Karas Kustoms Starliner Xl - First Impressions

[Honeybadgers]

My only concern is that the snap cap uses a non-standard O ring. So if it ever wears out, Karas has to replace it. Which I don't like the thought of needing a small startup to replace the cap's main mechanism in 20-40 years if they may not exist.

 

I'm guessing that it can be replicated, but still. Minor gripe.

[Karas Kustoms]

The O-ring on the Reaktor pens is a 10 x 1.5 standard metric o-ring. They can be purchased in bulk in a variety of materials. We use silicone in ours because they don't degrade as quickly as the cheaper options like Buna. For most of our caps we are trying to use standard o-rings.

[Honeybadgers]

The O-ring on the Reaktor pens is a 10 x 1.5 standard metric o-ring. They can be purchased in bulk in a variety of materials. We use silicone in ours because they don't degrade as quickly as the cheaper options like Buna. For most of our caps we are trying to use standard o-rings.

 

Oh, my email with you guys about this indicated otherwise, I stand corrected and thanks for sharing!

 

So back on point I guess I now don't have a reason to say this pen isn't spectacular. I still absolutely adore the look of the Apollo 11 special edition, the blue on brass section with the titanium EF nib is just a stunner.

[truthpil]

Good to hear directly from Karas!
So, the big question is, will the Starliner XL be discontinued??

I sure hope not, because it's the only metal Karas pen that fits my little hands and also the only one my little wallet can afford.

[Bill P]

Great to hear the facts from the manufacturer...Karas...thanks for participating in this forum.

 

As an aside I recently had the occasion to receive excellent customer service from Karas - thank you

 

Bill P.

[Honeybadgers]

Great to hear the facts from the manufacturer...Karas...thanks for participating in this forum.

 

As an aside I recently had the occasion to receive excellent customer service from Karas - thank you

 

Bill P.

 

Aside from my confusion mentioned above (which I'm glad they stepped in to correct me on,) I agree that their customer service is excellent.

 

Anyone on the fence about a starliner XL - the only thing I could see bugging anyone is that there is a tiny bit of cap wiggle when it's on, and it doesn't post super securely (though it does post acceptably, it is just metal on metal with the typical issues endemic to the material)

 

Neither of these things bother me at all, but for someone who needs it to post super securely (it does go on there pretty deeply) or hates even the slightest amount of cap wiggle, they might be bothersome.

[Karas Kustoms]

Apologies for the confusion when you emailed us concerning the o-rings. As we've expanded our use of o-rings in our pens, it is sometimes difficult to keep them all straight without a cheat sheet. Plus early on we did use some non-standard sizes to test functionality and for a while we even purchased quite a few of those o-rings for some of our pens. That being said, all of our pens will soon use at least one o-ring, with some using as many as three o-rings. Some of the more unique o-rings are custom (nib sealing o-ring for the Vertex fountain pen, click mechanism o-ring for our Retrakt and EDK, etc) the cap o-rings for our capped pens should be some form of standard o-ring, mostly because they are FAR easier for us to source inexpensively in the United States in a variety of materials.

 

The Starliner XL (the entire Reaktor Line actually) has not been discontinued. We ran into some major issues with 2/3 of the pens we manufactured in our first batch. The material we sourced ended up being prone to deterioration at an increased rate during the anodize process due to impurities in the aluminum. We ended up being forced to recycle the majority of the parts from that batch because of this issue with no recourse from the maker of the material. Since the release of the Reaktor pens, we've received quite a lot of feedback on the pens themselves, requests for different mix-and-match options, and other suggestions. While we try to accommodate our customers as much as possible some of the suggestions are just not feasible without dramatically changing the pen. That being said, we will be manufacturing a new production run (5,000+ units) this year likely in the summer. We will be making some minor changes (moving away from the clipless cap on the smaller pens), allowing customers to choose which style of pen (Galaxie or Starliner) they want when they make a purchase. Mix and Match grip color options. And other things we can easily accomplish. We hope to have a re-release of the entire line in the fall with some special editions, notebooks, and other cool stuff for the re-launch.

 

We try to provide quick and complete customer service when problems arise for our customers. We don't always succeed, but it's something we strive for. I'm glad to hear your experiences with our customer service staff met your expectations, we're really pushing to eliminate the need for our customers to reach out to us for pen problems, but when you do have some issue we like to address it promptly.

[truthpil]

Thanks for the great update!

 

If you do Mix and Match for the Starliner, it'd be great if different materials were available for the sections (brass, copper, etc.. like with your other metal pens).