Is there a Pencil equivalent to the Space Pen?

April 24, 2007 9:42 PM

Is there a Pencil equivalent to the Space Pen?

I love my Fisher Space Pen but I'm finding I need a mechanical pencil with me more and more often and I was hoping there would be a small pencil and can manage the where and tear of a pocket. Anybody have any recommendations?

The Graf von Faber-Castell Twisting Pencil looks pretty good, but there's no way I'd put that kind of money into a pencil. The closest thing I can find is the Zebra Mini Pencil which appears to be pretty good but the body looks a little thin and maybe not the easiest to hold.

Thanks!

posted by chrisWhite to shopping (13 comments total)

looks like pilot makes a series of them.
posted by jourman2 at 10:00 PM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

couple more colors and varieties.
posted by jourman2 at 10:01 PM on April 24, 2007

Gosh, I know I had something that was perfect for you back in junior high. It was red and made by Zebra. You could press down on the pocket clip and it would spring down to about half its original size. The poky part that the lead came out of disappeared into the other half of the pencil, so it didn't poke your leg. I suspect they still make something like this, but it doesn't look like their website shows any of their retractable pencils in their retracted state. You'd have to go to an office supply or stationery store to take a look and make sure it was what you wanted.

Anyway, then you'd get the pocketability, but also it would become a normal-sized pencil when you wanted to actually write anything with it.
posted by crinklebat at 10:08 PM on April 24, 2007

Most pencils will write upside down and in zero gravity.
posted by rhizome at 10:25 PM on April 24, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

I think chrisWhite is looking for mechanical pencils similar to the Telescoping Space Pen.
posted by zamboni at 10:44 PM on April 24, 2007

I really like the Lamy black/palladium pencil that I got from Joon.

I got the thick lead one (3.15 mm) and get envious comments about it all the time.

Great short pencil (just slightly longer than a closed space pen, I have one of those too :) and very durable.

It's a bit expensive, but not much more than a space pen, and a lot less than the one you mention above.
posted by freshgroundpepper at 11:15 PM on April 24, 2007

How about one of these:

Fisher Quad Pen

Ya got yer space pen and mechanical pencil right there. Any of the 4 slots can hold any of the Fisher universal (long and thin) refills, PDA stylus, mech pencil, they even an orange highlighter...
posted by scheptech at 11:44 PM on April 24, 2007

You guys rock!

Jourman2, that looks like the perfect pencil to try on a budget, I'll definitly start with it and see if I like it.

crinklebat, that sounds interesting, I've been to several office supply stores and I never saw anything like that, maybe the packaging just doesn't show it off very well but I'll keep my eyes open.

rhizome, that they due, but they just lack that permanent dark line a good pen lays down—which is also why I want to keep a pencil on hand for marking up books ;-)

Freshgroundpepper, the Joon pencil definitely looks like what I'd really like, very professional and it looks it would be great to write with. I used to be very bad about loosing things in my pocket, but I've kept my Bullet safe for almost half a year now so I think I'd feel comfortable getting something that priced. Thanks!
posted by chrisWhite at 11:46 PM on April 24, 2007

Scheptech, I've had a couple of those dual/tri/quad action pens before and all of them seemed really poor quality, I would bet Fisher is a litter better about their but I'm still a bit worried about it. If I can find one in stores love to see how solidly it's constructed.
posted by chrisWhite at 11:48 PM on April 24, 2007

Ah - Space Pen vs Pencil
posted by jkaczor at 9:27 AM on April 25, 2007

These look like they may be what you're looking for.

I haven't tried one so i'm not sure how well they write.
posted by jbroome at 10:20 AM on April 25, 2007

The Pilot is great value-for-money, though if you're looking for something a little more durable, eBay generally has vintage Conway Stewart Nippy No. 3 pencils at reasonable prices. They're more 'inside jacket pocket' than 'jeans pocket', but they're beautifully balanced things. (And even if they don't float your boat, the linked blog is worth a look for its mech-pencil reviews.)
posted by holgate at 12:03 PM on April 25, 2007

jbroome, that looks perfect, just the right price range and classy looking. I still think I'll keep the Joon on my indulgence list, but I'm definitely going to order the Tornado Elite.

holgate, those look nice, thanks for the recommendation and the blog link. Amazing what people will write about, I love (and loathe) the web. ;-)
posted by chrisWhite at 6:04 PM on April 25, 2007