Some pens well-reviewed by experts or recommended by readers were not available for around $5 or less, or well-stocked at widely distributed office-supply stores and at online merchants. Stock and availability problems eliminated the Zebra G-301, for example.

We also skipped a number of pens that were well-regarded among reviewers because none of the experts recommended them over our picks, either in our interviews or on their blogs. Those pens included the Pentel EnerGel, Pentel Slicci, Pentel Vicuña (although we did order and test one expensive Vicuña model), Pilot Acroball, Pilot Dr. Grip, Pilot Hi-Tec-C and G-Tec C, Zebra Sarasa, and Zebra Surari.

The Pilot G2 is a massively popular gel pen, a best seller in many stores and online. It is what many people think of when they think of buying a “nice” pen for a particular task. But once you use any one of our picks, or the Signo 307 in particular, you notice that the G2 skips, feathers, and blobs more than other pens and takes a notably long time to dry. OfficeSupplyGeek and No Pen Intended have photo evidence of how the G2 performs. Luckily, one Wirecutter tester vouches for our suggested alternative: “My go-to pen is the Pilot G2; the Uni-ball Signo (307) feels the closest to it.”

The Sharpie Pen has many outspoken fans, especially for its refillable stainless steel and grip variants. We tested it for this update. The Sharpie Pen is technically a marker with a very fine tip, so it feels different from nearly any other pen. That feeling was divisive for our testers. Both my wife and a co-worker used the same phrase to describe the feel on high-quality paper: “Nails on a chalkboard.” My father-in-law and another co-worker preferred the Sharpie Pen to all three of our picks. You should try one if you have a chance, and see how you like the feel—but it’s not the best for most people.

Schneider pens, including the Slider Rave XB and Slider Basic, are smoother and faster-drying than a typical cheap office pen. But they’re German-made, and although they’re available on Amazon, the price and availability of different colors or models vary. On top of that, the Basic version is thin at its grip and less comfortable than our picks.

The Bic Atlantis (available in 0.7 mm and 1.0 mm tips) was recommended to us by commenters and a couple of pen enthusiasts at a co-working space as a good-enough upgrade from traditional Bic sticks and crystal pens. In our experience, the Atlantis blobbed and feathered more than any of our picks, although it was smooth. It’s better than the cheapest pens at the store, but the Precise V5 RT is likely to be on the same shelf and is better still.

Office Depot sells an exclusive line of pens under the TUL brand, in rollerball, gel pen, and ballpoint. Their exclusivity makes them less interesting as a generally recommended pen (and you can buy all our other picks at Office Depot). Reviewers ding the gel pen for a long drying time and recommend the line for stocking up an office more than buying a nice pen for yourself.

We considered the very wide array of Uni-ball pens for this updated guide, and we tried the Vision Elite with BLX inks. For everyday writing, this pen is very, very wet, and will likely leave the side of your pinkie or palm shellacked with dark ink. For anyone who wants a bold, colorful pen for sketches or illustrations, the color selection and the dark, thick ink may appeal.

The ParKoo Retractable Erasable Gel Pens ranked among the best erasable pens we tried. They were a little streakier than the Pilot Frixion pens, but they were still inky. They also have a soft grip for holding, and they’re affordable at around $1 per pen. We hesitated on making them a pick because we’ve seen multiple Amazon listings of the same pen with different branding, so we aren’t sure which company is actually manufacturing them and whether they’ll be around for long.

We’re also fans of Pilot’s Erasable FriXion ColorSticks, but they don’t have a grip, a design that could cause some finger pain if you’re writing for a long time. We also don’t love that they’re capped instead of retractable, because if you lose the cap you also lose the eraser.

We tried two Uni-ball erasable pens. The Signo UM-101 Gel Pen was inky and satisfying to write with, but it didn’t erase as well as the others, leaving a distinct shadow behind. Plus, it has a typical pencil-style eraser, which will eventually wear down. The R:E Erasable Gel Pen’s unique plastic eraser left almost nothing behind, but the off-black ink we tried was too light for our taste.

Paper Mate’s EraserMate Erasable Pens were drier than the others we tried, more like typical capped pens, and they didn’t erase as well at the five-day mark, leaving behind a very visible smudge.