetstream or Zebra G 301 gel refills in them. It's not too difficult to get a Jetstream into the Zebra F701 or Fisher Bullet. If you don't want to fool with cutting up refills, the Pentel Energel metal pen is nice and should take a Jetstream without any mods.
Actually now that you mention it I think I did have a f701 before, maybe I will try that out again. As for the jetstream and g2 refills, I am not allowed to use gel pens on most documents... I guess to smear-y and thick or something, so I stick with ballpoint and the smallest tip I have seen in ballpoint is 0.7mm.
Jetstream is a hybrid ballpoint/gel ink, doesn't really fall into either category. But it is extremely well behaved, dries very quickly without smearing or blobbing, etc. They are my favorite pen refills and you can get them in very fine tip sizes. I would absolutely recommend them. flatline, you mention that Jetstream refills fit inside a Pentel metal body without modification, which I was unaware of. Fantastic, if true. Can you be more specific, though? Jetstream refills come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the original pen. Also the pen body - I searched on Jetpens and found a Pentel Energel Alloy gel pen with a metal body for $8, is this the one you were referring to?
Yes, the Energel Alloy is all metal. The Jetstream RT refills are the ones you want, just pick your color and tip size and pop it into the Energel Alloy.
Yes, the $8 metal energel on JetPens is the pen body I was referring to. Oddly enough, I bought mine from FedEx Office for the same price. The Jetstream refills that I've tested with come from what JetPens calls "Uni Jetstream Standard Ballpoint Pen" in the .5 and .38 varieties. The .5 pen body looks like something an imperial stormtrooper might use (white and black like their armor). There are a handful of popular clicky pens that all use the same refill geometry: Pentel Energel Bic Velocity Uni Signo Uni Jetstream PaperMate Inkjoy gel You can freely swap refills between these pens. Until recently, I've been feeding all my refills through the metal Energel pen body. Now I use the Inkjoy gel pen bodies since I find them to be more comfortable. The Pilot G2 gel pen can also use these refills, but the tip will stick out further than normal. This might be correctable by trimming the refill (I haven't actually done this). However, the G2 refills WILL NOT work in any of the above pens. It may be possible to modify the tip of one of these pens to accommodate the shape of the G2 refill, but I've never done it. --flatline
I really like my Fisher AG-7 with a fine insert, its my go to reach for pen and I have a couple other good pens as well. I thought I had lost it when I came home from a job last OCT. Was unpacking my bag this Oct, after getting to a job, and it fell out of a jean pocket, that had never gotten unpacked last fall. I was over joyed to have it back, and has not left my sight since.
