Pilot G-Tec-C Navy And Turquoise Review

The Pilot Hi-Tec-C is a pen that changed how many people think about pens. Artists and designers love the micro-tip sizes - all the way down to .25 mm - plus the needle tip which allows for good sight lines and ruler usage. It also changed the Kickstarter pen market, becoming the go-to refill when pens on Kickstarter first became a thing.

As famous as this pen is, it isn’t a good pen for many people. Over the years, the best word I have found to describe it is finicky. If you are willing to put up with some dry starts until the pen gets flowing, you will find one of the best pens on the market, especially for small writing or detailed artwork. If the output is not worth the initial frustration - and it does get very frustrating at times - you will swear this pen off for a lifetime, like many rightfully have.

The 0.3 mm black Pilot Hi-Tec-C is a personal favorite of mine, and the one I get the best and most consistent performance from. I love what my writing looks like with it, and it is a great sketching pen too. I always have one with me in either the basic grip barrel or in my Pen Type-B barrel.

Recently, Pilot has expanded their G-Tec-C lineup, which is the name of this line of pens outside of Japan, to offer more than the black, blue, red, green, and purple that formerly made up the G-Tec-C group. Navy and Turquoise are the two I chose to review because these ink colors have not been offered by this name in the original Hi-Tec-C lineup as best as I can remember.

I am very familiar with Pilot Hi-Tec-C Blue Black and Clear Blue, which I was guessing these two new colors would match, but they are different shades. Navy is much lighter than the Blue Black refill I have, while Turquoise is close to Clear Blue but ever so slightly darker.

The Navy 0.4 mm model wrote wonderfully throughout the entire review, through all of the stops and starts. The Turquoise model not so much. You can see how light the ink is at the start of some of the Turquoise lines, which is typical bad G-Tec-C performance. This is why I almost never recommend this pen without a pile of caveats.

That doesn’t stop me though. I’m stubborn, and the output gives me a line that no other gel ink pen can match. Maybe you will like it too, and hopefully these new G-Tec-C colors are around to stay for a while.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-iro Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

For the longest time, I thought Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki was my favorite blue ink from the Iroshizuku line. It's bright, has great shading properties, dries relatively fast, and looks great everywhere. I always shied away from Ama-iro because it looked too light — almost transparent. Well, I eventually cracked and decided to give Ama-iro a shot, and I'm really glad I did.

I've never used an Iroshizuku ink that I disliked, so I was sure that Ama-iro would be a nice ink that lacked the "wow" factor of others. The name translates to "Sky," which is very fitting given the light, bright blue hue. In my book, they could also call it "Bora Bora" because it looks like the clear blue waters of Indonesian island paradise.

Like I said, I didn't go into this ink thinking I would care for it. To my surprise, I was completely wrong. This is just another example that shows you should never assume anything. Immediately after inking it up, I was enamored with the light blue shade that had a beautiful shading behavior. In a matter of minutes, I went from "meh" to "love it."

What makes the Ama-iro so great? Well, the color. If you've used an Iroshizuku ink before, you know what to expect. It's an incredibly well-behaved ink with beautiful color characteristics, great flow, and pretty bottles. The Iroshizuku inks are my favorite of any other brand. That said, I was 100% sure that I would never find an ink that compares to my beloved Kon-peki, and I'm sure there are plenty of folks that hold that same opinion. Let it be known, this opinion has not changed, but Ama-iro is nipping at the heels of this special title. It's closing the gap with every stroke from my pen.

The sky can be different colors depending on weather conditions and what locale you're currently in. For me, this color reminds me of a clear, sunny day in Colorado — somewhere around 6,000 ft. elevation. They're clean, crisp, and rich with color. That's exactly what this blue is like. It's not just a flat light blue — it's rich and has amazing depth.

My favorite characteristic of this ink is its ability to shade to a medium blue. I've used the ink in several pens, and I love using it in wetter, broader nibs that can really show off the shading. It really is something to behold.

Another favorite feature of this ink is the dry time. I clocked it somewhere between 10 and 15 seconds when using a Japanese medium nib and a European medium nib. Not the fastest dry time, but definitely impressive.

Apart from that, all the other characteristics of this ink are in line with all the other Iroshizuku line. Great flow, easy to clean up, no bleeding or feathering, and minimal show-through.

If your favorite blue ink is Iroshizuku Kon-peki, you should give this ink a try. It's a great cousin to add to your collection for those days when you need some bright sky cheer.

JetPens sell this particular ink in two sizes: 50ml bottles and 15ml bottles. Pick up the smaller size if you aren't sure it's the right color for you! I hope you are as pleasantly surprised as I was.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Fantastic Nibs and Where to Find Them

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

All fountain pen aficionados know that the soul of a pen is its nib. No matter how beautiful the body of the pen is, if it doesn't write well, it loses its purpose in life. I've chosen some of my favorite nibs and why they are, in my view, fantastic. With one exception, all the nibs below are factory nibs that worked perfectly straight out of the box. Although I own spectacular nibs ground by nibmeisters, I wanted to focus on nibs that anyone can buy without special grinding.

Pilot Metropolitan Fine

Many people say that the Pilot Metropolitan is the gateway pen to fountain pen addiction. I have to agree. The nib is steel but smooth and uncomplicated. I've bought three Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pops, and all three write consistently well.

Pilot Retro Pop Fine Nib

The turquoise Retro Pop is my all-time favorite grading nib coupled with Diamine Marine (less scary than red). Smooth, perfect flow and $15.00–what is not to love? You can find these pens with their stellar nibs at many vendors, including JetPens.

Lamy 2000 Makrolon Fine

I got my Lamy 2000 through Massdrop, and, unfortunately, the original nib was awful. One of the tines was longer than the other and the pen was unusable.

