All pens are not created equal. The best budget pens to buy, or borrow...

Most of us have, or had, a favorite pen...

Now that more people are communicating with their fingertips, good pens can be hard to find. Pen technology has come a long way in the last decade and the folks at Lifehacker put some popular, affordable pens to the test. The winner is: the Pilot Pen. The G2 model writes out “1st Place Pen,” with ease. Here are the four runners up:

• 2nd place: Uniball Pens. They make the popular Jetstream, Signo and Onyx.

• 3rd place: Zebra Pens. Most notably, the F-301 and the G-301.

• 4th place: Lamy Pens, the All-Star and the Safari models.

• 5th place: Sharpie Pens. These new medium and fine points won’t bleed through.