KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

Cheap & good rollerballs: Pentel EnerGell, Liquid gel ink, 0.7mm ball
Uniball, Vision, fine
Pilot, G-2, 0.7mm

For an actual ballpoint pen, I'd go with the Parker.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

Second this, as sell as Parker.

bwilliams

I have been using fisher space pens for a long time. I like the way write and they have click styles now. The refills fit other pens also.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

So what did you teach in school?

My son Chris went to Rose Hulman and Virginia Tech. He has his PhD in engineering education. My daughter Lisa is completing her masters in Music Education at Fredonia Univ. They have taught her 12 musical instruments. I can’t whistle and walk without tripping.

gastech1949 Loc: Imperial Beach, CA.

I have used a Pentel EnerGel pen for many years filling out forms for work, only time they gave me problems was when they ran out of ink. Less than $2 each at Staples, Office Depot, Wal Mart. (Come in needle point, roller ball and multiple colors, .07, .05, .03 tips) Write very well on thermal receipt paper and almost all other papers.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

They are usually wider than the average so I liked them because of my arthritis. The refills lasted a long time and didn’t cost a lot….$5 for a pack of two.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I don’t know if anyone remembers the Bic Banana. It was a yellow stick pen. I remember the commercials as well as cavemen who chanted the name of the pen!

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Bic works for us.

BruceT4891

I use Fisher Space pens. They are the ones from the 70's that write in space and upside down. The company is still around. Their website is SpacePen.com.Little pricey, but they write beautifully.

LDB415 Loc: Houston south suburb

They are excellent writing instruments and the company stands behind their product, another major point in their favor.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I am very fussy with pens. I have to have a good writing pen and with a combined 39 years of retail experience and having been exposed to many brands and types of pens there are some that stand out. Longshadow mentioned a couple that are outstanding in my opinion. The Zebra F301 fine point writes really well (a pack of 9 with 3 extra refills -- Sam's price 10.48). The Uniball 207 is one of my favorite all-time pens it writes really smoothly ( 14 pack for 12.48). Just as good is the Pilot G2 -- ( 16 pack for 14.24)another favorite of mine and is loved by more office workers than any other pen -- at least that is how it seems from my time at Sam's Club. A new one to have come on the market recently is a gel pen by Sharpie. I haven't tried that one but based on Sharpie's other products it should be a winner ( 14 for 12.78).
Everything I've mentioned so far are pens in the 1 to 2-dollar range. Of the better pens I've used, Parker makes some good pens but the prices can run anywhere from around 6 to over 100 dollars. I have one from ancient times (about 50 years ago) they called Big Red although it was orange! Back then you could only get ballpoint refills for it but now I am able to get gel refills which work better. Back then it cost 9 dollars but you can still buy them but the price is around 25. For higher-end pens I like Waterman. They are a little more robust and have good weight -- I like a pen that is a little heavy. I have a Mont Blanc and while that is a fine pen, I hate taking it out of the house. If I'm going to lose a pen it shouldn't be one costing around 140 dollars. Cross makes great pens also but a lot of their line of pens are slender and I find writing much with a slender pen cramps my hand which is on the large size. I do have one Cross that is a larger size but it does not have the weight of the Waterman pens. The Zebra pen is also slim but has a rubber grip that makes it easier to use than the Cross slim pens. The size point I prefer is .5. If you like a bolder print you should go with .7. I used to buy some .35 to use on detail sheets and while they write nicely they are so sharp they can scratch and tear the paper. I tend to collect pens and am including a photo of some of my collection. I must have a couple hundred pens around the house and depending on my mood, I may use different pens. My favorite writing instrument currently is not a pen at all but a pencil. The notes I write while working on the computer are written with a Graphgear 1000 by Pentel. It is a beautiful instrument with a little weight and just feels good to hold. I bought one about a year ago and after taking it to a meeting to take notes, it became lost. I ordered another one and now keep it beside the computer and keep it home. There are so many brands and point sizes my best suggestion is to go to Staples and try out some pens for yourself. They usually have demo pens you can try. Other than that, there are enough suggestions to keep you busy trying what the group here has suggested.

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usn ret Loc: SoCal High Desert

Cross pens have a fault, for us lefties, the writing point will screw back into the barrel as I
write always having to stop and screw the tip out at the most inopportune time such as when taking notes.
Otherwise great pens..... I stand by Tru-Red in black, it just feels right or is that write?!

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Check out the photo I posted just before your post. The silver pen on the right-hand side is a Cross that has a pull-off cap. No screwing the tip in and out -- this one might work for you.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Maybe he wants a good pen to write information on the back of his prints so folks in the future will be able to know who or what the photograph depicts.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

In four pages, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Bic Clic. This pen is probably the number one pen used for advertising. They are made in just about every color combination imaginable. They are inexpensive. Businesses usually buy them imprinted by the hundreds and leave them on the counters for customers to use and as advertising that has the business name and phone number and now, probably website. Customers like them because they write on almost anything (including thermal cc receipts if you put a piece of paper under it), write till they run out, and don't seep or leak. Every truck driver I have encountered carries 1 or 10 in his pocket. And talk about abused, they write on paper, cardboard, wood, cloth, tape of every kind, punch holes and keep on writing.

They may not be the perfect pen, but price per pound and performance, they are near the top of the list.