Customer Reviews

So I actually used one of these pens for day to day writing until it stopped working, and simultaneously used a Uniball Signo 0.28mm for the same purposes until it ran out of ink. I filled up one Doane pad, and two Clairefontaine pads with notes. I'll compare the two:

-The Uni-Ball pen lays down a thick, smeary river of ink, while the Pilot pen is far more sparing. I used both pens at about the same rate, and the Uni-Ball ran out when the Pilot was at about 2/3 expired.

-Both pens stopped working at around the same time. The Uni-ball ran out of ink, but the Pilot's tip just stopped functioning for some reason. There was no obvious mechanical failure, but with about 1/3 of its ink reservoir remaining, lines became spotty, faint, or not inked at all. I'm not very hard on these pens-- My writing style does not put very much pressure on the tip.

-The Pilot pen made the better line. Lines had superior definition, and smudged less overall.

-The uni-ball pen made a much more consistent line. It smudged more easily, and had poorer definition, but it performed in exactly the same manner until it ran out of ink. The Pilot pen sometimes took a few lines of writing until it started acting normally, and the quality of the line varied from day to day and line to line.

-Both pens were very nice to write with. The Pilot pen had a slight advantage, but both felt very good compared to other pens.

This pen lays down an amazingly fine line. However, I usually write with the pen at a heavy slant (I'm a lefty) and the Hi-Tec-C doesn't like that one bit. When taking notes in class, the ink frequently sputters which is, needless to say, annoying. They work just fine for my girlfriend though.

i initially LOVED this pen.
i was very excited to find a relatively inexpensive fine tip pen after years of feeling frustrated seeing .5mm or .7mm pens erroneously labelled as "fine" in stationary/office supply stores.
BUT! the honeymoon eventually ended..
i have used dozens of these pens in black, blue, and red..
to be fair to jetpens, none of them were purchased through their site.

my first big complaint is the colour of the ink.
i hate hate hate the colour black used.. i'm not sure how to describe what i hate about it.. but it just reminds me of something you'd expect from a cheap ballpoint pen that you'd hate writing with. so when the pen is functioning well, i hate the look of what i'm writing.
(i also hate the red used.)

inconsistency.
i have almost never used a pen until the ink has run out.
some of the pens work ok for a while, and then just stop writing, with a majority of the ink remaining.
a select few pens never worked from the start.
i can understand pens that are dropped on their tip no longer working. it's annoying. but i can understand it.
but i keep my pens in an old metal cigarette tin, in my bag. this shouldn't be continuously happening.

This pen is my favorite all-around fine point. Color, flow, feel... it's a ten!

It's hard to review such a classic in the pen genre. If you are a fan of needlepoint pens, then this is the one that everything else is compared to. I have found the .3 to be a teeny bit small for general writing, although I really like it a lot. The grip on this is an added bonus from the low end Hi-Tech C, and is worth the extra buck.

All in all'. Every pen lover should have several of these in their arsenal. It's a steal at this price.

I love this pen. I study Japanese and there is no pen that writes like it. 0.3mm is perfect, when I buy pens any smaller they tend to not write as smoothly. I would rate this pen 10/10. My favorite!

I love using the HI-Tec C pens. They are all so great to work with. the 0.3mm I tend to have trouble with the tip getting jammed and the flow not being consistant if I stop using it for more than 10 min. But, once the clog is cleared it works very well.

This has got to be one the best pens I've ever used. I was first introduced to this pen 6yrs ago and I have been in love with it ever since. the ink is smooth coming out and always even. A joy to work with.

These are the only pens I like to write with. I write small and these allow me to do that without smudging and without skipping like some roller ball pens do. I would buy a lifetime's worth of stock on these pens, that's how much I like them and I hope they never stop making them. I tried the .3 mm size but found that a bit too fine. .4 mm works best for me, for general writing and they are also very good for drawing. I would recommend them to anyone who writes in small print.

wow, what an awesome pen. believe the hype you read about the hitec-c line. i compared this pen to it's .3 and .5mm siblings, as well as to it's uni signo dx competitors (in .38, .28, and .5) on the following paper types

- doane graphed notepad
- moleskin lined notepad
- crappy ol' yellow notepad

one thing to say for sure: the .5mm pens were too wet and blotchy for me, especially at smaller letter sizes. your mileage may vary, try them out!

as far as hitec vs signo dx, i find myself going back-and-forth. buy one or buy both, you won't be sorry.

finally: i tend to write larger, sloppier letters during meetings and lectures (when i need to scribble fast) and the finer-tip gel pens start to get scratchy and annoying for me. in those cases, i'd reach for a jetstream or a crappy bic ballpoint over these. however, during a brainstorming session or casual note-taking, i'd go in circles with the hitec and signo DX pens - they're amazing. buy them now. from jetpens.

A Pilot Hi-Tec-C, therefore a great pen. But personally I prefer conical point pens. This model is preferable instead of the others without the rubber grip as it holds better and less tiring for the fingers.

These pens actually improved my otherwise atrociously illegible and embarrassing handwriting! Didn't think that was possible! I find the 0.5 nib hits the sweet spot. Not too thin so as to be scratchy and not to broad to be messy. My theory: the fine nib slows down the hand to allow more control over the handwriting, otherwise the hand slops all over the paper contributing to sloppy handwriting. Wish Pilot would make a 0.5 blue refill for the Cavalier! I have several 'go to' pens I use daily but this one tops the list. I agree with the comment that experimentation is needed with different nib sizes from the various brands because 0.5 for one brand is not the same as 0.5 from another brand. At least that's my experience.

I really like the Hi-Tec-C pen. I switched to this pen after reading some reviews. I had been using Pilot V7's for years and it took some time to get used the finer point with the 0.4 tip. Now it's no problem and I actually like it more. The pen doesn't bleed as much when writing slowly and you can write in small spaces much more cleanly. That being said, I don't care for the non-gripped Hi-Tec-C. The barrel is grooved and when your hand is sweaty it slips. The extra few dollars for the rubber gripped pen is worth it.

Overall, I really like these pens and I'm constantly having to remind people to give my pen back when they are signing documents at my desk. I even sell these pens to customers who prefer them to the Koh-I-Noor and Rotring Rapidograph type pens commonly used for chart and map corrections.

You won't be sorry you purchased the Hi-Tec-C. Just get the one with the grip!!!

I tried out both the 0.5mm and the 0.4mm Hi-Tec-C. The 0.4mm pen writes smoothly. The 0.5mm pen writes very smoothly. They both are fine pens.

The cap is tight fitting, and requires a bit of force to remove.