Rite in the Rain EDC All Weather pens

[Grant Lamontagne]

Every time I run out of ink in my trusty Fisher Bullet pens I look at the cost of refills and swear I am going to find a more affordable alternative. 

So far I haven't found anything as good as the Space Pen and I always go back to it. 

But I haven't learned my lesson yet, and here I am trying again with the Rite in the Rain EDC All Weather pens.  I bought a three pack on Amazon for about the same price as two refills for my Bullet, so, slightly better value.

Initially they are not impressing me much, but I may change my tune once I have used them for a bit.

They are similar sized to a Fisher Bullet in that they are just over half of a regular pen length when folded, but then when opened they are regular pen length.  That means they will feel rather familiar to myself and anyone else used to carrying and using a Bullet.

They also work well on Rite in the Rain notebooks, which are my only choice for note taking at work since I work outside in a place where the weather is unpredictable and shifts rapidly.  For example, two days ago we had extremely heavy rains, three days ago it was a significant amount of hail and I am expecting a blizzard to start any moment now, followed by near summer temperatures tomorrow.

You can be assured that I will test them in all weather conditions between now and the weekend.   

So they write in all weather, they are similarly shaped to the Bullet and slightly better value- why aren't they impressing me much?  They seem to check every box... Regardless of the weather.....

Well, they are plastic, versus the stainless steel Bullet.  The Bullet has some hefty to it, and the part that you actually hold on to is ridged for grip.

The Rite in the Rain version is plastic, and not just any plastic- military folks will recognize it as the cheap plastic the old canteens were made out of- in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were recycled from old canteens, especially given that of the three I received, two were different colors of green and one was black.  I'll get pics of the others out soon so you can see what I'm talking about.

The plastic isn't the worst part, even though it doesn't feel great.  That's a personal opinion and easily changed if the pen performance the way I need it to.  In fact, it is also much lighter than the Bullet, and while I miss the heft, I'd probably appreciate a lighter pen if I was writing a lot.

The worst part of this pen is the lack of texture around the holdy bit.

If you know the plastic I am talking about, you know it isn't the most grippy thing to begin with, and when you factor in all weather conditions (you know, like in the name of the pen) you know you will have a hell of a time holding this this thing.

And, being a nice olive drab type color, if you drop it in the grass or the woods, you will probably never find it again.  Fortunately I am working on gravel and dirt  (road construction) and so I probably won't lose it.

This fact seems like a major failure to me- how can you claim something is all weather and not make it grippable in all weather?  Put some texturing, jumping etc on it so I can hold it securely in bad weather!  Sure the ink may flow properly when rain is pounding on it, but it it slips out of my hand every time I try to write something then I may as well just not have it.

But, this is my initial impression- I will update this as I have had more time to test it.

In the meantime, remind me to stop being so cheap and get more Fisher refills   

Def

[airballrad]

Great initial write-up, Grant.

I have been using these pens since before they were licensing the Rite in the Rain name and were just Pokka Pens.

My first batch had some ink quality problems that are now in the past, and I have otherwise been rather pleased with them. I'm pretty much there with you on your points, although I did not think about jimping or texture at the grip. That would be nice. Yes, they are cheap plastic, but that means I cry less when I lose one. On that note; I always buy the orange ones. 

[David Bowen]

Look forward to seeing how it works for you. I am testing it out as well, was wanting to try their products and I bought the Sherpa wallet. Time will tell if is plastic all weather junk or something I can't live without.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah I have lost a few Bullets over the years and I'd probably be less upset if one of these went missing. 

I am sure the pen will work great as a pen- I have had a Rite in the Rain pens before, an orange clicky pen that I liked despite also being plastic and slippery.  I also managed to somehow lose that one too.   

Def

[Farmer X]

Those canteens are one aspect of boot camp I don't miss. When they started "sweating," you had to hold them with a death grip to get a drink. I would say try to cut some cross-hatching into the body of the pen, but you'd probably slice right through it. Maybe there's something you could wrap around it to enhance grip?

Great write-up. Hopefully the ink will be good. I think that I'll stick with cheap gel pens...they work pretty well for my needs.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah I had thought about small bits of grip tape or scuffing them up a bit with a Dremel tool.  I'll give them a fair shake before I start modding just in case they have thought of something and I have missed it.

I also like the gel pens but they are worthless in the rain.

Def

[Farmer X]

I rarely have to write in rainy conditions, but I did find another circumstance under which gel pens aren't the best option: writing on freezer bags. Gel and fountain ink just sort of float on that surface and smear quite badly. Good thing I kept a few ball-point pens around.

[Grant Lamontagne]

An emergency backup Sharpie is also a pretty good choice.  I often try to have one just in case but they always seem to go missing.

I guess I'll have to pick up some more.

Def

[Farmer X]

At least Sharpies shouldn't break the bank! I often use those to (for want of better term) redact information on shipping labels.

[fullbreakfast]

When you get used to something that it’s a pleasure to use like the Bullet pen you spoil yourself for the cheaper alternatives I find. You’re gonna hanker after your Bullet the whole time, if you’re like me.

I did the same thing to myself with fountain pens when I got some gold nibs for my little Pelikan 205s that made them a luxury to write with. Can hardly bring myself to use a steel nib pen since. On the plus side, those gold nibs are still going strong twenty years later. Though I lost one of the pens.

[powernoodle]

Here in The Colonies, the mini Sharpies are in stores right around back to school time.  I usually shoplift, I mean buy, several to last me through the year. My pocket is never without one.  Super useful if you start carrying them.

