Ticonderoga Sensematic+ Mechanical Pencil?!?

[@marcberm]

I've loved these pencils for years! They have been around a very long time; at least 15 years. These newer versions in silver have refill leads inside, while the original version looked like a normal ticonderoga with a yellow body and tan/wood colored top. The only thing I find frustrating about the refillable version is that the eraser was never made replaceable in any version.

[@Terps89]

I saw these on Amazon too. Interesting. Thanks for review, Clutch

[@ClutchSituation]

You bet

[@Destroyah5000]

The modern Sensematic only comes in 0.7mm, but back before the new millennium there was a 0.5mm version. I found one secondhand by sheer luck once, and since then it's been a favorite model of mine for over a decade. The plastic clutch internals will wear over time, but since it's auto-feed it kind of works like a loose Zebra Delguard and pushes the lead back out again, making this a great pencil for putting a consistent light pressure on the page. Also, funny enough, the tip does twist off. If you want to insert any piece of lead shorter than a full stick, then you'll have to take the nose cone off and thread it through.

[@tootallslim4085]

This pencil has been around since the late 90’s, early 2000’s. It’s quite interesting how the mechanism works.

[@tootallslim4085]

They used to sell refill cartridges for this pencil with spare lead and a new eraser that you swapped out.

[@ClutchSituation]

Great info, thank you! I'm just so surprised I had never seen it. Or maybe I saw it and dismissed it in the ol' brain?

[@Calcprof]

Old school. Lead tube at top is just a place to store leads.

[@thomasafine]

I frame-by-framed it... the lead disappeared into another dimension apparently.

[@mellobunnymonster3737]

That was driving me crazy lol. I did the same thing and slowed it down and it took me watching it zoomed in to see it. Well, more hear it. It looks like he sets it down but he kept it in his hand when he picked the tube up and if you listen closely at 5:10 you can hear it fall out of his hand and hit the board then roll away a little. It must have rolled off somewhere behind one of his hands or wrists but you can def hear it fall.

[@1roze4me]

Please tell me what your tattoo says on your left arm. There is a quote from LOTR that seems similar, but I’m not sure if it’s the same.

[@ClutchSituation]

It is the same. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf. That one is my pandemic tattoo. I was aggressed pretty hard by a former employer during the pandemic and it is a reminder to me that I need not set the tone of my life to what others think of me. I can take good and positive actions without needing the approval of foolish people. Also, people that are not supportive are not entitled to my time. :)

[@1roze4me]

@@ClutchSituation Amen to that! I remember you mentioning that in a video a while ago. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that, but very happy you have moved on and now you have a terrific tattoo and reminder! That is a really nice tattoo!!

[@kamenriderblade2099]

IMO, a dedicated Eraser that is seperate of the tiny Eraser on the back of most Mechanical Pencils is essential. Those tiny erasers are "Back-Up" Erasers and should never be your Primary or Secondary Erasers in your Writing Utensils kit. And I'm a big believer in writing their home work physically and submitting it. There are TOO many ways of cheating online or with any Technological Aids. Having to physically write out their homework won't prevent online cheating, but it makes it that much harder. Especially if you can monitor your students in a test environment w/o access to Smart Device technology or the internet.

[@ClutchSituation]

To be fair, you can use technological aides to inform physically written products too. Handwriting doesn't stop them from looking something up and copying it by hand. I am endorsed in Assessment Leadership K-12. There are three primary things that any of us can do to curtail cheating: 1) Don't overwhelm with unnecessary work. People are less inclined to cheat when they view goals as manageable. 2) Write engaging assessment prompts that draw on real-world experiences. I am aided in that I am training teachers and these pre-career professionals WANT to write about how to solve problems in classrooms. 3) Write assessments that are incredibly challenging to cheat on. My university students are writing reflective essays. It is incredibly difficult to get reflection to sound genuine when we get to know our students and set out parameters that require depth and breadth. One the key problems in teaching and learning is that educators are quick to blame students for cheating, yet they tend to ignore all the ways in which they enable cheating through their classroom environments and assessment decisions.

[@adam4311]

in asia, we dont even consider using the back eraser and just treat it as a way to stop leads from falling out from the top with certain mechanical pencils as there are holes on the top of the cap. We all use a separate eraser and it is cheap as hell too. Costs like less than 1 dollar to get a pack of 3 from faber castell with one lasting up to 3-4 months before it becomes too small or break.

[@ClutchSituation]

I completely understand the logic behind it. For me, it is one more thing to keep track of.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

Those rear erasers are only good for correcting minor mistakes, like a misplaced graphical sign (accent, punctuation, etc) or a mis-written stroke in the case of Asian logographic writing. For erasing a full-on text, give me a block eraser any day of the week.

[@kamenriderblade2099]

@@DinnerForkTongue Even with that use case, I'd rather use a dedicated Eraser. It's annoying to replace the tiny stub eraser on the back when it gets worn down. It's best to never use it and use a dedicated unit.

[@bbrachman]

It would be very easy to remove the eraser from its 'ferule' and crimp another one into its place. If it is a different type (dumb drying out pink erasers) I would never use it. Damages the paper.

[@Truth72500]

Blackwing pencils are best wood pencils

[@ClutchSituation]

That's the one. I was struggling to come up with the truly "top tier" of woodcase pencils and you nailed it.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

What about Tombow?

[@samus4799]

Cap eraser.

[@tomnelson8515]

You teach college level students and they cannot come to class with a pen or pencil? Are you kidding me? Furthermore, are they not paying the University to take your class? If they do not come prepared to learn, why is that on the University? No wonder they can't pay back their student loans and go out into a workforce unprepared to compete. (PS, I am 66 years old and flabergasted at how society thinks today.)

[@ClutchSituation]

I'm talking about high school students. But even if I encountered that in college, which does happen occasionally, I would still provide them with a pencil. Because people make mistakes. Are you perfect Tom? Are you telling me you have NEVER been irresponsible? Not once? Because I call bullspit on that. How much time do you spend interacting with youth Tom? Is it in the tens of thousands of interactions? Why do you feel so compelled to crap all over young people? Engaging in deficit-thinking does not solve problems. You know that they're going to be the ones taking care of you as you age. Although, in your case, I wouldn't count on that. There are costs to generational bullying. I am willing to bet that there are common errors that you make, and ignore, that establishes a pretty strong hypocrisy for how you treat youth. People like you real really get my goat. Your thinking is just so lazy and is based upon a very straw man view of the variables involved. I'll take a Millenial or Z worker over you any day.

[@tomnelson8515]

@@ClutchSituation My premise is that Univ students should come to class prepared. My response would be to send them to the student store to buy a pencil., od tell them to re ord the lecture with their phone. Your response is to attack me personally. Once again, I am flabbergasted at how society's norms have changed.