(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
This little midcentury wonder is the source of one of my earliest stationery fascinations. That's probably true for a lot of us. A pen that can write underwater or in space, in extreme temperatures or on any surface! In a world where all I had were standard #2 pencils and temperamental ballpoints, the concept of a pen that could not fail and lasted longer than any other was the holy grail, especially for a kid who wrote for fun. Sadly, I wouldn't acquire said grail until I reached adulthood. I bought my first Fisher Space Pen in 2007 and it only recently stopped writing. While it wasn't my everyday pen, it did live in my craft bag for making notes on patterns. Nineteen years of service is a good run for any pen! That pen was one of their bullet-shaped pens. In the past few months, I was looking for a pen that would fit in the slim sleeve of my pocket-sized Plotter notebook, and I saw that the Stowaway model of the Fisher Space Pen is this perfect, slim pocket size. So I decided to give it a try as my pocket notebook pen.
This model of the Fisher Space Pen is basically just a capped cartridge. A magical cartridge, to be sure. The sealed, pressurized ink chamber is what allows it to write even if you're visiting Hoth or Mount Doom. But it doesn't have much build to it. The body and cap are thin aluminum that friction-fit together. There's a brass-colored clip with the word Fisher stamped into it, though this model is also available without the clip. It comes with a medium point and black ink. The cap does post, bringing its wee 3.9" up to a 5.13" which is close to a standard pen length. It's only .25" in diameter, so may be too slim to comfortably write with for long, but it's perfect as a wallet pen, where you're just using it to sign a receipt here and there. Bonus: It will actually write on the receipt paper!
It writes just like a standard ballpoint, but without the fussiness. I have not experienced any skipping or faint lines. The ink does smear a little if rubbed, but that's true of most oil-based ballpoint inks. That pressurized cartridge keeps the ink flowing upside-down, in zero gravity, and in temps ranging from -30 to +250 degrees Fahrenheit. Space? No problem. Wisconsin in February? Might need a different pen for that. But it does fit perfectly in the pen sleeve of my pocket Plotter, so mission accomplished, there. However, getting it out of the pen sleeve can be tricky, as the friction-fit cap slides off too easily, leaving the body of the pen in the sleeve, so I have to wiggle it free. It's still the best non-fountain pen I've found for this use case, though. The Kaweco Liliput is the best fountain pen for this specific pen sleeve, but I've found myself using the pocket plotter when traveling and camping--situations where a water resistant, more versatile ink was needed. I suspect this Stowaway will live in this Plotter for the next nineteen years.
The Fisher Space Pen Stowaway sells for around $17 MSRP, but you can get it in black, blue, or red from Goldspot Pens for around $14.45. That feels like a lot for something so lightweight and tiny, but it is refillable, and if it lasts as long as my previous Fisher pen, it's well worth it. I fully intend on getting another in a decade or two.
(Goldspot provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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