Two. My experience with mechanical pencils is that they’re often unreliable and a waste of time. I hate having to reload my pencil, I hate when it breaks if you accidentally make the tip longer than it should be, I hate when you accidentally put one more in the pencil and it gets clogged, I hate having to carry refills all the time, I hate buying an expensive pencil and worrying about losing it (as opposed to just buying a dozen regular pencils for backup)…
Just hand over the regular pencil and a decent sharpener.
If you feel they are unreliable, it may just be that you aren’t using good ones. I use 3 on a regular basis (for Japanese) and never have issues with feeding or lead breaking; I also only have to refill it every few weeks.
Same, an actual good quality, properly made and assembled mechanical pencil will just keep going and going, and if you treat it well, you never need to replace it.
Kinda like a decent quality safety razor.
All you gotta do is treat it right and replace the razors/graphite, nets out to saving money after probably a month or two of decent use.
I’ve had the same mechanical pencil for ten years. It’s comfortable, reliable, easy to reload, but if I had to choose one for the rest of my life, I’d still go with the traditional wood/graphite pencil. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere, it’s durable, and not a great loss if you lose it.
What pencil?
I got one because I was intrigued by its lead rotation, but I found that it really didn’t rotate the lead enough while I wrote. I kept having to rotate the barrel manually to keep a thin line like I do for every other mechanical pencil, and then would get annoyed every time the clip came around to brush my hand. I’ve been wondering if I’m doing something wrong, or if Japanese just uses more shorter strokes. Do you also like it when writing English?
I only use my kuru toga when writing in Japanese, I normally just use a pen for english. Japanese does have significantly more strokes.
Since I switched to using 0.9 mm, I almost never break a lead unless I drop it onto a hard floor; it even holds up to some aggressive tapping. Consequently, I hardly ever have to refill. I also never worry about the point snapping or stabbing when tossed loose into a bag, or keeping a sharpener on hand.
Just my #2 cents.
“Decent sharpener” aka box cutters.
Back at my school in the 90’s you just bought a 10 pack of the cheap black Bic mechanical pencils for like $3 (pic #5) and you were set for the year if you didn’t lose too many. They never really broke and you didn’t have to refill them if you didn’t want to. They also never clogged and if you weren’t an idiot you didn’t try to use too much lead length to where it would break off.
They were simple and easy and always sharp.
It also always ends mid-word/stroke, and you start etching the paper with the metal end. Very annoying.
Bonus points for #2 being #2
On the topic of sharpeners, those battery powered pressure sharpeners are satisfying as fuck. They’re shit and invariably snap the nib, but they’re the sharpening equivalent of shoving a Q-tip in your ear and having a good rake about.
Or if you’re all about the procrastination, spending a few minutes every lesson at the classroom sharpener like this one brings back the nostalgia:
The pull out drawer for shavings is top tier.
Nothing beats these though:
Just gotta use them over the waste basket.
I had exactly one of these through my entire education period. Reliable and utterly indestructible.
Plus a good ol Dixon Ticonderoga can write on stuff other than paper. About the only time I use a pencil is when doing carpentry and mechanical ones just snap.
When I was doing roofing the pica dry mechanical pencils made things so much better. Sure a pencil works good on wood, but what about when I have to mark gray sheet metal? You need something that comes with different colors.
That’s what sharpies are for
Those get clogged up on pre patinad copper unfortunately, and a sharpie does not work well on black prefa unless you are trying to hide a scratch. sharpie also doesn’t always wipe off well.
Unreliable? I have two Staedtler Mars Micro pens I bought a good 20 years ago and they both work perfectly.
3 Kuru Toga
The fact that Rotring, Staedtler, Faber-Castell, and K&E mechanical pencils are missing is deeply troubling.
I also have an emotional thing for the Pentel P200 series, and the Pentel Techniclick in black has been my absolute personal favourite for light-duty scribbling and note-taking/math since the 90s.
This.
Yessss. Use a 500 daily
I have the same phone as you. I love that it’s red.
Agreed! Not even my favorite color, but it looks so good on a phone.
I specifically looked for red haha.
