"I Love Multi Pens!" (and hack)

Hi everyone!

Ever since I started color-coding calendar entries in my Filofax years ago, I've been addicted to multi pens.  They're so much more convenient!  And I've gone through and used quite a few in my time.

The first one I got was this Franklin Covey ballpoint pen in coral.  It writes with 3 colors: black, red and blue, and has a pencil as well.  I have since replaced the refills, which write poorly by the way, with D1 gel refills from Zebra.

Franklin Covey multi-pen and extra refills.

Then I got the Pilot Coleto, whom I think pioneered the custom refill concept where you choose the color of the inks you want in your pen body.  It was the first one I tried and I loved it.  5 colors in one barrel!  And because I was using two, I had 8 colors, AND a pencil and eraser!  Lovely!

Muji multi-pens at the top made an appearance (:

I even found Little Twin Stars Coleto pens, my favorite Sanrio character growing up (bottom two of the picture above).

A Uni Style Fit 3-barrel Meister lives in my Slimline used as a wallet.  I interchange this with the Franklin Covey as they fit the Slimline's pen loop perfectly.

After a while, the Uni Style Fit was introduced to me by a friend.  She said the ink was water-resistant and the writing was smooth.  I tried and loved it even more than the Coleto.

5- and 3-barrel Uni Style fit barrels.

The Uni has a ballpoint-pen-like tip while the Coleto has a needle tip.  I prefer the former.

I hope you see the difference in this photo.
Uni (above), Coleto (below).

However, I didn't like the Style Fit barrels!  They felt clunky and slippery in my hand.  I couldn't write with them for an extended period of time because they made my fingers ache, which the Coleto never did.

I was crushed!  Then I started playing around with them and discovered that if I cut off the top part of the Uni refills and popped in the Coleto tops (they snap right off), they fit perfectly!

Coleto (above), is shorter than Uni (below).

Coleto (above), Pilot (below), both with Coleto tops.

I'm a happy camper now.  I had the Uni ink refills, which I prefer, in the Coleto barrels.  Again, best of both worlds, at least for me.

Thanks for visiting!