What is your favorite highlighter?

February 11, 2007 9:14 AM

The best commonly-available highlighter?

Highlighters have such a proclivity for crappiness; what's your favorite that I can pick up at the local stationer?

Also, how has this question never been asked - so many pen threads, no highlighter-love!

posted by coolhappysteve to Writing & Language (18 answers total)

I have enjoyed the Sharpie Accent Retractable Highlighter. Quick drying on a very glossy textbook.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:27 AM on February 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Stabilo Boss Luminator is my current favourite.
posted by goo at 9:41 AM on February 11, 2007

But these look pretty cool, I have to say.
posted by goo at 9:43 AM on February 11, 2007

Yeah, I'm gonna second the "no" on the liquid highlighters. They look kinda cool, but tend to leak and don't dry as quickly.
posted by NoraCharles at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2007

I like the Briteliner Grip highlighters. They're the size of pens, not magic markers, and lay down a nice even line in a greenish yellow color that jumps out at you.
posted by bink at 10:23 AM on February 11, 2007

I like sperose's post-it flag highliters too except as soon as you get into the flagging groove, you're out of flags but not out of highlighter, and I have tried but not succeeded in refilling the flags.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:24 AM on February 11, 2007

I **love** the Zebra Zazzle 10 pack. They are so pleasing. The colors are nice (and unusual!), the liquid ink is super smooth, and the barrel is slim like a pen. Very nice.
posted by robinpME at 10:35 AM on February 11, 2007

I've always liked the Sanford Major Accents. The ink doesn't poop out very quickly and it leaves a nice, even line. Personally, I prefer the non-yellow ones since they're a little more visible to me on the page.
posted by deinemutti at 10:39 AM on February 11, 2007

Seconding the Zebra Zazzle pack.
posted by rhapsodie at 11:54 AM on February 11, 2007

I have to second the Sanford Major Accents. They're pretty standard looking but seem to last the longest and have a nice bright ink. Too many highlighters crap out after a day's use. I also dislike yellow highlighters that are just a plain dark yellow and not "neon" enough.

I hate the visible liquid highlighters because they always seem to stop working even though they obviously still have liquid in them.

I snagged a few Bic Duos from work and have been using those for notetaking.

According to the Bic Website they are designed:

For today’s fast paced and always on-the-go lifestyle of professionals and students who are constantly fumbling with two writing instruments, one to take notes and the other to highlight important information during business meetings, the new BIC DUO™ ball pen and highlighter provides a novel solution to this problem by instantly changing from a ballpoint pen to highlighter with a simple twist of the pen’s barrel.



I'm not sure about that, but they are pretty handy and I haven't had one run out on me yet.
posted by Telf at 12:08 PM on February 11, 2007

This is no help at all, since I can only seemingly find these through the office supply company we use at work (Corporate Express), but their generic brand yellow highlighter is actually a goldenrod color, which I so much prefere to any of the yellow neon-types you can buy in regular stores. I just buy regular highlighters on my own and swap them with the ones at work. I also like that they're pen-sized, not marker-sized. Much easier to carry around.

So...not to highjack, but anyone know where I can find my own supply of goldenrod-yellow highlighters?? Won't be at this job forever...
posted by bibbit at 1:28 PM on February 11, 2007

Back in law school, I was a highlighting fiend out of necessity. I found that if I ever needed to copy highlighted documents, then yellow was the best color to use. It doesn't darken the underlying text to the point that it is unintelligible when copied. With pink or green, there would be dark patches on the copied pages.

You may not copy highlighted pages for others, but if you do, it's something to consider.
posted by reenum at 2:21 PM on February 11, 2007

Back in the Dark Ages, I used one that wins for the best name:
The Yellow-Billed Wordpicker.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:46 PM on February 11, 2007

I really don't think you can go past the original Stabilo Boss highlighter. I use only them. The best part about the top of them is that they don't split and go all hairy like some other brands do, they last for ages and the ink dries ast.
posted by cholly at 2:54 PM on February 11, 2007

As a college student, I LIVE by the Sharpie retractable highlighters. They dry quick, make that oh-so-satisfying squeaky noise on a glossy page (a must for me), and that clicky top gives you something brainless to do while you read.
posted by messylissa at 3:23 PM on February 11, 2007

Thirding Zazzle. The ink dries quickly and generally doesn't soak through the page. I dunno if I'd spring for the big package, though... the tips of the lighter colors do tend to pick up ink and become darkened/ smudgy.
posted by chickletworks at 7:15 PM on February 11, 2007

Big fan of the Sharpie. I go through tons of them, and have to make a special trip to a far away store just to get them. I am pretty sure the clerk thinks Im nuts, but its the only one i found that doesnt go through thin textbook paper
posted by gilsonal at 10:11 PM on February 11, 2007

Also a big fan of the Sharpies -- both retractable and non.
posted by ThatSomething at 6:37 AM on February 12, 2007