Mont Blanc makes unbelievably gorgeous pens, but they also make terrific ink, high-quality points and smart refill technology. The pens cost hundreds of dollars; the refills, about $12. You can cut down a Mont Blanc refill with an exacto-knife and reap all its benefits inside an inexpensive Pilot G2.

Instructables user Kingant posted this hack almost a year ago ("Save $200 in 2 minutes and have the worlds best writing pen"), but it's still one of my favorites. I show it to everyone who asks me to recommend a high-end pen.

The G2 is already a terrific gel pen, but do its refills have "a silicon plug insert to prevent air bubbles"? Are they "hand-inspected under a microscope" and made to submit to "a writing test to ensure it has perfect writing properties," including whether they can "write up to 10,000 meters"?

Yes, much of this is manuscript gadget-speak designed to justify the pens' exorbitant cost. There's still no cheap hack to let either the Mont Blanc or the Pilot G2 run apps or record audio. And if you use this hack, you won't have that beautiful Mont Blanc exterior proclaiming to the world how much better your writing instrument is than theirs.

But as Kingant points out, if you use a G2 with a clear case, you'll be able to see the Mont Blanc label on the refill inside. For less than $15 and a few minutes of your time, that is not bad at all.

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