Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio Review

I have had several readers asking me to review the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio barrel, which is the newest addition to the Coleto line. It has been available for many months now - sorry for the delay in getting around to it!

Pen Addict reader Dan guest reviewed the Lumio for me back in February, but it was only a few weeks ago that I got my hands on one. This is considered the ‘business’ style Coleto due to its more professional barrel styling, and it is sharp looking. My silver barrel is very shiny, and has nice looking chrome accents. It is very comfortable to write with.

Exterior appearance aside, the innards of the Coleto are essentially the same as the standard four cartridge Coleto. The cartridges insert and function the same, and you also have the option of adding a mechanical pencil cartridge. The real question is does the upgraded barrel design warrant over a $12 difference in price between the two?

If you work in an office and don’t want to show off your pink Hello Kitty looking translucent barrel to your co-workers, then absolutely yes, go for the Lumio. Otherwise, you get the same functionality - plus a rubber grip - in the base level four cartridge Coleto barrel, which is my weapon of choice.

Pilot B2P Review

Every now and then I come across a review that gets lost in the shuffle, and the Pilot B2P is the latest example. It looks like I bought this pen in January of this year, and did the written review and photo upload in early February. That is part of my normal review workflow, but then I forgot about it, and it was never posted to The Pen Addict. Time to correct that!

I recall some of my European friends getting their hands on this pen first, well before I came across them in my local Staples. From that point until now the B2P has spread like wildfire, and you can find them everywhere, including JetPens.

What makes this pen unique is Pilot’s claim that this is the first pen made from recycled plastic bottles. Not only is the body 89% recycled, but the entire look and feel is made to emulate a plastic water bottle, and they pulled it off well. It is a real eye catcher, and comfortable to hold.

The one non-unique part of the B2P is the refill. It is a standard Pilot G-2, which is good and bad. Bad in that fact that it is not a new writing experience - if you have used one G-2 you have used them all - but good in the fact that there are options. I am a fan of the 0.38mm G-2, so the standard 0.38mm G-2 refill pops right into the B2P barrel without issue.

Pilot has been making real strides in their recyclable pen lines, and the B2P is my favorite of the bunch.

Pilot FriXion Biz Point 04 Review

I’m not sure where I was when it happened, but I have turned into a full fledged Pilot FriXion fan. I think it must be Pilot’s constant updating and improvements to the entire FriXion line that made me sit up and take notice. Have you seen how many products they have released just in the past year?¹

When the first round of the FriXion Biz came out, I wasn’t on the bandwagon yet. The barrel looked great, but it contained the standard 0.5mm conical tip that was present in the regular FriXion. A year or so ago, Pilot came out with the FriXion Point 04 - a needle tip 0.4mm erasable gel ink pen. Now we are in business! The FriXion Biz Point 04 was released shortly thereafter, and I finally picked one up last week.

I went with the Metallic Blue Body, and it is both fantastic to look at and to write with. The barrel reminds me a lot of the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Cavalier barrel, but full sized as opposed to the slimmed down Cavalier. I also bought the blue ink refills, because I am weird about using different color inks than the body color (it comes with a black ink cartridge).

Looking at the written review², you can see how nicely the pen writes. Very clean lines, and no skipping to speak of. The shade of blue is lighter than most, but that allows it to be more easily erased, and doesn’t bother me a bit.

One thing that did bother me originally was the eraser placement under the cap. I am learning to deal with it, because in the case of the Biz, it would make for a less attractive pen if the rubber eraser was on top. If I was using a mechanical pencil I would have to remove the cap to get to the eraser too, right?

The Pilot FriXion Biz 04 has earned a place on my desk, and I reach for it often. I wouldn’t sign any official documents with it, but it is a fun pen to use in nearly every other situation.

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1. 
   

   Note to Pilot: The G-2 could use an update. ↩

   
   


2. 
   

   Sorry for the terrible crop and the seasick photo angle. ↩