5 ms·

I have a bag of BIC Cristal pens that I've been working through for over a decade now. There are still a few left. What am I missing? I've used a lot of random

I have a bag of BIC Cristal pens that I've been working through for over a decade now. There are still a few left. What am I missing? I've used a lot of random pens when signing my name at various places of business, and none of them seemed better to me than a BIC Cristal. In fact, many are so much worse that I usually bring my own BIC Cristal to places where I know I'll be filling out paperwork.

giraffe_lady 4y ago
Tactile experience and aesthetics mostly. If you're fine with what you use don't worry about it.
- ArcMex 4y ago
  Highly agree on tactile experience. I have Zebra Blen 0.7 and 0.5 for everyday use and they are much better than my BIC pens to me.
nordsieck 4y ago
My favorite are the Bic Round Stic pens. I like to write small, and I find that most other pens have more flow than I want. It also helps that they're dirt cheap, so I can just get a big bunch like you and I don't have to care if I lose one here or there. Ironically, I find that if I only have a few pens, I start to lose them over time, but if I have a large amount, I actually accumulate pens. Not sure how that works.
- zikduruqe 4y ago
  I have been using the same Bic Round Stic pen for almost ten years. Whenever the ink is used up, I just switch the ink out from a brand new one. It has almost a decade of battle scars and character.
dumpsterlid 4y ago
A bic pen isn't a bad pen, it is stunningly successful type of pen. There are meaningful differences between how it feels to write with a fountain pen or other type of nice pen vs a bic but there is no reason you might not just prefer how a bic writes. I like the relaxed, but controlled feeling of a fountain pen. Writing with bic like pens my whole life I got into the habit of gripping the pen hard and pressing down hard and it made me hate writing.
wrp 4y ago
Well, that's sort of like "I only use tools from Harbor Freight. What am I missing?" :-)
riceart 4y ago
Surprised no one has mentioned …The main practical one is line thickness. You can’t physically write as small. You can pack a ton of information with a 0.3mm or 0.25 ball point that is not possible with the bic where nearly triple that is considered “fine” by comparison. Those pens have considerable resistance but I find pilot hi-tec-c 0.4mm write as smoothly as a Bic but a far cleaner line and is a good compromise for everyday use. It’s not like most of these pens are particularly expensive or anything either.
LegitShady 4y ago
you've never used a better pen? a hi-tecpoint v5? A pilot fineliner? There's nothing wrong with bic cristals except that its kind of the most basic pen. Are there better pen experiences out there? many many better experiences. But it sounds like thats not interesting to you, so there's no reason for you to seek them out.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

Tactile experience and aesthetics mostly. If you're fine with what you use don't worry about it.

ArcMex 4y ago
Highly agree on tactile experience. I have Zebra Blen 0.7 and 0.5 for everyday use and they are much better than my BIC pens to me.

nordsieck 4y ago

My favorite are the Bic Round Stic pens. I like to write small, and I find that most other pens have more flow than I want. It also helps that they're dirt cheap, so I can just get a big bunch like you and I don't have to care if I lose one here or there. Ironically, I find that if I only have a few pens, I start to lose them over time, but if I have a large amount, I actually accumulate pens. Not sure how that works.

zikduruqe 4y ago
I have been using the same Bic Round Stic pen for almost ten years. Whenever the ink is used up, I just switch the ink out from a brand new one. It has almost a decade of battle scars and character.

dumpsterlid 4y ago

A bic pen isn't a bad pen, it is stunningly successful type of pen. There are meaningful differences between how it feels to write with a fountain pen or other type of nice pen vs a bic but there is no reason you might not just prefer how a bic writes. I like the relaxed, but controlled feeling of a fountain pen. Writing with bic like pens my whole life I got into the habit of gripping the pen hard and pressing down hard and it made me hate writing.

wrp 4y ago

Well, that's sort of like "I only use tools from Harbor Freight. What am I missing?" :-)

riceart 4y ago

Surprised no one has mentioned …The main practical one is line thickness. You can’t physically write as small. You can pack a ton of information with a 0.3mm or 0.25 ball point that is not possible with the bic where nearly triple that is considered “fine” by comparison. Those pens have considerable resistance but I find pilot hi-tec-c 0.4mm write as smoothly as a Bic but a far cleaner line and is a good compromise for everyday use. It’s not like most of these pens are particularly expensive or anything either.

LegitShady 4y ago

you've never used a better pen? a hi-tecpoint v5? A pilot fineliner? There's nothing wrong with bic cristals except that its kind of the most basic pen. Are there better pen experiences out there? many many better experiences. But it sounds like thats not interesting to you, so there's no reason for you to seek them out.