Talk:Gel pen

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Contents 1 Resistance to analysis 2 Gel pen quality 3 Life of a gel pen? 4 Color/Colour 5 Writing upside-down

[edit] Resistance to analysis

From article: A tremendous advantage of gel pens is that they resist laboratory analysis.

I imagine some people see this as a disadvantage. In the interest of NPOV, I have changed the sentence to Another trait of gel pens…

--Ryanrs 05:26, 13 February 2006 (UTC).

TLC is a very simple method of analysis. I'm sure that gel ink can be analyzed using any number of other methods, and that normal inks are analyzed with other methods as well. That the ink doesn't dissolve in a solvent doesn't qualify in any way as 'resisting laboratory analysis.'

[edit] Gel pen quality

Why is there no mention of how inferior they are to traditional ink pens? The only advantage to a gel pen is the colours of available "ink" and the visibility on dark paper. Gel pens do not write smoothly and scratch the paper with their metal tips instead of allowing smooth flow of ink. They do not last as long as ink pens and often leave over three quarters of the gel in the pen with virtually no way to re-start the flow. I have always been confused as to why companies bother manufacturing gel pens at all (I have tried many different brands as I have access to discount art supplies and there is no difference between them). Try colouring a square 5cm by 5cm with a gel pen, you will end up with scratched paper and a high percentage of bare patches where "ink" didn't come through onto the paper, it's virtually impossible to colour solidly with one. They are far worse than regular pens and in my mind are the most useless and pointless of all man's inventions. Why replace something that works with something that doesn't and only holds novelty value? Something ought to be in the article stating their disadvantages. Mr.bonus 16:05, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Opinions matter but... Yes I'm sure that you are right in saying this, but it is your opinion and wikipedia is a neutral source of information. if you have any evidence on this matter, and you can verify this, by all means, edit and insert your section into the document. until then, try and maintain a level of neutrality, even on talk pages. Random articles 18:29, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I have to write a lot and I only use gel pens because find them the most comfortable of any pens. So this is definitely a matter of opinion. ssepp^(talk) 11:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Life of a gel pen?

Rather than lament that they have a limited lifespan, it would be more helpful if we had some info on what would make them last longer, what (if anything) can be done to restart one that has stopped, and how long one can reasonably expect them to last. Typofixer76 10:17, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Color/Colour

i've checked the wiki policy for this, and as this article was written in UK english and not american, this means that the spelling of color is actually coloUr. (remember a U). I'd thank everyone to not change the spelling from now on. Random articles 13:15, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Writing upside-down

In my own tests, gel pens seem to write upside-down, like Fisher Space Pens. Is this a known and recognized property of gel pens? If so, it should be mentioned in both articles. --David McCabe 05:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The article is inaccurate on this, gel pens, while portraying properties like the Fisher Space Pen, are not the only type of pen that can do this (like the page claims), obviously, the Fisher Space Pen can too. 157.89.86.107 02:06, 12 November 2007 (UTC)