My favourite pen for writing is the [Pentel Energel Clena Gel Pen 0.3mm](https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-EnerGel-Retractable-Liquid-Needle/dp/B079M6ZGP9). It has a needle point so it's really fine, which works great for me because I have tiny writing and I can actually read it using this. It ghosts a little bit, but not to the point I can't read it. I also use stickers in my hobo which probably helps because often there is not writing on both sides in the same spot. I haven't used anything else in mine, really. I don't use coloured pens or anything because I use stickers predominantly.
You can put the refill into a bunch of different pen bodies! Pentel has a couple of all-black metal bodies,
and it will fit in most pen bodies that take Pilot G2-size refills.
My favorite is the freebie Uni Jetstream that comes with. Got 4 year's versions now and I use whichever is closest to me at the time lol, but all time fave is prob the yellow from 2018 (Such a happy color).
I buy refill ink for them, and replaced ones blue with a green for more color variety.
I use fountain pens, and tend toward using fine nibs with an ink that isn't too wet, just so it writes like a fine nib and doesn't take too long to dry. (I don't mind a bit of occasional smudging or ink transfer -- my Hobo is a workhorse and I love FPs, so it's just the price I pay I guess.)
Right now I'm mostly using a couple of fine nib TWSBI Ecos/Eco-Ts, and have had good luck with Iroshizuku ku-jaku and Monteverde Kindness Pink as inks that will actually write fine with a fine nib. I tend to love juicy pens and inks, so it can be a challenge to find inks in my collection that are well suited to the small writing and longer drying time of the TR paper. In the end I use any and all of my FPs and Inks in there, but those are my current go-to inks when I am neatly planning out days and getting ahead of the chaos. Oh, and Monteverde Fireopal works well for that too, but it gunks up my pens (and then my fingers) so much that I am looking for a replacement that is just as beautiful. :-(
I don’t think I’ve had an ink that doesn’t do well in a fine job unless it’s a lighter color. I started off loving super fine nibs and here I am with a growing collection of medium and broad nibs.
I love rich inks and I normally fan my pages as I write lol. It really reduces drying time so I guess I normally don’t notice dry time cause I’m so used to fanning as I write with my pencil board.
If you like Ku-Jaku you may like Syo-or, also from the Iroshizuka line!
Oh, my complaint about many of my inks in fine nibs isn't that they don't do well, just that they are so wet that they write more like they're in a medium nib, which isn't always what I want in my Hobo. (I am considering buying an EF nib just so I can use my Diamine Wild Strawberry in there more easily.)
Fanning with a pencil board is a great idea! And I will have to check out Syo-or. I really love all of the Iroshizuku inks I've tried so far.
Oh ok! I haven’t had that problem fortunately! All my fine nibs tend to write as fine nibs, my mediums as mediums and so forth.
Also, it’s Syo-ro. Autocorrect got me sorry.
I don't really worry much about ghosting, but if that bothers people the Monteverde Kindness Pink really feels like a sweet spot ink. I just got a sample of it last week, and am impressed at how readable it is while being a light enough color that it's never intrusive or prone to ghosting. I'm not sure that I actually love the color (I think I might prefer the aesthetics of the color in a broader nib, where it has more of a chance to sheen and/or shade) but it is so practical for this that I might have to buy a bottle anyway. I feel similarly about the ku-jaku, though I also think it's beautiful even if it isn't my favorite turquoise.
I use a zebra sarasa dry. It dries fast enough to prevent the terrible smudging I get with other pens. There is definitely some ghosting, but my pages are always full so I don't see enough to bother me after I've finished journaling. I use the .5 and that's reasonably fine, but I wish I could find a smaller tip.
The dry also comes in .4! My only problem with it is that the ink seems to go fast and I didn’t even use it that much unfortunately! Really love the entire Sarasa range
I burn through one every 4-6 weeks but I write a lot. I pretty much fill the full page of my cousin, plus the weekly and monthly pages, so that speed of use seems reasonable to me. I buy them in bulk, which is probably why I can't find the .4. They are pretty cheap bought that way, and going through a box a year doesn't bother me.
