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FIBER OPTIC PEN

Fiber Optic Pen, retail $9.95 (http://shopping.discovery.com...)
Manufactured by (Unknown) for Discovery Channel Stores (http://shopping.discovery.com)
Last updated 07-22-11

This is a ballpoint pen with a twist: a bundle of fiber optic cables 3.5" long exits the pen at its top - where you would find the "click" button on other types of ballpoint pens. A group of three LEDs (or one RGB LED) inside allows you to select any of six colors plus a color-wash mode to light up the fiber optics - particularly the ends - where the light will appear as star-like points.

The device runs on 3 G3-A button cells, contained inside the upper part of the pen. It comes in a handsome metal case, which has a brushed chrome finish to it.

The ballpoint pen writes in black ink, and the writing quality is similar to or slightly better than ordinary disposable Bic pens. I'm not a pen expert though, and I do not play one on TV or on the internet, so I'm not really qualified to rate this part of the instrument.

SIZE

This pen is ready as soon as you remove it from the package. Cut the plastic package open any way you see fit - sharp household scissors will do the job here.

Press and release the button on the side of the barrel to activate the LED in the following modes: red, blue, green, purple, cyan, orange, white, and a color-cycling mode that shows all of the colors with a total cycle time of approximately 0.5Hz (full cycle time of ~2 seconds).

The pen turns off after every color, so you do not need to cycle through every mode in order to get it to shut off.

To write with the pen, grasp it by the barrel near the button with one hand, and near the writing end with the other, and give it a gentle clockwise twist. The tip will extend. It writes in black ink, with the quality of a very good disposable pen. Grasp the unit and give it a gentle counterclockwise twist to retract the pen tip when you're finished using it.

To change the batteries, hold the pen so the point (the ink portion) is facing upward, and unscrew the pen portion until it comes off, and throw it away...O WAIT YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the open end of the pen upside down over your hand; tap it if that last cell just won't fall out. Dispose of or recycle the batteries as you see fit.
Hold the barrel of the pen horizontally in one hand, and slip three new G3-A button cells in, one at a time, with the other hand. Insert the batteries button-end (-) first. Once all three cells are inside, you can turn the pen base-up if you wish, and screw the ink portion back on.

You can also stack all of the G3-A cells on top of one another on a counter, table, desk, or other flat surface; button-end (-) negative facing up. Lower the barrel of the pen over the cells, slide the whole affair to the edge of the counter, table, desk, etc. and place your finger over the open end of the barrel so those cells just don't clatter to the floor. Invert the barrel and your finger at once, so the barrel faces toward the ceiling or sky. Remove your finger, and screw the ink portion back on.

Aren't you glad you didn't throw away that ink portion now?

The Fiber Optic Pen is a fairly delicate instrument meant to be used as a pen in a dry area, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused. It was also a Christmas gift from my parents. So I won't hit it against the concrete floor of a patio, try to drown it in a toilet, stomp on it, throw it against a wall, run over it with a 450lb electric wheelchair, let my housemate's cats take a leak on it, throw it at a wall-mounted porcelain uranator to see if it explodes (the pen, not the uranator), sit on it really hard, or subject it to any other potentially destructive tests that a regular flashlight might be subject to. So this section of the web page will appear significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

Photograph of the product, illuminated in "white" mode.

Spectrographic analysis of the red LED in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of the green LED in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of the blue LED in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of the red & blue LEDs in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of the blue & green LEDs in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of the red & green LEDs in this pen.

Spectrographic analysis of all three LEDs on simultaneously (red, green, and blue) in this pen.

USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the pen's light modes.
This clip is approximately 5.4 megabytes (5,664,126 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

That music you might hear playing is from the game "Outrun" on the Commodore 64 computer.

TEST NOTES:
Product was received as a Christmas gift on 12-24-06. Because it was a gift, the more abusive and potentially destructive tests will not be performed on it.

Product was made in China. A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.

Looks like this is the first new web page I have published in 1997...er...uh...2007.

UPDATE: 00-00-00

PROS:

CONS:

MANUFACTURER: Unknown
PRODUCT TYPE: Ballpoint pen w/LED color-changing fiber optics
LAMP TYPE: LED
No. OF LAMPS: Unknown
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: On/off/mode change on side of barrel
CASE MATERIAL: Aluminum
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 3xG3-A button cells
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: No
SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
ACCESSORIES: 3x button cells, 4x pen cartridges
WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

PRODUCT RATING:

Fiber Optic Pen http://shopping.discovery.com...

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