[Grant Lamontagne]

When you get used to something that it’s a pleasure to use like the Bullet pen you spoil yourself for the cheaper alternatives I find. You’re gonna hanker after your Bullet the whole time, if you’re like me.

I did the same thing to myself with fountain pens when I got some gold nibs for my little Pelikan 205s that made them a luxury to write with. Can hardly bring myself to use a steel nib pen since. On the plus side, those gold nibs are still going strong twenty years later. Though I lost one of the pens.

I love a good fountain pen.  They are an absolute joy to write with, but most of my writing these days is on job sites where pens get lost, borrowed, damaged etc.

I managed to keep a hold of my Bullet for the longest time but eventually I started slipping and... Well, you know how it goes.

For the most part nowadays I use the gel pens that the office supplies and I get them by the fistful.  I do keep a "good" pen handy for when the cheapies fail me or I feel like using something decent.

Unfortunately these Rite in the Rain pens are just not the back up pen I'm looking for.

Fortunately, the OLight OPen I got is turning out to be really good, so that's been my go to pen lately.

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,94177.0.html

Def

[fullbreakfast]

I love a good fountain pen.  They are an absolute joy to write with, but most of my writing these days is on job sites where pens get lost, borrowed, damaged etc.

I managed to keep a hold of my Bullet for the longest time but eventually I started slipping and... Well, you know how it goes.

For the most part nowadays I use the gel pens that the office supplies and I get them by the fistful.  I do keep a "good" pen handy for when the cheapies fail me or I feel like using something decent.

Unfortunately these Rite in the Rain pens are just not the back up pen I'm looking for.

Fortunately, the OLight OPen I got is turning out to be really good, so that's been my go to pen lately.

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,94177.0.html

Def

Nice review of the OPen. I saw that on a Jon Gadget video as well. I was wondering about the pencil part though - does it lay down a good line, how long it takes to get blunt, can you sharpen it if it does get blunt?

I like the idea of having a pen and pencil in one, and I’ve had a few multi-pens that did this in the past, but I found the mechanism would always get screwed up after a while. This looks like a more robust system, if the pencil tip is good. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I would imagine it would wear down eventually since they send you two replacements when you buy it in the first place.

As for the quality of the line, it’s very thin, like that of a .5mm mechanical pencil lead, but also faint because it’s quite a bit harder than a standard lead.  Still, it will probably thicken with use as the pointy tip wears down, but I doubt it will darken by much.  Time will tell though.

While it is a handy option as a backup when the pen runs out of ink, it’s not really suited to much more than that.  If you are someone that uses a pencil frequently I’d suggest getting a pencil.  This is not a high quality sketching tool.

Def

[fullbreakfast]

I would imagine it would wear down eventually since they send you two replacements when you buy it in the first place.

As for the quality of the line, it’s very thin, like that of a .5mm mechanical pencil lead, but also faint because it’s quite a bit harder than a standard lead.  Still, it will probably thicken with use as the pointy tip wears down, but I doubt it will darken by much.  Time will tell though.

While it is a handy option as a backup when the pen runs out of ink, it’s not really suited to much more than that.  If you are someone that uses a pencil frequently I’d suggest getting a pencil.  This is not a high quality sketching tool.

Def

Thanks for the detailed reply Grant, appreciate it. I might still get one of these for fun, but it seems like I'll be sticking with my current approach of carrying a separate pen and pencil in my bags.

[MadPlumbarian]

These are originally Pokka pens, I bought a pack from him when he was originally taking off and sold it to rite in the rain, I love them cause you can put any bic in by cutting the end off the ink to make it shorter, once I had that 1.6 ink and dang, but here’s their link and a pic of mine, no lie when I first got them a week later and we had company and someone found that clip, it wasn’t his, so a little tweaking and perfect fit just like a bullet..
JR

Here’s their link https://pokkapens.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22953462684&gbraid=0AAAABA9yL1TV0V7lmnFaK_0XwnI0HPdLD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3bu04P7ijwMVUDYIBR2XIjb9EAAYASAAEgIqQvD_BwE

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks for the history lesson MadP!

Def

[rodia77]

Nice write-up there, Def, and an interesting thread!

AFAIR, RITR refills are made by Fisher Space Pen with a slightly changed formula (I don't know the details), and in fact even the model I have (no. 97) is a rebrand of Space Pen's Cap-O-Matic:

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Later, I replaced it in that EDC notebook with one of these:

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Speaking of EDC writing instruments, here's the rest of my set:

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Left to right: Schrade SCPEN2BK, Pentel Alloy, Zebra F-xMD, Zebra Techo T-3 mini, Sharpie.

As you can tell, for casual writing, I'm a fan of Pentel Energel when it comes to gel pens and Zebra when it comes to biros (ballpoints).

And here's my currently inked fountain pen, Platinum Prefounte:

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I hope I didn't go too much off topic, but you know, when there's an opportunity to show off one's fave gadgets...

[MadPlumbarian]

Thanks for the history lesson MadP!

Def

Well I did do a break down back in 2017 but only one person even commented on it,,
JR
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,70631.msg1423068.html#msg1423068

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks for the link.  I don't remember that thread, but then I don't remember much else from 2017 either!   

This also shows the benefit of a forum- we can go back a long ways to find information that is just as accessible as it was the day it was posted.

Try doing that on F_c_book....

And yes, I did change a few letters......   

Rant over, I have to go back and read through that thread now!

Def