After a particularly expensive and exhausting holiday season, I’ve decided to take a brief detour back to the foundation of this blog; pen and paper reviews on a budget. With that in mind, I picked up some new Pilot refills from JetPens in the hopes of finding a comfortable fine-line pen. THE RESULTS MAY SHOCK YOU.
Having already used the G2 in the .5 and .38 widths, I decided to start with the .4 Hi-Tec-C. It was, as expected, a nice middle ground between the G2 refills. What I was not expecting, was how smooth it felt while writing; it was smoother than BOTH the .38 AND the .5. It lays down a clear and solid line and the octagonal body of the pen is comfortable to hold. The needle point lets you get right down to the edge of a ruler when drawing or drafting. It’s a great pen. Motivated by my findings, I went a little overboard and ordered 3 more pens. The first of which was the .3 Hi-Tec-C.
The .3 was entirely and understandably completely different from the .4, it truly felt like writing with a needle. Comfort aside, the pen does lay down a solid albeit tiny line.
The other two pen refills I picked up were the Pilot Juice in the .4 and .3 size. After reviewing the aptly-named Epic Refill Reference Guide from The Well-Appointed Desk, and hearing about the quality of the Juice refill in a review from The Pen Addict, I was hopeful about the prospect of a finer and smoother line than the G2 was currently producing. I continue to be impressed with this tiny juice needle.
Another nice feature that the Hi-Tec-C and the Juice refills share is a very consistent feel across all paper brands. Leuchtturm, Rhodia, Baron Fig, Moleskine, all smooth and solid lines on the page.
So you’re shopping for a fine liner. You’ve narrowed it down to the Pilot series. Which do you choose? It really comes down to the body. The Juice is available in a comfortable plastic retractable body with a nice grip section. Once removed, the refill fits any G2 compatible barrel, like the Karas Kustoms RenderK for example. The Hi-Tec-C is a more traditional stick pen, roughly the size and weight of a standard pencil. While the refill is removable, Hi-Tec-C compatible barrels are far less common. For less than Four dollars each (or around $2.25 if you buy the refill alone), you really can’t go wrong with either!
These pens were purchased from JetPens.com at full retail price. This is not a sponsored review.
The Poor Penman 