Posts filed under Mechanical Pencil

Tombow Mono Graph Grip Shaker Mechanical Pencil Review

It the most recent episode of the Pen Addict podcast, Myke and I discussed some of our favorite school supplies. This brought back a ton of memories for me, especially since it has been a VERY long time since I was in school.

My school supply heyday was the late-80’s, and while we discussed a few items from that era, we skipped over one of my primary writing tools: The mechanical pencil.

The Pentel Sharp P205 and the Pentel Quicker Clicker were my workhorses. As someone who was committed to the finest lines I could find, 0.5 mm mechanical pencils were a core option for me. I couldn’t afford the engineering pencils from the college bookstore I frequented, but I could liberate the P205 from my dad’s office (remember when office supplies were good?) And, the Quicker Clicker was inexpensive and available at the grocery store.

So, what does this lead up have to do with the Tombow Mono Graph Grip Shaker? It made me fall in love with durable plastic barrel mechanical pencils. I pick one up today, like this one, and am immediately transformed back to my teenage years.

Don’t get these pencils confused with the trash that is disposable plastic barrel mechanical pencils like the Paper Mate SharpWriter. These are quality pencils with added features that will last years if taken care of.

The feature list of the Tombow Mono Shaker is impressive. The primary feature is even in the name. This is a shaker pencil, meaning a quick flick of the wrist will extend the lead, while keeping your hand in the writing position. There is a knock as well, in this case, in the clip which can be depressed for the same effect.

Speaking of the clip, it has a locking mechanism to keep the shaker from extending the lead when getting tossed around in your backpack. On top of that, it has and extra-large, extra-wide eraser that can be twisted to be extended or stored away. Did I mention that the eraser is the best in the business? That too.

That’s a lot of stuff!

Admittedly, Tombow has confused their own market (and me) with the introduction of this pencil. At $7.25, it is close in price to the $6.00 plastic grip, plastic clip, and similarly named Tombow Mono Graph Shaker. Are the rubber grip and metal clip enough to introduce a completely different pencil? There are metallic paint jobs too, but they are awfully similar.

In the end, either of these pencils are excellent in my book. They offer more than I expect in this mechanical pencil price point, and look great to boot.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 17, 2018 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Tombow, Mechanical Pencil, Pencil Reviews.

Pilot Mogulair Mechanical Pencil Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

There are some truly fascinating features available in modern mechanical pencils. The features are cool, but the fascinating part is how they manage to make them work in such a small package.

The Pilot Mogulair falls into this category because it manages to fit an "Active Suspension" feature into a slim pencil along with a shake mechanism to advance the lead. All I can say is that I would have loved to have this pencil in school. It would made math homework more tolerable.

At the end of the day, it's still a pencil. Luckily, it handles that aspect with ease. This pencil is comfortable to use for jotting notes or calculations, sketching, writing, and anything else you might need a pencil for. The grip is smooth, but it has plenty of traction for your fingers. Due to all the fancy metal gizmos in the grip section of the pen, there's a nice weight to the pen that's focused in the grip/point area. This gives you more control when making careful lines, but since the rest of the pen is plastic, the overall weight is still fairly low.

The Active Suspension feature of this pen, branding aside, is superb. Basically, if you press down on the lead hard enough, the lead will retract into the protecting pipe to prevent breakage. Several other pencils offer a similar feature (we've written about the Zebra DelGuard several times), but I think the Pilot Mogulair has the smoothest action of the ones I've used. Unless you're writing at an extreme angle to the page, it's unlikely you'll break the lead. It just works!

Advancing the lead also has a fancy method on this pencil. Sure, you can advance the lead by clicking on the eraser cap, but it's more fun to shake the pencil a couple times. There's a small weight in the body of the pencil that causes the lead to advance by one click when it hits the mechanism. Again, it's not a new feature, but the Pilot Mogulair works beautifully. Just be careful not to shake too hard or you'll end up with broken lead pieces in the tube.

If you like your mechanical pencils to have a tiny eraser under the click cap, Pilot has you covered here. There's a tiny eraser located under the cap that can be used for emergencies. It's always best to carry a real eraser, but this will do in a pinch.

The cap that covers the eraser has a delightfully crisp click when you put the cap in place. I've found myself fiddling with it because the noise and feel of capping the eraser is so enjoyable. Hope I don't lose the cap...

When it's time to refill the lead, you do so by removing the eraser cap and the eraser to expose the lead reservoir hole.

The Pilot Mogulair is available in several colors and lead sizes. Ice Blue is featured in this review, and there's also Pink, Violet, White, Black, and Blue. Each of these colors is also available in 0.3mm and 0.5mm lead sizes.

Overall, the Mogulair is a great pencil with some futuristic features. The lead protection works great and the shake feature is a fun gimmick that also works as intended. At under $10, this pencil is a great deal.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 25, 2018 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Pilot, Mechanical Pencil, Pencil Reviews.

ystudio Mechanical Pencil Review

I’m a ystudio fanboy. You know this by now. The Brassing Fountain Pen was an instant classic the moment it was released, and they continued to expand the lineup beyond the ballpoint with great items like the Desk Pen.

The ystudio Mechanical Pencil is the most recent addition to the lineup, and, as much as it pains me to say this, it’s not their best effort.

Let’s talk about the good before I delve into what gives me pause about recommending this pencil. First off, it is stunning to look at. The hexagonal brass barrel is refined, and the copper knock sets off the design perfectly. The build is extremely refined, which is a consistent theme across the entire ystudio lineup.

The way this pencil looks is a dream scenario for Patrick Ng. It’s impossible to take a bad picture of it, and it fits into any photo setup perfectly.

As great as that sounds, we buy things to use them - at least that’s what I believe in. This is not the easiest pencil to use, especially for longer writing sessions.

The barrel is wide, which, for smaller motion writing instruments like mechanical pencils, is not a good thing. Added width means added stress if the tip isn’t correspondingly wide. This is why you see very few wide barrel mechanical pencils on the market. And when you do, like with the Pilot Dr. Grip for example, they are designed specifically to help writers with hand and grip issues, like arthritis. The wide barrel of the ystudio has no such benefits. This design would make for an excellent 2.0 mm clutch pencil.

Secondly, you cannot have a continuation of the hex barrel into the grip section of a mechanical pencil. Unless you are using the Uni-ball Kuru Toga, it is common to rotate the pencil in your hand to use the sharper edge of the graphite. When using this pencil, I often rotate my grip right on to a hex edge, which is an uncomfortable writing position. I then have to adjust a second time before continuing to write. I don’t like having to think about that every ten to twelve letters.

“But Brad, wooden pencils are often hex barrels and you don’t have a problem with them?” Correct! The difference is in the diameter. The narrower barrel of wooden pencils helps with that issue, and the hex edges are softer/more rounded. The design benefits wooden pencils, while being detrimental in the case of the wider ystudio mechanical pencil.

A quick glance around the mechanical pencil market tells you everything you need to know about good pencil design. Do any other successful pencils have a hex grip? Nope. There are lots of hex barrels - like the famous Rotring 600 - but they morph into round grips for a reason.

Two minor things worth mentioning as well: There is no clip, and no internal eraser. Neither of those things bother me, although the lack of eraser is an odd choice considering the simple knock design. It’s almost like it is asking for it, yet it’s not there.

The ystudio mechanical pencil puts on a good show. It is fantastic looking, and is a photography standout. But writing instruments are made to be used, and using this one is more challenging than most.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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