Benchmade Balisong USB Drive and new 1100 pen colors

It's no secret that I'm a Benchmade fan. Jon and I visited the Benchmade factory in Oregon City back in April '08 after campin near Portland and I picked up a 'Prototype June 2007' marked Vex, and Jon spent a bunch of dough on limited edition knives. He was also kind enough to spring for a model 1100 pen for me, and got one for himself. The deal was that I let him pick a knife from my collection for trade at some point. He ended up with my McHenry and Williams Axis lock that has been one of my favorite knives. It was worth it though, as the Vex is cool, and the Benchmade pen is my favorite writing instrument. Benchmade released the black pens that we got alongside one with a blue barrel and blue ink, then followed recently with an all stainless steel model which is slightly heavier than the aluminum pens. I just noticed on the BM site they show pink, red and gold pens. They are burly as fuck and are meant to serve as a self defense tool at times when knife or pistol carry may not be appropriate. I found the following images on ebay, so thanks to whoever took those pix...





I also noticed on knifecenter that the Benchmade USB drive is available. It's a cute litte functional balisong with abs plastic handles and a working latch. It's 2 gigs and comes loaded with Benchmade wallpaper, pretty cool. Keep an eye on your favorite benchmade retailer for the new pen colors. I love my BM pen, and the ink cartridges are made by Fisher Space Pens for Benchmade. Jon and I have owned our 1100 pens for close to 7 months and neither of us have yet to run out of ink.



Benchmade continues to innovate. I can't think of any other company that offers such a wide variety of knives in the sub-$200 range that are American made. Emerson seem to be preferred by many military and LE professionals, and I like them fine, but Benchmade offers similar quality and way more variety IMO. If you have a desire to buy a pen that is high quality and serves as an eye-poker or knuckle-jabber, check out Benchmade's venerable 1100 series pens.