Despite the fact that they are increasingly archaic — or maybe because of it? — we’re always on the lookout for great pencils here at Giz. So we were excited to discover that a far less expensive facsimile of one of our all-time-favourites is enjoying a quiet popularity on Amazon.
Back in April, we wrote about Rotring’s fantastic — and fantastically expensive — 800+, a heavy brass hexagonal mechanical pencil that the German company recently updated with a stylus-ready tip. Unfortunately, the 800+ runs a steep $US95. But as Gearculture points out helpfully today, Monteverde now makes a more reasonable simulacrum of the 800+ called the One Touch Stylus Tool. In fact, it does more, with hidden screwdriver heads (regular and phillips) and a multi-unit ruler (the pen version has a built-in level, above). And it costs just a third of our beloved 800+. If you’re a fan of gratuitously expensive writing utensils, you’re welcome. [Amazon]