Saturday, March 13, 2010

Top 10 Mechanical Pencils

Best Mechanical Pencil

A lot of people visit this blog and contact me looking for recommendations for a mechanical pencil for general everyday writing and office type use, and I wanted to create a list of pencils for them to consider. The idea was to create a list, a Top 10 or something similar so they could just go straight there for a list of candidates to consider. I already have My Top 5 but that’s not quite the same sort of thing, so I decided to go down the same sort of path as the Top 10 Drafting Pencils and create a list with input from a wide variety of fellow mechanical pencil users.

So, up above you will now see Top 10 General Mechanical Pencils page. That page also explains a little about how the Top 10 were decided. I was a little surprised at the number of drafting or technical style pencils nominated by people, but I guess it shows that many drafting pencils are perfectly suitable as everyday writing pencils. I also note a general lack of ‘pocket-safety’.

While there were a great variety of pencils nominated for the Top 10, there was also a small common core. Pentel Sharp P200 was by far and away the most commonly nominated, and Pentel Sharp Kerry wasn’t far behind. Both of these were also way ahead in the final round voting.

I would like to thank all of you who participated in the creation of the Top 10, this is the first time that any of you have seen the final results. Somewhat surprisingly the whole thing was much easier than I expected, and I didn’t even have to muck around with the votes too much to ensure the correct result…now that’s a good election! Some readers may well be thinking, “Hey, I wonder why he didn’t ask me?” Umm, I wish I knew why too, but other than plain old stupidity and forgetfulness (beer) I have no excuse for the glaring omission of not asking you. Half way through the process I started thinking, “Hey, XYZ hasn’t replied yet…oooops… I didn’t invite them” but by then it was sort of too late, so I can only extend my sincere belated apologies.

Feel free comment here on the Top 10.

8 comments:

Shiki said...

Uni-Kuru Toga

Ben from Pen Collection said...

Another great pencil (if you have the funds) is the "Graf von Faber-Castell Pernambuco/Platinum Mechanical Pencil". Really fantastic to use and has the bonus of looking like a work of art!

miss.awesome.lady said...

Sorry I didn't get to help... but the next time you're creating a list, I'd be happy to help...

miss.awesome.lady said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

What? No Lamy Scribble? I am astonished, particularly in light of the tepid reviews you have given some of the MP's on this list, e.g., the Parker Jotter.

. . . Paddle Pressure

Kiwi-d said...

Yep, well thats the difference between this Top 10 and My Top 5.
My Top 5 is my personal list, the Top 10 is a committee affair.

Scribble is on My Top 5, and I and some others certainly nominated it for the Top 10, but the voters disagreed. That's democracy...maybe I should have hired the Cuban Electoral Commission to run the show :-)

miss.awesome.lady said...

LOL Dave, you practically read my mind... but then I found out I was invited.

Anonymous said...

I have worked at an engineering firm for 35 years and the Pentel P205 has been the only pencil that has always been there.