A while back, I won a giveaway from Derek's Pens and Pencils, and in that giveaway was this little gem. This is the Pentel QE407, and from what I have found online, it is a discontinued item from the 90s. This leads me to believe this might have come from George, at My Supply Room, but I am merely speculating at this point. Looking on eBay, it looks like this pencil typically sells for about $8.00 U.S., which is a bit steep for a plastic mechanical, but it is also not being made anymore.
There are several things that I love about this pencil, including:
- The look of the the pencil is sheer retro greatness. It has 70s styling, and the minimalistic design grabbed me as soon as I first saw it.
- The barrel holds quite a few leads. I am not a fan of replacing leads often; I spent plenty of time maintaining my fountain pens, so I don't want to mess with fragile sticks of graphite more than I need to.
- The eraser is the biggest available eraser on any mechanical pencil I have seen, except for a few other Pentel products, such as the Twist Erase line. Some of you may have seen the retractable Pentel Clic Eraser (model ZE22, et al.), and the QE407 essentially has a large portion of one of those equipped, just ready to erase all day - it is by no means an emergency eraser. I cannot bring myself to use emergency erasers because it is such a silly thing to have to buy more of.
- The size of lead on this is .7 - nearly all of my mechanical/drafting pencils are .5, so it is nice to have something a bit thicker. I actually had a pack of .7 leads in my stash (I have no idea where they came from), so it was nice to be able to put them in something. Apparently there was also a QE405 (.5mm), but that is no longer being produced either, at least according to what I have read.
(Full segment of the eraser - just twist the barrel in the middle to reveal more!)
So, while it may be fairly expensive as a discontinued item, it is comfortable, looks cool, holds a ton of lead, has a large eraser, and just plain gets the job done. The only two faults, if any, are the cost and the fixed sleeve, being that I prefer a retractable sleeve for pocket safety.
In looking for more information on this pencil, I was able to find a Pentel QE405 Fan Page, so go check it out!