Calling pen nuts. Whats a good parker refill?

The parker gel ones write great but they last a day... Mayby 2 at school. What's a good smooth writing refill that will actually last?

The longest lasting Parker size refill would be the Fisher PR refill for it. It will last MANY times longer. They can generally be had for ~$3-4.

Make sure you get at least one that comes with the Parker adapter.

I keep a blue one in my stainless Jotter and love it.

I never tried Parker's gel refills yet.

The Fisher (I use an X-750) refills are very smooth, better than the Parkers.

I used to use gel but find them not so good for coated (glossy) paper.

I do prefer gel for the solid intense colors, but always come back to ballpoint.

But yup, gel doesn't last, and water based ink even less.

I'd have to go with the Fisher refills as well. I used my Jotter as my main pen for a while,and the Fisher refill I tried lasted a while. I only use my IM and Executive now, sometimes the Vector. I just love rollers. (Yeah yeah, the Exec is a BP, but it's smooth as butter.)

Smoothest writing ballpoint refills are the standard versions from Parker, Waterman, and Cross.

Will last you much longer than gel refills, and only about half a notch below the smoothness of gel.

I used to make my living as a Sales Associate in a high-end pen shop. (Best job I ever had).

There is just one refill that rules them all, it is almost unobtainable, I had to threaten the custom rep at the factory (with 15 roses at her office ). They are made by a company in Germany the make refills for all kinds of pen-manufacturers. They also make 1000-and-1 parts for them, like the inner of a mechanical pencil, fountain pens etc. Look at their website. Even most pen-shop owners don't know this company as it only delivers to other pen manufacturers...
http://www.schmidttechnology.de/en/schreibgeraete/produkte/easyflow/c_1_9.htm
The easyflow 9000 is the refill that is used by SureFire for the SureFire ballpoint. The last a pretty long time, though not as long as a Goliath from Caran d'Anche and they write super, super smooth, better than any gellpen I've come across.
And I'm more of a pen nutter than most :$

AlecGold said:

There is just one refill that rules them all, it is almost unobtainable, I had to threaten the custom rep at the factory (with 15 roses at her office ). They are made by a company in Germany the make refills for all kinds of pen-manufacturers. They also make 1000-and-1 parts for them, like the inner of a mechanical pencil, fountain pens etc. Look at their website. Even most pen-shop owners don't know this company as it only delivers to other pen manufacturers...
http://www.schmidttechnology.de/en/schreibgeraete/produkte/easyflow/c_1_9.htm

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Schmidt? Everyone knows Schmidt.

If I walked into a pen-shop, and the clerk never heard of Schmidt, I'd ask how he was enjoying his first day on the job.

Serious? Overhere it is unobtainable, I've had to order from the Netherlands at a guy in Belgium, who could order them in Germany. Took only 14 days to get it, but overhere it is really, really hard to get.

anyway, I really like their easyflow 9000's, but I guess I made that clear already

AlecGold said:

Serious? Overhere it is unobtainable, I've had to order from the Netherlands at a guy in Belgium, who could order them in Germany. Took only 14 days to get it, but overhere it is really, really hard to get.

anyway, I really like their easyflow 9000's, but I guess I made that clear already

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Wow! I didn't know things were that bad in the Netherlands.

Yeah, I'm being serious. Schmidt refills are common as dirt here in America. You won't find them in the stationary section of a big name Pharmacy. But you'll easily find them in pen-shops and even in some of the bigger office supply stores.

Nah, we have excellent penshops here, it is just that Schmidt doesn't have a market/products here.
I've bought a nice Sailor with naginata togi nib and a Visconti Wall Street LE

Thanks for the clarification.

but now I'm curious: what do you think of the Schmidt Easyflow 9000?

AlecGold said:

but now I'm curious: what do you think of the Schmidt Easyflow 9000?

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It's a good refill. But the majority of my experience with BP refills is with Parker, Waterman, and Cross. And I mean their standard BP refills for their pens. All are incredibly smooth, with Cross out in front. Of the three, only Cross stains my fingers on a continuous basis, due to how smooth the ink flow happens to be.

