Tag: Big Idea Design

Big Idea Design Base Line Bolt Action Review

I’m a big fan of Big Idea Design pens, ever since I bought their Ti Arto (still their most innovative and all around useful pen). I have their Ti Click EDC and liked it enough to buy the Cerakote version, their Ti Arto EDC, the Ti Mini (and the Mini Click and Mini Bolt), their Dual Side Click, their Fountain Pen EDC, their Bolt and Slim Bolt, Pocket Pro, some of them in several versions. I’m on their mailing list whenever they come out with a new Kickstarter (Big Idea Design use Kickstarter as a pre-order system, with very little risk to backers and a nice discount on whatever new product they’re working on), and I tend to back almost every new pen they come out with.

Base Line Bolt Action sketched on Moleskine paper with a Base Line Bolt Action

So when I got the email about the new Base Line Bolt Action titanium pen Kickstarter, I backed it. Unsurprisingly the Kickstarter was successful and the pen arrived in time. While the base price of the Base Line Bolt Action pen is $65 (including free world wide shipping), the Kickstarter price I paid was $55. I’m mentioning the price up front because this is one of the main selling points of this pen.

So what do you get for $65 all-inclusive? The Base Line Bolt is a short (116mm or 4.59 inch length, 11 mm or 0.435 width) full metal machined pen, with a titanium (or brass, or copper) body and clip, a Schmidt P900 ballpoint refill (it’s compatible with Parker style refills) and a bolt action mechanism that is smooth and fun to fidget with. As usual for Big Idea Design, the brass and copper versions cost the same as the titanium one.

You also get a decent enough package, one that is good enough to ship to someone as a gift. Even after our local post office mangled the package, it came out mostly intact with just a few dings. It’s a solid shrink wrap covered cardboard box, with the pen nestled inside on a foam insert.

The front of the box

The pertinent information about the pen is printed on the back of the box, with a reference to the Big Idea Design YouTube channel, where you can learn more about the pen.

The back of the box

The pen itself is well protected inside the box and comes wrapped in a plastic sheath. While I would have preferred a more environmentally friendly box, I appreciated the packaging because considering the shape that the padded envelope came in, I would have likely gotten a less than pristine pen without it.

The Base Line Bolt arrives well packaged.

Moving on to the pen itself, the Base Line Bolt is an interesting departure for Big Idea Design. Normally the pens that they make feature some sort of clever mechanism that allows for things like supporting every kind of pen refill there is, or having two kinds of click mechanisms on the same pen. The Base Line Bolt is instead focused on price point: when everyone else is raising their prices, can Big Idea Design make a good, affordable, machined metal bolt action pen?

The Base Line Bolt

The answer is “it depends”. Big Idea Design isn’t really inventing the wheel with the Base Line Bolt – the pen itself is a combination of the Ti Pocket Pro, and the Slim Bolt Action pen. It is, however, cheaper than both of these pens, which is again, the Base Line Bolt’s main selling point. As the name suggests – if you’re looking to get into your first machined pen, or you’re looking for a bread-and-butter EDC pen, the Base Line Bolt is what Big Idea Design expect you to buy. I largely agree with them, but more on that later.

The bolt mechanism, clip and finial of the pen, down to the T8 Torx screw and stepped machining, was first conceived with the Bolt Action pen. If you sliced off the business part of these two pens (and ignored the orange Cerakote on the Carryology pen), these two pens would be identical:

The Carryology version of the Bolt Action pen on top, and the Base Line Bolt on the bottom

Compare the Ti Pocket Pro with the Base Line Bolt and you can see what Big Idea Design were going for: they’re almost identical in length and in design (and they ship with the same refill), with the Base Line Bolt just being a slimmer, slightly longer version of the Pocket Pro, that supports less refill types. The difference here lies in the mechanism – the Ti Pocket Pro is a twist pen, and the Base Line Bolt is a bolt action pen. My guess is that the bolt action will be more popular because it looks good, works well, and is a fun fidget toy.

