Tag: machined pens

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.

Spoke Roady Gecko Pen Review

The Spoke Design Roady Gecko pen about a week ago, and I’ve been using it constantly since then. The Roady is an EDC pocket pen made of machined aluminum that is built around the Uni-ball Jetstream SXR-600 refill. Unlike its predecessor, the excellent Signo DX compatible Spoke Pen, the Roady is capable of accepting a wide variety of Parker style refills, including the Fisher Space Pen refill, much beloved in EDC circles.

I don’t usually go for flashy pens, but something about the design of the Roady and the colour options offered made me grab the Gecko. This charmingly named colourway has a lime green cap, an orange barrel and finial, and rainbow coloured grip and clip. The result is even better in person than it is in photos – a pen that makes you smile and is bound to draw attention to itself.

Capped the Spoke Roady is tiny, and ought to fit comfortably in your pockets, if you have some.

There are a few other colourways with similar rainbow patterns on their grip and clip. The result is gorgeous, and I’m glad that Spoke Design haven’t offered these only as limited edition pens, or charged an additional markup for them. That is commendable and impressive, particularly in today’s machined pen market.

Rainbow clip.

Trying to write with the Spoke Roady unposted is asking for trouble, as it’s verging on golf pencil short in its body length. This is a pen clearly designed with posting in mind.

Too short for comfort unposted.

When posted the Spoke Roady becomes a viable EDC pen, although it’s still on the short side. This means that it’s great for short notes on the go, which is what it’s intended for, and not the best for long note taking sessions. The Roady posts using magnets, making a satisfying click when posted. It’s not as great a fidget toy as the Spoke Pen is, not that this should ever dissuade you from purchasing it.

Capped and ready for work.

For some reason the refill came shipped in a separate sleeve and not inside the pen. This is a peculiar choice since the refill came in a Uni-ball refill bag, but with the spring and o-ring already installed, and for some reason a bit of tubing meant to be used as a spacer of some kind? It’s not really clear. Also, while you get a cool sticker and generally nice packaging with the Roady, you don’t get an explanation of any kind with the pen. That’s a shame because it assumes that everyone will know how to handle the refill when it comes to changing the pen’s refill. It feels like a missed opportunity for Spoke.

The refill, Jetstream SXR-600

Here’s the Spoke Roady next to the Spoke Pen. If you can only afford one pen and you’re out and about a lot and like wild colours, then I’d recommend getting the Roady. Otherwise, get the Spoke pen, especially if you like writing in fine lines. Both are good pens, just each one is suited for a different use case.

Roady on the left, Spoke Pen on the right.

Writing sample on Rhodia paper. The Jetstream SXR-600 in 0.7 is an excellent refill choice in the Parker refill category, and the Parker style refill itself is a great choice for an EDC type of pen.

The Roady is a great little pen to have handy, and it’s reasonably priced for a machined pen. I won’t be surprised if I end up buying one or even two more.

Karas Kustoms Battleworn Render K Review

In 2016 I purchased my first Karas Kustoms pens, a grey Render K. Brad Dowdy said that the grey Render K is worth checking out, as photos don’t do the pen justice, and he was right. I love that pen and I still use it regularly, despite it having two minuses:

  1. The refill is a ballpoint, which I’m not a fan of.
  2. The cap doesn’t stay on. Ever.

So I relegated my Render K to desk use, and I only used it in my reading journal, where I don’t write as much, so I can usually wait a few minutes for the ink to dry.

The “cap not staying on” bit didn’t bother just me, and Karas decided that it was worth addressing. Their Render K V2 mainly came out to address that problem. When one of the V2 Render Ks in Battleworn finish came on sale on Black Friday, I decided to give it a try. And this time I got the G2 version, which accepts Pilot G-2 refills (my favourite refill, the Uni-ball UMR-85N is G-2 compatible).

This is the olive coloured Battleworn Render K, and though it looks heavy and hefty it’s super light. It’s much lighter than my old Render K, and more well balanced.

The “Battleworn” finish means that the pen was tumbled after anodization, and so it’s full of nicks and has an “old jeans” kind of look to the top of the cap, the threads, and the tip.

You can see the effects of the tumbling most significantly on the grip. The rings on it are pretty well battered and chewed. While it may look rough, the finish is smooth and there’s no risk of cutting your fingers on a raw edge.

The finish on the cap looks great too. The cap has an o-ring inside that makes sure that it stays on unless you unscrew it, and the threads have also been redesigned to make capping more secure. As in the old Render K, you can’t post the cap.

I was prepared to dislike the olive colour, but I like its subtlety. It’s interesting without calling too much attention to itself.

Render K V2 on the left and the original Render K on the right

When you put the new and old Render Ks side by side you can see that they’re practically the same size, that the grip section has been redesigned, and that their threads look different.

The old Render K accepted refills through the top part of the grip, unlike the new Render K, where the entire grip section unscrews. I think that the new design is more streamlined and elegant, and in general the rings on the new grip make the Render K V2’s grip much better designed and less slippery to hold.

The old Render K feels much heavier than the new one, partly because I think that it’s not as well balanced as the Render K V2. However, it’s worth noting that in both Render K versions the grip section is a little on the thin side, so you might not find them well suited for long writing sessions.

The Karas Kustoms Render K V2 is one of the best machined pens in the market, and now that the cap stays on its a great EDC pen. I personally love the look of the “Battleworn” finish, and I highly recommend getting the G2 version of the pen and swapping the Pilot G2 refill with one of the many, better, G2 compatible refills in the market.