My Top 5, or Top 10...well really it’s my Top Twenty-Five Mechanical Pencils, because it’s my top five from each of my five different price ranges. It was mighty hard to prune the Low Price Range list down to just five and there are some serious injustices, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Obviously my choices will change over time, and every time I review a pencil I will now have to ask myself – Does this one make it into the Top Five? Each Top Five are listed in no particular order. Well that’s not totally true because they are generally in the order that they sprang to mind when I first wrote the list. Some of the Top Five didn’t get fantastic reviews, but they pass the most important criteria for getting into the Top Five – if I was starting from scratch and could only buy five pencils, would it be one of them?
Economy Price Range Mechanical Pencils (US $0 – 3)
Pentel Energize PL77
Pentel Technica-X PW45
Staedtler Graphite 777
Pentel Techniclic PD105T
Staedtler Triplus Micro 774
Low Price Range Mechanical Pencils (US $3 – 15)
Pilot Vanishing Point H1005
Pentel Smash Q1005
Tombow Oceanic
Pentel Graphgear 1000
Pentel Flex Fit II PW35 (Now there’s a surprise)
Notes:-
1: August 2009 - Pentel Sharp P205 removed and replaced by Pentel Smash Q1005. The P205 remains highly recommended.
Medium Price Range Mechanical Pencils (US $15 – 50)
Pentel Sharp Kerry P1035
Lamy Scribble
Rotring Side Knock
Staedtler 925 25
Pentel Accugraph PG1505AD
Notes:-
1: November 2010 - Ohto Tasche removed and replaced by Rotring Side Knock. The Ohto Tasche remains highly recommended.
High Price Range Mechanical Pencils (US $50 – 150)
Caran d’Ache Ecridor
Lamy 2000
Rotring Trio 357
Rotring Newton Trio
Parafernalia Revolution (Another surprise)
Stratospheric Price Range Mechanical Pencils (US $150+)
Caran d’Ache Varius Ivanhoe
Yard-O-Led Deco 34
Porsche Design P3130 Micado
Delta Dolcevita Medium
Parker Duofold Pinstripe
Link to List of All Reviews
SOME RULES: Only mechanical pencils that have featured on my blog are eligible for the Top Five. Featured means a review or short article. This will hopefully encourage me to review pencils that I like in the hope they will make the Top Five. Vintage and discontinued pencils are eligible, as are multi-pens that include a pencil. Of course price ranges may change over time, particularly if a pencil is discontinued or vintage – the price range listed is my estimate at the time of entry to the Top Five. Also this is a list of the Top Five for a collection, so I am giving some thought to including variety, to having a representative range of mechanical pencil types and styles. Its not the Top Five draughting pencils, or Top Five writing pencils, or...it's the Top Five in general trying to keep some sort of overall balance. But this doesn't mean that I'm deliberately including unworthy pencils just to be representative, just that its something I keep in mind. My Top Five draughting pencil list would absolutely be different to my Top Five writing pencils to my Top Five unusual designs to my Top Five....etc.
Finally, since there can be only ONE, and that’s the Pentel SG65 / Excalibur, it is excluded from the list.