Pilot Frixion Pen

I had heard a lot about this pen. I saw it for the first time while watching a Japanese documentary. I was quite amazed by this pen. When I found it Sapna Book Store, I had to buy for myself.

What makes this pen amazing?

Well, the pen comes with a thermosensitive ink which becomes colourless in high temperatures and regains colour at lower temperatures. Due to this, one can actually erase what one has written. The back of the pen has a plastic like eraser which helps in erasing the writing. Now, the writing of any random pen cannot be erased with the eraser. It can only erase what has been written using the thermosensitive ink which comes with the pen. There is a big disclaimer on the cover in which the pen comes in stating that the pen must not be used for any official or legal documents.

The rear end of the pen with the plastic-like eraser

How does the eraser work?

The answer is in the name of the pen. The heat produced by the the friction caused by the erasing of the plastic eraser on paper, causes the ink to become colourless. You can check out this video. (This video was created by me and I wanted to insert it directly into the blog but it did not work as it exceeded the size limit allowed on blogger, so took the YouTube route)The only question that comes to my mind is, is it worth the time and effort to erase your writing? A conventional strike off works well for me. However, the technology is amazing. I actually froze the book in the freezer for sometime and the ink did reappear, although I must say, it was not as dark as it was before erasing. In the video you can see that the erasing is also not 100%.

Apart from the technology used in the pen, it is a smooth writer, with a good grip and considerable amount of ink. The pen comes at Rs. 100 and the refill at Rs. 58-60 each. I wonder if it is worth the investment. Years before, I had read a story in Tinkle in which a secret letter is written using undiluted juice of a lemon and when the recipient of the letter wanted to read the letter, he just held it over the flame and the alphabets emerged on the letter. Though it is not quite the same, this pen reminded me of the story. If I think of a specific use for this pen, playing a prank on somebody is the only thing that comes to mind, although, it is generally a good pen to write with.