Pilot Acroball 2013 US Version

A few weeks back I was discussing the results of my Field Notes Expedition Edition ink testing on Twitter. The conversation covered the pens that were working well, and of course, the ones that were not. I didn't test every pen at my disposal but tested at least one sample of most ink types. I mentioned that hybrid ballpoint inks worked the best, and that caught the eye of @PilotPenUSA, who touted the Pilot Acroball as a great fit.

Being the fan of the Acroball that I am I inquired if that meant it would finally be making its way to the US. The answer was yes, and soon - March of this year to be exact. They also offered to send me some samples, which you see pictured above.

Fortunately for the US market Pliot decided to keep the barrel design and grip used in the original Japanese model. I am a fan of both, and wish some of these elements would find their way into the old and stale Pilot G2 design. The white barrel/pastel accent color scheme leaves a little to be desired (all are black ink) but at least they are offering the 0.7 mm tip. The black barrels you see in the pic are marked with an "M" on the clip as opposed to the 1.0 mm which they are. I'm not sure why that isn't consistent across the product line.

Regardless, this is a great pen that hopefully more people will have access to in a couple of months. I highly recommend it and thanks to Pilot Pen for providing me with these samples.

Here are a few of my previous Pilot Acroball reviews if you want to read why I enjoy this pen so much:

Pilot Acroball 0.7 mm Blue

Pilot Acroball 0.5 mm Blue

Pilot Acroball 3 Color Multi Pen

(P.S. - I'll pass out if the 0.5 mm or Multi Pen ever make it to the States. Your move Pilot.)

I Get Mail: Does the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slims refill fit in the Zebra Sharbo X?

I am always happy to answer reader mail and over the years I have answered a lot. I'm not exactly the fastest responder, but I do my best to answer them all. On occasion, I get repeats of the same question so I thought it would be good to answer some of those publicly to help out other readers who may be wondering the same thing.

So, here is the first one, from Mike: Does the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slims refill fit in the Zebra Sharbo X?

Both of these pens use what is called a D1 size refill, so yes, the Slims refill fits fine in the Sharbo X. Most D1 refills are interchangeable between brands, although the small tolerances might make the fit tighter or looser depending on the pen. For example, the Slims refill fits in the Sharbo X like a glove, but I had to force the Sharbo X refill into the Slims barrel. In the end it fit and worked fine, but some force was required to seat it properly.

Mike also wondered if the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock or the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto refills would work, and the answer in no. Those refills are much to long to fit in the Sharbo X.

I hope this helps you out Mike, and hopefully this helps other readers who had the same question.

Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen Video

I mentioned in my Pilot Vanishing Point review last week that I made a short video to share with you. I’m no Scorsese, but I at least tried to capture a few of the high points of the pen.

There is a quick shot of the door that keeps the nib from drying out and a good look at the clip in case you were questioning how your fingers might land on the barrel. I also point out the little hole that you need to get all the way in the ink bottle to fill the converter properly.

I have moved over to the standard Pilot Namiki Black Ink Cartridges which I plan on trying for a while and then testing out syringe refilling to see how that goes. So far so good with the black ink cartridges in the few days I have used them.

This is a heavy rotation pen for me and really the only pen I am using right now. The next thing I want to do is several nib and line width comparisons so look for that in the near future.