Zebra R-301 Stainless Steel Rollerball Pen, Fine Point, 0.7mm, Black Ink, 2-Count

I give it 5 stars ... would have given 4.5 if it was possible to give rating in increments of half a point. Anyway I bought the two set pen and I absolutely love it! I ready the reviews before buying and as there were mixed reviews was skeptical. I don't have any problems mentioned in the review ... about ink leakage or even the ink flow ... on the contrary love the color of the blue ink and like the smoothness.I have other roller balls that take fountain cartridges but for the price, this has to be the best value for your money. Planning to buy more and keep them in case they are discontinued. It took me time to get used to the grip ... I hope Zebra comes with other versions of grips and colors.

If you do a LOT of writing, this will cramp your fingers like any other rollerball; you are better off with a good fountain pen. But if you only write a little, this can be made into a really excellent rollerball, with a little extra work. Read on.The pen looks like most cheap rollerballs, rather ugly. You have to pull really hard to get the cap off, and push really hard to get it back on, but that is only a minor defect.The only major issue with the pen is that the ink in the supplied cartridges writes very dry and greasy, like a ballpoint. But there is a simple solution. This is a so-called inkball; a rollerball that takes fountain pen ink. Get a small veterinary syringe at your local farm supply. Remove the bad ink from the cartridge and replace it with some Quink fountain pen ink (available on amazon). To each bottle of this ink drip in 2 or 3 drops of Ivory Dish Detergent from a toothpick. Also add a little distilled water. Recap the bottle of ink and shake to mix. Now use the syringe to refill the empty cartridge from the bottle of ink. The result? The pen will now magically write like a $100 rollerball, smooth and wet. Neat, eh?As others have said, the cap rotates when posted. Weird, yes, but not really annoying.All in all, probably the best deal in a rollerball, once you get some good ink for it.

smooth...nice feel on grip

Pens writes good and looks good. Only issue is the cap sticks on rather tightly when capped, but when placed on the back of the pen to write it spins quite freely. Putting some tape in the cap solves this issue, but it's still a rather weird issue.

Too much ink, too fast. It bleeds very wide and makes all writing look sloppy. There is no way to keep ahead of this inkflow while you write.If you're looking for an excellent pen that isn't a sticky rollerball ink, try the most perfect ink/pen (for the price) ever made: Zebra's stainless steel gel pens. Zebra should discontinue this R-301.