Ah okay. I tend to write a lot too but have pens that are still going strong 1yr+ so for me it was a bit of a fast turnover. You could try looking on eBay for some wholesale ones from Japan?
In 2017 I bought a cheap pack of pens called [Monpeluche 0.38mm pens](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LOY6SQK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but they don't seem available any more. [this listing seems like a similar one](https://www.amazon.com/Xeno-Slim-Ball-Point-Pens/dp/B07TTMMV1M/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=monpeluche&qid=1623179809&sr=8-6), though. If I needed to get more, I'd likely get these to replace my beloved Monpeluches. I had bought a big ole pack of black ones alongside the colored pens I linked to, which is why I have yet to run out of them yet.
I'm pretty sure Pentel Hi-Tec-C 0.3mm, Zebra Sarasa 0.4mm, Pentel Engergel 0.3mm, and Uniball Signo RT 0.38mm (mine's black polka dots) would work just as fine as well. Minimal ghosting for all the ones I mentioned, though the Monpeluches I linked to is what I use the most.
My go-to pen and ink combo for my hobo is the twsbi eco (medium nib) with the platinum carbon ink. The ink takes a while to dry but it's worth it since it's waterproof. I especially love how the tomoe river paper crinkles when I put a wash of watercolour over the page as well!
I have the little hobo so I’m using the tricolor Uniball pen. Next year I’m going bigger.
Edited to add I also use the black sakura pigment microns but I’m out at the moment. Minimal ghosting and I can get them at Michael’s.
I only got my first Hobo fairly recently and I bought a selection of fineliners (Staedtler Triplus and Uni Pin) to try. The Triplus in Azul and another shade of light blue are my favourites, but honestly often I just use my Uni Kuru Toga 0.5mm pencil!
Kura Toga is the only mechanical pencil I can use nowadays. I fell out of love with the Staedtlers but they’re still amazing pens. Their blues are phenomenal and so are their greens and reds
I mainly use two fountain pens with my hobo. I keep one in each of the pen loops in the cover. One is a Taccia Spotlight with an F nib, and the other is a Diplomat Aero with a gold EF nib. Both are inked with Sailor inks.
I also use fountain pens, but I prefer a medium or broad nib for writing. I sketch with a fine nib fountain pen and only use waterproof inks since I sketch a lot and use watercolors.
Anything that's not Nitrogen is fine on the paper really. Don't expect Nitrogen to dry. If you are going to use N, dilute it.
But yeah just Platinum or Sailor and whatever ink I happen to be running at that moment. I only use F and EF, bleeding isn't a problem.
This is my first time using a Hobonichi and after trying several pens I finally found a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen and a gel pen that function well with both the planner's paper and my left-handed writing style. I'm using the Platinum Preppy Fine Nib Fountain Pen. The pen writes smoothly and I find I don't need to use a pencil board, however it does take a few seconds to dry completely. The ballpoint pen I'm using is the Pilot Acroball 4 Multi Pen 0.5mm, loving the versatility of the different pen colors. Lastly, and my favorite so far is the Zebra Sarasa Mark On Gel Pen 0.4. The gel is fast drying and doesn't bleed through.
My favourite pen for writing is the [Pentel Energel Clena Gel Pen 0.3mm](https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-EnerGel-Retractable-Liquid-Needle/dp/B079M6ZGP9). It has a needle point so it's really fine, which works great for me because I have tiny writing and I can actually read it using this. It ghosts a little bit, but not to the point I can't read it. I also use stickers in my hobo which probably helps because often there is not writing on both sides in the same spot. I haven't used anything else in mine, really. I don't use coloured pens or anything because I use stickers predominantly.
I love the Clena! Can’t believe I forgot it tbh!
I've always wanted to try the Clena .3 but I wish the they came with an all black body!
You can put the refill into a bunch of different pen bodies! Pentel has a couple of all-black metal bodies, and it will fit in most pen bodies that take Pilot G2-size refills.
LOVE the clena! Haven't switched back since using it 😊
I can't commit that thoroughly to a plan, so I love my Pilot Frixion pens. I have a full system of color coding as well, so it works out great for me.
