The BigiDesign Ti ARTO Pen is seriously the most amazing after market premium pen I’ve laid hands on in the 8 years I’ve been writing this blog. This thing takes over 200 different refills, and its construction is on par with the most precisely machined items you can imagine. The pen comes with a special wrench that slips into the inside of the cap to remove and adjust the clip, a key chain type ring that attaches to the wrench for a little extra leverage, and two extra o-rings that can replace those existing two already on the pen. It also comes with a nice black sued-like sleeve to store your amazing new pen in. (buy via BigiDesign Website)
Here is the only picture I have of the Ti ARTO with the sleeve before I lost it. But one thing I always enjoy seeing is high quality packaging because it shows the the attention to detail that the manufacturer puts into their products. Having used some BigiDesign products before, I had high hopes for this pen that were easily lived up to. The cap of the Ti ARTO twists off and then twists onto the back end if you like to post your cap while you write.
It seems rather simple, but here is what makes the Ti ARTO so unique. That nose cone has a sleeve in it that acts similarly to the bit in a drill. Its a circular but flexible piece of metal with four clamps on it. As you twist the nose cone, the clamps tighten and as a result latch onto the tip of the refill that you have in there.
This close up shows the fully expanded sleeve that is removed from the collar. You can see the four prongs that tighten up and clamp down on the refill body that you decide to fill your new Ti ARTO with. The sleeve (laying down on the left) slides perfectly into the standing collar that you see there. This is the magic that lets the Ti ARTO take over 200 different pen refills.
When a refill of choice (Pilot Precise V5 RT in this case) is inserted you can see how the sleeve clamps down around the tip to ensure it stays in place. There is one cool thing about he Ti ARTO that I don’t see mentioned in the marketing materials. They obviously focus on the ability to take over 200 different refills, but its also cool that you can adjust the length of the tip that extends out of the pen. Regardless of what refill you have in there, the pen writes with perfect balance and the grip section has just the right tactile feel to keep the metal from slipping between your fingers.
Above is a little bit of an extreme example to get the point across about how you can play with how much the tip of your refill sticks out. Sometimes if you are using the refill with its original body, the tip length may not be perfect for you, and give you the right amount of angle or leverage while you write with it. The Ti ARTO allows you to micro-adjust how far that point sticks out to customize your writing experience even further.
Ti ARTO Refills:
Above is just a small sampling of the pens that can have their refills fit seamlessly into the Ti ARTO. I actually forgot to include one of my Fisher Space Pens in the photo above too, but those refills also fit with no problem. I think the refills that I was most happy to see fit were the Uniball Jetstream and the Pilot Precise V5 RT refills. They each have some thicker sections on them that gave me pause in thinking they would fit, but the Ti ARTO handled them perfectly.
Essentially the only refills I found that din’t fit were things like the Sharpie Pen refill and Uniball Vision Elite refill because they are so thick, and also things like the Bic Crystal refills because they are so long, but with some trimming they would probably also fit.
If you are looking for a premium pen that takes multiple refills there is literally zero reason you shouldn’t be at the BigiDesign website buying this pen right now, and no this isn’t an affiliate pitch nor did I get this pen for free, it was purchased with my own money and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Directly from the Ti ARTO website, here is the partial list of Ti Arto Refills that the pen takes:
Pen Name / Refill Name
Rollerball Style Refills
