Felt Pen Showdown

Felt pens in a Leuchtturm1917

When I started journaling, I tried a bunch of different pens and found felt pens to be my favorite. Specifically, Papermate Flair Ultra Fine pens. Never one to leave well enough alone though, I had to try more.

Papermate Flair Ultra Fine

The Papermate Flair Ultra Fine were my initial favorite, but they’ve since fallen. They don’t last very long (the tip seems to get fatter with time), and the color selection is pretty minimal. Outside of the core colors, most colors are “limited” packs. That’s just not something I’m very interested in.

Pigma Microns

I only have the Pigma Microns in black, and don’t use them very often. The color is a really deep black, and they write well and don’t bleed. I mainly just use these for doodles. I don’t like the round shape for writing.

Stabilo Point 88

I bought the Stabilo Point 88 quite a while ago for adult coloring books. I didn’t like them for coloring (too fine, and I’m too impatient) so I tried them in my journal. They have the benefit of being a fairly close color match to the Papermate Flair, which made it easy to switch back and forth. I also like that they all have a number on the side, so you know which color is which. Writing wise, they write a little smoother than the Flair, and seem to have a more durable tip. They also seem to bleed more in my Leuchtturm notebook.

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

The Staedtler Triplus Fineliners are the pens that most bullet journal blogs will post about. I resisted buying a set until a friend of mine started raving about them. They’re a finer point that the Stabilo and Papermate pens, which makes them seem almost feel scratchy on paper to me. They make up for it though in selection of color, and the fact they don’t bleed at all. While I wish they were a little smoother feeling, the colors and lack of bleed through has won me over. These are my new favorite, for now anyway.

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