A pen kit fails in four ordinary ways: a glass cart cracks against a battery in the bottom of a bag, the battery dies because the charger is at home, the charger gets lost because it is small, and the whole kit smells like what it is. Each of those has a different fix, and none of the products below does more than one of them. That is the point of picking them separately.
1. Protection: a hard EVA case, not a soft pouch
EVA holds its shape under compression, which is what protects glass carts in a packed bag. A soft pouch weighs less and packs flatter, but it passes on whatever squashes it. If anything you carry can crack, start here. The two hard cases we list solve the same problem in two different shapes:
| Case | Size | Weight | How it holds things | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVA pen case with 8 bands | 4.4 × 2.8 × 1.2 in inside | 70 g | Eight non-slip elastic bands, so each pen or pod stays where you put it | A full kit: several pens or pods plus a charger. Carabiner and lanyard clip it outside a bag |
| Hard EVA carry case | 7.4 × 2.5 × 1.7 in | 2.4 oz | One elastic strap for a pen or cart, plus a mesh pocket for a spare battery or charger | One 510 battery, a few carts and the cable. Water-resistant shell, velvet lining, double zipper |
Bands grip rather than size. In a plain pouch a mixed set slides into a heap at one end, and that is how carts get chipped. If you carry more than one pen, the eight-band case is the better shape; if you carry one battery and its carts, the longer case is.
Neither case is smell proof. Both protect; neither seals. That job is section 3.
2. Power: a spare charger that stops on its own
The Oseyigut USB charger 2-pack takes 5 V from any USB port and puts out 4.2 V at 420 mA, which is the full-charge voltage of a single lithium cell, the cell almost every pen-style battery uses. The light is red while charging and green when full.
The part worth paying attention to is the protection circuit: overvoltage, overcurrent, overcharge and short-circuit protection, and it stops charging by itself once the battery is full. Leaving a small lithium cell on a charger with no cutoff overnight is how batteries swell.
Check the fit first. Pen battery connectors are not standardised: some thread on, some use a magnetic adapter, some are proprietary. The listing does not name a connector type or thread size, so compare it with your own battery before you buy. The 2-pack exists because this is the accessory people lose. Keep the second one somewhere other than your pocket.
3. Smell: the bag the kit goes into
A hard case stops things breaking; it does nothing about smell. For that the case goes inside a carbon-lined bag. The Skunk Uptown crossbody is the one built for a small kit:
- Carbon anti-smell interior, the same lining principle as Skunk's Rogue backpack
- Weather-resistant zippers
- Three separate pockets: a top main compartment, a back zip pocket and a front Velcro-flap pocket, so the case, the charger and anything else are not rattling together
- Worn across the body, so it swings to the front without coming off. A backpack has to come off first, and that is the moment people notice it
It has no lock. If you want one, the Skunk Rogue backpack has a combination lock and the same kind of lining.
Carbon does not last forever. It adsorbs until it is saturated, and heat and humidity use it up faster. Airing the bag open in a dry room between uses is the whole maintenance routine.
How it packs together
- Pens and carts into the hard case, one per band or strap.
- The case into the Uptown's main compartment.
- The spare charger into a different pocket, so it is not the thing you lose along with the case.
That covers protection, power and smell in three items. For other ways to carry discreetly, see Stealthy Travel; for containment on its own, Smell Proof Products.