Any pen experts in here?

I need a refill for a pen, but I know nothing about pen refills. I went to a local store, but they wanted much more than I'm ready to spend, so I'd like to try and find it online, but I don't know what I'm looking for.

Here's a piccie, with a fauxton for scale:



All that's printed on that cartridge is "FERRARI" and "111". No, it doesn't have anything to do with the cars.

Any ideas what I'm looking for?

No expert,but how about one size fits all refill here

pen refills are so much more expensive these days. a parker pen refill, which fits most of my pens, is $5, and it's not smooth like before either anyways, you can take your pen refill to office depot, office max, etc and compare to the refills there to see which brand is it. office depot carry a generic brand called "foray." i havent tried it cuz the parker style refill was out of stock. anyhoo, worth giving a shot. good luck in finding your pen refill.

That is a standard "Paper Mate" type refill.

bfg9000 is correct. But verbie brings up an excellent point. When in doubt, take the refill with you to one of the bigger national chains.

Papermate ballpoint refills are reasonably priced. (Often sold in packs of two, for the same price as one Parker refill).

It's funny this topic came up.

I was out shopping for notebooks for the Spring semester/work supplies, and I began taking a serious look at all the different types/prices/styles of pens. I was totally lost. One of the Staples employees was happy to field my questions, and what I found out, after all the discussion was through, was that the expense of buying refillables was not worth it when I can pick up "free" lost pens on the floor. Maybe one day when I am rich, I will try-out the refillables.

I recently went to Office Depot for a pen refill. A lot of people must be confused as there were many open refill packages on the rack. I'm assuming people were comparing refills out of the package and not substituting old for new.

If you buy a Pilot G-2 Pro and a Mount Blanc refill which you must trim off 1/8" from the top you end up with a very nice pen for about $10. Not quite the real thing but it does flow nicely. Complete instructions on instructables.

Yes, we know.

Probably the most important thing to know about cheap pens and refills is the quality varies a lot, and it's pretty normal to get ones that write smoothly and others that don't in the same box. The honest solution is to buy in quantity and give away the dud ones or leave them in a cup as loaners. The less honest way is to open and try them in the store as da.gee noticed.

Personally I prefer to spend a little more for consistent quality, and for years my favorite has been the Parker Gel refill. The colors are deep and saturated like fountain pen ink (unlike ballpoints), it dries fast (unlike the G2) and writes smoothly down to a 45 degree angle.

Refills are like primaries, and refillable liquid-ink rollerballs and fountain pens are like rechargeables. If you tend to drop pens a lot, primaries are better

I have always loved the Parker pens. Especially the All Stainless steel jotter.

Now it is even better with the Gel refills, which write like a dream.

Since the quality of photocopy machines has improved so much, I've switched completely over to BLUE ink.