Lamy 2000 Fine Nib

But, because Massdrop is an authorized dealer, Lamy changed out the bad nib for a good one at no charge, and now this is one of my favorite writers. Lamy 2000s can be found at JetPens, Goldspot, Goulet, and, occasionally, Massdrop.

Franklin-Christoph Marietta with a Gold Masuyama Medium Italic

I love Franklin-Christoph fountain pens. I would buy one of each if I could. The best part is you can get a pre-ground nib by nibmeister par excellence Mike Masuyama, without having to stand in a long line at a pen show or get in his business queue (which is months long).

Franklin-Christoph 18K Gold Medium Cursive Italic Nib

This is one of my favorite writing pens. I opted for the gold Medium italic and it is just terrific–no scratchiness, just beautiful, precise lines. You can get Masuyama nibs on virtually any Franklin-Christoph model.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with FA Nib

I reviewed this pen a few months back on Pen Addict. As I said in that review, there's nothing really remarkable about the pen itself since it's a typical black pen.

Pilot FA Nib

Nevertheless, what makes this pen stand out is the FA nib. The FA nib has wing cut outs on the nib that allow the pen to flex, giving you an almost-but-not-quite vintage flex experience. I bought my Pilot Custom 912 on Amazon, but you can also find them at Goldspot and Goulet.

Pilot Custom Heritage 823 Medium

The Pilot Custom 823 is one of those pens that almost everyone adores. Its vacuum filling system, size, and simple beauty are all a testament to the pen's popularity. But the thing that sets it apart from all the other cigar-shaped fountain pens is its huge, gorgeous nib. I love this nib.

Pilot 823 Medium Nib

Here's the key, though. If you want a smooth writing experience with the 823 nib, I recommend you go with a medium (or larger) nib. With extra fine or fine nibs you may wind up with something scratchy that digs into the paper. It's not that Pilot extra-fine or fine nibs are bad, but they are much finer than Western pens and the medium nib on my 823 writes like a true fine–one of the smoothest fine nibs I own. Goldspot and Goulet carry these pens as do many other vendors.

Graf von Faber Castell Intuition Terra Cotta Oblique Medium

In order to get a factory oblique medium nib, I had to purchase this nib from Martini Auctions (no American vendors stock these nibs). The price for the pen was definitely competitive (less than some American vendors without the OM nib), so I didn't mind the fact that it took a little longer to obtain from overseas.

Graf von Faber Castell Oblique Medium Nib

It has a nice crisp line but none of the strict positioning that can come with a cursive italic nib. I like obliques since I tend to hold my pens at an angle. The Graf von Faber Castell Intuition in Terra is difficult to find these days, but you can get other models. I'd suggest Martini Auctions if you're interested in nibs other than the standard medium.

Sailor Cross Concord

I reviewed this nib a couple of months ago along with the Sailor Cross Point. The Concord is definitely my favorite of the two because its standard position writes like a normal fine nib. But if you want some swishy, fat goodness, you just flip the pen over and glide away.

Sailor Cross Concord Nib

Sailor Specialty nibs are expensive and right now are difficult to obtain. You can order them from nibs.com and now from Anderson Pens.

Omas Ogiva Factory Italic

This is the smoothest italic I've ever used. I don't know if it is just a medium or broad nib whose tip was chopped off (it certainly doesn't seem to have tipping), but that seems to be the case (see the discussion on FPN here and here).

Omas Ogiva Factory Italic Nib

Regardless, it writes as smoothly as Ella Fitzgerald singing "Summertime." Sadly, since Omas is now out of business, it's much more difficult to purchase any of their pens, especially those with special nibs. Keep an eye out for sales on FPN and other Internet sites.

Montblanc Heritage 1912 Fine

This nib isn't huge and it isn't ornate, but it writes beautifully. Of course, you wind up paying a premium for the pen, not because of the nib, but because of the safety pen mechanism and the Montblanc name.

Montblanc Heritage 1912 Fine Nib

I love the retro-feel of this pen (see my review here). It's substantial and heavy (the barrel is made of metal), but the nib has a vintage spring to it that makes it a joy to write with. I bought my Montblanc Heritage 1912 from a seller on FPN. It's available through Montblanc and occasionally other online vendors.

Pelikan M400 White Tortoise with Factory OBB Nib

Although I prefer the M600 size Pelikans, I bought this beauty from Rick Propas. It was part of a collection he was selling and came with a factory OBB nib at an unbelievable price. It is a spectacular writer, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Amber (the only pen lucky enough to warrant that ink).

Pelikan M400 OBB Nib

It's getting more and more difficult to find Pelikans with italic or oblique nibs, especially the BB and BBB size, so you either have to buy vintage or seek out vendors that have these nibs in stock. Expect to pay a hefty amount for one of these Pelikan nibs. Classic Fountain Pens is one source for special-sized Pelikan nibs. You can also contact Rick Propas to see what he has in stock.

Nibs can be hit or miss depending on the fountain pen brand. I've had bad luck with Visconti and Kaweco nibs. I've read several discussions about the lack of size consistency of Pelikan nibs. Lamy nibs tend to get rave reviews or the exact opposite, which I'm sure is a quality control problem. I've even read reviews of bad Nakaya nibs–something I never thought possible.

The reality is that nibs don't always write well straight out of the box. Every user's experience may vary. It's always possible that you will get a poorly aligned nib, or a feed that doesn't offer enough flow for a particular nib, or tines that are different sizes, or a nib that is just plain scratchy. That's why it's always good to read return and exchange policies for fountain pens. When you buy from individual sellers rather than vendors, you may not get a refund if the nib is not to your liking. So, as one of my pen friends wisely suggested, if you buy a used pen, factor in the cost of a nibmeister along with the cost of the pen.