Of Multi-Clickers & Tickers
Know what I’ve been enjoying to bits lately? Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 1000s! No, they’re not weapons, although they sort of sound like it with a name like that. They’re pens! Customizable multi-gel pens, to be precise. This means you can pick your own refills from a nice array of colors and tip sizes rather than be doomed with the standard black-blue-red-green inks.
I primarily use them for my Moleskine planner. My notations are color-coded to help specific topics stand out, and I’m feeling more organized and in control in the planner domain than ever before. This calms me so much. I am content. And the ink doesn’t bleed through the wimpy paper at all.
These pens seem potentially great for editing. I thought they might also be ideal for those who love sketching in color on the go but prefer not to lug around many drawing tools. I gave them a try for drawing and the verdict is: probably not ideal. I’ve read complaints from some people claiming that the refills do not last very long, which I took with a grain of salt. After doing one drawing, I found that the ink levels did go down quite a bit.
I haven’t been using these for an entire month yet (at the time of writing this—I try to write my posts weeks in advance). I’ve barely used the gold refill at all, but I’ve used the red one regularly for extremely brief notes in my planner and one drawing, shown towards the end of this post. Using it to draw on a regular basis would suck it dry rather quickly.
Also, they don’t layer all that nicely (in my opinion). I was dumb and used silver for my rough sketch (yes, the drawing was 100% Coleto-powered—no pencils used whatsoever), but standard colors don’t layer over metallics well at all. Should have been a no-brainer. But for jotting down brief notes in a planner, which was my intended purpose, I think they’ll do just fine and survive for a year or more. I hope.
I currently own 4 Coleto 1000s, not to be confused with other Coletos, such as the 500 and standard models, which have their differences. The non-1000 models have rubbery grips and accept different numbers of refills. The 1000 is sleek and gripless (I honestly think grips are overrated) and accommodates 4 refills.
Anyway, having four pens that each accept four colors gives me a total of 16 colors! That’s pretty convenient. I have ten standard colors in the .3 size and the six metallic colors that only come in the .4 size. I confess it took me a bit of rearranging to figure out which refills I want in which pen, but that was a fun process.
They write well. No hard starts. They’re far better than the Pilot G-Tec-C4, and I was expecting a similar experience. I’m pleasantly surprised. I love how Japanese pens are often available in such a fine size as .3. You don’t see that often in America. Those of us who have tiny handwriting appreciate an ultra-fine line.
It must be weird hearing me sing praises of a pen that isn’t a fountain pen. But I use these for a specific purpose and they are delightfully effective. They’re also far classier and more adult-looking than the typical multi-pen. Not to mention they’re great for those of us who tend to fidget and dissect random objects. Anyway, the noble fountain pen shall always be my tool of choice for long-form writing.
Switching gears a little, I can’t let February go by without at least a tiny bit of heart health awareness. Also, did you know that February 14 is World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day? (Be aware.) Don’t worry, I won’t rant about heart health, sobering statistics, or anything like that. I’ll keep it short and sweet. I have no desire to cause you any stress, which isn’t all that great for hearts, anyway.
However, I do want to give a gentle reminder: whether your heart is strong or struggling, steady or stuttering, whether it has extra hardware attached, has no modifications whatsoever, is structurally unique, or even started out in someone else’s chest—no matter what, your heart is still a tough, tenacious miracle. Don’t treat it like dirt. Please be kind to it. Treat it respectfully. Your loved ones will thank you for that.
How is this relevant to a blog about creativity, some may ask? As far as I’m concerned, it falls under the heading of “the quest to stay in one piece” that I mention on my home page. It’s absolutely relevant to anyone who’s alive. So—take care of yourselves, my friends!
And Happy Valentine’s Day, by the way!
PEN REVIEW DISCLAIMER: No one pays me to review anything. I write my honest opinions in hopes of being helpful to others. My first Coleto (the brown one, my favorite) was a Christmas gift. I bought the other three with my own money because the first made me so happy and it annoyed me to have orphan refills lying around. I have now been transformed into a Coleto monster—but I’m a happy monster.
