[NTLK] RipOff Holsters for MP2x00s [WAS: "Re: Orlando poutine? (was: Montreal Poutine Week)"]

[James Fraser]

Hello,

--- On Fri, 2/1/13, Lord Groundhog <lordgroundhog at gmail.com> wrote:

> But if you hunt for it, there's another version without the
> pockets.

There's no need to hunt for it.  You will find it here:

http://ripoffs.com/datasheets/co125/co125.html

(Incidentally, if someone has purchased that particular model and it's currently clogging up a desk drawer or closet, please let me know.  I'd like to have one.)

While we're talking, there's probably no harm in mentioning the CO-50:

http://www.ripoffs.com/datasheets/co50/co50.html

...in case an MP1x0 owner happens to be in the market for a holster.

> I found their website a bit confusing, they make so much
> stuff.  

It's not necessarily the number and variety of items that's at fault so much as their site simply isn't designed all that well.  While I appreciate the fact that it's not a script-laden mess as far too many other retail sites are these days (believe me, I do), the organization and cross-linking, well, sucks, and makes finding things a chore.

Which is too bad, really, because their build quality is fairly high.  Unfortunately, they make locating items on their site so much more arduous a task than it need be that it likely results in lost sales for them.  I mean, you shouldn't need to go "hunting" for like products: they should be a click or two away (as in the example of the CO-58/CO-125 cases). 

Oh, well. [shrugs]

> Also, those pockets create 2 places for carrying a pen as
> long as you're sensible about it.  

Not being a sensible sort (I seem to spend most of my time being quite insensible, or so I've been informed), I'd be much obliged if you'd kindly school me on how to successfully carry a standard-sized pen in the side pockets. :)  

I ask because, when I first tried to put a spare MP stylus in one of the side pockets, it exhibited the unfortunate tendency to slip to one side, nearly falling out of the pocket.  : /

Is there some sort of "trick" to doing this?  Of do you merely place a pen vertically in the middle of the pocket, then grab the flap and fasten it down tightly for all its worth?

> I always have a fine point permanent marker with me and
> that's where it rides, but if I want to carry my multi-point
> pen (with 2 colours plus pencil plus extra stylus) it goes in the other
> one.

I don't know if you've ever test-driven one of these:

(Warning: Space Pen link.  Avert your eyes and run away *now* before you are sucked into the raging Vortex of Nerdiness!)

http://tinyurl.com/avms673

...but they are small enough when closed (3.75") that you can wear one clipped to your (t-) shirt collar without even knowing it's there.  When you open the pen and place the cap on the back, it turns into a well-balanced writing instrument capable of writing over grease, upside-down, underwater, etc.

Also, the stylus tip is good for when you are doing UPS campouts (i.e. waiting for the UPS guy to show up with an Important Parcel).  When the carrier hands you the e-device they use to collect signatures (the proper name of which escapes me at the moment), you just grab your Space Pen and start signing away without upcapping it.

The screams of the UPS man as he thinks you are screwing up the screen on the unit by signing it with some sort of standard pen (if not a metal implement; you didn't uncap it, remember?) will be quite loud and piercing, thereby obviating the need for you to purchase coffee that day in order to help keep you awake.  

Do that a few times* and the pen practically pays for itself! :P

Anyway, my Space Pen excitement (if not delirium), aside, can you please tell us:

>my multi-point pen (with 2 colours plus pencil plus extra stylus) it >goes in the other one.

...the make and model of your favourite pen?  And whether it uses pressurized refills?  I'll take a guess and say it's some sort of Rotring/Tikky variant, providing you with an opportunity to tell me how I just *couldn't be* more wrong. :^)


Best,

James Fraser

*Actually, -one- time is quite enough, I can assure you. : /

It's far less stressful all-around to unclip the pen from your shirt, hold it up briefly so they can see the stylus tip, and mumble "stylus tip" so that they understand fully what's going on. Alternately, of course, you can simply use the (invariably) greasy stylus they're obligated to shove at you.