I spent a lot of time with this pen. The first problems I had was with the ink, the black and blue would start to dry up even though there was plenty left. Some days the ink worked fine other days not so well. I attempted to put in a new stick of graphite while following the instructions closely, the mechanical pencil mechanism broke very easily. I will admit that I had brought this pen out in the field and it got a little dusty but that shouldn't permanently damage the pen tip, just like it doeSee full review