Pentel Twist-Erase III

I stopped by my neighborhood Staples store the other day to grab a pack of the Pentel Twist-Erase III mechanical pencils. They sell these in black and blue colors and in .5, .7 and .9mm lead diameters. Mine is the .5mm black. The package contains 2 Twist Erase pencils with 2 extra erasers. The model number on it says QE515BP2-K6. I’ve been trying to hold off buying one for the past couple of months now for the simple reason that it didn’t appeal visually to me. The design looks a lot like the Logo 4 pencils from Papermate.

As I start to write with it, I could tell that it felt a little out of balance. The weight of it is fine but for its weight, I would have liked it if they made the barrel a little longer. The clip and the 3mm non retractable tip are made of metal which fits perfectly in my collection. The wrap around removable clip has 3 holes on it which kind of reminds me of the papermate hearts logo. I had a little difficulty trying to clip it in my shirt pocket as you sort of have to open the clip a little bit for it to go in. Anyway, since it has the non-retractable tip, it’s not pocket safe anyways so you’d want to carry this around in your bag or pencil case.

It has a smooth rubber grip which had no ridges but it kept my fingers in place and is very comfortable when writing.

It’s a click pencil so you push the entire upper barrel to get the lead out as you write. The good thing about the eraser is that its completely inside the barrel unlike the Logo series where part of the eraser sticks out.



The twist action to use the eraser hence the model name is sadly not very smooth as I had to put a little effort in twisting the eraser out. I don’t know if it’s just because my pencil was new or what. Anyway the eraser is quite big, unlike those puny erasers on some cheap mechanical pencils. However, the eraser itself leaves a lot of residue which I personally have no problem with as long as it has a big eraser.

Adding more lead to it is the easiest part as you just smoothly and effortlessly pull the upper barrel off to get to the big lead chamber could easily fit 24 leads. Two extra leads are included with each pencil which uses the Super Hi-Polymer Lead.