Ti Pocket Pro in metallic Cerakote blue on top, Base Line Bolt pen in the middle, black DLC with Damascus bolt and clip Bolt Action pen on the bottom

Another way to look at the Base Line Bolt is as an oversized Mini Bolt Action pen, but one way or another, this isn’t a pen that they had to factor in a lot of R&D time to design. They’ve done it before, and they know that it works. Thus the innovation in this pen lies mostly in its price point, which is also what Big Idea Design emphasizes in their marketing.

Mini Bolt in black DLC on top Base Line Bolt in the middle, Uniball Signo RT on the bottom

The Base Line Bolt is great as an everyday carry pen that you have in your bag or pocket and use to jot down a few words, maybe sign a document, or leave a note on someone’s desk. It’s too small and the Schmidt P900 ballpoint refill that it comes with is too frustrating to use in long writing sessions (the refill skips every once in a while). The choice of the design, the refill it comes with, and the refill compatibility (Parker style refills) is geared towards that – a pen used to write a paragraph or two at a time, not much more.

If you want a pen for longer writing sessions, you need to look at Big Idea Designs larger pens: the Ti Arto, the Bolt Action or Slim Bolt, the Click or Dual Click pens, etc. The Base Line Bolt is build to be the Ti Pocket Pro’s counterpart: the same pen with a bolt mechanism that supports only Parker refills, for a lower price.

Close up on the bolt and the finial

The biggest minus of the Base Line Bolt is that you need a separate tool to take the pen apart and change the refill. This isn’t the first Big Idea Design pen to require this, but I still don’t like this design choice. That being said, my assumption is that the audience for this pen (namely the EDC crowd) will have a way to deal with a T8 Torx screw. The pen ships with a decent enough refill (the Schmidt P900 costs around $1 retail, while the Parker costs $4-5, which explains why you won’t find pen sellers that use the Parker refills), and a ballpoint is the obvious choice for an EDC pen. Gel refills tend to deal poorly with temperature swings, and aren’t normally waterproof, which makes them less viable as an EDC pen refill choice.

Should you buy this pen? It depends:

  • If you’re looking for a gift pen for someone new to machined pens, this is a great choice that costs a fraction of what other machined pen manufacturers ask for titanium, copper or brass machined pens. The closest competitor in price and quality is Karas Kustoms, and you’re getting a different beast there (they make great pens, just not as compact).
  • If you’re new to machined pens and want a compact EDC pen, then the Base Line Bolt is a great choice for you.
  • If you’re curious about bolt action pens, or copper and brass machined pens, then this is likely the cheapest way you can try them out for yourself (using a high quality pen with great warranty and support).
  • If you’re looking for an EDC pen that is sleek and without the “tacticool” vibe of aggressive knurling or glass breakers, then the Base Line Bolt is a great choice.
  • If you are looking for a workhorse pen, one that you can write your next novel with, the Base Line Bolt isn’t for you.
  • If you already have a good selection of machined pens, particularly Big Idea Design pens, then you’ll likely not find the Base Line Bolt to be very exciting or particularly interesting. I’d skip this pen.
  • If you want to experiment with many refill types, pick the Ti Pocket pro or any one of the Big Idea Design’s full sized pens (the Ti Arto supports the most refills).

The Base Line Bolt is a solid addition to the Big Idea Design pen portfolio, and at $65 all-inclusive you get a lot of pen. Mine will reside permanently in my bag, as an “emergency pen” for those times where I need a pen but I haven’t brought my pen cases with me.

May 2024 Currently Inked Pens

April was a travel month which meant that I cleaned out all of my fountain pens apart from the Big Idea Design Fountain EDC that I took with me on my travels. So in the beginning of May I inked up five more fountain pens, many of them with new inks that I bought during my trip.

The Big Idea Design Fountain EDC is still a troublesome writer, but I keep reaching for it, so it’s still in the rotation with its second cartridge of Diamine Autumn Oak. Diamine Autumn Oak is a reddish orange with a lot of shading and it’s dark enough to be readable even with a fine nibbed pen.

