The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Color Multi Pen

One of my favorite mult-pens is the Pilot Coleto, which is basically the multi-pen version of Pilot’s Hi-Tec-C line.  It has many color and size options, and even with up to 5 refills in it, it manages to not be bulky and awkward looking.  Naturally when I saw the sleek-looking  Lumio body style of the Coleto I couldn’t resist grabbing it from JetPens to try out.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio Multi Pen and Refills

The Lumio is a 4 color multi-pen, which I thought worked well for me since I already have the Coleto in a 3 and 5 color option.  If you aren’t already familiar with this line from Pilot, they take refills that come in a ton of different colors and various tip sizes.  Pictured above it my Lumio along with a blue, red, green, and orange .4mm refill before being loaded into the body.  Keep in mind that if you buy the Lumio, the body and refills are sold separately, which I really like so you can totally customize your pen.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Color Multi Pen Flip Top Opened

Loading your choice of colors into the Lumio is simple, simply flip open the cap on the top, and the ink cartridges which have plungers built-in, slide right in and drop down inside the body.  The flip cap can sometimes be a little tight to flip open, but don’t worry, you wont break it.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Color Multi Pen Flip Top

Once you have your arsenal of colors and sizes loaded in, just flip the cap shut again and you will be ready to write with your new Lumio.

The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Color Multi Pen Filled Side View

Now with the pen ready to go, I had a few concerns, and was beginning to think that for the first time I *might* not like my new Pilot Hi-Tec-C.  The first thing that really grabbed my attention when I was done filling it was the finish on the body of the pen.  The body has a matte finish that although is fairly easy to grip, still has a very chalky feel to it which just makes the pen seem a bit loose between my fingers no-matter how tightly I grip it.  Another thing that I noticed was that the bottom half of the Lumio (where you see the silver ring) opens up by unscrewing it.  Now that might seem harmless enough, but I have two issues with this.  First, why bother making it open?  You cant refill it that way, so I’m not sure what purpose, if any it serves.  Second, the threading once you unscrew this appears to be metal, while the rest of the pen is a lightweight plastic, which gives the pen a very bottom heavy feel.  Now if the ability to unscrew the bottom half served some great functional purpose, I might be willing to look the other way, but since it doesn’t, this seems like a fairly major design flaw to me.

I’m sure that having it unscrew must add to its overall cost, and if I could redesign it, I’d make the body one piece and spend the extra time and money on putting on a nice thin rubber grip like the other Coleto’s have.  This would eliminate the bottom heavy aspect, while also compensating for the bottom heavy feel by removing the center threaded piece that does nothing useful other than add weight and unbalance the pen.

Visually this pen looks fantastic, and is a bit more professional looking than the rest of the Coleto line, but in practice, I think Pilot really killed a great looking design with some fundamental flaws in the materials and physical make up of the pen.  If you don’t think those things will bother you, the Pilot Hi-Tec-C refills are always a pleasure to write with and offer you a ton of flexibility in size and colors, so the Lumio body style of the Coleto might be a good option for you.

©2017, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.