Posts filed under Pencil Reviews

Viking Collector's Pencil Boxed Set Review

There is something about Viking’s branding that is extremely appealing to me. It’s very simple, yet striking and recognizable. But it’s not just the logo that I’m a fan of - I’m a fan of their products too.

I bought the Viking Collector's Pencil Boxed Set a couple of months ago, which followed on the heels of my purchase of the Special Edition Viking X Caran D'ache 849 Pen Set back when we visited CW Pencil Enterprise in late 2018. So, you could say I’m a fan of the classic look and excellent quality of the Viking brand.

The pencil boxed set contains 14 pencils in total, covering the core of Viking’s pencil offerings. Specifically, it contains:

2x Viking School Pencil (HB)

2x Viking Office Pencil (HB)

2x Viking Element Pencil (HB)

1x Viking Election Pencil in 2B

1x Viking Election Pencil in Red

1x Viking Double Hole Sharpener

1x Viking Black Plastic Eraser

1 each, Rollo Pencils in 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B

I’ve had experience in the past with the Skoleblyanten, aka the School Pencil, and it is a good basic offering. If we lived in Denmark, this is the pencil my kids would most likely be using day in, and day out. It is better than most basic yellow #2 pencils, but it doesn’t rate much higher than that.

The Skjoldungen, known as the Office Pencil, is a clear step up from the Skoleblyanten. While still marked as an HB, the graphite is smoother and darker, and has a deep red/burgundy barrel that reminds me of another great pencil marked for office use, the Mitsubishi 9850.

Taking it up one notch further in the main Viking lineup is the Element 1 Writing Pencil. No Danish translation needed here, but may I suggest “Bedst,” because this one is the best of the bunch. As Viking’s premium writing pencil, it should be. The core is dark and smooth, and the pencil barrel is finished in smooth matte black for a great feel. If I’m buying more of any pencils in this set, this is the one.

Two of each of the standard writing pencils are included, which should keep me busy for a while, but there is so much more to go! For starters, the Viking Rollo pencils are their artist series pencils, featuring a range of graphite cores from 2H to 8B.

I’m not as dialed into pencils as I am pens, but I felt some inconsistencies in this series. For example, as someone who likes firmer cores, the 2H seemed far too light in color. It looks more along the lines of at least a 4H. And for some reason, the 2B core felt different than any other, and was lighter in shade than the HB core. I may be picking nits though, as the rest of the pencils performed as expected, with 4B the standout among them all.

The highlight of the Viking Collector’s Boxed Set are the two Election Pencils, one with a traditional graphite core, and a second with a red core. These pencils are amazing! They both have a tiny hole drilled towards the end of the barrel for attaching to your local voting desk, or anywhere else you don’t want people to run off with your pencils. During non-voting days, they are jumbo pencils that look great and feel great. I love these so much for what they are, and what they represent.

Rounding out the set are an eraser and pencil sharpener, although I must say that the sharpener is pretty terrible. I don’t expect any small, short point sharpener to be great, but this one is barely passable. The jumbo hole for the big pencils does its job well enough, but the smaller hole for standard pencils is too inconsistent to not be frustrated with constantly. Use any sharpener besides this one for the basics.

The eraser is surprising good, although with only a few corners in use so far I think I would chew through it quickly if I were a big eraser user. It does a fine job cleaning up these Viking graphite marks.

What can I say, I love Viking’s aesthetic. And thankfully, the product is pretty good too. As a whole, their products fall into the not-quite premium, but above the basics middle-ground of pencils. That’s a good place to be in my book.

(I purchased these pencils from CW Pencil Enterprise at full retail.)

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Posted on May 11, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Viking, Pencil Reviews.

Pilot S3 Drafting Pencil 0.4 mm Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

One of the most fun stationery categories to explore the super affordable drafting pencils. I first fell into the pen addiction due to these accessible tools, and that endearment still grabs me today. A drafting pencil is a fairly utilitarian and simple tool, but I like exploring what the different brands offer in the way of their aesthetic take of these classic tools.

The Pilot S3 Drafting Pencil is a $5 mechanical pencil that comes in a variety of colors and lead sizes. To make it easier to identify each pencil's lead size, each lead size is assigned a unique color. If you have several pencils scattered across your workspace, this color coding makes it easy to grab the right pencil instead of being forced to look at the small label on the side of the pencil to determine the lead size. To lay out all the colors and sizes, here they are:

The main thing I love about the aesthetic of this pencil is the clear nature of the barrel material. There's plenty of saturated color, but the see-through quality makes it look like a piece of delicious candy. Aside from the black/gray 0.5mm version, I'm really tempted to collect all the other sizes so I can just enjoy the barrel colors in person. They're just a lot of fun!

