Left Continue shopping
Your Order

You have no items in your basket

Free delivery on orders over £100

01884 259856 8:30-4:00pm Mon to Fri

Rollerball Pens

971 Results

'Rollerball' can refer to pens with liquid or gel ink, normally dispensed by a smooth ball.

Unlike a ballpoint pen, which uses paste ink, a liquid ink rollerball doesn't require any pressure to get the ink to flow. As soon as the tip touches the paper, ink can flow. Pressing harder will normally give a broader line. The ball itself is smooth - coupled with the lack of pressure needed, this makes the whole writing experience smooth and easy.

Rollerballs are often seen as a cross between a fountain pen and a ballpoint - the smoothness and ink type of a fountain pen, with the convenience of a ballpoint.

If it all sounds a bit too perfect, there are a couple of small disadvantages. Rollerballs don't always work on shiny surfaces like birthday cards; and liquid ink can be relatively slow to dry, leading to the risk of smudging. This can be more of a problem for left-handed people, if your hand rubs over your writing.

The Uni-ball Vision Elite is a great all-round pen, with a good range of colours, and refillable in black, blue and red. Pilot V-System rollerball pens are hugely popular - including the iconic V5 needle-point roller. There are a huge number of high quality refillable luxury rollerballs from lots of manufacturers, and Lamy even have a couple of retractable rollerballs: the Tipo and the Swift. For a distinctly different writing feel, try OHTO ceramic-tip roller refills. As fitted to most OHTO rollerballs, the ceramic ball gives extra bite to the writing feel.

Gel-ink rollerballs have a fairly similar feel to liquid-ink rollerballs, but do normally require a little pressure to get the ink flowing. They tend to give a more consistent line width, dry a little quicker, and can hold pigment, or even particles for metallic or sparkling effects.

 
Uni-ball Eye Broad Rollerball Pen UB-150 by Uni at Cult Pens
Uni-ball Eye Designer Rollerball Pen UB-157D by Uni at Cult Pens
New barrel design for the popular Uni-Ball Eye
Uni-ball Eye Rollerball Pen UB-157 by Uni at Cult Pens
The classic pigment ink Uni-ball roller in medium point and big colour range
Gelly Roll Basics Pen Black by Gelly Roll at Cult Pens
The original Gelly Roll pen
Gelly Roll Stardust Pen by Gelly Roll at Cult Pens
Sparkly glittery ink!
Gelly Roll Souffle Pen by Gelly Roll at Cult Pens
Super 3D effect!
Ink glows under UV light
Gelly Roll Basics Pen White by Gelly Roll at Cult Pens
The original Gelly Roll pen
Gelly Roll Metallic Pen by Gelly Roll at Cult Pens
Lots of metallic shades
Faber-Castell Fast Gel Retractable Gel Pen 0.7 by Faber-Castell at Cult Pens
Faber-Castell Free Ink Rollerball Pen 1.5 by Faber-Castell at Cult Pens
Faber-Castell Free Ink Rollerball Pen 0.5 by Faber-Castell at Cult Pens
Faber-Castell Free Ink Rollerball Pen 0.7 by Faber-Castell at Cult Pens
Uni-ball UM-120NM Signo Metallic Gel Rollerball Pen by Uni at Cult Pens
Uni-ball UM-120AC Signo Pastel Gel Rollerball Pen by Uni at Cult Pens
Gel pen in a range of pastel colours with super-smooth pigment ink
Uni-ball UM-120 Signo 0.7mm Gel Rollerball Pen by Uni at Cult Pens
New-tech gel pen in 5 colours and super-smooth pigment ink
Pentel Oh! Gel Rollerball Pen K497 by Pentel at Cult Pens
Everyday gel retractable
Zebra J-Roller Gel Pen RX 07 Medium by Zebra at Cult Pens
1 in stock
Great value gel rollerball in 10 colour
Pentel EnerGel 0.7 Rollerball Pen Refill by Pentel at Cult Pens
Pilot Super Gel Fine Rollerball Pen 0.7mm by Pilot at Cult Pens
Economy gelstick rollerball - 10 colours
Uni-ball Signo Gelstick Gel Rollerball Pen UM-170 by Uni at Cult Pens
Economy gel range in various colours

What’s New

Filters
Sort by : Best Match
Best Match
Price: Low to high
Price: High to low
Name: A to Z
Name: Z to A
Newest to Oldest
Oldest to Newest
No records found for your selection

Rollerball Pens FAQ

Are gel pens also rollerball pens?

Yes, sort of. The term ‘rollerball’ is often applied to both, and a gel pen is a rollerball pen with gel ink in it. But we tend to keep them separate, so ‘rollerball’ usually means a rollerball pen with liquid ink.

If you want to be specific about it, ‘liquid-ink rollerball’ is a good term to specify.

What sort of ink is in a rollerball pen?

Liquid ink, usually very similar to fountain pen ink. There are some rollerballs that can be refilled with fountain pen ink.

What’s the difference between a rollerball pen and a ballpoint pen?

They look very similar, but there are some important differences. Even the ball itself is quite different. Ballpoints have a rough ball, that pulls the thick paste ink around to transfer it to the paper. Rollerball balls are smooth, and just allow the liquid ink to flow around them when they touch the paper. The result is a much smoother feel than a ballpoint, but they sometimes won’t write on surfaces a ballpoint will, sometimes making a mess on birthday cards. The balls can be shiny metal, but some also use ceramic balls.

How does a rollerball pen compare to a fountain pen?

They’re surprisingly similar in a few ways. The ink is very similar, and they both have a very smooth feeling on the paper. In general, a fountain pen can be smoother, and with bottled ink, can give far more choices of ink, and be cheaper to use. But a rollerball brings a lot of the convenience that made ballpoint pens so popular, while retaining some nice features from fountain pens.

Do rollerball pens use standard refills?

This is a surprisingly tricky one. A huge number of rollerballs use a refill type often known as ‘Euro format’. 111mm long, 6mm wide. But they’re not as interchangeable as you might hope. Some refills have holes in the top (especially gel versions), which won’t work in some pens; and tiny variations in width and length can make some pens fussy about what refills they’ll use. So, usually yes, but using different refills can be a little more troublesome than with most other types of refill.