•Avant Pen Refills (0.5mm) •Bic Velocity Gel Refill 0.7mm (Medium) •Bic Velocity Gel Refill 1.6mm (Bold) •Cross Gel Rolling Ball Refill 0.7mm •Cross Porous Point Felt Tip Refills (Fine & Medium) •Dong-A Fine Tech RT Pen Refill (GRC-43) •Duke Rollerball Refill (Medium) •Faber-Castell Ceramic Rollerball Refill 0.5mm •Foray (Office Depot) Replacement Refills •Foray (Office Depot) Replacement for Schmidt Rollerball Refills •Foray (Office Depot) Replacement for Waterman Rollerball Refills •Lamy M63 Refill •Moleskine Gel Refills (0.5 and 0.7 mm) •Mont Blanc Fineliner Refills •Mont Blanc 163 Rollerball Pen Refills (F) & (M) •Monteverde Rollerball Refill (Mont Blanc Style Replacements) •Monteverde Mini Rollerball J22 Refill for Mini Jewelria Pens •MUJI 0.5mm Refill •Ohto C-304P Ceramic Rollerball Pen Refill – 0.4mm •Ohto C-305P Ceramic Rollerball Pen Refill – 0.5mm •Ohto C-307P Ceramic Rollerball Pen Refill – 0.7mm •Ohto C-310P Ceramic Rollerball Pen Refill – 1.0mm •Ohto F-300 Fude Pen Brush Refill •Pentel EnerGel BLN105 Rollerball Pen Refill – 0.5mm •Pentel EnerGel LR7 Gel Pen Refill – 0.7 mm •Pentel EnerGel LR10 Gel Pen Refill – 1.0 mm •Pentel EnerGel LRN5 Needle-Point Gel Pen Refill – 0.5 mm •Pentel EnerGel LRN7 Needle-Point Gel Pen Refill – 0.7 mm •Pentel HyperG Retractable KL257 Series (LR7 & KLR7) •Pentel Sliccies Gel Multi Pen Refill (XBGRN3A) – 0.3 mm •Pentel Sliccies Gel Multi Pen Refill (XBGRN4A) – 0.4 mm •Pentel Sliccies Gel Multi Pen Refill (XBGRN5A) – 0.5 mm •Pentel Slicci Techo Mini Gel Pen Refill (BG503) – 0.3 mm •Pilot Ageless Future Gel Pen Refill (BLGS-7) – 0.7 mm (2 Colors) •Pilot B2P Bottle to Pen Gel Ink Pen Refill – 0.7mm •Pilot Frixion Ball Gel Multi Pen (LFBTRF refill) – 0.38mm •Pilot Frixion Ball Gel Multi Pen (LFBTRF refill) – 0.5mm •Pilot Frixion Ball Gel Multi Pen (LFTRF refill) – 0.38mm •Pilot FriXion Ball 2 Biz Gel Pen Refill – 0.38 mm •Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Pen Refill (LFRF30P4) – 0.4mm •Pilot Frixion BLS-FR5 (LFBK-23EF-B refill) – 0.5mm •Pilot G2 Refills (America’s #1 selling ink gel pen, 0.38, 0.5, 0.7, &1.0mm) •Pilot G2 Pro •Pilot G6 •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Cavalier 0.4mm (Has more ink than the standard Hi-Tec-C refill) •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 0.3mm (LHKRF-10C3) 15 different colors •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 0.4mm (LHKRF-10C4) 15 different colors •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 0.5mm (LHKRF-10C5) 15 different colors •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock Gel Pen Refill (LHSRF-8C3) – 0.3mm – 3 Colors •Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock Gel Pen Refill (LHSRF-8C4) – 0.4mm – 3 Colors •Pilot Hi-Tec-C “Standard” – 0.25mm (BLS-HC25) •Pilot Hi-Tec-C “Standard”- 0.3mm (BLS-HC3) •Pilot Hi-Tec-C “Standard”- 0.4mm (BLS-HC4) •Pilot Hi-Tec-C “Standard”- 0.5mm (BLS-HC5) •Pilot Juice Gel Ink Series Refill 0.38, 0.5, 0.7mm (LP2RF) – (3 Colors) •Pilot Precise V5 RT/V7 RT, named Hi-tecpoint V5 RT/V7 RT in Europe •Pilot Q7 Needle Point Refill 0.7mm (BLS-GCK-7 / LHKRF-8C7) •Pilot V ball RT (BLS-VB5RT) •Pelikan Roller Refill 338 Rollerball •Platinum Gel Pen Refill (BSP-60S) 0.5mm •Platinum Gel Ball Pen Refill (GSP-80N) – 0.5 mm •Roting TIKKY Liner Refill – 0.5mm •Sakura R-GBH Ballsign Gel Multi Pen Refill – 0.4 mm (4 Colors) •Sakura R-GBP Ballsign Knock Gel Pen Refill – 0.4 mm (3 Colors) •Schmidt Safety ceramic roller 888 Fine •Schneider Topball 850 •Staples Classic Grip Pen 0.7mm Gel (#31581) •TUL GL1 Gel Pen Retractable Needle Point Fine 0.5mm •Uniball Signo DX 0.28mm Refill (UMR-1-28) •Uniball Signo DX 0.38mm Refill (UM-151) •Uniball Signo DX 0.5mm Refill (UMR-1-05) •Uniball Fanthom Erasable Gel Pen Refill (UFR-122) – 0.5 mm (3 Colors) •Uniball Impact RT 1.0mm Bold (Signo UMR-80) •Uniball Style Fit Gel Multi Pen Refill (UMR-109) – 0.28, 0.38, 0.5mm (16 Colors) •Uniball Signo RT Gel 0.38mm & 0.5mm (UMN-138) •Uniball Signo (UMN-152) •Uniball Signo 0.28mm (UMN-82) •Uniball Signo 0.38mm (UMN-83) •Uniball Signo 207 Gel Refill 0.7mm (UMR-87, UMR-85) •Uniball Jetstream 0.38 (SXR-38) •Uniball Jetstream 0.5mm (SXR-5) •Uniball Jetstream 0.7mm (SXR-7) •Uniball Jetstream 1.0mm (SXR-7) •Uniball Jetstream 1mm (SXR-10) •Uniball Mitsubishi Liquid Ink Rollerball Pen Refill (UBR-300)- 0.5 mm •Visconti Rolling Ceramic 0.7mm (AA40) •Waterman Rollerball Refill •Zebra Sarasa Clip Pen Refill – 0.7mm (JF-Refills for Sarasa, Sarasa SE, Sarasa Clip) •Zebra JF-0.4 Sarasa Gel Pen Refill – 0.4 mm (4 Colors) •Zebra JF-0.5 Sarasa Gel Pen Refill – 0.5 mm (4 Colors) •Zebra JJ2 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra J15 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra JJZ15 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra JJ21 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel Ink Rollerball Refill (JLV-0.4) – 0.4 mm (3 Colors) •Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel Ink Rollerball Refill (JLV-0.5) – 0.5 mm (3 Colors) •Zebra Gel Ink Rollerball Refills (RBJF5) – 0.5mm (3 Colors) •Zebra JT-0.4 Sarasa Gel Pen Refill (RJT4-BK)- 0.4 mm •Zebra RJF3 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra RJF4 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra RJF5 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra RJF10 Gel Ink Refill •Zebra Sarasa (NJK-0.4) – 0.4mm
•Zebra Sarasa (NJK-0.5) – 0.5mm