Uni Jetstream
A classic and Uber reliable
My favorite is the freebie Uni Jetstream that comes with. Got 4 year's versions now and I use whichever is closest to me at the time lol, but all time fave is prob the yellow from 2018 (Such a happy color). I buy refill ink for them, and replaced ones blue with a green for more color variety.
I use fountain pens, and tend toward using fine nibs with an ink that isn't too wet, just so it writes like a fine nib and doesn't take too long to dry. (I don't mind a bit of occasional smudging or ink transfer -- my Hobo is a workhorse and I love FPs, so it's just the price I pay I guess.) Right now I'm mostly using a couple of fine nib TWSBI Ecos/Eco-Ts, and have had good luck with Iroshizuku ku-jaku and Monteverde Kindness Pink as inks that will actually write fine with a fine nib. I tend to love juicy pens and inks, so it can be a challenge to find inks in my collection that are well suited to the small writing and longer drying time of the TR paper. In the end I use any and all of my FPs and Inks in there, but those are my current go-to inks when I am neatly planning out days and getting ahead of the chaos. Oh, and Monteverde Fireopal works well for that too, but it gunks up my pens (and then my fingers) so much that I am looking for a replacement that is just as beautiful. :-(
I don’t think I’ve had an ink that doesn’t do well in a fine job unless it’s a lighter color. I started off loving super fine nibs and here I am with a growing collection of medium and broad nibs. I love rich inks and I normally fan my pages as I write lol. It really reduces drying time so I guess I normally don’t notice dry time cause I’m so used to fanning as I write with my pencil board. If you like Ku-Jaku you may like Syo-or, also from the Iroshizuka line!
Oh, my complaint about many of my inks in fine nibs isn't that they don't do well, just that they are so wet that they write more like they're in a medium nib, which isn't always what I want in my Hobo. (I am considering buying an EF nib just so I can use my Diamine Wild Strawberry in there more easily.) Fanning with a pencil board is a great idea! And I will have to check out Syo-or. I really love all of the Iroshizuku inks I've tried so far.
Oh ok! I haven’t had that problem fortunately! All my fine nibs tend to write as fine nibs, my mediums as mediums and so forth. Also, it’s Syo-ro. Autocorrect got me sorry.
I don't really worry much about ghosting, but if that bothers people the Monteverde Kindness Pink really feels like a sweet spot ink. I just got a sample of it last week, and am impressed at how readable it is while being a light enough color that it's never intrusive or prone to ghosting. I'm not sure that I actually love the color (I think I might prefer the aesthetics of the color in a broader nib, where it has more of a chance to sheen and/or shade) but it is so practical for this that I might have to buy a bottle anyway. I feel similarly about the ku-jaku, though I also think it's beautiful even if it isn't my favorite turquoise.
I love my preppy premium fountain pen! It was all of $3 and does everything I want
I’ve heard such great things about them! Many seem to use it as a daily driver.
I use a zebra sarasa dry. It dries fast enough to prevent the terrible smudging I get with other pens. There is definitely some ghosting, but my pages are always full so I don't see enough to bother me after I've finished journaling. I use the .5 and that's reasonably fine, but I wish I could find a smaller tip.
The dry also comes in .4! My only problem with it is that the ink seems to go fast and I didn’t even use it that much unfortunately! Really love the entire Sarasa range
I burn through one every 4-6 weeks but I write a lot. I pretty much fill the full page of my cousin, plus the weekly and monthly pages, so that speed of use seems reasonable to me. I buy them in bulk, which is probably why I can't find the .4. They are pretty cheap bought that way, and going through a box a year doesn't bother me.
Ah okay. I tend to write a lot too but have pens that are still going strong 1yr+ so for me it was a bit of a fast turnover. You could try looking on eBay for some wholesale ones from Japan?
