Mechanical Pencil

[cenkstrem]

Dear Fountain Pen Lovers,

First of all hello to everyone.I need your help.I am a student and I write a lot of things.Solving tests,problems,abstract.Usually I write long periods(maximum half an hour with 10 minute breaks after that again a half an hour.)Sometimes I sweat.I am looking the following criteria for a pen:

Comfortable,suitable

Quality,enjoyable to write with it

0.5,pocket safe is not important for me

and durability.

Price is not important for me.Pentel Smash,Pentel Sharp Kerry,Pentel P205,Pentel Graphgear1000, are in my mind.İf you know a mechanical pencil for me could you suggest me please ? I am sorry about my bad English.Thanks for reading.I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

[kazuo]

What about a Rotring? As pocket safety is not a must you can get a Rotring 600.

 

And good place for reading about options http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/ .

 

And last but not least, welcome to FPN.

[Ghostrider]

Pilot Dr Grip pencil. Very comfortable for long writing sessions; for me anyway!

[cenkstrem]

What about a Rotring? As pocket safety is not a must you can get a Rotring 600.

 

And good place for reading about options http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/ .

 

And last but not least, welcome to FPN.

Thank you for your response.I thought about Rotring 600.But some people are telling that Rotring 600 is not good for long writing sessions.I picked up from my friend.And try it.İt was really good.Balance is perfect.But I don't know is it good for long writing sessions.And by the way my friend dropped it.The tip bent.But thanks for your response againg.

Best regards

[guilhermejf]

I have a P205 and a Graphgear 1000. Both are great pencils, but as I prefer thicker writing instruments, my favorite is the Graphgear.

But I wouldn't recommend them for long writing sessions (more than 1 hour). For very long tests, I prefer using a good fountain pen.

Edited October 23, 2011 by guilhermejf

[whereisandy]

I just got a Uni Kuru Toga and am impressed. It doesn't come with a rubber grip so there's nothing to slip or get soft over time. However the "engine" to rotate the lead as you write keeps your writing point sharp so you don't have to rotate your pencil when you write. The engine is more of a ratcheting mechanism that moves whenever you press down to write and then ease off the pressure when you lift your pencil to write another word.

 

I was sceptical of the Uni claims and ads but now that I've written with one I am sold.

[orfew]

I use an MB Meisterstuck pencil. It is very comfortable for me as I have used it for marking sessions lasting several hours at a time.

[kazuo]

I thought about Rotring 600.But some people are telling that Rotring 600 is not good for long writing sessions.

 

Uhh, as I mainly write math/physics I don't write all the time in a session, but do it in intermittent fashion. For long continuum session I agree that a fountain pen is better.

 

I never used a Uni Kuru Toga, but from the reviews I read I too think this can be a good choice, as whereisandy said.

[lowercase_nyc]

I like the Staedtler 0.5mm and the Pentel Graphgear 500 series (mine is 0.9mm) . The graphgear 1000 is nice, but i don't feel the need for a retractable point and am not a fan of the styling.

 

Alvin also comes in close to those above in terms of quality.

 

Rotring looks nice but i've not experienced them first hand.

 

I've used pentel sharplet, p205, p225, pentel kerry, and many others. The things i look for are brass claspers on the lead mechanism and a 1-piece point assembly to allow for durability.

Edited October 23, 2011 by lowercase_nyc

[bjornhansson]

My two favourite 0.5 mm pencils are:

 

1) The Parker Frontier

 

and

 

2) The Uni Kuru-Toga (the cheaper one with the plastic gripping section).

[davisgt]

I love the Waterman Carene mechanical pencil. So much so, in fact, that I had to get a second one for the office. I use it to underline passages and annotate the books I'm reading. It has a wonderful weight and heft, and I could easily use it for extended reading sessions.

 

Todd

[celesul]

So, I feel like it depends on exactly what you are looking for. My favorite mechanical pencil is the Pentel Twist Erase III. I've had one since I was 12 (so I know they can hold up for 7 years). The clip broke because I played with it, but everything else is intact. The tip is very strong. If you stab something with it the tip survives and the thing stabbed acquires a hole (this includes people. One of my friends was trying to tickle me while I was drawing. I accidentally stabbed him with it, and drew blood). Anyway, I like it a lot, because it is fat enough to be comfortable for long use, and it has a very large eraser that twists out. I would imagine there are more durable pencils out there, but this has held up for some of middle school, all of high school, and all of college thus far. I don't abuse it, but I also don't baby it.

[bernardo]

I know you said 0.5mm, but this Faber-Castell 0.7mm pencil is really the best pencil I've ever had.

[subbes]

I love my Kura Toga, with a totally different kind of love from that I bestow upon my pens.

[jonveley]

+1 on Dave's Mechanical Pencils. He's on sabbatical right now, but his archive is amazing and he has a number of helpful links there, as well.

 

I prefer the feel of a vintage pencil, so I can't be of much help on this topic. I will say that out of curiosity, I picked up a Scripto liquid lead pencil and I've been very happy with it.

[Parse Error]

I like my shakers the most... to the point that I really don't want to buy any pencil that isn't a shaker.

 

My favorite shakers are the Pilot DR Grip and the Pilot Shaker (original)

 

And for a runner up I would choose the alpha gel.

 

Each of these pencils will cost between $6 and $11; they're really not that expensive.

 

Don't believe everything bad they say about the alpha grip; true they get softer after a while and the grips eventually break, but if you don't strangle your pencils you're all good. I've gone through one piece of lead a day on a Alpha gel for over a year now and I have to say that it's been holding up VERY well.

And also, the shaker function helps relieve cramped wrists =)

 

The lead is clamped by plastics, but many people say that the Pilot Shaker (original) holds up very well to a lot of usage. the dr grip and the alpha gel were designed as kiddie pencils, so they won't last that long, but they could easily go for two or three years without running into any serious troubles (or any trouble at all)

[lovemy51]

my kuru toga sees the most use. my second pen of choice is the rotring 500. both .5 lead.

[Tuxedomoon]

I exclusively only use my Rotring 800. I have a collection of 50+ mech pencils, none comes even close to the RR800.

 

2nd best is Staedtler 925.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Tuxedomoon

[fraafreg]

Another vote for the kuru toga here. It really works as advertised.

[Caligrafo]

Hi there!

I also recommend the Rotring. And I also sometimes write long with a small Fürst 2.0, very light, I like it a lot.