A titanium pen with free worldwide shipping and lifetime warranty? And I read reviews about how the customer service is great? What's not to like? I've been using the slim bolt pen in titanium for several months now with no major issues. I do find that I don't change my refill in it much at all to fully make use of the compatibility that the pen offers, but I like the options it brings and it's not unexpected considering most people are used to having multiple pens or markers (It's more convenient than having to swap refills constantly). The pen is a bit too long for an average shirt pocket to fully clip onto, but is still able to be used that way. The ability to disassemble and maintain the pen is a great selling point too, and gives me peace of mind to just clip the pen on my jeans pocket since I can bend the clip back if it becomes sprung. I do wish the pen came with a little bit of silicone grease to even further help us maintain the pen though.
The only design issue with this pen is when the clip is adjusted to be on the right side of the bolt. When the bolt is engaged with this clip configuration, the clip gets in the way (still accessible, just not as convenient) of pushing the bolt back up to retract it. For people who want the clip on the right of the bolt, this may be a problem. This is simply caused by the fact that the track for the bolt is curved, so the easiest way to retract the pen would be to push the bolt from the right side of it and let the spring carry it back up the track. With the clip on the right of the bolt, it gets in the way of that.
Advice if you have bought this pen:
• Try to use the plain titanium bolt for a while first, assess how hard you are on the pen before putting the damascus bolt on it. That bolt looks great, but the coloured pattern on it can be damaged easily. (Something tells me that's why the plain titanium bolt is on the pen by default, and I still put the damascus bolt on immediately...)
Some things to consider:
• Depending on the length of the refill you choose to use for this pen and how you adjust the tip length, it will affect how much tension the refill is under. The force required to engage and retract the bolt will vary, but that can be adjusted by shortening the refill or compressing/stretching the spring.
• The pen is back-heavy, definitely steer away from this pen if that bothers you to no end. You can find the approximate center of balance in the Q&A sections of the reviews. (Try the US site as well if you can't find it here)
• Check the specs of the pen! Read how much it weighs, see if you can compare it to other pens you own! Check if you like the thickness of the pen too! Important things to think about before you buy.