Aside from the color of the barrel, the next most important detail is the grip and how it feels when using the pencil. In this case, the grip texture is amazing. It's a soft texture — meaning I can't feel any sharp edges — but it's still really solid between my fingers. I've had zero issues with the grip slipping while using the pencil. It's been quite a while since I've been this happy with how a pen or pencil feels in my hand. Combine the great grip feeling with the light weight of this pencil, and you've got a winning combo. I can't recommend it enough as an entry level drafting pencil for these reasons alone.

Moving around to the back of the pencil, there's a small Pilot logo along with the branding for the S-Series pencil and the lead size. There's a chrome clip that does a great job at doing clip-y things, but it's also easy to remove if you don't want it. If you do choose to remove the clip, there's a small bump on the barrel (at the very top of the grip area, toward the middle of the pen) that prevents it from rolling off when you set it down. This is a great detail for Pilot to include on such an inexpensive pencil.

The cap comes off to reveal the universally useless eraser that comes with nearly every mechanical pencil ever made. If you remove the eraser, the lead reservoir is exposed and you'll also notice that the underside of the eraser also has a lead pipe tool for clearing out debris and lead jams.

The TLDR; of this pencil is simple. If the colors/aesthetic grab you, buy it! I'm really impressed by the build quality of this pencil and the way it feels in my hand. It feels much more expensive than $5, and I've found myself reaching for it more often than my Rotring in the last few days. While it can't replace a premium drafting pencil, it's exceptional for the price and definitely worth checking out if you need to fill out a collection of utilitarian drafting pencils of various lead sizes.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on February 19, 2020 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Pilot, Mechanical Pencil, Pencil Reviews.

Uni Alpha Gel HD II Shaka Shaker Mechanical Pencil Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The more stationery products I see and use, the more I'm convinced that there is really is a specific product for every tiny use case you can imagine. In some cases, you might want the convenience of a "shake to advance" lead system in a mechanical pencil combined with the luxurious grip of the Uni Alpha series. It seems like a completely random combination at first, but I'm also glad that it exists in case someone does need this specific combination of functionality. And even if you don't care much about the nifty shaking mechanism, it's still a great mechanical pencil that features the soft Alpha grip section.

The (take a big breath for this one) Uni Alpha Gel HD II Shaka Shaker Mechanical Pencil is the exact combination I described above. At first glance, it looks like a Uni Signo with the Alpha grip. We've reviewed these gel refill cousins before, and they're fantastic for people who want a soft and gel-like cushion on the pen grip. The pencil we have here is the same concept, but with a mechanical pencil component inside. On top of that, you can also advance the lead by gently shaking the pencil.

I've used pencils like this in the past, like the Tombow Mono Graph Shaker and Pilot Mogulair, and the concept of shaking the pencil to advance the lead is quite interesting. With this feature, you can advance your pencil lead with one hand and without moving your fingers from the grip section. I can see where this can be convenient, but it's also partly a marketing gimmick to set this pencil apart from the many, many other options. That being said, it's a really well done gimmick that works great in practice.

Similar to the Tombow, you can lock the advancement mechanism on the Shaka so that it doesn't accidentally extend (and break) lead while being jostled around in a pocket or bag. To do this, you have to rethink the top button of this pencil. The top button can certainly advance the lead if you press it down about 80% of the way. One press advances roughly 1 millimeter of lead, and you can also press and hold to push the lead back into the pencil when it's time to pack up. But, if you press the top button all the way down (it feels like pressing the nock of a normal ballpoint or gel pen), it clicks and stays in place. When the top button is down, it means the shaking mechanism is disabled and won't advance lead while the pencil is in transit. It took me a few minutes to figure out how this works, but once your brain gets over the confusing aspect of how the button being down seems like the opposite of a "ready to carry" position, you're all set.

It's entertaining to picture someone furiously shaking this pencil like a dried up bottle of Wite-Out or a fresh Polaroid, but that's not the kind of effort you need to exert with the Shaka pencil. All it takes is a small flick of the wrist to extend the lead by a millimeter or so. I can easily do this without moving my elbow or shoulder, and I really appreciate how easy it is to use in this regard. Let's be real: if it required the kind of effort that I mentioned above, you're not likely to use this pencil in public.

Along with the cushy grip and unique lead advancing system, you get the usual perks of almost every mechanical pencil ever made. There's a small eraser under the top button, and you can add more lead by removing the top button and the eraser to open the lead reservoir.

If you've never tried out one of the Uni Alpha Gel grip pens, you really owe it to yourself to try one some day. It's not for everyone, but you never know until you try one.

At less than $8, the Uni Alpha Gel HD II Shaka Shaker Mechanical Pencil (seriously, who came up with this name?) is an excellent value. If you try it out and don't like it, you're only out a few bucks, and maybe someone you know will love it instead. The pencil only comes in 0.5mm lead size, and you also only have two choices of color: the white featured here, and a classy Navy with chrome hardware. It's a fun pencil that I can definitely recommend if you want a unique mechanical pencil experience for a few bucks.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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