[Pen/Pencil Review] Pentel Orenz 0.2mm Revisit
Welcome to National Pencil Day! In honor of it, I’m revisiting the Pentel Orenz that I reviewed in November 2015. Jimmy actually finally taught me how to use it like this year – because he bought me another one for Christmas and then I bought myself another one to “match” an OHTO Ray flash.
What I didn’t know about the 0.2mm Orenz mechanical pencils in 2015 is that you don’t use them like normal mechanical pencils – clicking out the lead a few times and writing to the sleeve. That’s what makes it break in a instant. I didn’t read all the diagrams carefully BACK THEN. Jimmy has learned a lot about Pentel pencils in the last few years, so he taught me.
With the 0.2mm Orenz pencils you click out the sleeve to it’s locking point and then just start writing. The sleeve retracts back into the body of the pencil. The sleeve retracts enough lead to write with but protects the super fine lead from breaking. You can MAYBE do one click past the tip the of the sleeve an and not have the lead snap, but I wouldn’t. The leads are nice and dark for the thinness. It does get a bit sharp. I have to be careful on some of my strokes or a snag the paper I’m writing on and almost poke holes in it. It’s better on thick paper and slicker, less rough paper. Less to snag on.
The barrel is a classic Pentel style. I bought the black barrel. There are rings etched in every narrowing circles along the grip leading to a concave point with stepped ridges down to the retractable shield letting the lead guide hold the lead secure, and the guide is rounded. There are two styles of grip – etched rings in the plastic or a knurled metal with the same rings – depending on the style.
For a mechanical pencil, it does feel good in the hand. It’s about 5.5″ long with a balanced feel. The silver metal clip feels secure and matches the eraser cap. The pencil feels light but solid, as I would expect from Pentel.
This is a pencil that has to be ordered from a retailer like JetPens. This is still a Japanese line and not yet widely available in the US.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 0.5 It works better than it should, but the packaging that says the mechanism PREVENTS breakage is accurate if you use the pencil correctly. I snapped the lead until I learned how to use it. Pencil has a learning curve.
2. Grip and feel – 1 – It’s a basic Pentel barrel. There’s a nod to a grip in the plastic barrel, but not much. The barrel is plastic with metal accents that feels good for what it is. The metal gripped barrel is better.
3. Material – 1 It’s strong quality plastic with solid metal clip and tip. The lead protection guide is where the innovations went into the pencil.
4. Overall Design – 1 – It’s solid. It’s a good design with a good mechanism – once you learn the trick. User error does not play into here.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – You have to get this online or through a retailer like JetPens. The straight plastic is running $7.00 . The metal grip ones are $15.50 (which is a bit pricy for a mechanical pencil) and it doesn’t come with extra lead – so it’s more of a specialty thing. But if you’re a connoisseur/collector it’s not that bad. But you still have to invest in lead.
4 out of 5 Bronze Pencils
