[Maverickmonk]

True Heroes do math with a fountain pen

, it makes you doublecheck as you go. And the scribbled out answers add class.
Quote:

For the past 3 years I've been writing pencil-ONLY in College, I couldn't stand using pens because I solve pretty much math and I had to use a correction tape everytime I made a mistake, so I looked for an Alternative.

 
 
That being said, I am looking for a nice mechanical pencil, aluminum body, preferably aluminum knurled grip, that will last (and not die on me). I prefer a finer line so .5mm would be preferable. The rotring 600 looks like my ticket, but even the japan production ones are in the $30 range, which is a little steeper than I'd like, I AM a college student after all. I'm trying to find the line between "buy nice or buy twice" and "flushing money down the toilet"

 

[youngngray]

Quote:

That being said, I am looking for a nice mechanical pencil, aluminum body, preferably aluminum knurled grip, that will last (and not die on me). I prefer a finer line so .5mm would be preferable. The rotring 600 looks like my ticket, but even the japan production ones are in the $30 range, which is a little steeper than I'd like, I AM a college student after all. I'm trying to find the line between "buy nice or buy twice" and "flushing money down the toilet"

 
"buy nice or buy twice" I've never heard that before, I like it!
 
Are you sure you need an aluminum body? What's your reason for that? If you can live with plastic, look for a Pentel GraphGear 500. I've got one and its a solid pencil.

 

[Maverickmonk]

I break things that are made of pllastic, and I prefer my writing utensils to have a fair amount of heft to them, it's personal preference really. I also really like the feeling of cold knurled aluminum grips

 

[TwinQY]

What a great thread.
 
Peering over the Pilot Automac and too close to comfort in terms of pulling the trigger. Just want to round up the Pilot MP collection though.
Got another set of my daily-usage MP, the 925-25 2mm, and the new one has a bit more rattle than the one I've been using for years. Easy fix as always though, strap a very thin elastic on the cap (because it's the cap rattling on the body). Changes the feel of the knock mechanism a bit, and some actually prefer the rattle though that's beyond me. So YMMV.
 
Also, death to the ink nerds, etc, etc.
(although I've been hankering for a Vanishing Point/Capless - an used and cheap one though since I'm planning to frankenstein a pencil mechanism in there. Ideally it'd be a Decimo because of the size but I doubt I'd find that).

 

[TwinQY]

I only added this to the cart since it was high up on Jetpens - http://www.jetpens.com/Autopoint-Twinpoint-Mechanical-Pencil-0.9-mm-Black-Body-Black-Red-Lead/pd/9587. Also was going to get a Uni 552 in 0.5mm but that's sold out. Oh well, more of an excuse to go for the 0.4mm and get some 0.4mm leads.
 
I'm hearing that the balance is actually okay on the Twinpoint. And of course no one uses the scrubby little erasers up top anyways, so the loss of which in lieu of the extra pencil wouldn't be a very big loss to begin with (well maybe stuff like the Twist-Erase line would be an exception). Oh this happens to be a twist mechanism as well? Most local Staples (including ours) have the Twist-Erase and it's a nice MP for sure. A bit plasticky but that's the nature of these things. What really gets me with the Autopoints though are the lead containers. Beautiful.
 
Moulded plastic, speaking of which, the older Tikky writes pretty well (not the one they make now). The weight and balance reminds me of an older Monami.
 
But what I'm really digging are triangular pencils. The Enpitsu and the 774. Fun to flick them on the desk and see if they'll flip.
 
A Newton multi-pen/pencil and maybe a Lava 0.5mm MP, and I'm guessing the big purchases will stop for the meanwhile. Just have to find a decent price.
 
And should really get to gathering all of the 925-65 color collections. Orange and Pink here I come!
 
Oh, and really not digging how the Graphlet feels. Well, the 0.9mm is a pleasantly new experience, but still. The grip just makes no sense to me.

 

[idunnosoSTFU]

Jetpens is good but the shipping cost to my country is just 

. That's the only thing stopping me from buying stuffs from them. I don't live in US.

