Blog · Everyday Carry
Top 10 Pens I Actually Reach For Every Day
I ranked the ten pens I carry every day by how often I actually reach for them, not by what they cost. My priciest pen, a Montblanc special edition, didn't make the list.
Ranked by Use, Not Price
I carry ten pens every day, most of them in a Lochby Quattro, a compact pouch that goes wherever I go. I've used every one of them for months, and some for years.
This is a ranking by how often I actually reach for each one, starting with the ones I use least and ending with the two I carry pretty much every single day.
I also own a Montblanc special edition with a gold nib that writes beautifully, and it isn't on this list. It's a good pen. "Beautiful" and "earns a daily seat in my pouch" are simply two different tests, and most stationery content only ever answers the first one.
The full video includes a writing test with every pen on the list.
The Ones I Carry But Barely Touch
The Traveler's Company Brass Ballpoint Pen sits at the bottom of the ranking. I don't love writing with ballpoints, but a compact metal ballpoint earns its spot on utility alone.
The stock refill wasn't good enough, so I swapped in a Uni-ball Jetstream refill. The Jetstream's ink is saturated and consistent, and after that swap, a pen I barely used became one I trust when a ballpoint is the right tool.
Next is the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen. I used to carry a set of Microns in different tip sizes for sketching and line variation. Now I carry one Fudenosuke, which has a soft touch and goes from hairline to bold in a single pen.
The Middle of the Pouch: Color and Utility
A three-color Midori dot marker set makes dots in three colors and also works as a highlighter. The markers are compact enough to fit in the pouch, and they highlight over Jetstream ink without a problem.
The Pentel Multi 8 holds eight colored leads, so I don't need to carry a set of colored pencils. You rotate the clip to point at the color you want, then press, and that color comes out.
It doubles as a highlighter. When I travel with my kids and they want to color something, I hand it to them, and they have plenty of colors.
In The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman argues that when a tool confuses you, the tool failed, not you. Both of these pass that test: a dot marker's flat tip and cap color tell you what it's for, and the Pentel's dial shows you which color you're about to get.
Compact tools that do two jobs earn a place a single-purpose tool doesn't.
The Workhorses
The Traveler's Company Pencil, loaded with a Blackwing, writes very smoothly on Rhodia paper. It's compact, and I don't worry about the tip snapping or scratching anything in the pouch. I keep it clipped to the outside of the pouch, where I can grab it quickly.
The TWSBI Eco was my second fountain pen, and I keep it filled with Lamy ink in Azurite. It's a great fountain pen for the price: it writes clean and smooth, doesn't dry out easily, and a fill lasts a long time.
The Zebra Sarasa Clip in green is my choice whenever a gel pen is the right call. I have to have a green gel pen, and the ink on this one flows really well.
The Kaweco Sport in the Olivine colorway came with a fine nib, and I swapped it for a medium because I wanted a thicker line somewhere in this lineup. Next to the TWSBI, the difference in stroke width is obvious. That is the reason to carry more than one fountain pen: range, not redundancy.
The Two I Never Leave Home Without
The Pilot Vanishing Point is the most-used pen in the kit. Its retractable fine gold nib is precise enough that I can write smaller in my MeePlus planner than with almost anything else here.
It doesn't even go in the pouch. It rides with the planner, because I use it constantly.
The Big Idea Design Base Line Bolt Action Pen is the one that stays in my actual pocket, not in the Quattro. I tried several pens for pocket carry before landing here, and the bolt action is the reason it won.
The deep, deliberate click locks solid, so it is harder to open in a pocket than a standard clicker, though it still gets clicked open by accident sometimes.
That locking click is a signifier doing real work, the principle Norman writes about: the mechanism tells you it's locked before you check. The pen is easier to deploy one-handed than anything with a cap, and mine is visibly scratched up from months of pocket duty.
The Base Line takes Parker-style refills, which you can find almost anywhere, so running dry on the road is never a real problem.
What Doesn't Make the Cut (or Barely Does)
A red Micron rides along strictly for markup, and two more pens come out only for trips.
One is a two-tone Fisher Space Pen Bullet I put together from a brass Bullet front and the back of a Field Notes edition, running a Zebra gel refill I trimmed to fit. The other is an aluminum Kaweco Liliput, light and compact, loaded with permanent ink.
None of these are daily carry. They're backups, and backups matter, but they're not what this list is about.
The gear that earns a spot in my full carry isn't the gear that costs the most. It's the gear I've used long enough to trust, patina and scratches included.
The gear worth a look
- LOCHBY Quattro: The pouch itself, sized to hold this lineup and nothing more, which is the point.
- Traveler's Company Brass Ballpoint Pen: Compact enough to earn a spot, but only worth carrying after I swapped in a better refill.
- Uni-ball Jetstream: The refill that turned a mediocre ballpoint into a pen worth keeping in the pouch.
- Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: Replaced a whole set of Microns by covering thick, medium, and fine lines in one soft-tip pen.
- Lamy Safari Fountain Pen: Not in this carry. It is listed because the ink in my TWSBI Eco is Lamy's Azurite.
- Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen: My green gel pen, with ink that flows really well.
- Kaweco Sport: Swapped to a medium nib on purpose, to give the lineup a thicker line than my other fountain pens.
- Pilot Vanishing Point: The most-used pen in the kit, with a fine gold nib precise enough for small writing in a compact planner.
- MeePlus SlimPad: The compact planner where the Vanishing Point does its writing, small enough that nib precision matters.
- Big Idea Design Base Line Bolt Action Pen: The pocket pen that beat every capped pen and standard clicker I tried, chosen for its solid, locking click.
- Field Notes: The source of the edition back half on my two-tone travel Space Pen.
- Fisher Space Pen Bullet (Brass): The compact brass front half of that travel pen.
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Related reading
- Best Pocket Notebook for Everyday Carry? I Carry Three Instead
- Planner Insert Sizes Explained: A5, Personal, Pocket, and the Rest
Best picks by use
- Best for everyday planner writing: Pilot Vanishing Point (fine): my most-used pen, precise enough to write smaller in a compact planner than almost anything else I carry.
- Best for pocket carry: Big Idea Design Base Line Bolt Action Pen: its deep, deliberate click locks solid, so it rarely opens by accident in a pocket, and it deploys easily with one hand.
- Best for travel: Fisher Space Pen Bullet (Brass): a compact two-tone pen built from a brass Bullet front and a Field Notes edition back, used only on trips.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most-used pen in your daily carry?
The Pilot Vanishing Point with a fine gold nib is my most-used pen, precise enough for small writing in my compact MeePlus planner. It rides with the planner instead of the pouch because I use it constantly.
Which pen do you carry in your pocket instead of the pouch?
The Big Idea Design Base Line Bolt Action Pen stays in my pocket because its deep, solid click is harder to open by accident than a standard clicker. It is also easier to deploy one-handed than a capped pen.
What fixed the Traveler's Company Brass Ballpoint Pen?
Swapping the stock refill for a Uni-ball Jetstream fixed the Traveler's Company Brass Ballpoint Pen. The Jetstream's saturated, consistent ink turned a pen I barely used into one I trust when a ballpoint is the right tool.
Why carry more than one fountain pen?
I carry more than one fountain pen for range, not redundancy. I swapped my Kaweco Sport to a medium nib so it lays down a visibly thicker line than my TWSBI Eco.