There are two Franklin Christophs currently in my rotation (I misspelled the brand name in the writing sample, my apologies), and I am using them to compare the Sailor Studio 123 ink to the 224 ink. 224 is slightly more bluish and has less of a pink tint to it, but both are so similar that if you’re looking for 123 and it’s out of stock, you could use 224 and likely not notice the difference. I’ve been using these pens so much that I wrote the Sparkling Rock dry already, and the Thomas Hall Tibaldi edition is well on its way to joining it.

The Momento Zero Mother of Pearl is a gorgeous pen with a gorgeous, springy nib, and a joy to write with. Sailor studio 162, which I purchased on a whim at Choosing Keeping in London, is now one of my favourite inks. It’s a very unique shade of green/teal that makes me want to fill the same pen with it the minute I write it dry.

The Lamy Safari Savannah has Pilot Iroshizuku Kosumosu ink in it because I wanted something bright after all the muted greys and greens. The issue is that previously the pen had a shimmer ink in it and I apparently didn’t clean out all the particles, so I now have a shimmer version of Kosumosu. The result is fetching so I don’t mind this accident, but I will have to properly dismantle the pen and give it a thorough cleaning once I write it dry. It’s about halfway full now.

I like Rohrer and Klingner inks so when I saw the limited edition Ebony iron gall ink at Choosing Keeping, I immediately bought it. It’s very well behaved for an iron gall ink, but it’s not really a saturated black. I prefer darker blacks, but I’m getting used to the shading that Ebony provides.

A slightly late addition to the flock is the Leondardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 Galattica Universe fountain pen, which arrived just in time for my birthday. It’s a stunning pen, and this photo does not do it justice. I knew I wanted a turquoise ink in it, and I haven’t used Bungo Box’s June Bride Something Blue in a while, so that’s the ink I chose. It was difficult to fill the pen from the flat Sailor shaped bottle, and I didn’t get a full piston-full of ink in it because of the awkward shape of the bottle. Lesson learned for next time.

What pens and inks did you use in May?

BIGiDESIGN USA Fountain EDC Review

I’m a fan of Big Idea Design (BIGiDESIGN) and have been for years. I’ve supported many of their kickstarters, and they make some of my favourite pens and I have reviewed quite a few of them: Ti Arto Review, Ti Arto EDC Review, BigIDesign Dual Side Click Pen Review, BigIDesign Pens Overview.

When they originally came out with the Fountain EDC, their first fountain pen offering, I decided to not purchase it. I don’t generally like metal fountain pens, and I rarely use pocket fountain pens because of the hassle of posting them every time you write.

Fountain EDC box

So how did I end up with a Fountain EDC?

I backed their kickstarter of course. Big Idea Design launch all of their products via kickstarter, and this one was no different: a kickstarter for an Ultem Fountain EDC made in the USA in their new machine shop there.

You got a sticker and a little badge if you backed the project. Very cool.

The ultem rage swept through the fountain pen community in recent years (? it could be months, time is meaningless to me since cancer and COVID), and left me cold. I found the material ugly, and the fact that it was touted as extra light and durable didn’t make it more attractive to me. It’s basically a plastic that’s available in black or a singularly ugly orangey-yellow, with certain chemical properties that aren’t very applicable to fountain pens (are you steaming your fountain pens or boiling them regularly? If so, ultem might be for you but fountain pens are clearly not). I’m being cynical, I know, but there’s a twist, I promise. It all works out in the end.

Tiny, light and ugly – the Ultem Fountain EDC

Big Idea Design generally work with titanium, so seeing them use another material was intriguing. It was also a material that is perfect for an EDC type of pen, as it’s both light and durable. The yellowish colour also works well with the matte grey of the titanium hardware that they selected for this pen, and unlike other ultem pens, the price of this one was reasonable. So I decided to try the ugly plastic and see what all the fuss was about.

Ultem Fountain EDC in all of its… glory?

So I backed the kickstarter and the pen arrived very quickly (Big Idea Design kickstarters work like that. They deliver on time, and fast). The box was the usual great Big Idea Design box that they’ve been using in recent years, and it came with a sticker and a tiny velcro rubber patch – very cool.

I was stunned by weight of the pen.

