My Staedler Mars Micro 0.5mm is getting into a bit of a sorry state. As my University research project is ramping up, I have a need for a good quality replacement, because ancient historical research means a lot of note taking. Also being a software engineer, I just love these things anyway, and I use them at work in preference to all other writing instruments.
Unhappy with the range of generally rubbish mechanical pencils available from the likes of Officeworks (where the Mars Micro is top-of-the-line), I did a bit of googling around and discovered some interesting resources, which I will share with you here:
- Dave’s Mechanical Pencils – a New Zealand guy who reviews many mechanical pencil related items.
- Mechanical Pencil Junkies – Flickr group. Pictures of mechanical pencils.
- Pencils 11 – a really serious collector of mechanical pencils.
- Pencil Box – another collector’s blog.
- Cult Pens – online retailer of pens and pencils.
I ordered three pencils off Cult Pens. I figured what the heck, and ordering 3 is ok, given I was paying £10 for shipping from the UK and we are talking around £6 for a pretty fancy pencil. Here’s what I ordered, from least fancy to most fancy:
Faber-Castell 2011 Grip in Matt Blue 0.7mm (I prefer 0.5mm but there’s no choice about the size of lead in this one).
Faber-Castell TK Fine Vario L 0.5mm.
But the pencil I decided I really lust after is the OHTO Super Promecha Pencil PM1500P… 
It’s nearly £20. Ahh well, next time.
One Comment
I’ve been using the Pentel Graphgear 1000 all week for note-taking while birding in Tassie the past week (pencil is the best for this because the notes won’t run when they get wet) and I can report this is definitely an excellent mechanical pencil for this purpose!