Pentel GraphGear 1000

On mechanical pencils, Adam Savage recently did a test of a bunch of mechanical pencils, particularly for shop use. I ended up getting a Pentel GraphGear 1000 in 0.3mm ($10), with retractable tip, which I keep in my notebook which I use for drawings/notes of projects I do around the house. Previously I was using a Pentel TwistErase III ($15 for 3), but I'm always paranoid about bending the point, the eraser is very nice though. https://youtu.be/hiNScN5ZR3c?si=7C_CZBk2OE9cA4Bg

I went thru something similar in my MechE bachelors… Around my sophomore year I finally found green engineering pads. I believe they were TOPS brand. At $4-$5 a piece, they were definitely much more than my k-12 $0.10 on-sale spiral notebooks & stolen printer paper. I filled up dozens of them & love them to this day. I also bought high(ish) quality laminated folders & further reinforced them with Gorilla tape. This also came after using fairly janky ones most of my life, & not being able to find anything that satisfied me once I went for something new. I still use many I made in 2017. https://imgur.com/a/e08rdBQ Got a fair amount of questions about them throughout school. The Pentel Graphgear 1000’s are an amazing writing tool, as are their Hi-Polymer block erasers. I’ve found nothing able to come close to the Pentel block erasers, and I’m surprised that Staedtler’s have not been completely laughed off the market by this point.

I love my Pentel Graphgear 1000. If note taking, I really think the way to go is .7 or .9 leads, but .5 is nice if you need fine lines. I use the .5 for woodworking, but a .7 along with a Rhodia dot paper notepad for my desk.

Gotta have a system, and it's likely you're the only one who can build one that works well for you. I started over 5y ago with a bullet journal (quad-ruled moleskine cahier notepads and a pentel graphgear 1000 mechanical pencil) which tools I still use daily and recommend. The "Tools for Thought" communities on Twitter and Discord are great resources too. For digital tools I spent a year using Roam but switched to Obsidian.md maybe 18 mo ago and love it. Obsidian's Discord is friendly and helpful, v highly recommended. Good luck!

I prefer Pentel GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencils. They're metal, carry a bunch of refill leads, fine-grained tip length control (2 clicks is perfect), and even have erasers you can extend when they start to wear down.

I practice calligraphy regularly and use a fountain pen and a mechanical pencil for all my daily notes. I used a Waterman expert for a long time till a "friend" dropped it and destroyed it. Since then, I bought a Noodlers Ahab. The company had a quirky sense of humour and with a black ink called "heart of darkness", who can resist? I bought it primarily because the nib is flexible and you can use it for pseudo Copperplate and Spencerian scripts (which I use for headings). https://www.amazon.in/Noodlers-Ahab-Flex-Nib-Fountain/dp/B00... The mechanical pencil I use is a Pentel Graphgear 1000. It's easily the Mercedes Benz of mechanical pencils. Pentel is generally good at this but the Gg 1000 takes it to the next level. It's very well balanced, comfortable to hold and has a few small features that protect the delicate parts quite well. https://www.amazon.in/Pentel-Graphgear-1000-Drafting-Pencil/...

I had a phase where I bought a ton of pens to actually find some I like so I'll list some here in no order: S-Gel Sharpie / Uni-Ball Signo 307 / G2 Pilot / Pentel RSVP 0.5-0.7mm (I get these for the office, also good balance for pen spinning) If you're into pencils these are my personal favorites: Uni Alpha Gel (shake for lead to come out, most gel cushion) / Any Rotring / Graphgear 1000 / Uni-Ball Air Micro / Zebra DelGuard

Pentel Graph Gear 1000: https://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Graph-Gear-1000-Drafting-Penc... Best mechanical pencil I've ever used. You can tell a lot of thought has been put into every aspect of its design. The Rotring 800 is similarly well-designed, but I prefer the grip of the Pentel.

Tangent: When it comes to mechanical pencils, the Pentel GraphGear 1000 is really, really good. Let alone for like $10.

Depends. Its a heavy pencil with a sharp-ish point, making it ill-suited for carrying in your pocket. I'd say the GraphGear 1000 is great as a "stay on the table" kind of mechanical pencil. But if you plan to carry it around with you all day, Pentel Kerry is far superior. GraphGear 1000 might be good for a backpack or purse though.

That looks like a very good design! When I use a pencil, I like a Twist-Erase III for most of the same reasons. But I've also found a good fountain pen to be faster and more comfortable to use than any pencil, and over the past few years pens have much improved my hand besides. I started with a Pilot Metropolitan, and will happily recommend it to anyone as an easy, inexpensive starter pen that works well, looks good, and requires an absolute minimum of fuss. (You also don't need to replace cartridges in a pen all that often - at least not in a Pilot pen, whose cartridges hold a milliliter. I just like to have a spare so I don't find myself having to grab the loaner rollerball from my satchel, and a spare for the spare in case I use the first spare and forget to replace it. I grant I may slightly overthink this, but I've been being me for long enough now to have a pretty good grasp of most failure modes, too...)