Papermate Logo 4

I go to art stores a couple of times a month to check out their stock of mechanical pencils. Most of their inventories are usually relatively cheap in the less than 10 dollar price range. There are a couple of those stores in my neighborhood within walking distance and I usually go there when I get a chance. A month ago, I had some time to visit one and check out their stock.

Besides the Alvin Draft/Matic, and Papermate Technician, they also have the Papermate Logo 4 and Logo 2 in stock. I originally bought the Logo 2 on my first visit and then bought the Logo 4 on my second visit. I initially thought that I would only want the Logo 2 because of similarity in the design. However after writing with it, I decided that I need to buy the Logo 4 just because I felt something was lacking. And that something is a good rubber grip. The Logo 4 has a good 1 and 3/8 inches long contoured rubber grip that’s very effective when writing. This pencil has a good length for its weight which I felt was a good balance. I wrote with this for a long time and I must say that it is very comfortable. Now if they only made the rubber a little softer.

It has a black plastic at the tip of the metal pocket clip. This makes pocketing the pencil easier and smoother. The metal tip is also retractable by clicking on the top barrel and then pushing the pencil down on a surface. This makes it a pocket safe model. The tip is shaped like a ballpen unlike some that are needle shaped.

The eraser is inside the upper barrel that comes out through a simple twist of the barrel. Its very smooth and I’m very impressed with how much eraser it holds. My only complaint with it is that a piece of the eraser sort of sticks out of the barrel so if you’re doing field work and your fingers are dirty, then that dirt transfers to your eraser as you click the lead out.

You pull the upper barrel to reveal the lead chamber which holds only a couple of leads. My opinion on this is that they should have made it a little bigger to fit more leads.

And there you have it folks, a very good writing instrument worthy of any mechanical pencil collection. Get yours now.

Rotring Tikky

This is the third one I bought and added to my collection. By this time, I was already hooked on collecting. I searched eBay looking for similar black mechanical pencils. Then I remembered that in college in the Philippines there were 2 popular brands when it comes to drawing pencils: Staedtler and Rotring. Each was packaged in a college set with 3 Technical Pens, an eraser and ink. The Staedtler Micro pencil was easily recognizable with its blue color while the Rotring Tikky had the familiar brown color with the wave grip. I didn't like the wave grip on the Tikky since it felt like it would hurt your fingers the longer you use it so I opted to buy and use Staedtler for my college drawing classes. My friend Jonathan and I bought our Staedtler College sets at Pecton Mercantile in New Manila. Along with the purchase, they gave us free T-Shirts. So, I searched Ebay and found the Tikky sold in black. I quickly made my purchase for only $3.00. Since its made for drafting, the Tikky had a fixed sleeve. The grip had the familiar wave design and as I expected, it wasn't very comfortable for longer writing since I am a heavy gripper. Like most of drafting MP's, the metal cap is clicked to advance the lead and also hides the small eraser underneath. However, I must say that this is one classic pencil that is a must have in any MP collection.