EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – As a working journalist, having a solid, reliable pen is a crucial part of my everyday carry.
And the grown-up Boy Scout in me believes in being prepared for just about anything.
The Atomic Bear’s Stealth Pen Pro fills both needs.
For the past month, I have been carrying this pen around and using it around the office to take notes and write stories.
I have used it during some of my most important duties like covering a recent press conference given by the El Paso district attorney in a high-profile murder case.
This pen also can provide some much-needed peace of mind for someone who works late and lives in a semi-rural, somewhat poorly lit area, like I do.
Atomic Bear is a well-known company that sells tactical pens. What is a tactical pen? It’s a pen that can be used as a make-shift self-defense tool and as a way to help you cope with different emergency scenarios.
First, let’s take a look at the Stealth Pen Pro as a writing instrument. To me, a tactical pen is worthless if it isn’t a great pen. Otherwise, why carry it around?
This pen is made out of high-tech polymer, giving it a much lighter weight than tactical pens made out of metal, while still being strong and sturdy.
Its sleek design is also made with writing in mind.
The pen features a six-sided finger grip that allows for a comfortable writing experience.
The body of the pen also has a slight hour-glass shape to it, which allows your fingers and hand to fit around the pen almost perfectly.
To me, this pen feels like it was designed to fit my hand. That’s how comfortable it feels.
The pen comes with a Schmidt ink cartridge that just seems to glide.
As for refills, you can choose from hundreds of different readily available Parker-style refills. You can also order refills directly from Atomic Bear. All very convenient.
Other features include a strong stainless steel pocket clip and a bolt-action release to activate the pen.
The bolt-action release makes for quick deployment of the ink cartridge for writing. It’s also super satisfying to fidget with.
The clip also gives your hand something to wrap around if you ever need to use the pen in a self-defense situation.
Overall, this is a great pen. It’s right up there with my Parker Jotter and my Grafton Mini by Everyman, which have been my mainstay EDC pens for the past couple of years.
As for the tactical aspect of this pen, it has a jagged set of aluminum alloy “teeth” at the writing end.
Pull back the ink cartridge, and you have the potential for a lightweight but capable striking instrument that could be used in a pinch.
The company says those metal teeth can be used as a “DNA” catcher. I don’t know about that, but I am sure those teeth could put a bite into someone who meant you harm.
At the back end of the pen, there is a hidden tungsten carbide glass breaker that is protected by a quick-release silicon cap.
That glass-breaker could come in handy if you were ever in a car crash and needed to get yourself free or if you needed to break a window to help rescue a person or pet in peril.
Of course, you hope you never need to use either of those capabilities, but they are nice to have just in case.
But it really comes back to this: The Stealth Pen Pro is an excellent pen that excels at writing whether in the office, yard, garage or out and about doing errands.
To me, a tactical pen must, first of all, be a good working pen. Otherwise, you would leave it at home and those extra capabilities would be useless.
The Atomic Bear Stealth Pen Pro wildly exceeds that standard and is comparable to my favorite regular ink pens.
For the sake of transparency, Atomic Bear sent me this pen to try out, use and write about. There were no limitations on what I could say.
This is not the first Atomic Bear pen that I have seen up-close and have used.
I have owned one of the company’s military-grade aluminum Rebel pens. This, too, is a great pen. My one complaint is that the cap doesn’t attach to the body of the Rebel pen. So I always feel like I need to use it in a controlled environment like an office, for fear of losing that cap.
The Stealth Pen Pro is available for $49.99 from Atomic Bear. Here is a link to the company’s website and to the Stealth Pen Pro.
The pen comes in black but also in four other colors – flat dark earth (brown); olive-drab green; pink; and navy.
The company offers a wide range of tactical pens besides the Stealth Pen Pro and the Rebel.
Here are some YouTube channels I watch to keep informed about knives and EDC gear.
The Cutting Edge (formerly Last Chance Knives)
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