Pen - Mil tac Vs Schrade

[Flash]

Dudes and dudesses,

I have a Mil-Tac ("Tactical") Pen and have carried it for months now.  Great pen and cost me about £40.  It is just short of 14cm in length and when in my hand about 4cm is left protruding.  The only issue I have with it is that the pen cap and body somehow unscrew from each other when in my pocket and I have lost 2 cartridges worth of ink in this manner (and got ink stains on my shorts).  Replacement cartridges are relatively cheap (£3.99) and come in blue or black.

You will also notice in the photos that this ink leakage has stained the metal near the tip of the nib.

Today a Schrade ("Tactical") pen arrived.  It was cheaper (£28) but bigger in length (14.5cm).  Immediately it was tested by me in the "how-well-does-the-cap-stay-on-and-therefore-not-stain-my-trolleys"test and I must admit the Schrade appears to retain its cap better that the more expensive Mil-Tac.  I prefer its bigger size as I am a "bigger" kind of guy and just that extra 0.5cm makes all the distance (doesn't it Ryan )

Both pens come with a cartridge that writes upside down, on grease, underwater etc so I am safe in the knowledge that when I next go swimming in a fryer full of grease that I can write my upside down essay with ease.

I think that if you are pressed for money then the Schrade will sort you just fine.  At the end of the day its not much more expensive than a Fisher Spacepen and yet it actually uses Spacepen refills....best of both worlds.

However, no prizes for guessing which one I prefer (hint....the clue is in the colour  )

Enjoy and stay safe,

Nick

[nuphoria]

Nice review dude

So will you be auctioning off your ink stained trolleys then? 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Nice review there mate

[Gadget Guy]

Nick, nice review mate!    

I upgraded the cartridge on my Mil-Tac to the ($10) one listed on their site and I'm really happy I did. It turns the Mil-Tac into Fisher space type pen. Here is the link:

http://store.mil-tac.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=7

[Flash]

GG, thanks for the link....will have to see if they ship overseas now 

Nu, send me your address and I will send you some of my used, stained trolleys for free 

[Gadget Guy]

GG, thanks for the link....will have to see if they ship overseas now 

Nu, send me your address and I will send you some of my used, stained trolleys for free 

Nick,

If they dont, I will.     

[jzmtl]

Would a space pen refill fit the schrade?

[Freudian Frog]

I think that if you are pressed for money then the Schrade will sort you just fine.  At the end of the day its not much more expensive than a Fisher Spacepen and yet it actually uses Spacepen refills....best of both worlds.

I think yes?

Sometimes it's hard to decipher Flash's writing...

[nuphoria]

GG, thanks for the link....will have to see if they ship overseas now 

Nu, send me your address and I will send you some of my used, stained trolleys for free 

Ooh, you treat me real nice mister 

[P35]

Would a space pen refill fit the schrade?

yes,  also the S&W pen
  Fisher  #PR4F(fine)   or #PR 4 (regular)

[jzmtl]

Thanks. Looks like I'm getting a tac pen, now gotta decided on which brand/color.

[Flash]

Thanks. Looks like I'm getting a tac pen, now gotta decided on which brand/color.

Well the Scrade also comes in pink 

[jzmtl]

LOL I wonder. I don't think I'm metrosexual enough to pull that off thou.

Oh by the way what refill does the schrade comes with? From what you said I take it's also pressurized to write upside down/underwater etc?

[Flash]

LOL I wonder. I don't think I'm metrosexual enough to pull that off thou.

Oh by the way what refill does the schrade comes with? From what you said I take it's also pressurized to write upside down/underwater etc?

.....thats not what I've heard 

[Neil]

I'm guessing by the colour of your new arrival that there was no green option?

You should have gone for the pink one

[jzmtl]

LOL I wonder. I don't think I'm metrosexual enough to pull that off thou.

Oh by the way what refill does the schrade comes with? From what you said I take it's also pressurized to write upside down/underwater etc?

.....thats not what I've heard 

We'll see, just ordered a pink one.  All my other EDC gear are either black or silver/gray, so I'll try an unconventional color.

[jzmtl]

Tada!

It's actually a very nice color, more like purple not pink. Very nicely machined too. The finish is type II from what I can tell so will wear pretty fast if banged around. Only down side so far is the clip is not tall enough thou so it's hard to clip onto and remove from clothing, and have trouble with thicker fabrics. It's also kinda long, even thou I have relative large hands I think it could be an inch shorter.

It also writes very nicely, the machined grooves are very grippy. Refill says Hauser Germany, never heard of it. It doesn't write on wet paper when I tried.

[Flash]

You've got a pink one, you've got a pink one nah nah nah nah nah 

[cgk]

"more like purple than pink" yeah right 

[Flash]

jzmtl's a girl 

[jzmtl]

Pink or purple, it's going to be easier to explain if I ever have to smack somebody in the face with it. 

[Flash]

cough....erm....yeah.....good point my very manly friend 

[jzmtl]

It is kinda long thou. I have fairly large hands and still think it could be an inch shorter without lose any functionality.

Also it did not write on wet paper, nor upside down. Maybe I got different refill from Flash's?

[prime77]

The clip on mine was very tight at first also. It loosened up after some use then the screws starting working their way loose as well. I used some lock tight on them and they stayed in place fine. I have found the finish has held up really well on mine. Mine didn't write upside down very good either. 

[jzmtl]

The clip on mine was very tight at first also. It loosened up after some use then the screws starting working their way loose as well. I used some lock tight on them and they stayed in place fine. I have found the finish has held up really well on mine. Mine didn't write upside down very good either. 

what I ended up doing is putting the clip in vice and unbent it a bit, then added a shim under the clip. Now it clips on much easier.

Thanks for the note about screws, now I gotta watch them. If they go missing it'll be almost impossible to replace.