Ohto Flash Dry Gel Pen Refill Review

This is one you are going to want to try.

I have a lot of pens, and, shockingly enough, I have a lot of refills. But I don’t always want to use the refill that came with the pen, or sometimes, the pen that came with the refill. The Ohto Flash Dry Gel Pen Refill solves the first problem in a big way for one of my favorite pens.

Like many Pen Addicts, I have a fondness for the Retro 51 Tornado. It’s a great feeling pen that comes in fun styles. I find the stock refill for the Tornado - otherwise known as the Schmidt P8127 - to be quite nice. It provides a bold, black, 0.7 mm rollerball ink line. It works on many paper types, but you will hit one eventually where it doesn’t. Water-based inks - like rollerball ink - will feather and bleed on certain papers. Plus, the P8127 is wider than many writers like.

I’ve turned to the slightly smaller P8126 refill (0.6 mm) for most of my Retro 51 needs, and I enjoy it. But, I do prefer a nice, fine, gel ink line the majority of the time. That’s where the Ohto Flash Dry fits into my writing arsenal perfectly.

This is a Parker-style refill - a common type that many pen brands - Parker or not - use in their product lineups. To confuse matters, it is known as the G2 size refill on the international market. What makes this one special is that it offers something almost no other Parker-style refill does: It uses gel ink, with an 0.5 mm tip size. :Head explode: emoji.

Ok, maybe head explode is a little too much, but I understand why it is not commonplace in the grand scheme of things. What it is now though, is commonplace in several of my Parker refill compatible pens, because it is great for me.

This is a shockingly smooth refill, almost too smooth if I had to pick one tiny nit. That means it has more of a rounded tip as opposed to the sharper tip I prefer when I use fine gel ink pens. Regardless, it is an outstanding writer.

Most importantly with the Ohto Flash Dry is that it fits into the Retro 51 Tornado Rollerball with no modifications. Just unscrew the tip of the pen, change out the refill, and screw it back in. It fits like a glove, even in the tip opening where it is flush, with no rattle.

I was recommended this refill by many readers, and I’m glad I finally bit the bullet. I also now have a fantastic refill I can personally recommend to those looking for a fine gel ink line from their Retro 51 pens.

Now, if we can just get Ohto to expand the color lineup. That’s not asking for too much, is it?

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Posted on October 14, 2019 and filed under Ohto, Pen Reviews.