I just got one of those German dosimeters from Tapco and of course there weren't any instructions and what is there is all in German.  Has anyone else gotten one of these?  They are $29.99 and come with a recharger.  I put the 2 D cells in and a light comes on when I push a button but I can't tell what's happening.  There are 6 orange pens and 6 pink/violet pens but don't know what the colors mean.  I thought this would be a good accessory/curio ever since I was was hearing so much about radiological bombs that may be used against us.  In case anyone doesn't know what a dosimeter is, it's a little device worn on the outside of your clothes that either changes color or has some other indication when you've been exposed to a certain amount of radiation.  Can anyone shed some light on this?

That doesn't sound like a dosimeter as I understand them.
The dosimeters I've heard of are in essence a piece of film like similiar to xray or photographic film in a light proof enclosure. Any radiation you are exposed to has a cumulative effect on you and on the film. By developing the film and measuring the level of exposure you can see whether you are below your allowable exposure level for a given period of time. This device sounds like an alarm or monitoring device to alert you when levels get elevated. The button is probably a test button. This is only a guess on my part, and not an informed one. I'd see what you could find out from Tapco, then on the internet and from the mfgr.

Here a site that covers typical dosimeter. Most of the old tubes are leaky and don't hold their charge.

http://www.arrowtechinc.com/constuction2.htm

These are meant for short term approximate dosemeters.
Basically a guy has two dosemeters if he enters a high rad area. The film/TLD type that you need a reader for, and the tube type that he can get a ballpark reading for.
They do discharge easily. A hard rap, or just leaving it sit will take them down.
What you do is put the pen tube thing down over the light button. It fits over it. Look into the tube. You should see a gauge in the tube, and a line to indicate 0- whatever its high end is.
There should be a dial on the box, and it allows you to zero the pen. As high energy radiation hits the tube, it cause some charge to be lost, and that causes a defelction on the line so it shows the radiation you are getting.
Again it is only for a ball park reading so you know when to get out now.
My bet is the different colors are for the different ranges. One in Millirem, and the other in Rem.