I discovered something pretty neat at Office Depot a while back. .3 millimeter doesn't sound like much, maybe the width of a hair, but, in my case, it actually made a real, tangible difference when it comes to the ease of shopping trips.
First off, if you aren't hip to gel pens yet, you are just squaresville, baby. The main reason 'razor point' pens came into popularity years ago is because, unlike cheap ballpoints, the ink starts flowing immediately. Gel pens do likewise, but they don't have that scratchy feel that razor points have.
To note is that almost every pen out there, regardless of type, lays down a line .7 millimeters wide. Somebody once decided that's the standard and there she be. Then the other day I was looking over gel pens at Office Depot and way over to one side I noticed a package that said "1.0" for the line width. A star was born.
What's interesting is that the line doesn't necessarily look 'fatter' as much as 'darker'. I'm speaking of black ink in this case, and that .3 millimeter made all the difference as to whether or not I had to haul out my stoopit reading glasses every time I wanted to glance at my shopping list. That .3 millimeter crossed some delicate boundary in my eyes' field of focus.
The pen I grabbed is here. Most of the larger pen companies have a 1.0 gel stashed somewhere.
Coincidentally, the next day I was giving some info to my mom over the phone and got the old "Darn, hold on a sec — this pen doesn't work." Naturally, I immediately made a beeline for the Office Depot site and sent her a box of 12 just in time for Christmas.
I'd like to report that it was her favorite present, but that would be the elephant Chia Pet I gave her. The pens came in second. She was, however, so thrilled at having discovered (1) gel pens to begin with, and (2) 1.0 gels pens at that, that she promptly doubled the amount of the Xmas check she sent me.
A victory for .3 millimeters, everywhere.
