My Pages

▼

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Papermate Pacer Mini Mechanical Pencil

What a surprise! I was in a large stationery and office supplies store the other day and there were three new mechanical pencils on display. Three new models offered on the local market! Astonishing. Now, two of them were BICs and I’d seen them on overseas websites, but the third was a Papermate that had previously escaped my attention. I wouldn’t normally have purchased any of these new mechanical pencils, but the Papermates were very cheap, and it was such a red letter day I decided to hand over some coins and get a couple. I’m not going to review it, but here’s the Papermate Pacer Mini.

Pacer Mini with clear transparent body and coloured translucent end section/pocket clip.Papermate Mini mechanical pencilsMini eraser under the end section. Mini MinogueThe Mini is 114mm long with the sleeve retracted, and the rubber grip is 11mm diameter at its widest point.

Well anyway, at the price it was for sale at, it seems a useful little offering for the pocket or purse.

Now, I decided to take the barcode sticker off one of my Mini’s and it left a horrible sticky mess behind. I hate that, particularly because there’s no need for it. Anyway, in the past I have usually used a citrus based cleaner to remove the goo but I remembered that back at the beginning of the year ‘Anonymous’ left a comment on my Guestbook that a good quality eraser like Staedtler Mars Plastic was ideal for removing this sort of label goo. Well, they were right. It did. Nice and easy. I tried a soft PVC-Free eraser first and it wasn’t much good, but then Mars Plastic took it off no worries. I think the hardness is probably the key rather than the actual eraser material. So next time this happens to you, I recommend trying a vinyl eraser.

For ink-folk there is also the BP version, the Sport Mini, which has a reverse sort of colour scheme to the Pacer Mini, namely coloured transparent body and clear end section/pocket clip.
at

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousThursday, 01 October, 2009

    I have always wanted a quality pocket-sized mechanical pencil. They would be great for keeping in a pocket on exams day, not having to carry it in your hand or having a full size pencil resting uncomfortably in your front pants pocket. All I've been able to find were packs of cheap Bic minis, and I hate Bic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LisaSunday, 04 October, 2009

    Sweet! I wanna green one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousTuesday, 15 June, 2010

    The grip on these pencils is terrible.

    Over time they slowly "melt" and you end up with a grip that is twice and long and half as thick as it was when you bought it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousThursday, 17 June, 2010

    I keep looking for a good, inexpensive pocket/mini pencil. I have the Pentel Mini M.V.P., not bad, but the grip is a sticky rubber that attracts pocket lint. The tip is not retractable, but it's blunt enough that it hasn't been an issue. The other I have is a Pilot Dr Grip XS. It's cute and even shorter than the MVP. Retractable tip, but the grip is soft rubber, not as sticky as the MVP, but it still attracts some lint. It's also a 0.5mm and I prefer .7mm like the MVP.
    I wish there was a .7mm shorty that only costs a buck or two, made of hard plastic, no rubber grip. Normal width is good, the thin pencils for organizers are even harder to hold.

    ReplyDelete