A philosophical issue I have with some of the pens I own has me thinking about a car in an old TV show.
About a thousand years ago when I was in high school, I was horrified to learn that the awesome looking Coyote X sports car in Hardcastle and McCormick was mostly a shell built on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis. (Note: yes, we totally had sports cars 1,000 years ago.) Sure, it had the engine from a Porsche 914 and, yes, it was common to build fancy looking kit cars on a Beetle chassis, but it still kind of seemed like cheating to me and the Coyote X lost some of its appeal (especially after it was replace by a boxy monstrosity in season 2).
This brings me to the issue I have with some of the pens I own: they are attractive shells built on a common chassis. The fountain pens, with a few exceptions, all use nibs from the same manufacturers and take the same converters and cartridges. This doesn’t bother me as much as it should, though, because I can use different inks and the nibs all write differently. I can also get the shell designed the way I want it, so that at least some of it is not off-the-shelf.
It’s the ballpoint pens that have me thinking. The ones I use the most all have the same “chassis”, in this case the Pilot G2 refill. The G2 is a terrific gel ink pen that writes better than most ballpoint pens but when I put it in a $40 shell I’m still using a $1 pen, it’s just disguised with a fancier surface.
The Karas Kustoms Retrakt (top), Pilot G2, Tactile Turn Mover, Karas Kustoms Bolt. They all use the same refill.
This has me pondering exactly what I’m getting for my money. I’ve used Pilot G2s at work and during travel and I find the rubber bit around the end starts to get sticky and to move around. It also tends to collect dust and random white bits. The plastic cracks if you’re not careful and I’ve broken off the clip on at least two by trying to attach them to books.
In the end, the main rationalizations I come up with are that the machined pens are more durable than the plastic G2 which means I don’t have to replace them as often which makes them, after a long stretch of questionable logic I won’t go into more environmentally friendly, especially as I don’t toss them out when they are empty. (Granted, sometimes I buy a G2, take out the refill and toss the pen in a “variety” drawer, but that’s an issue for another post.)
The machined pens are thicker than the plastic G2 body, which makes them more comfortable for me to use. Also, because they use the common refill, they are easier to maintain. If I run out of ink, I get a replacement for a dollar without having to track down a specialty shop and take out a personal loan.
I’ve turned down the chance to get some new ballpoint pens from the above manufacturers and I’ll probably try to sell a few of the ones I do have. I still like them and use them, but that Volkswagen Beetle chassis is bothering me a bit.