Not shocking to anyone, I’m a real nerd. As a graphic designer with an artistic vein, I do a fair amount of sketching, scribbling, drawing and writing. Back in my first career doing field biology work, I documented all of my field data/recordings by hand with a pencil and a Rite-In-The-Rain book. Back in those days (the early 2000’s) computers were too heavy and unreliable to be hauling around in the wilderness and we were texting via T9, if texting at all.
That dependency on hand-written notes has stuck with me through the years as I’ve had numerous hard drives and memory cards fail. I also happen to have pretty decent handwriting. My go-to pencil has been some variation of Pentel, but I do enjoy hefty drafting pencils, wooden pencils, and the high school familiarity of a Bic.
Pentel P209
This is the pencil that I’ve gone back to for decades. Well, sort of; I was a 0.7mm guy for the longest time (and still am, at work) but in my personal life, aka. The Field, I have found that it’s better to have something a little more robust.
| The Good | The Meh |
| Reliable. | The eraser. |
| Solid clicks. | Pointy-end is too pointy. |
| Lightweight (9g) | Physically thin. |
Sumo Grip
I have been using Sumo Grip erasers for years. Not sure where I originally heard of them, but they’ve been fine and the name always gives me a little grin. When I saw they had a shorty pencil, I jumped on it.
| The Good | The Meh |
| Near-perfect length. | Heavier than the Pentel. (14g) |
| Precise lead feed. | |
| Good grip. |
Pilot Dr. Grip
This line of pen has been my go-to for quite some time. Outside of a Sharpie, these pens are my favorite so I naturally was excited for the pencil variation. The pencil is… fine. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it.
| The Good | The Meh |
| It’s fat. | Lead feed is much. |
| About the same length as the Sumo. | Eraser. |
| Looks fancy-ish, feels cheap-ish. |