Danitrio Torpedo/Tactical Carry II/"$33 pen"

[guitarman19853]

This is my review of the Danitrio Torpedo A.K.A. Tactical Carry II A.K.A. "The $33 pen". This model is a prototype of the Matte Nickel Checkered finish.

 

First off, the pictures!

 

I could not get a decent picture of this pen, so here is the only one that came out okay.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/guitarman19853/FPN/P1010283Small.jpg

 

And here is winedoc's photo of it (much better).

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/guitarman19853/FPN/tn_DSC08276.jpg

 

First of all, this pen looks fantastic! Before I stumbled upon FPN, I had seen a picture of the Tactical Carry I/"$27 pen" that someone had posted in a thread about fountain pens in another forum. They had posted the picture taken for the Stylophiles Online Article. Now, I saw this and thought how great it looked. It looked rugged, purposeful, and well... Tactical. Fast forward to now. I had seen the Tactical Carry II pen on here before. And while I was drawn to the reviews of how well it wrote and the price, it didn't have the same "tactical" look as the first Tactical Carry pen. No doubt it looked good, but they would look out of place when photographed with the handguns as Tactical Carry I was. This finish though... brings it all back. Both the matte and the checkered combined instantly made me think hand grenade. The "tactical" aspect is back. The finish is matted but it's smooth. The gold accents and nib just set it off from the others. It is truly a beautiful pen. The pen has quite a heavy weight to it but it balances perfectly and writes effortlessly. As was said in a previous review of the Tactical Carry II, there is no need to post the cap as it is very light compared to the rest of the pen and makes no difference in the balance of it.

 

Now, being new to the FP world, I don't have anything at all to compare this to. I have a Waterman Phileas M but that's it. Compared to the Waterman, this writes even smoother. My Phileas' nib isn't perfect. It is picky sometimes but It writes well. The Tactical Carry II is so much better. The ink flow is bold and wet and the nib is smooth. Right now it is inked with Waterman Florida Blue but when I get it, I believe I will use Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black in it.

 

Overall I love it! And while I love the exclusivity of this being a prototype, I really hope that this finish becomes one of the new Tactical Carry II finished for 2007 so that more people can have a chance to own this pen.

 

Thank you winedoc for providing the opportunity to purchase such amazing pens at such great prices!

 

~Ryan

[French]

Ryan,

 

Nice review. Pens are really tough to photograph well, people like winedoc and OldGriz have my utmost respect for being able to take the pictures they take.

 

I have one of the $27/tactical carry I pens (blue lacquer), and it was one of the smoothest writing pens I owned...then I had Richard Binder grind it into a stub for me...even better!

 

I think Danitrio is one of the more underrated pen companies out there. I've purchased several pens from winedoc and without exception, they have all been excellent writers.

 

Enjoy your pen, and if you see a Cum Laude, Alphaplus or Tosca available, I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the way it writes.

 

French

[winedoc]

Thanks for the review and glad you like the pen. It is difficult to photograph metal well, so a lot of metal pens do look better in person. Enjoy the pen.

 

Best,

 

Kevin