Love to see it! Your eraser game needs some leveling though 😋, may I introduce you to this bad boy:
Does it come in red? 😂
Definitely though, might need to look around
Unfortunately no, but if you don’t care about it being metal then yes they make a red one!
I’d like to discuss the flashlight. ?
Full metall you say? Damnn.
I didn’t know about this brand and now I have been pushed into extensive research of their whole lineup of mechanical pens.
The 800 looks amazing but I’ve heard some people complaining about the nib being a bit wobbly, is that true in your experience?
I don’t have a problem with the tip being wobbly, but it’s definitely a concern. I think its just a problem that you would get with any retractable tip pencil.
IMO, even if it did wobble, it’s worth the inconvenience. I used to have a mechanical pencil with a non-retractable tip & one drop ruined it.
IIRC the 600 is pretty much the same pencil but with a non retractable tip. It might be better for you unless you carry it around.
I’m surprised nobody else has rotring… my favorite by a considerable amount. Second place goes to the Uni Kuro Toga. Both fantastic pencils, but the weight and feel of the rotring 600 just leaves everything else in the dust
So I thought the uni would be a neat way to use thicker lead but avoid the weird slant in longer sessions. But I don’t write in kanji (sp?) and with my mutated cursive alot of my letters string together. So the rotation is not nearly enough, and I end up still getting the weird slant thing on my lead. Only then it’s worse because after I build up a flat surface, it rotates a little bit and then the edge is all wrong.
The rotring is super smooth, but its so heavy. I wanted it to be my favorite, but I ended up reaching for the kuro toga far more. Doesnt help that the tip of the rotring bent and dented out on the first drop. I bent it back and it still works, as long as I don’t rotate it.
the correct answer
That’s like an allergen for ADHD
Damn straight. Best pencil I’ve ever had. Well, the 0.5mm. I write too small for 0.7.
.5mm or .3mm for me, the only place I use a .7mm or a .9mm is with woodworking.
I love 0.3. I would love a Rotring one if they made it. My only one is an Alvin Draftmatic.
METAL KURU TOGA MY GOAT 👑 👑 👑 🐐 🐐 🐐 🔥🔥🔥
I’m a pen/pencil freak who’s spent an amazing amount of money on them, and I’d choose 2.
#8 all the way.
If I had to do sketch design drafting in college with a pen or wooden pencil and not a 0.5 mechanical, I would have probably become a school shooter.
I’ve been using Zebra pens and pencils almost exclusively for the last 20 years. My only complaint with the pencil is its eraser. If you need to erase something small it’s fantastic, but I always keep a separate eraser handy.
Honestly that’s a complaint I have about nearly every pencil, not just the zebra. They’re almost always hard and smudgy because the pencil has been sitting out either in a warehouse or on an office supply shelf for like 5 years.
I’d rather bring my own hi-poly brick eraser, or even better, a hi-poly retractable eraser that is a lot easier to control and keep a fresh, smudge-free surface on.Twist-erase 3 is bae
Yeah, #8 and it’s not even close for me.
Agreed, I like both their mechanical pencils and pens, even if visually they are a bit too close.
5 may not be pretty, but it’s had my back in some hard times.
Dr. Grip. I love the “shake to advance” thing and the huge, squishy grip.
#2
Someone do this, but with vibrators.
“you can only write with ONE type of vibrator, ignoring diameter”
Only one?
downvotes
Am I a psychopath for preferring to use a pen, even if it means I have to cross things out every now and then?
Stay strong brethren
I also prefer pen. I only use pencil if it’s a drawing I’m likely to need to erase/revise. Not a fan of mechanicals though, using them puts my teeth on edge for some reason.
the metal scraping on ur ruler or paper is painful
This, I’ve been writing in inc brand R2s for 16 years now and I will never willingly use a different writing utensil.
Yes.
Pilot G2 has been my preferred implement since high school. Just have to be careful for smudges, but I hate the feel goopier ink like in a bic pen, so it’s a fair trade off.
I can’t reply what I want to because Id probably dox myself.
There are a few things where being sble to erase the mark is important enough for a pencil, in which case good ol’ #2 fits every need.
This is the real personality tests, fuck Myers-Briggs and astrology. I need to know your choices for stationary.
Staedtler 35-05B but I guess 3 looks closest so I’ll take that
