The Spoke Pen Kickstarter has been firing on all cylinders since launch, and just recently crossed the $75,000 mark. Mind, blown! To celebrate, I’m giving away one of our prototype Spoke Pens, the bright Purple model no less, to one lucky reader.
There are only 11 days left in the Spoke Pen campaign, so if you are interested in upgrading your Uni-ball Signo DX experience now is the time to jump in. And if you want a chance at getting one early, read the rules below and enter away!
The mechanical pencil lead reviews I’ve taken up this year are leading me down an interesting path. I want to find the best lead out there for me - and hopefully you - and so far, I’m waiting for one to jump out the pencil and grab me and say “I am the one!”
It hasn’t happened yet. And I’m wondering if I am being fair to one of the most basic products on the market. I think I am, for one reason alone: Marketing! With their marketing, manufactures are telling me that they are bringing something new, cool, and/or unique to the graphite market. And honestly, I’m buying what they are selling.
That said, the differences between the leads I’ve tested so far is minimal. I can tell a difference between each lead I’ve tested, but are those differences that great to where I can definitively recommend one over the other? So far, no. But I have a lot more to go.
The Tombow Mono Graph Lead HB 0.5 mm is the latest to get the treatment, and maybe the easiest to explain, while confusing me the most. Kind of like I am doing to you in this review.
This is a really good lead, and that is the issue I am finding. They are all really good! Unlike gel ink pens, for example, the differences between the best in show and the worst are as minute as the leads themselves. When reviewing products, it’s a lot easier for me to discuss products that are exceptional. Exceptionally good, or exceptionally bad. Mechanical pencil leads on the whole all tend to fit in a very narrow range of the review scale. I’m looking for the one that breaks out from the pack - figuratively, of course.
This one is not it, but that doesn’t make it a bad lead. In fact, I’m guessing the Tombow Mono Graph Lead is the stock lead for all Tombow mechanical pencils, which is high praise if you think about it. It has all of the characteristics to give a good first impression. It’s good enough, strong enough, and gosh darn it, people like it!
I do too, yet here I am looking for something more. I want a transformative mechanical pencil lead. That may be one of the silliest sentences I’ve written in all of my years of writing. And it may be unfair, because what’s wrong with really good?
I’m determined to get to the bottom of this. I have a good 20+ leads left to test, and maybe one of them will be the one. And if not, that’s ok too. I’m lucky to have a bunch of really good leads handy to use in my favorite mechanical pencils.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:
— Blackwing Natural: Extra Firm and Kinda Naked (Pencil Revolution)
— Moonlight of Higoshiyama – Kyo-iro (Inksnibs)
— ScriBo Feel (dapprman)
— Montblanc Swatch Tests – Part 01 (Fountain Pen Ink Art)
— Vintage Office Supplies From Phil's Stationery (Notebook Stories)
— The Venerable Pelikan 140 (The Pelikan's Perch)
— The Namiki Effect (Crónicas Estilográficas)
— review: diamine 150th anniversary blood orange (ink between the teeth)
— Review: Jinhao 51A Tiger Sandalwood (Comfortable Shoes Studio)
— Mid-Week Mini: Zebra Sarasa Clip - Vintage Colours (The Finer Point)
— A Pint in London: a new game where the quest is for the perfect tipple (It's Nice That)
— Travels with pens: Washington (UK fountain pens)
— Why I’m Obsessed with Reading Books about Writing in Notebooks | The Washington Post (The Cramped)
— Franklin-Christoph Model 20 Fountain Pen Review (Gourmet Pens)
— Sailor: Apricot (Bijou3owl Blogs)
— Ink Review: Taccia Murasaki, Ebi & Sora (Hand Over That Pen)
— Q&A With Richard Koehler, Art Director at Retro 51 (The Clicky Post)
— Notebook Review: Maruman Postcard Sketch Book (The Well-Appointed Desk)
— Professor T's Pencil Pot and more (Bleistift)
— Moleskine Pokémon Charmander Limited Edition Review (Writing at Large)
— Pilot Iroshizuku 100th Anniversary Daikoku-ten (by STALÓWKA)
Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!
