My Favorite Cross Pens Review

By Geoffrey Fuller, 6/4/2021

Among the wide variety of Cross Pens available, I have a few favorites that I’ll share in this Cross pens review. Considering the vast array of Cross Pens and their availability in nearly every stationery, office supply, and college book store, I should probably have more Cross favorites. Cross Pens seem to be held in high regard among non-pen fanatics. They’ve become the gift of choice for college graduations and new jobs. I even bought my own first Cross Pen as a celebratory gesture. Upon getting accepted into my undergraduate program, then going to the campus bookstore to get my textbooks, I saw the Cross pen with the University logo shining in the case. Feeling excited about being accepted into my program, I treated myself to the Cross black and gold Classic Century with the school emblem on the clip. I still carry that pen with me daily, for sentimental reasons, but it’s not my favorite writing pen.

Even the home page for Cross’s website has nearly the entire page dedicated to advertising gift sets, including personalized graduation pens. Contrast the Cross website home page with the Lamy home page. Lamy gets straight to the point in advertising their pen designs, manufacturing quality, and utility.

All of that being said, I have found three Cross Pens that I enjoy using immensely. They are the Edge Gel Rollerball Pen, the Cross Click Gel Ink Pen, and the Cross Easy Writer Ballpoint Pen.

Despite the Cross ballpoint pen refills being lackluster, the ink in their gel rollerball refills are very smooth and write very well with consistent lines, perfect starts, and no ink blotches. With that, I’ll review the two gel ink pens first in this Cross pens review.

The Cross Edge Gel Rollerball Pen not only writes smoothly but has a unique and appealing design. The pen is designed with a collapsing action. The pen is pulled outward to fully extend the pen and reveal the rollerball point. Then, almost counterintuitively, when the pen is pushed together, collapsing and shortening the pen, the rollerball point is retracted. Its design is clever and fun. The pen also has a fairly wide body, making the pen well weighted with a comfortable grip. When the pen is pushed together and collapsed with the rollerball point retracted, the pen is more compact, shorter, and easy to carry. I also think the design is attractive with the extended Chrome point section, chrome trim, and chrome clip. The chrome accents the matte black pen body nicely.

Next up in the Cross pens review is the Cross Click Gel Ink Pen. It essentially has the same outward look as the Cross Classic Century Pen, but with a few mechanical tricks. As the name suggests, there is a click button on top of the pen rather than the twist-action of the standard Century Classic. The click button is well designed with a matte black color, accented with a chrome accent ring in the middle of the button, and the shape of the button slightly tapers to a flat end. The mechanism in the button actuation feels solid and quick, with a bit of resistance to make the click feel very mechanically efficient. As with the other Cross Gel Pen, this Cross Click Gel Ink Pen writes smoothly with very little resistance.

The other part that I particularly like about the Cross Click Gel Ink Pen is the colors. It has a solid teal colored glossy metal body, with a matte black clip and click button. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the button is uniquely designed with a slight taper and a chrome accent ring against the matte black finish. Looking at the pen is just as satisfying as using the pen. I mean, really, who doesn’t like Teal? It’s like the best parts of blue and green, all in one color! I know that sounds obvious, given how the color wheel works. However, with green and blue, its like 1 + 1 = 15. In fact, I’m going to make a point to review any pen I buy that is Teal…regardless of how well it writes. A Teal pen is worthy of a review, just on the merit of its color.

Now on to the final pen in this Cross pens review, the Cross Easy Writer Ballpoint Pen. Right off, I’ll say this, its not Teal. That being said, it is a very comfortable pen to hold, as the name suggests. It is significantly wider than the Cross Classic Century, which gives the pen a good weight balance. The best part is the translucent rubber grip section at the end of the pen, just above the pen point chrome section. The rubber section is just large enough for the finger grip. The rest of the pen is a brushed satin chrome, with polished chrome accents and clip.

However, as I mentioned earlier in the article, I’m not exactly a fan of the Cross ballpoint pen refills. The bright side here is that Monteverde makes a Soft Roll Ballpoint Refill specifically for Cross Ballpoint Pens. The Monteverde refills for Cross ballpoint pens are also slightly cheaper than the Cross branded ballpoint refills. Double bonus, I think Monteverde makes a ballpoint refill in Teal.