Karas Kustoms Reaktor Galaxie review and giveaway
Karas Kustoms has been innovative in new pen designs, materials, and colors. At the end of 2017, they analyzed their entire product line to find any gaps they needed to fill and found they did not have any products in the “Pocket Pen” market. Taking inspiration from the Space Race as well as mid-century Americana, which has always played a big role in Karas Kustoms, they developed the new Reaktor series. This new affordable product series consists of two lines – the Galaxie and the Starliner. The Galaxie line includes a clipless, smaller ballpoint pen and an XL rollerball pen with a clip. The Starliner line includes a clipless, smaller fountain pen and a XL fountain pen with a clip. This review will be of the Galaxie line. Paul from Karas Kustom graciously sent me several of the new pens to review, and I will be running two giveaways – one here on my blog and the other on my review on Onfountainpens.com. This giveaway is for a Galaxie ballpoint with a blue grip section as well as a Starliner with a blue grip section and medium nib, both in the silver anodized aluminum finish. The giveaway will run from 7/4/18 until 11:59pm EST on 7/19/18 and a winner will be announced on the 20th. It will include free shipping within the U.S.; if outside the U.S., I will cover the first $8 in shipping. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with what your favorite pocket pen is. Be sure to subscribe for follow-up emails in case you are chosen as the winner.Packaging: The packaging for these samples is not the final version, so I did not include a review of the packing.
Filling System: The Galaxie comes with a Schmidt Megaline P950 ballpoint refill in medium which is held in place by a spring in the grip section. This refill appears to be a standard Parker style refill, so you should be able to swap other colors and point sizes, which is an added bonus in my opinion. The XL comes with a Pilot G2 rollerball refill. This also gives you the option to affordably change the point size and colors to suit your preference.Value: The smaller Galaxie ballpoint will retail for $40 USD and the Galaxie XL rollerball will retail for $45 USD.
Overall: I think that Karas really nailed it with this new line. The size of the pens makes them perfect to throw in your pocket and the material allows it to stand up to anything you throw at it. I feel that using standard refills, instead of proprietary, was a great choice that allows customers to customize their pen’s point size and color preference.Specs:Name: Galaxie / Galaxie XLDesign: 6061 Aluminum Snap-cap ballpoint and Snap-cap rollerballLength: 107.95mm (4.25in) / 122mm (4.8in)Posted: 120.65mm (4.75in) / 128mm (5.03in)Diameter: 9mm at grip (.35in)Weight: 24g (.84oz) / 27g (.95oz)Filling System: Ballpoint / RollerballPros: Great size for both models, convenient refills with multiple options, strong capCons: Tight clipIn the same price range:Retro 51 TornadoConklin Duragraph ballpointCross X rollerball
Overall: I think that Karas really nailed it with this new line. The size of the pens makes them perfect to throw in your pocket and the material allows it to stand up to anything you throw at it. I feel that using standard refills, instead of proprietary, was a great choice that allows customers to customize their pen’s point size and color preference.Specs:Name: Galaxie / Galaxie XLDesign: 6061 Aluminum Snap-cap ballpoint and Snap-cap rollerballLength: 107.95mm (4.25in) / 122mm (4.8in)Posted: 120.65mm (4.75in) / 128mm (5.03in)Diameter: 9mm at grip (.35in)Weight: 24g (.84oz) / 27g (.95oz)Filling System: Ballpoint / RollerballPros: Great size for both models, convenient refills with multiple options, strong capCons: Tight clipIn the same price range:Retro 51 TornadoConklin Duragraph ballpointCross X rollerball
