BIGiDESIGN Ti Click EDC Pen

The Ti Click from BIGiDESIGN (aka BigiDesign) is a retractable pen machined from grade 5 titanium. Titanium has become a very popular choice for EDC pen bodies because of its high strength and low weight. The Ti Click’s major claim to fame is that it’s compatible with over 100 different refill types. No modifications required.

The Ti Click features a titanium body and grip. The grip section has machined grooves much like the Grafton EDC pens. The clip is also titanium, but it’s grade 4. The pen features a silent click mechanism and an adjustable length. We’ll get into that more later.

The pen ships with two spare O-rings, a clip removal tool, and a Schneider Gelion 39 gel refill. This is a plastic-bodied Parker-style G2 refill with a point size of 0.4 mm.

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The Bigidesign Ti Click is available is three finishes: Machined Raw, Stonewashed, and Midnight Black. It’s definitely a “premium” pen with a retail price of $100.

How The Ti Click Pen Works

The Ti Click has an interesting and ingenious system for using so many different refills. It’s all in how the grip section works.

The grip attaches to the body with somewhat steep threading (more movement per rotation). The main reason for this is to make it easier to remove and re-attach the grip for changing refills.

The body of the pens also has a set of two rubber O-rings close to the front end of the barrel. These increase resistance against the grip section turning when you don’t want it to.

The last part of the system is the spring. It tapers from one end to the other so it can make good contact with a broad range of refills. If one end it too large for the particular refill, you can flip it around to the smaller end and it will likely work.

Changing the refill is relatively easy. Just follow these steps.

Extend the refill by pressing the top button.
Unscrew the grip section and remove it.
Remove the current refill and spring (Be careful not to lose the spring)
Insert the new refill into the pen barrel.
Place the spring over the tip of the refill. (You can flip the spring around for a better fit if it doesn’t work the first way)
Thread the grip section back onto the barrel and tighten it until you see the refill tip.
Adjust to amount of exposed tip by screwing or unscrewing the grip until satisfied with the length.
Retract the refill and you’re done!

To summarize, the grip section has such long and steep threads so you can adjust the length of the pen. The O-rings make it harder for the grip to move so it will stay where you set it. This allows you to use short refills like Parker G2s or longer gel/rollerball style refills like Zebra Sarasa or Uni-ball Signo refills.

BigiDesign Ti Click Review

I’ve been eyeing this pen for quite some time. The fact that it is capable of using so many refills is very interesting to me. The only thing that made hesitate to buy it was the price. After a good bit of deliberation, I decided to go for it. The titanium body makes it light but durable and the refills claims won me over. Since I’m a fan of EDC products, particularly pens, I felt I had to give this thing a shot. I purchased the Midnight Black finish.

The Ti Click pen arrived in a cardboard box nested in foam. Included was a “Thank You” card, links to YouTube instructions, two spare O-rings, and a clip removal tool. A split ring like you use for keys was also included for use with the tool for added leverage.

I like that the box was rather no-nonsense. While nice boxes look great and make you feel like you’ve purchased a premium pen, I dislike how they artificially inflate prices. BigiDesign made the right choice here.

The pen looks great. Fit and finish are superb. The design is simple and utilitarian — exactly what I want in an EDC pen. No frills here. The only marking on the Pen is the “Ti” on the clip (this is the symbol for Titanium from the periodic table). It’s even inside a box like the periodic table which is a nice, nerdy touch.

The click is strong but silent. Some people may like this, but I prefer a more tactile feel and audible click. I tend to fidget with my pens, so this click doesn’t offer much satisfaction for me. It’s not a bad thing but something to be aware of.

The clip is nice and strong with the perfect amount of flex. Being titanium, you’re going to have work at breaking this thing. It also keeps the up with the simple design of the pen. It’s bent into the shape of a standard clip that seems to be more aimed at thicker seemed pockets like jeans. I usually carry my pens in a shirt pocket. The clip isn’t quite tight enough for the thinner material and will easily fall out if I bend over.

The inclusion of the Clip tool is great. If the clip just so happens to get bent, you can use the tool to remove it and bend it back into shape with a pair of pliers. At some point, I plan to do this and see if I can get better fit for my shirt pockets.

