Pick a Pen Series: Parker Jotter Ballpoint

Palimpsest's reader, Claire, writes about her favourite pen:

A Most Reliable Pen

I do love ogling all of the fancy pens when I pop into Ryman, but to be honest, the pen I couldn't live without is my Parker Jotter Stainless Steel Ball Point Pen. There are no frills attached with this Parker, it’s a very simple retractable pen. I think it’s this simplicity that makes it such a reliable pen. That’s the most important thing for me when it comes to pens, reliability. I’ve had three of the cheaper Parker Jotter Ballpoint pens, all of which have met leaky, inky and sticky ends, ruining my notebooks. That was probably partly my fault for leaving them loose in my school bag but when you are in a hurry you do sometimes stuff them in your bag quickly. I've had no such problem with my Parker Jotter Stainless Steel Ball Point Pen which has served me well for about 5 years and counting.

At around £11 this pen is reasonably priced and I find the Parker Quink medium ball point refills last a long time. At the height of my finals exam revision the refills lasted roughly 5 weeks, that was a lot of writing. You can also use Gel refills if you prefer but they don’t have the same lifespan as the Quink refills. Also with Gel you do have to be careful not to smudge the ink on the paper. The pen writes very nicely on different pages including graph paper and square paper.

I've found the ink to be water resistant, a property that was very desirable when I confronted by a deluge of rain whilst trying to navigate using a map I had scrawled with my pen. In short the Parker Jotter Stainless Steel Pen is a great everyday pen that is affordable so you won’t have to be too worried about losing it if you carry it around with you.

Claire Grannell is a stationery enthusiast and works for Bags of Love who have a range of photo gifts.