Pilot Hi-Tec-C is a gel pen with refills that happen to fit in the Space Pen. It puts down a crisp, fine line.
The problem with the stock Space Pen is that it’s a messy ballpoint. I might be getting worse-than-typical results due to being left handed, but in general I find ballpoints don’t write crisp lines, and the ink smudges on my hand much more than gel pens do. But with the gel swap I do lose the feature of being able to write upside-down.
I’ll have to try it out! I currently use fisher space pens, and while the pen is reliable, I definitely notice that it’s not guaranteed to write evenly.
Was there any hacks you had to do to fit the refill?
Yes; first pull the black plastic piece out of the end of the refill. I read that there needs to be a little airflow into the refill for ink to flow, and when the back of the refill is jammed into the pen that can cut off airflow so you might cut a little notch in the end of the refill where the black plastic piece was. I also sometimes trim about 4mm off the end of the refill, or put a tiny bit of wadded paper in the pen for spacing. But I do this a little differently every time I put a new refill in.
I’m not familiar with the pilot refill, what about that swap do you enjoy?
Pilot Hi-Tec-C is a gel pen with refills that happen to fit in the Space Pen. It puts down a crisp, fine line.
The problem with the stock Space Pen is that it’s a messy ballpoint. I might be getting worse-than-typical results due to being left handed, but in general I find ballpoints don’t write crisp lines, and the ink smudges on my hand much more than gel pens do. But with the gel swap I do lose the feature of being able to write upside-down.
I’ll have to try it out! I currently use fisher space pens, and while the pen is reliable, I definitely notice that it’s not guaranteed to write evenly.
Was there any hacks you had to do to fit the refill?
Yes; first pull the black plastic piece out of the end of the refill. I read that there needs to be a little airflow into the refill for ink to flow, and when the back of the refill is jammed into the pen that can cut off airflow so you might cut a little notch in the end of the refill where the black plastic piece was. I also sometimes trim about 4mm off the end of the refill, or put a tiny bit of wadded paper in the pen for spacing. But I do this a little differently every time I put a new refill in.
Thank you kindly!