pen picks

[MrBuz]

Have any of you fine folks tried out the SO 212?
Your responses will be appreciated a great deal.

[stick]

The concensus will be the same for pen pick/Jackknife picks: handy at times, but not too effective, as they lack good feedback.

[bigbike]

Good tool for raking with but not actual picking has been my experience.

[lockpickingnewb]

from what ive heard they aren't very good, but i can imagine that they would be good in a pinch, so they might be good to have in your pocket if you cann afford them

[Vek]

I agree with Bigbike. I imagine they work fine for raking, but might not be the best for pin by pin. Then again, it'd be easy to carry around, and therefore better in a pinch than a paperclip, right?

[stick]

In that case, you might as well make a small set of picks that you can keep in your wallet, like I have.

[Timmy321]

I get better feedback with the regular ol' picks...I'm sticking with them.

[Kayvon]

Get a normal set of lock picks if you don't already have them. My first purchase was a jackknife lock pick set (it's the one pictured at the top of this page in the box labeled 'discussion'). They are good for raking, and with enough patience you can even pick locks with them. I've found that even ordinary tension wrenches help me a lot, though, and if you just buy some picks individually they're really not that expensive. You can have a simple, yet effective, set for about $10.

On the other hand, it is fun to carry around a lock pick set on my keyring. Very convenient for when I still had that Kwikset lock on the apartment door and my roommates forgot their keys (again). I could just lend them mine and pick my way in when I got home from work and they had already left again.

My advice is the same for pen picks: buy a few normal picks first and see how you like them before you invest in a pen pick.