I. Love. This. Pen. No really… we’re talking true love here!

You know that moment when you open the package of a new set of pens and you just KNOW. You know before you even put ink on paper. You know by the mere feel of it in your hand. You know that these pens are going to be your new favorite. Then you test it and all the stars and planets align and you know you have found the holy grail. This, my friends, is my new favorite pen. Introducing the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Miaca .4mm gel pen.

First of all, let’s just clear up the obvious, ok? I own a lot of pens. Like… a really big amount of a-lot-of-pens. So when I say that a pen is my favorite, that’s sorta of a big deal. A couple weeks ago I had a different favorite pen, but right now… THIS is my favorite pen.

One of the things I love about this pen is that it’s got a bit of heft to the barrel. It’s smooth and feels good in my hand, but the tiny bit of extra weight makes it feel solid, not plasticky or cheap at all. The pen tip is steel and feels substantial under the weight of my heavy-handed writing. Plus no feathering or bleed-through on the paper I used here.

But the ink! C’mon… let’s talk about the ink. This is gel ink, so you already know it’s going to be smooth and lay on the page beautifully. But this ink feels different than normal gel ink, for some reason. It’s probably the fact that’ it’s Hi-Tec-C ink (more on that in a moment). This pack comes with 12 colors in the group. Just ignore the colors I wrote in the pen test above… the official names of the colors are:

  • Red
  • Cherry Pink
  • Baby Pink
  • Orange
  • Apricot Orange
  • Green
  • Aqua Blue
  • Blue
  • Blue Black
  • Violet
  • Brown
  • Black

After I bought this set of 12 colored pens and fell in love, I went out and bought a 5-pack of all black Pilot Maica pens so I could keep a black pen handy no matter where I am. One for the pen case, one for the purse, one for the office, one at my desk at home, one in the pen loop on my bullet journal … and a couple spares, just in case.

Pilot Hi Tec C Black Pens

Do you know about the Hi-Tec C ink? It was first launched in Japan (the world capital of stationery supplies – we love Japan for their love of stationery) in 1994 and is some of the best gel ink in pens today. The ink is smooth and writes like silk. Our friends over at JetPens.com have some technical, science-y stuff to say about Hi-Tec-C ink:

Pilot uses ink made of a special biopolymer consisting of resin made from microbes such as yeast. As a result, the ink’s viscosity is increased, which prevents it from feathering or bleeding. Since Hi-Tec-C’s 1994 launch in Japan, it has been a pioneer of gel ink pen innovation. Various iterations and colors have emerged, and it even won the Good Design Long Life Design Award in 2012.

The refills for these Miaca pens are the same inserts used in the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto multi-ink pens (it’s a pen body that holds 5 ink refills in one).  So yes, you can keep the pen body and buy refills when you are out of ink. And the refills are affordable too! Buy one or buy a whole set of 15 colors. 


The tip on these pens are steel needlepoint and come to a .4mm writing tip. You can also get them in .3mm if you prefer an even narrower pen stroke. You can’t get the pen in a larger, medium point, but you can buy the refills in .5mm if you want to swap out the ink for a heavier line.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Miaca .4 mm needlepoint tip

OK – have I raved enough about these pens? I guess it’s time to stop going on and on and on about how much I love these pens and let you go check them out for yourself. I’d love to know what you think if you have these pens. I’ve heard a lot of people love them as much as I do.