Cheap Space Pens
For a long time, I’ve been a fan of the Fisher Space Pen, mostly because it will write upside down. That’s especially useful for writing in bed in front of the TV. However, the official space pens are quite expensive and relatively hard to find. The cheapest model is about $12, but very few places sell that. Some small office supply stores stock Fisher pens, but usually only the more expensive models. The big box stores like Staples, OfficeMax, and Office Depot don’t stock Fisher pens at all.
At the ABA convention this week I found an excellent, cheaper alternative. Rite in the Rain makes a line of All-Weather Pens that not only write in the rain. They also write upside down. #37 retails for about $7. It doesn’t look quite as cool as the Fisher bullets or come in a fancy case, but it does write upside down and it costs half as much. I bought one at the ABA store here at the convention; and it’s working just fine (including upside down in the rain).
The #37 doesn’t appear to be sold at office supply stores either. It does appear to be available at various outdoors stores. You can order it direct from www.riteintherain.com, Amazon, and various third party dealers. The cheapest price I’ve found is $7.95 from the ABA. ($6.36 for ABA members.)
June 26th, 2006 at 12:27 PM
Campmor, the camping and outdoor goods supplier, sells an all weather pen (item #31655, Campmor.com) for $5.95 with replacement cartridges for $3.99. The pen has a Campmor logo, but contains a Fisher Space Pen cartridge. It looks exactly like the one you describe.
I’m a ski instructor in the winter and the pen works well in snow storms with regular paper and great with a Rite in the Rain notebook. I see on their website, that Rite has a first time customer special — two notebooks, a pen, free shipping for $12.
June 28th, 2006 at 8:59 AM
[…] One surprisingly useful part of the conference was the ABA store. I’d seen a lot of cool clothes, accessories, and books in the ABA catalog before; but it was really nice to be able tp pick them up and try them out. I immediately decided to buy a Tilley LT3 hat, some Tilley socks, a Humvee vest (despite the obnoxious name), a Rite-in-the-Rain pen, and various other toys I would never have ordered from a catalog. […]
August 18th, 2006 at 12:46 PM
I found another, even cheaper, alternative that is more widely available. Uni-Ball makes two pens called the PowerTank and PowerTank RT that have pressurized ink. I’ve had one for a several months now and after finally running it completely out of ink… I had to go buy more! I do alot of vertical writing at work and have written both upside down AND on wet paper (not soaking wet, but quite damp) with this pen. I’ve seen them at Staples, Office Depot and Wal-Mart. Bought a three pack (Black, Blue & Red) at Office Depot yesterday for about $7.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:29 AM
The Rite in the Rain pen is made by Fisher.
October 20th, 2006 at 11:29 PM
Fun to read the comments about the various pens & Rite in the Rain products! (I’m co-president of J L Darling Corp the manufacturer of RITR. The Rite in the Rain pens are indeed manufactured by Fisher pen for us but are not your typical Fisher Space pen…our pen refills are made especially for us and are best described as Space pens on steroids…more durable, better writing with non-bleeding ink. Check the cartridge…it should say Rite in teh rain on it to be the best option. The other pens work well also but not as well as ours. (We have many pen options including the bullet pen all with our better refill at http://www.riteintherain.com) We also have some cool belt pouches etc that might be great for birders.
Incidentally, speaking of ABA I’m heading to a Geology conference in Philly in the AM and having dinner with Paul & Eng Li Green (past ABA pres) on Saturday night. Paul helped us develope the RITR birding notebooks and is now with Audubon. I’ll say hi.
Regards,
Todd Silver
todd@riteintherain.com