It’s a pocket pen, so it’s bound to be light, and I knew that ultem is supposed to be light, but it’s jarring how light it is. The ultem had a nice, matte finish, the ugly yellow did work well with the brushed titanium clip, but the entire weight of the pen is basically in that clip and the (Kaweco) nib.

The pen, posted as it is when you write with it.

This pen has to be used posted, it’s just too short to use it unposted, much like the Kaweco Sport. There’s a step in the back and an o-ring on the cap that make posting supposedly more secure, but you need to make sure you’re applying enough pressure when posting or the cap will go flying off. On the plus side, the cap is made of ultem so it will likely be unscathed, but it really isn’t the most convenient experience.

The Fountain EDC capped

In terms of size it’s about the size of a Kaweco Sport, just a smidge longer, when capped:

Fountain EDC on the left and Kaweco Sport on the right

However, things are different when the pens are posted: the Fountain EDC is significantly longer than the Kaweco Sport. It would be much more comfortable for long writing sessions than the Kaweco Sport if not for two flaws in the design: the cap posting, and the ink flow.

I mentioned the cap becoming easily unposted before, but it’s worth mentioning again. The design of the pen is such that you really need to push the cap on to pen body and check that the o-ring is engaged, otherwise the slightest jarring will pop the cap off.

The second flaw is the most major one with this pen, and it’s a big enough deal that it makes me not recommend this pen until Big Idea Design solve it. The pen has a very, very hard time starting. It’s not related to the cartridges you choose to use, but rather to the design of the nipple that connects to the cartridge. Enough Kickstarter backers had this issue for Big Idea Design to post a YouTube video addressing it. They say that it’s the coating they put on that nipple, and that taking a pin and scraping that coating off should help. Well, I did the procedure more than once with various tools and it helped a bit, but the pen still requires literal shaking every paragraph or so to get the ink flowing again after it dries out.

Fountain EDC drying out sample

As this is the only fountain pen I used as I was travelling for three weeks, this was very frustrating. I love the feel of the pen, but the ink flow issue, the cap issue, and the weird balance with the ultra-light ultem material that makes this pen very back-weighted when posted makes this not a product that I would recommend.

The back-weighting and the cap posting issue should have been taken into account during the design process. The flow issue should have definitely been caught during production, especially as it’s a made in the USA pen (i.e. local to the Big Idea Design people, in a shop owned and operated by them).

So bottom line:

I really wanted to recommend the Fountain EDC but I really don’t. The pen needs to be redesigned to have better flow, better balance and better capping.

Ultem itself is as ugly as I thought it would be, but it’s a lightweight and durable material with a nice feel to it, so I get the hype a bit better now.

Product design is difficult, even for experienced designers.

Ti Arto EDC Review

While the original Ti Arto is my favourite machined pen, the newer Ti Arto EDC comes in at a close second. Like its older BIGiDESIGN brother, the Ti Arto EDC is a machined titanium pen which can accept hundreds of different refills with no need for hacks or spacers and with no tip wiggle. Unlike the Ti Arto it comes in three different finishes, accepts many more refills, and can be adjusted in length.

The Ti Arto EDC looks a lot like a slightly slimmer version of the Ti Arto, with a bigger step down in the end section, and almost no gap between the section and the body.

Those looks are a little deceiving, because this the Ti Arto EDC has a completely different build. The end of the pen can be extended or retracted, unlike the Ti Arto, where it is static. In the Ti Arto EDC the end of the pen is also what you unscrew to change refills, unlike the Ti Arto, where the grip unscrews. If you assume that they’re the same, as on a cursory glance it looks like the Ti Arto EDC’s grip section unscrews (and it really, really doesn’t).

The body of the Ti Arto EDC is slightly slimmer, and the entire pen is slightly lighter than the Ti Arto. It comes in a machined raw finish (like the Ti Arto), in a stonewashed finish (which you can see in the pictures) and in a midnight black finish (which you can see on my Ti Click EDC). Of the three, the stonewashed finish has the best grip and feel, and it also shows wear and tear the best.

