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Need some help with an EDC ballpoint.

Hello to all and happy holidays,

At home and while working, I always use a FP. If I am wearing a suit, I have one in my jacket pocket.

There are days and times, however, that I am out and about and not wearing a suit. Being in Florida, I am usually wearing a pair of cargo shorts. Recently, I have been as nuts about EDC and survival as I am about shaving.

To that end - I am looking for a ballpoint that I can always have in my pocket. Some requirements I have are the following:

1) Durability - must be a solid, metal pen. No plastic barrels.
2) Must have a one piece design. Clickable preferred, but twist is OK as well. I just don't want to deal with a cap.
3) Must actually write well and be easy to find refills for.
4) Must be on the heavier side. I like heavy pens, heavy razors, heavy cellphones. I like heavy.
6) Price Range - $0-$75 or so.

Right now in consideration are the following pens:

- Rotring Rapid Pro Ballpoint
- Fisher AG7 Original Space Pen (My concern here is the grooved grip - not a big fan of that)
- Pilot Knight Ballpoint (could be a little fancy)

Other considerations:
Currently in my EDC kit that I always have in my messenger bag, I have the Fisher Stowaway Space Pen. I like the pen, but it is too small and light for my pocket. I do like the Space Pen refills, however.
I'm not a big fan of the Parker Jotter. I like the refills but the pen itself has never done much for me.
I'm not into the tactical pens for the pocket. Those get saved for my Get Home Bag
I would like it to look more aggressive/industrial than fancy/elegant. As a result, I am leaning toward the Rotring.

In any case, I am sure I am missing many options and I am asking your help, fellow members, in finding my ideal EDC ballpoint.

Thank you in advance for any help and advice!
 
Zebra F701. SS, relatively weighty, nice writer, about $5 at Walmart. Or the F402, better handling but I do not like the rubber grip.
 
Zebra F701. SS, relatively weighty, nice writer, about $5 at Walmart. Or the F402, better handling but I do not like the rubber grip.

Have seen this one but have never used it. Seems to get great reviews all around. It will have to go in for strong consideration. Heck for $5, I will buy one and if I don't like it, at least it will be another pen. Actually - It will be about $8 for me. Seems they only sell them with black ink. I never write with black ink, so I am going to have to pick up a refill too. :lol:
 
Refills are available in blue, but hard to find. You will also need to buy and F-402 to get the chrome bits for the 701, look up the mod!!:) I have one of these and love it, and got a matching M-701!!



Have seen this one but have never used it. Seems to get great reviews all around. It will have to go in for strong consideration. Heck for $5, I will buy one and if I don't like it, at least it will be another pen. Actually - It will be about $8 for me. Seems they only sell them with black ink. I never write with black ink, so I am going to have to pick up a refill too. :lol:
 
How about a Maxmadco? Bolt action and close to your price range. The AL version should be lighter than the all SS.
 
Zebra F701.

I picked one of these up today after reading about it a couple places. My impressions are that it is small and convenient but not too comfortable. Seems relatively well made for a cheap pen. Writes blotchy... to be fair I have never found a ballpoint that doesn't (which is why I don't like them). For five bucks... probably not a bad choice, but nothing to get too excited about.

*edit* I was hoping maybe it would take gel refills or something to smooth it out a bit, but I just checked and it doesn't seem to have any that fit it.
 
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I also picked one of these up yesterday - and I ordered a Rotring Rapid Pro. Why is it that I can't just buy one of anything? One razor, one brush, one pen......anyway, I digress.

I have been doing a lot of EDC reading and it seems that the 701 is one of the preferred pens. I actually did a few mods that were mentioned. I replaced the plastic click mechanism with a metal one from the Zebra F-402. I took the clip off since it will always be in my pocket. Also, regarding the blotchy writing - the standard Zebra refills aren't fantastic so I replaced mine with a space pen medium blue refill. Much better.

Overall this is kind of what I was looking for. A solid, heavier pen that is metal. With the space pen refill, it proves to be a decent writer (for a ballpoint). Plus, Staples still had the $5.99 sale sign up. So, value-wise, I think this pen is hard to beat, even with the few dollar expense of the mods.

I am looking forward to the Rotring arriving today so that I can compare them.

Thanks again to all who have posted. I'm still open to new ideas. I'm sure by the time this is over, I will have a collection of ballpoints. :001_rolle


I picked one of these up today after reading about it a couple places. My impressions are that it is small and convenient but not too comfortable. Seems relatively well made for a cheap pen. Writes blotchy... to be fair I have never found a ballpoint that doesn't (which is why I don't like them). For five bucks... probably not a bad choice, but nothing to get too excited about.

*edit* I was hoping maybe it would take gel refills or something to smooth it out a bit, but I just checked and it doesn't seem to have any that fit it.
 
the standard Zebra refills aren't fantastic so I replaced mine with a space pen medium blue refill. Much better.

Thanks for the tip... I wasn't sure what would fit, so I will try that, although I wasn't overwhelmed with the smoothness on the spacepen either. Do you know if there are any gel replacements that will fit it?
 
Do you know if there are any gel replacements that will fit it?
That I am not sure about. I will have to do more research. Though I received the Rotring this afternoon and it is definitely number 1 right now. To boot, the Rotring will take Parker gel refills.
 
That I am not sure about. I will have to do more research. Though I received the Rotring this afternoon and it is definitely number 1 right now. To boot, the Rotring will take Parker gel refills.

Nice... what Rotring is it?

*edit* Never mind... I see, above.
 
Not to drag up my own thread again, but that's exactly what I'm doing.

For the past 7 weeks or so I have been carrying the Zebra and the Rotring Rapid pro. Both great BP pens. The only issue is that I purchased the black Rotring and, banging around in my pocket with the rest of my EDC, the black anodization has worn off and now the pen looks terrible.i was looking to purchase another Rapid Pro in silver but I found a silver Rotring 600 ballpoint on the bay for $60. This seems like a good deal to me considering the Rapid Pro was $40+. Am I missing something?
 
I know you don't care for the Parker Jotter, but I have a couple in stainless that are about 40 years old and going strong. They have seen use from indoors in a hospital pharmacy to field exercises crawling around in the dirt and rocks. I also have a black and gold Parker Sonnet that has held up well, replacing the more utility looking Jotter about 20 years ago.
 
I have two ballpoints that have been pretty much bulletproof at work (LE).

Fisher AG7
Parker Jotter in stainless with a Fisher space pen insert (they come with a Parker adapter).

I've torn up Zebras (701, 401, 301) but the AG7 and Jotter take everything thrown at them.
 
I'm a big fan of the Fisher cap-o-matic metal pens.

$10 - $12 buck gets you an all metal pen that should last forever, the Fisher refills are pretty decent and will write on most surfaces, in the rain, etc.

Also, if you lose it, its no big deal.
 
I have two ballpoints that have been pretty much bulletproof at work (LE).

Fisher AG7
Parker Jotter in stainless with a Fisher space pen insert (they come with a Parker adapter).

I've torn up Zebras (701, 401, 301) but the AG7 and Jotter take everything thrown at them.

the AG7 was in the running but I don't like the barrel design.

I've been very happy with the modified Zebra and the Rotring Rapid Pro(minus the anodization wearing off). I guess my follow up question was that I was able to purchase a NOS Rotring 600 ballpoint. I see many vendors selling them for $149. I was just wondering if there were multiple versions of the 600 - or counterfeits? It hasn't arrived yet but if it is the genuine article, I'm pretty excited.
 
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