As title, something for everyday writing, up to say £35-40. At the moment I use cheapo plastic things from the stationary cupboard but would like something a bit “nicer”.

Let the middle-classing commence…

My favourites are my Rotring knurled 500 (metal) or my ohto super promecha

I’ve had a Pentel Graphgear for years. I’d buy another if somebody at work eventually manages to nick it (and i couldn’t work on it who the somebody was)

Goes away to google mechanical pencil

Comes back feeling let down that it’s just one of those (pen)cils. I was expecting something with cogs, maybe even a chain 🙁

Goes away to google mechanical pencil

It’s a “propelling pencil” on this side of the Atlantic.

I use my Pilot S20 every work day, plus fountain pens and my rhodia webnotebook

Proper ponce me!

OK, propelling pencil it is. Let myself down badly there.

Rotring 500 0.35

Have both these and the 800 model. The 800 brings very little more to the party for the extra outlay.

Propelling pencil or clutch pencil/lead holder? As an art teacher and stationery geek I have way too many of each.

If the former my favourite is the OHTO Promecha (love the Super Promecha too, but its fancy lead advancement adjustment thingy makes it a bit delicate if carried in a trouser pocket).

If you want a lead holder the E+M ones are lovely, but the ones I actually use the most are my Rotring 600 and Lamy (Scribble).

For something a bit less everyday, this is a beautiful drawing tool from Copic.

That Wooden one is lovely. Link to stockist please

I get most of my – erm – extensive stationery collection from Cult Pens. Always have some really cool Japanese and German stuff.

https://www.cultpens.com

I AM IN AWE

colournoise beat me to recommending Cult Pens!

I’ve got several Caran D’Ache 2.0mm ‘Fixpencil’ clutch pencils and various 0.5mm mechanical pencils but in all honesty I think for my needs a couple of 1.0mm or 0.7mm pencils in different leads would be ideal.

https://www.cultpens.com/c/q/brands/caran-dache/caran-dache-fixpencil

Is this going to be like that shaving/razor thread? The next middle aged, middle class ‘thing’?

Sweet lord colournoise, that link is a portal to a world I never knew existed 😯 behold! The land of pencils!

Kaweco or rotring

funkmasterp – Member
Sweet lord colournoise, that link is a portal to a world I never knew existed behold! The land of pencils!

It can be a bewildering, wondrous and expensive place to visit…

Get thee to the bookies

Is this going to be like that shaving/razor thread? The next middle aged, middle class ‘thing’

Well, you can try to make a ‘thing’ a writing instrument that many people have been using as part of their daily life for decades if you want, but I’ll just add a #rollseyes to it.
I’ve got a Rotring 3-in-1 pencil that has a 0.3/0.5/0.7 set-up, which I bought along with other drawing equipment with the £100 I was given by my boss when I left my job with a print and publishing company.
I still have it, and still use it, thirty-one years later. I used to have a 0.3 4H lead, a blue 0.5 and an HB 0.7, the blue was used to construct grids for artwork on CS10 artboard, because it wouldn’t photograph with lith film.
Superb writing instruments, the barrel on mine is brass with a black finish, the little clutch jaws that hold the leads are brass, it’s just a nice thing to use.
There’s another version that has ball point pens and a pencil as well.
It’s the Trio, and the pencil-only version seems not to exist, I found an eBay sale that had ended, it was over £100!

I’ve got both a Rotring 800 and a Pentel graphgear 1000.
Even though it’s about 1/3 the price I prefer the Pentel.

Thanks all, particularly colournoise – I will spend a long time browsing that place and try and buy only one!

Had a look at Rotring’s site, and the Trio pencil doesn’t appear, so I’m going to have to look after mine very carefully!

Doing ok for 30-odd years old.

Rotring trio.

Current Trio is a multipen thing – two ballpoint nibs and a 0.5mm pencil.

Not sure if you can retrofit/bodge it with 3 pencil mechanisms (doubt it).

Not sure if they are ‘THE BEST’ but 5 years in the drawing office 8 hours a day stooped over a drawing board these became the main weapon of choice for me and the overwhelming majority of colleagues:-

Just functional.

Cultpens are excellent.

For a pencil – Waterman Hemisphere – weighty, with a lovely smooth action – and some good quality lead.

I’ve had a Lamy 2000 pencil for a few years now, very nice, simple design, just about in your price range. Matches my other Lamy 2000 pens of which the four colour ballpoint is the most used.

Have a look at zebra – a little under your price bracket but they do some nice stainless steel mechanical pencils which I have used and are very reliable

I always thought my Parker Jotter propelling pencil was nice, obviously there is a whole other world out there.

I too have the…..Pentel Graphgear 1000 Drafting Pencil – 0.5 mm – £6.50 on Amazon, can’t compare it to much apart from the bottom end pencils. Nice and weighty, feels good quality 🙂

Zebra M-701 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil – 0.7mm

From here £8.90

0.7mm is much better than 0.5mm as I tend to break the latter …

Another Rotring Trio user, I bought mine back in 1994 when i was studying engineering, i thought the choice of colours would be an incentive to tidy up my notes, not a hells chance in that ever happening but i’ve still got the pen and use it daily, be quite pissed off if i ever lost it which is why it lives next to my monitor.

This is ace.
Peak Geeksville™ Granted, but ace.

Goes away to google mechanical pencil

Comes back feeling let down that it’s just one of those (pen)cils. I was expecting something with cogs, maybe even a chain

You need to get a Uni Kuru Toga in your life. Rotates the lead whilst writing so you always have a rounded point. Bloody brilliant pencil if you get the half metal one from Japan for less than £8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004OHNTVC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497681578&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=rotating+mechanical+pencil&dpPl=1&dpID=41VObxJzbBL&ref=plSrch

I have a couple of propelling pencils – rotring 800, staedtler etc but mostly use lead holders for work.
I have a couple of standard 2mm which I have a rotring rotary sharpener and a ka-we-ko but my preferred one is a Worther hexagonal lead holder – that’s what I’ve used mostly for the last 6 years for designing things. Combined with a roll of yellow trace its great for thrashing out concepts particularly with good civils engineers who can do more than just calculate pile sizes. Obviously SCL engineers are different 😉

Thanks Sniff , I’ve just gone and bought a pencil I have absolutely no use for 😀

I may just join you Kilo.

You need to get a Uni Kuru Toga in your life. Rotates the lead whilst writing so you always have a rounded point. Bloody brilliant pencil if you get the half metal one from Japan for less than £8

Upvote for Uni Kura Toga! Fantastic value. Mine is loaded with 2b’s

Is someone going to start a ‘What lead for my pencil?” sub thread…I have resisted the temptation!

deadslow – Member
Is someone going to start a ‘What lead for my pencil?” sub thread…I have resisted the temptation!

Now, there’s a question…