Looking at my desk at present I feel like I might have a thing for EDC or pocket pens. Certainly half of those in front of me fall in to that category, though not all are out as part of my daily use set. It did make me wonder though if I am moving towards this genre, though in reality they still only make up about 12% of my collection.

I think part of the reason is due to me being a typical geek and carrying EDC items. I have been using and carrying around a Midori Traveller Passport journal for over eight years now and in many respects that works best with an EDC or pocket pen. Something I can attach to the loop without it being longer than than portfolio. For me I feel these pens fall in to three categories:

1. The Classic Pocket Pen.

For me this first group of pens is where with the cap posted they are or nearly are full length in the hand and thus can be used comfortably by most people (unless you have really large hands). Most common and famous of these will be the Kaweco Sport lines. While most pocket pens fit into this group they do suffer from the inability to take a full sized converter, or even any converter. The mini converters from Kaweco and Monteverde have a very small ink capacity and will not necessarily squeeze in to these and the Kaweco bulb filler does not exactly have the greatest of reputations.

2. The Short Pen.

Here we have pens with short caps, so even when posted may be too small for anything more than note taking. I only really have the one pen in this group, though several are close.

3. The Full Fat Pen

This third group is where the pen can be extended to a full length and also can take a full sized converter. When I first started to write this article I thought this was just the realm of the Japanese pen makers, and with the exception of the relaunched Pilot Elite/E95S, purely produce from the 1960s to 1980s. However I found I had a number of others that fit within this bracket including piston fillers (like the Pelikan M200 or M400), there there are also the likes of the TWSBI Mini-Vac (which I do not own).

Now my first pocket pens were from before I bought my Midori Passport with one of them being specifically chosen as an accompaniment to a Clairefontaine Roadbook (with the odd sub A6 size of 9cm by 14cm). This was to fit in to a small sleeve pocket on my autumn/winter jacket. By the time the pen arrived I had the Passport, which was being used with my Pilot Elite, so the above notebook was never used aside from a quick test.

And below are those presently actively in use either at my desk or in my pen case (though one is partly there for review). Note there are others inked for lending to others or as they are occasionally used so have not been cleaned out.

So anyone else out there find they seem to be gaining more and more pocket/EDC pens ?