I like the grip too. It has a comfortable shape and size. It’s not too thin to cause cramping with extended use. The groove texturing does offer some added grip but not much for sweaty hands. While it would have likely driven up the price, I would have liked a knurled grip a bit more.

Ti Click Writing Experience

As I’ve mentioned before, a pen is only as good as its refill. With the Ti Click, you have 100+ different choices. There is no doubt that you should be able to find a refill that you like to work in the pen. BigiDesign offers a list of all the compatible refills.

The Ti Click pen ships with a Schneider Gelion 39 gel refill. From what I’ve read, it’s generally reviewed as a pretty good Parker-style refill. My experience with it was not so great. I do think its more the pens fault than the refill though.

When I first wrote with it, I got a nice dark gel line that was smooth and pleasant. the tip is a 0.4mm but wrote more like several of my 0.5mm pens. Granted, that only a tenth of a millimeter so not a big difference.

I continued to write with it to get a feel for the pen/refill combination and was pretty pleased. Once I got about half a page in, I started having problems. Ink flow began to slow down and eventually the refill died. I could not get any ink flow. I swapped the refill to a similar type of refill. A Premec gel which is also a Parker style.

I’ve been using Premec refills for a while and have never had an issue, until now. With the Premec refill now in the pen, I continued writing and testing. Oddly enough, the same thing happened. After about half a page, ink flowed slowed until it completely stopped. Exactly like the Schneider. Now I’m confused.

I decided to swap back to the Schneider to see if the same thing happened again. It wrote fine when I first installed it but it died at about the same amount of writing as before. As did the Premec when I tried it a second time.

I had one last idea to try and figure out what was going on. I tried a metal bodied refill. In this case, a Monteverde capless gel refill. It wrote well from the beginning as I expected, and it kept writing. Over a page of whatever I was babbling about as a test and I kept up like the trooper of a refill I knew it to be.

The only thing I can figure is that something about the design is pinching the neck of plastic refills causing the ink flow issue. I have not gotten more Schneider refills yet to make sure it wasn’t a dud but I’m hesitant to think so since a different brand refill did the same thing.

This isn’t really a big deal considering the sheer number of refills you can use. But I do think its good info to have. Apparently, your mileage may vary with particular refills.

Currently I run a Zebra Sarasa Dry refill in my Ti Click. This is a favorite refill of mine since the ink dries so fast. It’s also smooth with very good color saturation.

One thing to note about gel/rollerball refills like the Sarasa. They make the pen long. It will be about the same length as most pens that use these types of refills. For me, this is a little much for an EDC pen.

If you want to keep the pen length down, stick to shorter refills like Parker style. BigiDesign’s list tells you what refills are long and short so it’s easy to make a good choice.

I, however, decided to get the best of both worlds. Since I’m no stranger to pen and refill mods, I took my favorite Sarasa refill and trimmed it to the same length as Parker style refill. This was easily done with a pair of scissors. it worked perfectly and I have Sarasa Dry ink in a short EDC pen, and I love it!

Verdict

If you want a premium, high-quality, durable, EDC pen then this is an excellent choice. For me, the $100 price tag was worth it. The titanium body is pretty much bomb-proof and refill compatibility is ridiculous. You can’t go wrong with this pen.

By the way, it will accept Fisher Space Pen refills which are a very popular EDC choice. If you would prefer a capped style pen, go for the Ti Arto. It has the largest list of compatible refills.

While this is a great pen, the price tag can be a big turn-off for some. If that’s the case, there are plenty of alternatives.

BigiDesign also offers the Ti Pocket Pro. A very similar pen the Ti Click that will use a similar number of refills but uses a different mechanism. It runs for $75. A little more affordable but not the best choice for more frugal types.

The best cheap alternatives would be the Everyman Grafton EDC pens for $35, or a Rotring 600 for $30. An all stainless Parker Jotter for $15 is a classic EDC pen with a number of refills but all are Parker style. Same with Rotring 600. I you want super affordable then the Zebra Sarasa Grand or the Pentel Energel Alloy are good EDC choices with metal bodies. Both of which are $8-$10 depending.

If the price of the Ti Click doesn’t scare you off, I have no problem recommending this pen! I’ve been carrying everyday now for a couple weeks and it has performed admirably!