The trick with the extendable end section is where the cleverness of this pen lies, and that’s what allows you to use more refill types in this pen, and to extend or compress this pen’s length (to the limits of the refill size). The two o-rings make the end section action super smooth, and the same dual thread design allows you to cap and post this pen super securely. Nothing on this pen is going anywhere without your permission.

The Ti logo, elegant and understated, is the only branding on this pen. You can see how substantial the clip is and how the pen wear in the photo above. It’s like an old pair of jeans, so the stonewashed name for this finish is totally appropriate.

Fully extended, the Ti Arto EDC is the same length of the Ti Arto. However, depending on the refill you use, this pen can get pretty tiny.

I use the Uni-ball UMR-85N refill in this pen, and this is as far as it will contract. If you use a Parker or Schmidt refill the end section can be screwed in almost all the way. However, even partially extended the Ti Arto EDC is a more pocketable pen than its predecessor.

So why do I prefer the Ti Arto more? For longer writing sessions the Ti Arto’s wider girth makes it more comfortable to use than the Ti Arto EDC, although the difference is minor. The Ti Arto is also slightly less ungainly than the Ti Arto EDC, having a more streamlined design, with no step down. I don’t mind the Ti Arto’s gap between the grip and the pen body, and I don’t need a pen that accepts more refills than the Ti Arto. As you may have noticed by now, the choice between the Arto and the Arto EDC is likely going be one of personal taste and preference. Either pen is an excellent choice for a machined pen, an EDC pen, or a titanium pen.

Ti Arto Review

It’s strange that I haven’t yet reviewed the pen that I use most, but that’s life, I guess. The Ti Arto is a titanium machined pen that accepts 200+ refills, and it has been my EDC and journaling pen since November 2016. There’s no pen I use more, and no pen I like more than this one.

Since the Ti Arto bashes around freely in my bag, it’s got quite a few scratches on it. I personally like that it shows some wear and tear, but as not everyone feels the same, I thought I’d take a few photos that show how the Ti Arto looks like when it’s not brand new.

The Ti Arto is made out of solid titanium, and doesn’t get dented even if you drop it. It does, however, show micro-abrasions and scratches.

None of these scratches is deep enough to be felt – they’re at surface level only. So it really is just an aesthetic thing. If you like your pen to look brand spanking new, the Ti Arto comes with a protective felt sleeve. I personally wouldn’t bother: this isn’t a fountain pen, but a tough, machined, EDC pen. It’s built to tumble around in your bag.

Now to the review proper: the Ti Arto was originally launched on Kickstarter, and became available on the BigiDesign site sometime in 2016. The pen is machined out of solid aluminium, and made to easily accept 200+ refills with no tip wiggle or need for spacers.

The Ti Arto is well balanced, both capped and uncapped, and very comfortable to use, even for someone with small hands that likes to write a lot. Unlike some other machined pens, the Ti Arto’s cap will stay on, even after years of use and after the threads start to wear out a bit. See that semi opaque silicone ring just below the threads? That’s the magic that makes sure the cap closes nice and tight. No refill is going to dry out or leak in this pen.

If you want to post the Ti Arto you can, by threading the cap to the back of the pen. The resulting pen is a bit longer, but still well balanced, and the cap doesn’t rattle when you write. It does take time to screw the cap on, so if you uncap and post often it will become a chore. Since the Ti Arto isn’t a fountain pen, though, there should be no problem leaving the pen uncapped for a while.

I use the Uniball Signo UMR-85N refill in this pen (the same refill that goes into the Signo RT). To change the refill you unscrew the section, pop the refill in, screw the section almost all the way back on, then tip the pen body forward until the refill tip protrudes, and then you tighten the section. Since you probably aren’t going to actually use 200+ different refills in this pen, I recommend finding a refill that you enjoy and buying replacement refills in boxes of 10 or 12 on Amazon or eBay. I go through a box and a half to two boxes of UMR-85N refills a year in this pen, and it takes less than a minute to switch out the refill.

Here’s are a few points about the Ti Arto, drawn and written with the Ti Arto:

If you are looking to own just one good pen, or if you’re looking for an EDC or machined pen, the Ti Arto is the pen you should buy. I’ve tried a good number of machined pens so far, including all the other (non-stylus) offerings from BigiDesign and nothing comes close to this pen.