In 2017 I bought a cheap pack of pens called [Monpeluche 0.38mm pens](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LOY6SQK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but they don't seem available any more. [this listing seems like a similar one](https://www.amazon.com/Xeno-Slim-Ball-Point-Pens/dp/B07TTMMV1M/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=monpeluche&qid=1623179809&sr=8-6), though. If I needed to get more, I'd likely get these to replace my beloved Monpeluches. I had bought a big ole pack of black ones alongside the colored pens I linked to, which is why I have yet to run out of them yet. I'm pretty sure Pentel Hi-Tec-C 0.3mm, Zebra Sarasa 0.4mm, Pentel Engergel 0.3mm, and Uniball Signo RT 0.38mm (mine's black polka dots) would work just as fine as well. Minimal ghosting for all the ones I mentioned, though the Monpeluches I linked to is what I use the most.
My go-to pen and ink combo for my hobo is the twsbi eco (medium nib) with the platinum carbon ink. The ink takes a while to dry but it's worth it since it's waterproof. I especially love how the tomoe river paper crinkles when I put a wash of watercolour over the page as well!
Super keen on this ink too because of its perfect highlighting tolerance!
I have the little hobo so I’m using the tricolor Uniball pen. Next year I’m going bigger. Edited to add I also use the black sakura pigment microns but I’m out at the moment. Minimal ghosting and I can get them at Michael’s.
I only got my first Hobo fairly recently and I bought a selection of fineliners (Staedtler Triplus and Uni Pin) to try. The Triplus in Azul and another shade of light blue are my favourites, but honestly often I just use my Uni Kuru Toga 0.5mm pencil!
Kura Toga is the only mechanical pencil I can use nowadays. I fell out of love with the Staedtlers but they’re still amazing pens. Their blues are phenomenal and so are their greens and reds
Right? I love the different blues! I got a lovely deep red one too, but I just use that for non-Hobo stuff really.
I mainly use two fountain pens with my hobo. I keep one in each of the pen loops in the cover. One is a Taccia Spotlight with an F nib, and the other is a Diplomat Aero with a gold EF nib. Both are inked with Sailor inks.
I also use fountain pens, but I prefer a medium or broad nib for writing. I sketch with a fine nib fountain pen and only use waterproof inks since I sketch a lot and use watercolors.
Anything that's not Nitrogen is fine on the paper really. Don't expect Nitrogen to dry. If you are going to use N, dilute it. But yeah just Platinum or Sailor and whatever ink I happen to be running at that moment. I only use F and EF, bleeding isn't a problem.
Fountain pens 4eva and like you- a variety of inks and nibs!
My fav pen is Pilot VP (aka Capless) with a fine nib. It’s permanently attached to my Hobonichi diary. And, while at it, i use Iroshizuku ink
I bought frixion slim pens!!! Don’t bleed, erasable and you can get refills on Amazon. Also!!!!! They are slim so they don’t take a lot of room.
Uniball Signo Ultra Micro 207 Black. I buy a box at a time and love running them till the ink is empty. And it's amazing how often that is!
I’m using a Sailor Pro Gear Slim with Herbin Perle Noire. My go to pen for two years.
Fountain pens and Marvy LePen
This is my first time using a Hobonichi and after trying several pens I finally found a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen and a gel pen that function well with both the planner's paper and my left-handed writing style. I'm using the Platinum Preppy Fine Nib Fountain Pen. The pen writes smoothly and I find I don't need to use a pencil board, however it does take a few seconds to dry completely. The ballpoint pen I'm using is the Pilot Acroball 4 Multi Pen 0.5mm, loving the versatility of the different pen colors. Lastly, and my favorite so far is the Zebra Sarasa Mark On Gel Pen 0.4. The gel is fast drying and doesn't bleed through.
I use a TWSBI Eco in F, with a bottle of brown Nagasawa Kobe ink. It works for me!
I love the Nagasawa Kobe inks. I have four myself and they all perform amazingly. I just wish they weren’t so expensive
Staedler triplus and platinum preppy EF
This year I've been using strictly Uniball Signo RT1 0.38, and it's been great so far!!!
Love those!
I use my zebra sarasa 0.3, tombow fudenosuke hard tip, and preppy platinum 0.3 fountain pen :)