Zebra PenF-701 Retractable Ballpoint Pen 3-Pack plus 2 Refills, Fine Point 0.8mm, Black Ink, All Metal Durable Construction – Easy-Glide Ink, Knurled Non-Slip Grip, Metal Clip (29412)

You're in high school. Your pencil case is full of the mismatched assortment of pens without caps and mechanical pencils with half a stick of lead each that you've found on those familiar tiled floors. In fact, you can't even remember the last time you actually bought a pack or pens or pencils (besides of course, a week before the first day of school to avoid detention for not having the obligatory 3 red pens, a hilighter, and whatever else was on the syllabus). On your way to third period, daydreaming about that warm sunny schoolyard on the other side of those wide windows, walking on autopilot, you kick something and hear that familiar rolling sound. You look down, snapped out of your daydream state, praying that you happened to kick the pen just right, and not into the opposite lane of hurried kids. Your eye lands on the silver pen, and you quickly squat down to pick up your prize. Upon picking it up, you stuff it into your pocket, and make your way to third period. When you reach the classroom, you take out the newest addition to your collection of adopted writing utensils, and quickly pen your name across the top right of the handout placed on your desk. You feel a twinge of disappointment as the pen leaves nothing but a slight indent on the paper. Your hand moves to the bottom left of the handout, and you scribble a couple circles to see if the pen has any life left whatsoever. Success! A trail of black ink follows the point of your pen, and you pen your name again in the top right, only this time the results of your penmanship stare back at you in jet black. You complete the handout in around 20 minutes, then turn your head to the homework board, and begin to write down the assigned chapters of The Scarlett Letter that you'll read on the bus this afternoon. As you use the instrument again, you notice how it feels in your hand. It's not heavy, but it's not light as a feather either; it's a kind of heft that makes the pen feel like a quality piece of metal. You observe that this pen's clip looks and feels surprisingly strong, and as you pack up your things in preparation for that long awaited bell, you introduce the pen to it's new family of writing utensils in your pencil case. For the rest of the day, you notice that every time you grab a pen, you feel around for the silver pen each time without even thinking. You like that pen; it's strong yet springy clip, it's smooth rolling action, it's easy hold grip, even the way it clicks open and closed is just different from any other pen you can recall using. It feels like a real writing tool, not some cheap black plastic value pack pen. Days go by, and weeks go by. You've forgotten what your old pens felt like, you've grown fully accustomed to the smooth action of your acquisition. One day while writing a couple paragraphs on the ending of The Scarlett Letter, your pen starts to grow a bit faint. Your hand moves once again to the bottom left of your packet, and you scribble a couple circles into the page. Nothing. Another dead pen doesn't mean much, and you were finished with your response anyway, so you tuck the pen back into your pocket and head to your next class. You walk right past the garbage can without thinking, and after realizing this, you simply take the pen out of your pocket and drop it on the ground from whence it came. You arrive at fifth period and unzip your backpack to take a pen from your trusty stash. You pick a simple black plastic pen, placing it on the left side of your desk. After the teacher demonstrates the topic of the day, you are presented with a worksheet to complete by the end of class. You reach for your pen, remove the cap, and place the cap to the left of your worksheet. You write your name, and realize something is wrong. Instead of gliding smoothly on the surface of the paper, your pen poorly etches black lines. You feel that slight resistance, that friction of pen on paper that you haven't felt in weeks. You're back to the same pen everyone else uses, the uniform standard, the unimaginative piece of black plastic that you've used for the last decade of your life. For the rest of the day you feel a bit off, but you don't understand why, and eventually brush it off after you walk off the bus onto your driveway. The next day, and the day after, you use the same pen, until eventually it too runs dry of ink. You take another black plastic pen from the pile to replace it, and feel no difference from the switch this time. You once again grow used to the friction, the slightly too tight plastic cap, and the lack of any sort of grip that all come standard with every plain black plastic pen. Days go by, weeks go by, years go by. You use pens daily in your work, but you've never thought about stepping outside of that plain, unimaginative uniform standard. One day at work, you roll your chair a bit too far to the side, and roll over your mobile charger. You go on Amazon to buy a new one, and knowing not to buy cheap bulk chargers that charge slow and break quickly, you settle on a $15 charger with $3 shipping. You see that shipping is free if you spend more than $25, and so you think; what is an item that we use daily, but never really think to upgrade? You search for pens on Amazon, below $15, and come across a familiar writing utensil. It's the silver pen! It's been so long that you didn't even remember the brand name, but you could recognize that pen anywhere. You place it in your cart, and both ship to your house within the week. You open the package, slip the pen out of the cardboard back of it's protective plastic bubble, and clip it to your pocket. The next day, you put your lunch in the fridge at work, and grab a post it note to tag it with your name. As you take your pen off your pocket, you click it and feel that perfect amount of resistance. You feel the sturdy grip, the hefty weight in your hand, and begin to pen your name. The pen smoothly glides across the yellow paper square, and you clip the pen to your pocket once more.Yes, it's a $10 pen. Zebra pens are worth it. Absolutely worth it.

First off, the pen feels solid. It should I suppose, it's fairly thick steel. If I'm ever really hard up for an ice pick, I hope to have this pen in my pocket. It's got a nice weight to it, and it feels great in your hand. If you hold a pen like you are supposed to, the grip (knurled metal) is fantastic. If you hold a pen like I do (way down right on the tip) then this pen still feels pretty nice, but you lose some of the advantage of the grip.Looks are certainly in the eye of the beholder, but I think this pen looks very nice. There are no markings on brushed steel at all, the only indication of brand and model being a faint stamp on the pocket clip. It's classy.I have used many many pens, and I know all about how annoying it is when you have to "wipe" off the sides of the tip on a ball point to avoid it leaving tiny blobs of ink on the page which you will inevitably smear later with the side of your hand. I have also had many a pen that skipped so badly I needed to go back over half of my notes to "connect the dots". I'm not sure what zebra does to their ink cartridges, but they are doing something right. This pen writes very smoothly, and I have heard the same about the refills. If there is a fault, sometimes after not using it for awhile, it will take a millimeter to start, but that's rare.I'm not sure what else to say really, it is after all only a pen. A pen that I love. I seriously think I will never use another pen. These are cheap enough to be quite cost effective, and sturdy enough that even if they weren't cheap, I'd consider them a good investment. Buy one, try it out. I just ordered two more so I'll have one for school, and one to replace the one my wife says she's taking.

Best pen I’ve had so far, writes smooth and felt sturdy

This is my absolute favorite pen. It writes so smooth and is very comfortable in the hand. It looks, writes, and feels about ten times more expensive than it actually is. A very sturdy pen but not too heavy.