Copy cats

I never thought that I will see pencil rip offs but it seems that there are quite a lot on the market.

I am trying to understand this market. What is the reason, well you get the same look a lower price. There are expensive products for which it makes sense to me to make a copy but why would you copy the design of a 3 - 4$ product? Could it be that they are just lazy?

Here are a few of the culprits

Rotring Tikky III vs Daco:

Between the two the differences are minor. The lack of the red ring and a grip that is more rhomboid shaped is all the visual difference Daco made to the visual aspect of the Rotring Tikky III

Rotring 600 vs Daco Metalix:

and again Rotring vs Daco, red vs black.

Pentel P205 vs Forpus Aztec vs Bic Criterium

or maybe Bic Criterium, ish. The cap is missing, Bic uses an eraser that looks similar to the Faber Castell 1345, so this is a mixed cat.

Pilot H327 vs Ico

With shame, I have to say this one I actually own. This 0.5 $ mechanical pencil made me think about this post.

If you have other copy cats in mind let me know in the comments.

"Paul" sketch with Pentel Graphgear 500

A new mechanical pencil spot in the movie "Paul". An older movie with Simon Peg where Graeme Willy (played by Simon) is trying to help the alien with the name Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) to escape from earth.

While in the RV, Willy is drawing a sketch of Paul, using a mechanical pencil.

Even though the image is not very clear I think it is safe to say that Willy is using a Pentel Graphgear 500

Not very clear but if you zoom enough you see that the cap and clip are metal while the barrel is not. Also at very close inspection the clip attaches to the barrel leaving a small gap in the back

The tip is "technical" with long sleeve and a knurled grip

This last picture is where you can see the entire pencil. Again with high magnification, it is more clear that the mechanical pencil used by Simon Pegg is a Pentel.

It seems that Pentel's are pretty used in movies (see the Doctor Who seen on screen post)

Port Royal board game

As you could see from the recent posts, board games are receiving more interest from me. Just before Christmas I bought the game, a great period for having family/friends over, eat snacks and a looot of food, drink soda and everything alcoholic and have some fun.
I was in doubt if I should purchase this game, as it did not appear to be very fun or addictive from the game plays I found on youtube. I bought it as it got good reviews from everybody and high scores.
After buying it and playing a few rounds of the game I have to say it is a great card game. A lot of fun. Even those that were very skeptic at the beginning, after just a round, the Russian roulette style card turning game offered instant fun and thrills.
Let's play just one more round. In conclusion, everyone had a lot of fun playing the game.

The game is a bunch of cards with different icons characters or ships. At the same time, the cards have two rolls when they are face up they are used according to the picture on them when face down they are used as gold coins. The goal is to gather victory points either by completing quests or by collecting character cards that have victory points.
I recommend this game even after half a year since I own it. It is an easy fun game for everybody.


Related posts:
1. Secret Hitler board game DIY (a game that you can print at home and have a lot of fun, "mafia style game")
2. Party games, cheap and fun (3 short and fun games, 2 can be played with a standard deck of cards, the third dice rolling game)

Mechanical pencil lead

When I buy lead for my mechanical pencils I just get Rotring. Why? Because I am a Rotring fan and second because is widely available where I live. The most common brands are Rotring and Faber Castell. And because when it comes to products for me Rotring tops Faber Castell I just go with the first choice.

But I am curious what is the difference between products. I used in the old days other unknown brands, and the big difference that was very easy to see was the fact that cheaper brands offered brittle lead, that would break with a small amount of force.

So I am curious how will a lead produce or branded by a reputable company stand against a cheap no name.

So I rounded up HB and 2B lead that I have laying around.

Rotring HB, 2B

UNI HB

Faber Castell HB

Koh I Noor 2B

No name brands Micro 2B, Daco 2B, Turbo 2B

The first difference you see is the price. While Rotring, Faber Castell and UNI are priced similar at around 0.8 euro for pack of 12 x 60 mm leads, the no names are around 0.25 euro for a pack of 20 x 60 mm. Even though the value is negligible the price difference is high.

So what do you get for more money?

First and most important is consistency. The cheaper brands Mirco in particular was  CRAP. It managed to take a part out of my beloved Rotring Tikky III 0.5 mm. The thickness was larger and clogged the pencil. Luckily I have a Staedtler Mars Micro that comes with a metal pin for clearing jams. The jam was big that I needed pliers to push the lead out. While I managed to get rid of the jam I also got rid of a rubber ring that sits inside the sleeve that has the role of guiding and keeping the lead snug.

I have to say that I did not had any clogs in the last 10 years or so. Even Rotring removed the unclogging pin since the second iteration of the Rotring Tikky because things like this just don’t happen any more.

Ok let’s get passed this unpleasant experience.

First thing you look in a pencil is the line it puts down. How visible it is, how resistant to smudging is, and does it erase easy or it lets an ugly smudge.

The UNI HB lead offered a less darker line, while Rotring HB and 2B offered similar darkness line (but I felt the 2B to be smoother while writing).

Faber Castell HB was somewhere between the Rotring and the UNI. The Koh I Noor puts down the darkest line. All the no brand names offer decent to good lines.

In a smudging test several finger passes over the paper Rotring performed the worse, the line is almost gone, while surprisingly the 2B Koh I Noor offered the best result. Water smudging same result.

Eraser tests: Rotring Tikky, Faber Castell Dust Free, Faber Castell PVC Free, Stabilo Supereme

The leads did not put too much resistance to erasing. The best results: Rotring followed by Faber Castell and UNI. The worst Koh I Noor.

All the no name brands have brittle leads, that break more easily under pressure. But it should not be a big deal if you have a light hand.

The result for best everyday writing lead are

HB:

1 UNI

2 Faber Castell

3 Rotring

2B:

1 Koh I Noor

2 Rotring

3 No name brand Turbo

The best performing eraser

1 Faber Castell Dust Free - good eraser and not so much debree

2 Rotring Tikky

3 Stabilo Supreme