 

[TwinQY]

Definitely I should be supporting a more local shop, since I'm not in the US I don't get the free shipping (usually $8-16, and takes a week at the most, which is pretty good for international). Last purchase though was so high up that Fedex was required.
Unfortunately not a lot of shops with the breadth that JP provides in terms of newish-pencils - CultPens/fleabay has been great for the other, more obscure stuff.

 

[idunnosoSTFU]

Are there any other awesome websites like Jetpens?

 

[attika89]

 

[TwinQY]

  Are there any other awesome websites like Jetpens?

Honestly, I've found ebay to strike the best balance for finding great pencils. Cultpens has a couple of Koh-I-Noor clutch pencils I had been eyeing months past but ebay ended up having better prices for them when shipping was factored in. Otherwise, sure I'd love new stock or NOS but when it comes to older lead holders...Another thing that ebay has going for it in terms of the market is used Rapidographs (but that gets into erky murky inks which I definitely don't want to touch on a graphite thread).
 
If you're mainly looking at the Japanese stuff, Tokyo Pen Shop and MyMaido (I've not tried the former though, but the latter does have reasonable international shipping) might work.
 
Actually I was a bit peeved while on Jetpens as I had the Nomadic WT-18s (again, not a pencil but bear with me) in beige (that I had been drooling ove) finally put into the cart and was checking out, but apparently they discontinued the beige color and I can't find any other sellers for these. Just a brilliant looking bag. Okay back to the pencils now....
 
To cheer myself up I loaded up the Jolt and Energize with a few sticks of Ain Stein F since it had been a while. Great writers. The Jolt, that and the 2-Way, just some of the better shakers (love them or hate them) around. Then I loaded up a black P205 (I know the black is classic but I typically use the white as it appeals to me more) and lo and behold the paint got scratched off from the pen cup. Painted over it but that put me back into a sour mood so had to bring out the big guns - the M-701. Ah, now that hit the spot!
 
Hopefully a TWSBI Precision (fixed, but maybe I should look into the retractable point as well?) and some Faber-Castells will be in my near future...not too near though. Funny how fast your cart lines up after a big buy, you'd think that you would learn better from the last time around and scare yourself otherwise

 

[phillyd]

Bought a pair of the pencils in this shot for $4, Very nice aluminum body.
Turns out it's a Zebra M-301

 

[TwinQY]

I just think it's such a bloody fantastic thing that the M-301 is so readily available everywhere. For what it does, how it's built, and not to mention the price - utterly fantastic.
 
Also I enjoy plastic knurling, so sometimes the M-301 ranks even higher than the M-701 (for me).
The ever so prolific Dave did not seem to enjoy them too much though. I've not the foggiest clue as to why. It's built well and the grip is not made of rubber, you'd think he would be a bit more ecstatic over them over the last point alone.
 
Does anyone know whether or not the Zebra Color Flight had been inspired/any correlation with the P20* series? Because it certainly looks like it (apart from the clip). Although apparently the lead sleeve isn't as solid. I also wouldn't know if the knock mechanism is up to par with the P20* (when not worn out, just one of the most solid feeling mechanisms around, that and the 600). Owners of either one should chime up, because I'd be interested to know!

 

[TwinQY]

(from Dave's Mechanical Pencils)
 
 
One of these days Alpha-Matic I will own you. One of these days.

 

[TwinQY]

I'm always boggled as to why more pencils take a cue from the Rotrings/Rapidomatics/Draftmatics and use that style of lead indicator - case in point: I lost the metal sleeve for the lead indicator on my 925....again.
 
Heck even the Zebra Drafix is not as loosey-goosey - the indicator has a real nice snap to it...

---

Anyways, there is/was a listing for a Pilot H2080 on ebay. They look nice. If anyone has a real well-rounded collection of older Pilot MPs, please do share...

[Picture from this blog post]

 

[phillyd]

Anyone know why Zebra M-301's are $4 for a pair in stores but $20+ each on amazon?