Karas Kustoms Render K Mini Pen First Impressions

Hey everybody! So I picked up a new pen that I probably didn't need. I wish I could say this is the last new thing I've got coming, but I've caved and bought a few more things. I keep telling myself that I'll make most of the money back and that everything will be good for videos. I think I'm going to be doing two batches of sales with one coming soonish. Stay tuned to a video for the first part of the sale. It's mostly things like the Boker Kalashnikov, a few molle pouches, etc. The better sale will come towards the end of the summer. Once school starts back up, I definitely won't be able to keep shopping at this pace, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.

Anyways, back to the whole point of this post. I've been interested in trying out a Karas Kustoms pen for a while now, because they seem like high quality EDC pens. I saw on their website that they had a few of their discontinued models on clearance. This pen will probably be sold in a few months, since that's the only way I could justify spending anymore money on new gear. Plus, I'm not in love with the color and would much rather buy one of their purple pens if I'm impressed enough with this. Also, I apologize for the crappy photos. The pen is so shiny that my phone kept overexposing the shots. There will be better photos in the review that I do eventually.

This is the Render K Mini. I've been on the lookout for compact pens, and this one fits the bill. Below will be some photos of it next to the Fisher Bullet space pen for a size comparison. It's going for $30 right now, which seems like a phenomenal deal for what you're getting. It's a solid pen machined from aluminum. I've very impressed with the build quality so far. I love the size, and it's extremely comfortable to write with. It's not too short at all. I will say that, at least in mine, the refill has some springiness to it when you write. It's not the end of the world, but there is a bit of a noticeable give when you're writing if that makes sense. There's no rattling or anything when you shake the pen, so that's good. I like that the clip is screwed on, and the knurling on the top is well done. The clip is a little tight now, so we'll see if it loosens up at all. My biggest gripe is that the cap doesn't post, which is apparently what it's called when the cap can be placed on the body. Who knew. But yeah, you have to keep the cap separate when you're writing. It's not a huge deal, but it is a minor annoyance. I was aware of that going into it. I more so wanted to see what a high quality compact pen like this would be like. It does write nicely and can take all sorts of different refills. It mostly takes any Parker refills, but it can take some Fisher refills too I believe. I like that the cap screws on instead of just snapping on. The threads are very smooth. Overall, I impressed with it so far. It'll be interesting to see how it carries. 

I didn't realize it'd be so close in size to the Fisher Bullet. It's a smidge longer and wider, but it's still more than compact enough for EDC. They do sell a fountain pen version of this body size that is on the discontinued clearance sale as well. I guess there isn't a big enough market for compact pens. That's kind of a shame, because they are a lot easier to carry. It shouldn't be too hard for me to let it go in a month or two. At least it'll be fun to try out. If you want to check out their website, here's a link. I'm impressed with them as a company so far. It's always nice to support products made in the USA too. Stay tuned for a more in-depth post and video about this pen soon. Thanks for looking!