The NEW click-action Snappers are the latest Tornado designs to hit the shelves and notebooks. The traditional twist-top Tornado will continue to be a large part of the Tornado line, but we wanted to develop a click-top for our customers that love the Tornado plus love the convenience of the click-top, in fact there are several here in the office.
The Snappers come loaded with an Easy-Flow ballpoint that is smooth like a rollerball but with the long life of a ballpoint. The Tornado’s traditional rollerball refill (REF5P) cannot be used in the Snapper models.
Here is a comparison of the line weight and consistency between the standard Tornado rollerball refill and the Easy Flow ballpoint.
The Safety Yellow and Banker Blue have a high gloss, opaque lacquer on the barrel. These colors and names you might recall from a past Retro 51 series, the Classic 200.
The Confetti and Chrome have a highly polished chrome plating over its metal barrel. The Confetti is then finished with a colorful triangular pattern print for the writers looking for that extra whimsy!
All of the Snappers come with shiny chrome accents and the Retro 51 bullet logo on top.
The Snapper and standard twist-top Tornado both use the same barrel, nose cone and clip, but the Snapper does have a unique top that makes it 1/8 inch taller then the standard Tornado. It is also 1 ounce in weight as compared to 1.1 ounce of the Tornado rollerball.
What are your thoughts about the Snapper? Let us know your thoughts!
The Retro 51 Blog 
This makes me so happy…I love that you’ve made one of my favorite pens into a clicky pen!
Loving the yellow color
Confetti snapper…get in my hand. I love this!!!
A dream created.
The Easyflow refills are a great ballpoint.. I sure wish they came in broad point though. ..the picture here really shows the difference compare to the rollerball refill.
really, really happy that you decided to make it a click top! Just hope you will have many models in store…, and that you will produce acrylic ones…
Disappointed. The cap came totally disengaged before I opened the package and found the pen useless because it never came together naturally and it’s still in my drawer in disarray. Sorry because I love my other Retro pens….
Mary, we are sorry to hear about problems with our products and will contact you via email about this so we can fix this issue. Please keep an eye out for an email from our customer service team.
I love the look and the feel of writing with them but two of my three snappers have broken and I had to dispose of them. The click mechanism on both snapped off. I’m disappointed because I lived writing with a Schmidt easy flow 9000 cartridge but fortunately the cartridge can be used with the original tornados as well.
Barry if you still have these broken Snappers send them into us. We have strengthened the click mechanism with a medal rod that has really helped this problem and our repairs department can fix all these for you.
Unfortunately when the first one broke I put it somewhere and can’t find it. When the second one broke the other day I was so frustrated I threw it away. The problem is that the top cap broke off and I don’t know if a metal rod will help, unless the cap screws into the rod instead of a plastic clip. Please let me know as I have one snapper left. If the cap now screws into a metal rod instead of plastic, I will give it another shot, but where can I buy a new confetti and chrome snapper from that is guaranteed to have this rod. And thanks for the immediate feedback
Our repairs guy can fix this. Email sales{at}retro51{dot}com and they will let you know how to send it in. Regarding the Confetti and Chrome, after we heard of these issues and resolved it with the metal rod, our repair guy went through all the Snapper stock in our warehouse and fixed them. A high percentage of the current models in stores should have this improved mechanism.
That’s all fine. But am I correct that the cap now screws into metal and not plastic? And can I get pens from you directly or do I have to chance it from a merchant and if it breaks then send it back to you?
Yes a metal rod or screw has been inserted within the plastic mechanism that has greatly strengthened the mechanism. It has reduced our Snapper repairs greatly. We do not sell direct to customers, but if you need help finding a retailer that has recently bought these models our customer service can direct you to one. We repaired all the mechanisms about a year ago, so a high percentage of our retailers should have these improved Snappers in stock.
I see your dealers but by me the only one is bronxville stationers. I the city surprisingly not that many. And I got all my snappers within the past year
Barry, please email our customer service. I will alert them that you are writing about your Snapper repair plus they can direct you to a dealer online that should have a Snapper with new mechanism.
I Love the Retro 51 snapper so much that when the one I had was misplaced by me I went back to the place where I had purchase my
original Retro 51 snapper they told me it was no longer being made so I gave up hoping, that some time in the future it would be produce again
or I would be able to find someone selling a used one on line. The Retro
51 snapper that I misplaced was a bankers blue. I never new much I
really do get attached to my pens.
Pen Person,
John B Jones
Losing a pen always hurts! Yes unfortunately the Snapper was discontinued but they pop up from time to time on ebay or Retro facebook fan pages.
I am a Pen Person and I once had a Retro 51 Tornado Snapper but I
misplaced it so I went back to the pen shop where I had originally purchased
the Retro 51 Tornado bankers blue snapper .They told me that the Retro 51 Tornado snapper line was no longer being produced. I felt very sad at the
news they gave me. I hopped that some time in the future I might be able to
find a Retro 51 Tornado snapper being sold on line or that Retro 51
would decide to reproduce the Tornado snapper line again. I never
realized until now how attached I have gotten some of my pens.I would like to know if it possible to purchase these days a Retro 51 Tornado
snapper again at the present time ? The Retro 51 Tornado snapper
that I misplaced was a Retro 51 Tornado bankers blue snapper.
Pen Person
John B Jones