Herbin J Refillable Rollerball Pen

So first off, I bought this pen and the Monteverde short converter (yes it works!) at the same time so I can use my favorite fountain pen inks. I filled it with Noodler's X-Feather and WOW!! It writes smooth as wet ice! You have to remember it's fountain pen ink so it will write wet. That's kind of the whole point. Use halfway decent paper and you won't have any trouble at all. That being said, I was using it at work last night on cheap copy paper and it seemed to do decently well. The pen is short, but if you post the cap it fits perfectly in my large hand. After a full night of writing, I noticed at one point that the feed had run dry and the pen acted like it had run out of ink, so I pushed more ink in from the converter and it went back to working perfectly for the rest of the night so the trick is to keep the feed system full (should be obvious, but you can't count on common sense these days). The pen doesn't actually use much ink at all compared to my fountain pens. It functioned perfectly and never skipped or was hard to start once the ink was flowing the first time. I am frankly amazed at how smoothly it glides across the page as fast as I like without ever skipping. It's not a fountain pen so obviously there is no line variation to be had. I haven't tried it with any of my inks that offer shading, but as smoothly as it lays down ink, I'm dubious about any real shading prospects. I'll try and update this if I remember once I try it with my shady inks. I'm hesitant to use shimmering inks because I don't think it will clean very nicely. I may give it a try once I buy a few more of these (which I plan to do soon!). So there you have it: A beautifully executed rollerball pen that uses fountain pen ink. It is especially useful in situations and on paper qualities where fountain pens are at a disadvantage, it doesn't stand out like a fountain pen does (I suppose if I had fancier ink in it it may since its a demonstrator) and it writes ridiculously smoothly without any skipping or hard starting. In short, it does what it's supposed to do and it does it well. If you are new to fountain pens, you may struggle slightly with inking it and cleaning it, but these are not hard to learn with a little patience and the reward is the ability to use the whole world of ink options that are only available to fountain pen users without most of the disadvantages of the fountain pen (obviously, you still have to ink it and clean it as that's the whole point of the pen). The pen is plastic but doesn't feel any cheaper than any other demonstrator pen. I wouldn't put it places where it's likely to suffer a lot of abuse (like in a pants pocket full of keys and such) as it's not likely to hold up well to that. Think of it as a more expensive pen that you want to take care of and it won't let you down and will likely last so long you'll save money on it in the end since you're not replacing your disposable pens all the time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!!

These pens write well and consistently. You also need to purchase pre-filled ink cartridges, a converter, or silicone grease for fountain pens (and fountain pen ink). The J. Herbin rollerball pens are a bit difficult to clean between inkings, but are a great option for those who want to use fountain pen inks, but don't care for fountain pens. Because these use the same inks as fountain pens, there's a huge variety of colors and special ink attributes at your disposal. However, you'll run into the same problem with ink feathering, bleeding, and "ghosting" on some papers as with fountain pens. This is a great way to introduce someone to the variety of fountain pen inks, or for a fountain pen user to keep on hand for colleagues who ask to borrow a pen. It's also a great option for people trying to cut down on waste who still need to use a pen. Unlike other "refillable" pens that rely on replacing the entire 'guts' when the ink runs out, this pen can be refilled in ways that dramatically reduce the amount of waste. It can also be cost effective. Those dollar store pens are less of a value when you consider how many don't write consistently (or at all). Very little pressure is required to apply ink from pen to paper, so they're comfortable to use. Unlike fountain pens, which have not been in common use in North America for a long time, rollerball pens are familiar and less intimidating to many people.

It's not an amazing pen, but for the price it could be worse I guess. The material is good, it's just clear plastic like any other. It's definitely really small and light, it needs to be posted to write of you have large hands. The big issue with it is the writing experience. Writing with the pen straight up and down makes a weird noise and makes for inconsistent ink flow. Writing at an angle mostly avoids this, but it's still not the smoothest writing. It's also pretty much only designed to use single use cartridges of ink, which by the way it does not come with. It's just empty and doesn't really come with instructions for people who aren't experienced with pens. If you want to fill it with an eyedropper to avoid cartridges, you'll have to seal the holes at the bottom with apoxy. Not a big inconvenience for me, but it's an added step. It's also pretty much impossible to clean the feed. You'll have to clean it as best you can and then write a few sentences on scratch paper to get all the old ink out if you switch. In summary, just get a similarly priced fountain pen like Platinum Preppy or Pilot Kakuno. This pen is hardly worth the purchase, but to be fair it's the only pen like it that I can find.

Where do I start with my review??? I wanted to buy a refillable rollerball pen, so thought this was what I was looking for. However, to my amazement, the ‘Pen’, was all I received. In my 54 years on this planet, I have never bought a pen, that is basically a shell, that you have to find a refill to fit. I am hoping that my local trustworthy W.H. Smith’s, will have a refill to fit it, otherwise it will be one of the very few items I have bought from Amazon, that will be totally useless.

Perfect fit for my Monteverde mini converter and Waterman ink. Great flow (people who say the ball doesn't roll properly must be using some oily/waxy paper or something). And i'm left-handed too! if a ball doesn't roll properly i'm the first one to notice. I want to try it with thicker ink as Waterman is a bit wet and writes like a fountain pen

Comenzó bien, pero al cabo de poco tiempo de usarlo, el trazo de escritura se ha vuelto irregular. No se si es un problema de mala calidad de la bola de la punta, o del sistema de alimentación, pero el flujo de tinta presenta cortes sobre el papel.

This pen is lovely; it's a nice quality, I love that it's clear so I can easily see the ink level, and the ink flow is perfect. My only complaint would be that it's so short. To be fair, I didn't look at the measurements before ordering as I've never encountered such a short size in something not marked as "mini." I've uploaded a picture showing a standard Bic pen and a Schneider brand refillable/ink cartridge roller ball pen. I was easily able to find ink cartridges that fit (link below to the set I'm using, such a great price) and I have refillable cartridges on hand that fit which is a relief as I like to buy ink pots when possible. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07PLYJHD8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

I recommend this pen but I just wanted to warn you that mine cracked after retightening the cartridge cover. I might have over-tightened it but I've never had this problem occur before so.... Advice to the manufacturer ( I wish!) that metal ring between the connecting plastic parts should be integrated to the pen cap so that the treading can't crack.