SKM-88 Schmidt Clicker in a Sierra

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budnder

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Interesting Berea decided to go with the SKM-88 rather than one of the other mechanisms that you would think would have been easier to integrate...


Looks reasonable, and you gotta like the move to more reliable clickers.

I notice in the instructions the click mechanism comes already integrated in the top hood, so you simply press the whole unit into the tube.
 
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magpens

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@tgsponge1 , @budnder

Do they use standard Sierra tubes and bushings? Or do they have a unique set?

The released Berea documentation for the new "Sierra Super Click" kit specifies that the tube diameter is 27/64" (same as for the well-known "standard" Sierra kits, both twist and click), that the bushing O.D. is 0.474" (same as for the well-known "standard" Sierra kits, both twist and click), and that the tube length is 2.36 inches (which is different from both the twist Sierra and the Sierra click).

So bushings are the same old standard 20A bushings, but the tube is of different length with the same diameter.

With regard to this new "Sierra Super Click" Roy made the remark above:

"Looks reasonable, and you gotta like the move to more reliable clickers. "

I would agree with that, but I would want to note that in my experience there never was anything wrong with, or unreliable about, the old clicker.
In my opinion, the "old" Sierra Click pen kit has a click mechanism which is quiet and very reliable, and superior to any other kit-based click pen on the market until kits using the Schmidt SKM-88 mechanism started appearing early last year (about March 2019). . In fact, I would go so far as to say that the "old" Sierra Click mechanism might be every bit as good as the Schmidt SKM-88. . I could even say that I wonder why Berea decided to introduce this new "Sierra Super Click" with the Schmidt SKM-88 when the "old" click mechanism was "so perfect". . That might be a matter which someone else can shed some light on. . I know the inner workings of the Schmidt SKM-88 because that mechanism can be purchased separate from any pen kit and I have examined one in detail. . However, the mechanism in the "old" Sierra Click pen kit is not accessible to detailed examination, but it is indeed highly reliable and quiet. . I have never known it to fail in any way in the 10+ years that I have been making those pens.
 
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DrD

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Agree with Mal. For a long time, were I to make a "clicker" it was and still is the Elegant Beauty/Elegant Sierra Click pen from Berea. I never understood the draw of a pen with painted enamel parts. And while many will say the Schmidt mechanism is the most reliable, I've NEVER had a single issue with the Elegant Beauty/Elegant Sierra click mechanisms. I strongly suspect it is a marketing ploy to increase flagging pen kit sales - after all isn't that what the "gunmetal" finish is all about?
 

curlyjoe

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It's a cool new pen and it seems all the bushings and tubes are already in use so there is no need to buy new stuff.
Why does new stuff have to evolve around a gimmick or flagging sales? Why can't the manufacturers come out with new stuff just to come out with new stuff? Maybe they want to be different, the Sierra is their kit. The Sierra click is a good click and now it's even better.
 
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