Rollerball Pen

What is a roller pen?

A roller ball pen is a pen that uses a ballpoint as a writing mechanism with water-based liquid or gel ink. Their high writing quality comes from the less viscous inks that saturates more widely into the paper. The size of the ball is usually between 0.5 and 0.7 MM.

There are two sorts of rollerball pen: liquid ink pen and gel ink pen. The liquid ink type makes the pen convenient with a smooth “wet ink” effect. Gel ink pen are based on pigments, which allows brighter colors and possible metallic, pastel and glitter effects. They can also be used on dark and colored paper. Liquid ink rollerball pen flows consistently and skip less ink than the gel ink pen, which avoid gaps between characters.

What are the pros of this pen?

They require less pressure that the other pen for a clean writing, which reduce the stress on the hand for more comfort, and a higher writing speed.

The range of colors is vaster thanks to the use of pigments.

Finally, a rollerball pen often write more clearly than the other pen.

What are the cons of using that pen?

The ink of water-based rollerball pen dries more slowly than the others, which can lead them to smudge more. In addition, if you write in a notebook and that you close it before the ink is dry, you might face stains on the opposite page. For the same reasons, a rollerball pen can be unsuitable for left-handed users. Gel ink dries quicker that the liquid one, making it more resistant to smudging than its counterparts.

Liquid-ink rollerball pen are more likely to bleed through paper as it is absorbed into the paper. This phenomenon is less observed for the gel-ink pen. Even though this bleeding effect is more important for the rollerball than the ballpoint pen, it is still acceptable and not too significant.

The ink or rollerball pen is consumed quicker than the other pen and those pen last longer than the ballpoint ones.

Finally, if they are uncapped, rollerball pen leak more easily, for example if you place them in a bag or a tissue.

Do you need and eraser or a correction tape?

If you need to make a correction after writing with one of this pen, you can find on our website a vast range of correction tape and correction fluid. If you know that you might change, rephrase and rewrite a lot, you should probably forget about a pen and use a pencil that will allow you to erase quickly and easily with an eraser.