Monteverde's Soft Roll ballpoint refills and the identical Office Depot Foray ballpoint refills for the Parker/DIN standard are superb. I haven't tried the Schmidt Easy Flow version under their own name, but I believe they're all made by Scmidt. These are made in Switzerland with thixotropic ink and write much smoother than older ballpoints and last far longer than gel refills. They don't smear. They don't dry out. They also don't leak silicone fluid, which many gel refills will do (esp. the Parker gel refills).You can get them online, or just go into your local Office Depot.

The same ink is available in refills for other pens, such as ballpoint and rollerballs from Cross, Mont Blanc, Waterman, etc. I have the mini-DIN Monteverde Soft Roll refills (same size as the Lamy and Rotring mini-refills) and they're also great.

Don't get the Monteverde in colors other than blue or black, because those are made in China.

A similar refill is made by Schneider, in Germany.

Always avoid the MontBlanc refiils sold in the office supply, chain stores.

M.B. sells their ballpoint and rollerball refills to the high-end, dedicated, pen shops. But many refills produced fail to pass inspection. (They have a strong tendency to leak). These "factory seconds," for lack of a better word, are then sold to the office supply stores at a discount. Discount then passed along to the customer. That's why M.B. refills cost more at dedicated pen shops than at the chain stores.

Technically, both types of places are selling M.B. refills. But one type sells the good stuff, while the other is selling those that failed to pass inspection. No other pen company does that. For example, if you buy a Waterman BP refill at Staples, it's the same one (quality wise) sold at Joon's Pen Shop.

Sorry to go off the OP request but after years of searching for the best pen I found that the Pilot pens are the best. Not only I'm I a flashaholic but also a penaholic. I do a lot of writing at work and and I am very happy with these. The models I get are the Pilot G2 or the G-knock, but I swap out the stock refill UPC #77240 (refills on left) with a Pilot fine point 0.7 mm needle point refill Pilot UPC #77245 (refills on right). I know these arent like executive pens like Parker and Cross but I recommend you guys check these out. People are always like "Oh man this pen writes freaking awesome". Made in Japan so you know it good stuff. LOL.

Gel-ink was created because, other than Pelikan, no one was able to make a truly smooth, quality, rollerball refill. While worth the money, not many folks will pay for a Pelikan RB refill. (Not many folks know that Pelikan even exists.)

One of the pens I use at work is a G2 limited, in silver. A nice pen. Refills easy to find, and are indeed quite good.

Sadly there is no, good, cheap, ballpoint, alternative as far as refills go.

A ballpoint that lasts a long time but has skipping/starting problems is not worth the aggravation. A good writing experience is preferable over duration. I second Pilot G2 refills. Either that, or Schmidt capless refills (which write like firm fine nibbed fountain pens).

Pelikan rollerball refills write beautifully when first opened up, but they dry up quickly. They're not the "capless" refill types that were developed later, and which last longer than the previous generation of refills when exposed to air. There's no aftermarket refill that can be used in place of a Pelikan rollerball, unfortunately; the closest is the G2 and clones, but the Pelikan neck is thinner, and the G2 and clones won't fit in Pelikan pens unless you enlarge the hole in the pen, which most Pelikan owners would never do.

The G2 is OK, but nothing to write home about (pun intended). The Schmidt, Monteverde, and other gel rollers write far nicer, IMHO.

The Parker, Visconti, and Monteverde gel refills, using the Parker/DIN shape/size standards, usually leak silicone fluid from the BACK end of the refill (the Parker are the worst offenders, by far). And they don't last very long, which is the nature of the watery ink.

The newer generation thixotropic ballpoint refills by Schmidt, the Easy Flow (apparently repackaged by Monteverde as Soft Roll and Office Depot as Foray) are superior in many ways to anything else. There's also another similar refill from Schneider. You really need to try these. They last a very long time, don't smear or blob, are smoother than any regular ballpoint, and don't leak silicone.

Schmidt also offers pressurized ballpoint refills in various sizes, like the Fisher refills. I'm not sure if they make them or if they are rebranded Fishers.

I have had good luck with the Parker gel refills. I just bought some Itoya gel refills, which are very, very nice to write with. I haven't tried the Schmidt EasyFlow refills - need to do that.