FountainBall – a ballpoint pen that thinks it’s a Fountain Pen

Posted on Jul 27 2012 - 12:21pm by Richard Sharp

We get sent all sorts of quirky gadgets here at Gagdets and Gizmos towers, some are big and some are small. This week we received a new type of pen named FountainBall; a ballpoint pen which thinks it’s a fountain pen.


At first glance it appears to be just your run of the mill pen, until you unscrew it and see it uses standard ink cartridges. You pop one in (one supplied) and within a few seconds can be writing using the style of writing that usually comes with a sharp nibbed fountain pen.

The Differences

The pen uses a rollerball similar to the pens you are used to but the ink within is thinner which means you get a fountain pen style without all the rigmarole of holding the pen at the correct angle.

Ian Jeffery, CEO of Studio Pens explains: “If you found it hard to write with a fountain pen – breaking the nib, learning which angle to hold the pen as to make the ink flow and so forth – the FountainBall could be for you”.

Using

You can use the FountainBall right out of the box; simply unscrew the barrel and pop in an ink cartridge and you are writing in seconds. I found it easy to use, with no smudges or ink drops (which for me happens a lot when using a traditional fountain pen).

Kelly was suitably impressed with the concept too; although we both felt the pen lacked a little finesse and felt plasticky. It just didn’t feel special like a fountain pen did but does write like one and is far more practical to refill than a traditional rollerball.

The price is similar to the equivalent Parker Pen, with an RRP of £18.99. But the consumables are much cheaper because you can use standard ink cartridges which are a few quid for fifty. Overall we’d say this is a good addition to your writing gadget arsenal if you like the appearance of calligraphic writing but want the versatility of a rollerball pen.

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1 Comment so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Mathew September 21, 2013 at 4:04 pm - Reply

    Good review I have read out from here about Fountain Ball pen! Looks like a very good for using this fountain ball pen and I think if any body think that it's fountain pen then I will not say anything because it's a very handy for writing similar with fountain pen. So I hope everybody should try to use this pen and hopefully I will use this as early as possible. So thanks for informing us about this latest pen and I am expecting that more will come in near future as well.

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