Slim Bolt Action Pen

I’m not sure how to express my concerns with this pen, but I’ll keep it concise

1. To start, this is a solid pen. All the five star reviews are correct. The pen is machined well and you can use countless refills. Amazing design. Comfy to use.

2. My subjective experience with this pen has been disappointing. To make things short, this pen has leaked in my pocket three times with g2 refill inside. I carried a g2 around for years. Always kept it in my pockets. I NEVER experienced the pen tip being so exposed when retracted into the barrel that it made contact with the fabric in my pockets and leaked. With this pen it has happened 3 times! Each time it happened I felt embarrassed and adjusted the mechanism to raise the refill inside the pen. Yet despite raising it to over 3mm between tip and pen opening, it has continued to happen. Below are pictures of the leak and the point to which I retracted the refill on this final pocket leak compared to a g2. Still works, but less ascetically pleasing and slightly annoying for me to have less of a “point” when writing, also annoying to have to have learned the hard way with three ruined shirts that the refills need to be raised to an extreme on these bolt pens to avoid leaks.

If you plan on keeping this in a pocket (as the clip suggests it’s designed for), you will likely have to retract the refill further into the pen than you would like in order to avoid what happened to me.

Though I will note that I haven’t observed many others with this same issue. So it might just be me. However it sucks that I cannot confidently carry this pen in my pocket anymore as I did for years with other pens that cost significantly less. Had I known this would have been an issue I would have purchased a capped version and avoided the bolt, as pocket carry is very important for me.

TLDR: 5 stars for solid construction. Minus 3 stars for having to raise the refills to be very recessed in order to avoid leaks in pocket. Final rating 2 stars.

Note: I initially posted this back in Oct, 2023 but just realised I popped it under the regular bolt action pen section so reposting correctly this time, under the slim bolt action pen category.

So this isn’t the cheapest of pens however it oozes quality, looks awesome in the stonewashed titanium & includes a Damascus bolt which takes it to another level..It is worth the $’s as the quality is there & this pen will last. The fact it has a lifetime warranty is reassuring & these guys really go out of their way to look after their clients. The bolt action is very smooth, it writes well, looks classy, feels good in the hand & is quickly becoming my favourite EDC pen.

Very keen now to try the regular bolt action pen as the slim is great & defs one of my favourite pens but after trying the pocket pro with the thicker tip for more comfortable writing, think I'll end up preferring the regular one.

This is the only pen I carry now, I love it.

(Plz delete my former review. I added a few sentences.)

I received my pen (raw titanium) two days ago, which is as nice as I expected. The surface was processed to give some very subtle stickiness or prickling when I rubbed my finger onto it (I'm not sure if I'm delivering the sensation properly), which seems to be probably due to Titaniums specific property, or the delicate surface processing at nano level, or both. This "subtle stickeness" provides a stable grip plus some sort of tactile pleasure.

One thing worth mentioning is, the surface property is limited to raw titanium. I have a dlc black version of slim click pen, and a stonewashed version of slim bolt action, both from Bigideadesign. They also have their own appealing factors, but neither of them are tinged with the subtle stickiness I mentioned.

One pinprick is some tiny misalignment of the barrel, as shown on the photo, which is a little bit dissapointing, not so much as persistently gnawing though.

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.