Ti Click EDC Pen Review

I am a big fan of Big Idea Design’s pens (the Ti Arto is my daily carry pen), and so of course I joined the Kickstarter for the Ti Click EDC Pen. Since I hadn’t tried their black anodised pens before, that’s the finish I opted for. It arrived yesterday, and even though I’ve been using it exclusively all day, I’l be the first to admit that these are only my preliminary thoughts on it. (See updates in the end for more detailed thoughts on this pen).

The packaging, as usual with BIGiDESIGN, is compact and neat. The pen comes with everything you need to fix it, should you need to (I’ve never needed to), and in a pretty nifty box.

The finish on this pen is shiny and black, but it’s surprisingly not a fingerprint magnet, as I would have imagined:

The pen came with a Scheider Gelion 39 0.4 mm gel ink refill. This is a new refill for me, and I can’t say I’m a fan. It’s as wide as a 0.7-0.8 mm refill, and I much prefer the Uni-Ball Signo UMR-85N refill that the BIGiDESIGN pens used to be shipped with (it’s me favourite gel refill).

As part of the kickstarter, the pen came with a cool Bioworkz sticker, which you can see below:

The pen itself is about the length of the Ti Arto, when the Ti Arto is capped, but the grip is much wider, about the size of the Ti Pocket Pro. That’s a bit large for an EDC pen, and it’s definitely not a pocket pen. The grip feels weird at first, but it’s very comfortable and well designed. You can see how the Ti Click EDC compares to the Ti Arto (on the left) and the Ti Pocket Pro (on the right) in the various finish options that the Ti pens come in (machined raw, midnight black, and stonewashed). My machined raw Ti Arto shows scratches much more than my stonewashed Ti Pocket Pro, but I’ve no idea yet how the midnight black finish wears.

This brings me to the only minus that the Ti Click EDC has – the click mechanism. It’s silent (no satisfying click), which will probably turn off those planning on using it as a fidget toy, and it doesn’t always engage properly. It’s especially prone to not engaging after you replace the refill. Make sure that you use the provided instructions to switch refills (and like other BIGiDESIGN pens this one accepts dozens of refills without using any spacers or requiring any special hacks), and take into account that you might have to fiddle with the grip a bit until most clicks work. This is not a minor drawback, as the whole point of the pen is its click mechanism. It should work 100% of the time and feel satisfying, not “soft” as it feels now.

For the price of the Ti Click EDC you could buy a Ti Arto (still their best pen), or a Ti Pocket Pro (if portability is super important to you), have some change for a bunch of refills and get a much better pen. I love supporting BIGiDESIGN and I’m glad that I got to try this pen, but for now it looks like the Ti Arto will continue to reign supreme in my rotation.

Update: After using this pen almost exclusively for a week, I stand by my first impressions. It’s slightly more comfortable to use in long form writing, but the click mechanism is garbage.

Update 2: The BIGiDESIGN guys contacted me and it turns out that you can significantly improve the click mechanism with some silicone grease. Using the clip fixing kit that came with the pen and their simple instructional video on how to use it you can get to the click mechanism, and then apply some silicone grease, which you can buy at Goulet Pens for example. I happened to have grease around, so I had no problem trying this out, and it fixes the problem of the click mechanism not engaging properly.

The click is now solid, but it’s still not much fun to use – there’s no satisfying click or solid feedback once the thing is engaged. You just push past a point, and then the mechanism partially bounces back. It’s a disappointment because most $2-3 pens have more satisfying click mechanisms and even Karas Kustoms EDK pen, which has a similar click mechanism, offers more feedback and an audible click once it’s engaged.

I don’t know how many Ti Click EDC pens were affected by this problem, and I’m glad that I have at least a “mostly OK” click mechanism for my pen now, but I stand by my initial review, that for a pen that advertises its click mechanism so prominently, this is not a great buy. Spend your money on the Ti Arto, it’s a pen worth having, or go for the Ti Pocket Pro if you’re looking for an EDC pen. Those are truly great pens, while the Ti Click EDC is OK to “sort of good” at best.