Upon the recommendation of a family friend, I ordered a
Koh-I-Noor Rapidomatic 0.9 mm pencil. It
seemed to have many of the qualities that I appreciate in my standard and
favored pencil, the Alvin Draftmatic. It
has an elongated lead tube that allows me to see what I’m writing, fine knurling
that provides a good grip without making my fingers calloused, and a thin
barrel that is easy to hold.
I appreciated the concept of having a separate pencil for HB
lead than from 2B lead, so I could easily tell the difference in my pencil
case. (The one flaw in the Alvin
Draftmatic is that the lead indicator spins and is not useful at showing which lead
is actually in the pencil.)
I was reluctant to write my thoughts until I gave the
Rapidomatic a fair trail run, and I am glad I did. This pencil has a problem that is now driving
me crazy. I may even remove it from my
pencil case (it is that serious).
The lead advance seemed to be working fine for the first few
weeks, but after less than heavy use the lead advance mechanism within the
pencil began to fail. Pressing the lead
advance button at the top of the pencil numerous times doesn’t push much lead
through the pencil. I actually have to
grab the lead and pull it out manually with my fingers.
Koh-I-Noor, why have you broken my heart?
This pencil has a second problem, though it is less
serious. The clip was very hard to
remove. Clips on pencils may be a pet
peeve singular to me, but I really man-handled the pencil to get that clip
off. I ended up scratching the barrel as
the clip was pried off.
Getting my hands on this pencil was also really hard. Why?
Are they no longer manufactured?
Now that I think about it, and as I am writing this with the
Koh-I-Noor, my hand is starting to cramp.
I am seeing impressions from the knurling on my fingers. I am holding this pencil way too tight. This is not the experience of pencil writing
that I am looking for.
Sorry Koh-I-Noor. The
Rapidomatic can’t touch the Alvin Draftmatic as my favorite pencil.
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