Shortly after Shot Show 2012, 4Sevens contacted me about reviewing their new Titanium Tactical Pen. I’m a pen guy, and I enjoy gear designed for the tactical community. So I had really hoped I’d fall in love with this pen.
First, let me state that I think the pen is both attractive and well made. And thanks to the Fisher black fine point refill cartridge it’s designed to work with, the Titanium Tactical Pen (let’s call it TTP for short) has all of the writing attributes provided by the special pressurized ball point ink cartridge provides. It writes upside down, underwater, over wet and greasy paper, etc. Here’s the physical dimensions of the pen:
- Length: 4.07 inches
- Diameter: 0.35 inches
- Weight: .68 ounces (without ink refill)
4Sevens state that the TTP will only work with the Fisher refill.
So it’s pretty…and it has impressive writing capability….so do I like it? Honestly, it’s not for me. I’m not precisely sure who this pen is for, but it’s not for me. Here’s why:
1. As a writing utensil, the TTP is smaller than I personally prefer (you’ll see some size comparisons with other pens in the video below). Many people will love the size of the TTP, which is considerably smaller than any other pen in my collection – it’s purely a matter of personal preference. In terms of keeping your EDC load as small and light as possible, the TTP definitely has an advantage over what I’ll call a more traditional size pen. But size-wise, the TTP isn’t for me. I’d also prefer a capless, “twist” deployment of the writing tip. Taking off a pen cap makes using a pen slower and more cumbersome as compared to twist deployment. Many however prefer the elegance of a pen with a cap.
2. I’m having a difficult time identifying anything truly “tactical” about the TTP. The word “tactical” is certainly overused, and means different things to different people. But to me, a product which is truly “tactical” should offer some inherent defensive capability, or enhance an existing defensive capability. Perhaps in the future 4Sevens will offer some accessory “tips” which will make the pen more “tactical” but the TTP ships with a glass breaker tip, and a lanyard hole tip – neither of which are particularly tactical in my honest opinion. I suspect others may disagree with me on this point.
Glass Breaker Tip & Accessory Lanyard Hole Tip
3. It’s a pretty high asking price. I’ve got Montblanc pens which cost 4 times the asking price of the TTP, so I’m not afraid to lay down cash if I see value. But the TTP is, as has been pointed out on EDC Forums, a redesigned Titaner Ti Pen (the TTP is significantly smaller than the Titaner product on which it is based). The 4Sevens version is a nice pen…I’m just not seeing $99.00 of nice.
In my opinion, 4Sevens really needs to change the way they’re marketing this Titanium Tactical Pen. To justify the $99.00 asking price, 4Sevens needs to differentiate the product from other pens at much lower price points, and demonstrate its value. Does that glass breaker work on car glass? If so, let’s see some video on the 4Sevens website. Pens compatible with the Fisher ink refill can be had for $20.00. The OEM Titaner titanium pen can be had for about $71.00. So why should I pay $99.00 for the TTP? The value of the TTP, IMHO, is the interchangeable tips, which aren’t all that exciting at product launch. The TTP should have launched with more useful (and “tactical”) tips, or at least a better marketing campaign demonstrating the value of the planned future tips for the TTP.
As a supplement to my written photo review, I’ve also prepared a video review of the TTP which has some size comparisons with a few of my other pens:
UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2012
In both the written and video portions of the review I talk about the Titanium Tactical Pen not being very “tactical.” Well, as it turns out, they didn’t send me the tactical tip acessory with the pen when they originally sent it. When they discovered their error, they sent the tactical tip to me:
On the plus side, this tip is certainly going to do some damage if you ever had to use it in a tactical engagement. The tips and sides are extremely sharp and would easily penetrate and cut skin. On the minus side, I think there’s more than slight risk that if you carried the pen with the tactical tip in your pocket, it would cut through your pocket and has the potential to cause injury. The other problem here is that most “tactical pens” can sail right through TSA airport checks. However, if you place the tactical tip on the 4Sevens Titanium Tactical Pen and tried to board an airplane, I strongly suspect you’d get the pen taken from you. So while I think the tactical tip could be an effective offensive weapon, I don’t see myself using it. I’m still looking forward to future titanium Tactical Pen tips from 4Senvens – the platform does have some potential.
Excellent review. I just don’t get this pen. 4Sevens is all about innovation, but all I see here is emulation. They took Titaner’s design, made it smaller and “fixed some annoying problems” with it (according to David), and are charging a $30 premium over the original Titaner pen?
I mean, for less money I could get the Titaner pen, or I could get an American-made titanium Embassy Pen, either of which you could label as being as “tactical” as the 4Sevens pen. Both of those take the Space Pen refill (the Titaner takes a Parker refill but every Fisher SP refill is sold with a plastic Parker-style adapter). And there’s also a new player on the solid pen market, the Render K, which doesn’t come in titanium, but does offer a ridiculous number of refill options, from the Pilot Hi-Tec-C to the Parker refills to the FIsher SP refills. And you can get the aluminum version for $45.
Aside from the interchangeable tips I see absolutely nothing innovative about this pen. Though I do have to credit 4Sevens in one area: they ship the pen with the fine tip refill, which are much better than the medium tip ones that everyone else seems to ship their pens out with.
Very thorough and informative review John. Like you and MHPHOTO say, there are many better options that provide better value and functionality on the market right now. I’m not sure where this pen fits into the grand scheme.
It doesn’t really look like what I would call a tactical pen, not that I see much point in this genre anyway. Buy yourself a Berol Fineliner and you can do similar damage, and that pen is just plastic.
This is overpriced for all of the reasons already stated. I shall be giving this a swerve. Stick to torches 4Sevens.