A couple of weeks ago I re-reviewed one of my favorite gel refills, the Pilot G2, which is not only available at most grocery or drug stores, but fits a wide range of machined pens, including personal favorites from Sunderland Machine Works and Tactile Turn. Following that article, I polled the readership to see how you all used the Pilot G2, and whether there were other alternatives out there that I wasn’t aware of. Here are the results:
Pilot G2 Limited. I know I’ve mentioned Pilot’s stock “upgrade” before, but it surprised me how many people love this pen. I’m glad I’m not the only one, because I consider the G2 Limited a sleeper recommendation that most people have been passing up for years, even though it’s right there in front of you in the stationery aisle at Target or Staples.
Tactile Turn “Side Click”. My own experience with Tactile Turn has been with the “Mover”, a click pen released on Kickstarter approximately five years ago and now rotated out of the Tactile Turn lineup. The Side Click Standard ships with a .7mm G2 refill, and the Side Click Mini ships with the .7mm G2 Mini refill.
TiScribe Bolt. The Urban Survival Gear TiScribe Bolt is one pen I’ve never tried. A versatile machined pen that ships with the G2, yet also accepts favorites such as the Pilot V5, Uniball 207 Gel, Uniball Jetstream, and Schmidt 5888.
Ti2 Techliner Shorty. Another heavily recommended pen that I’ve never reviewed! The Ti2 Techliner has long had a robust online following, and I need to put in an order and finally do a write up. The “shorty” version of the pen accepts the Pilot G2 and the Uniball Jetstream, both workhorses.
Pilot Metropolitan Rollerball. Pilot’s popular entry-level fountain pen also comes in a rollerball version which accepts - you guessed it - the G2. Fans of the Metropolitan who would like a gel/rollerball to match their Metropolitan fountain pen should consider this one. (I’ve previously reviewed the fountain pen version here.)
Lamy 2000 Rollerball. While I understand that this is not an exact fit, you can add a short spacer, such as a small wad of paper or a piece of plastic tubing, to the barrel of the Lamy 2000 Rollerball and use Pilot G2 refills. The Lamy 2000 is one of my favorite pens of all time, and the rollerball option is incredibly versatile and just as comfortable to use as the fountain pen.
Ti Arto Ultimate Refill Friendly Pen. The Ti Arto from BigiDesign sits on my desk, loaded not with the G2 but rather a Uni Signo DX, so it doesn’t immediately spring to mind when I think of a G2-compatible pen. That said, this pen does accept the G2, along with 200+ other compatible refills. If you value versatility, you really can’t do better than one of the “Ti” series pens. (The Ti Arto was the original refill-friendly pen - they’ve since released several others, most of which accept the G2.)
As always, please leave a comment or reach out through the “Contact” link if you have additional suggestions. One further aside: I’ve discovered that with the addition of a spacer, I’ve also been able to use the Pentel Energel refill in my Sunderland Machine Works MK1. The needle-tip Energel is a long-time favorite going all the way back to my school days, and I feel like I should further explore the various options for that one as well. Stay tuned!
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