Hey all,

I know a ton of people use Fisher pens and refills and the Zebra F-701 (I’ve used mine so much the chrome is worn off the clicker and it’s down to the brass underneath). But I find even the fine Fisher refills aren’t fine enough, and the Zebra refills just aren’t great writers. So I set out to find alternate refills and came across a good solution: Japanese Multi-pen refills! With very minor modification you can get these into your space pen or F-701 (most come in tons of colors):
-Uni Ball Signo Gel Ink (great lines, waterproof)
-Uni Ball Jetstream Hybrid Ink (blows regular ballpoint inks away)
-Pilot Hi-Tec C Gel ink (same as in G7/G2 refill I think)
-Pentel Vicuna Hybrid ink
-Pentel Sliccies Gel Ink
You can also use just about any ballpoint refill you want from Pilot, Pentel, and Uniball, (as long as they make thin or multi pen version) and also the Zebra JK gel refills but I found they aren’t great, plus they require sanding to fit in my Fisher pen which is a pain. I also tried getting a regular sized Jetstream refill into the Fisher but it had a collar, and removing that plus trimming the refill was a messy job, so the multi pen Jetstream refills are the way to go.
Here’s my gear and refill options:

As a bonus you can likely fit the refills in a Parker or Caran D’Ache pen too, although you might have to glue the Fisher to Parker adapter onto the back which I haven’t tried. I’ve found Fisher or Parker refills work in the Caran D’Ache perfectly if you sand or cut down the plastic part about a millimeter or two.

So apparently Japan is big on multi pens, and the multi-pen refills are slimmer than their single pen counterparts. So where a regular Pilot G2 or G7 refill won’t fit in the F-701, the Hi Tec C Coleto refills will, and they use the same ink. Plus the multi refills come in insanely fine tips, 0.7 0.5 0.38 and all the way down to 0.28 which is needle sharp and is even too fine for my tastes.

Here’s the How-To: You trim the multi refills so they are the same size as your stock Zebra. Because the refills are small you’re never cutting into ink which is a bonus in my book. The Jetstream multi is actually SHORTER than the Zebra, so you have to extend it (I shoved a short piece of toothpick in the back and that works fine for fitting in the Fisher Shuttle). If you’re using a Fisher Bullet, once you size the refills I think you’re good to go! But if your pen uses a spring then you just need something to catch the spring otherwise it will slide all the way over the refill (they are slim all the way down).

For Fisher Shuttle/retractables:
I use the tip cover many refills ship with, seen below. I cut it up once side so it can slide over the refill, like in the picture. You can use tape just as easily though, and the bonus here is you can adjust your spring tension. If you want a stronger click, move the tape/plastic piece closer to the tip; want a softer click? Move the piece back. Your refill will now fit a retractable Fisher pen. (The picture shows the Zebra spring on there but you won’t need that if your pen has an internal spring like the Fisher Shuttle).

For Zebra: If you want to fit into Zebra F-701 etc you need to have something catch the spring but also widen the back end of the refill so that the clicker works properly. Here’s my solution:

Basically I took the metal tube off the Zebra refill (top) and put it onto the Uniball Signo refill (bottom). Then I taped it in place, but you can probably come up with a more elegant solution like taping the refill underneath the tube so it’s thick enough for the tube to pressure fit onto it. Either way, once that’s done, slide on your spring and you’re good to go!

In the F-701 I found the refills work perfectly, the tip is nice and snug and the click is smooth. You will get a bit of tip-wiggle in the Fisher pens, but you can either live with that, or put a piece of scotch tape around the metal tip to snug it up a bit. I found the width of 3m Scotch tape is perfect so that if you cut off a thin strip, and wrap it around the tip it adds the right thickness to snug things up but not catch.

That’s pretty much it; the hardest part is finding the multi pen refills, as you won’t likely find them in big stores, but Ebay has them in bulk (like $10 for 8 shipped from Japan), or else JetPens has a massive variety of colors and sizes. That’s where I got mine. Just make sure you get the multi-pen refills and not the regular type! They also have every size and color of Zebra JK gel refills if you like those. I think 0.5mm is my preferred tip; anything smaller gets scratchy but if you write in a small notebook they could be for you. Using a 0.28 you could probably initial a grain of rice!

Here are the refills you want to look for:
-Pilot Hi Tec C Coleto (Coleto is the multi pen style, and these are needle-tip refills)
-Uni Style Fit Signo Gel refills UMR-109-xx (The Uni Style Fit is the name of the multi pen)
-Uni Jetstream SXR-80-xx (the xx’s are the tip size, and the sxr-80 is the multi pen version of the refill. If you haven’t tried Jetstream ink I suggest you try it immediately!)
I didn’t buy the Sliccies or Vicuna refills but if you like them they are available too; again just make sure they are the multi pen versions.

If you have any questions or comments, fire away!