I had high hopes for the Sharpie Liquid Pencil, so I was rather elated to find my local stationery/office store carrying a small stock of these near the register. I purchased a pair of two-packs and decided to give them a try.
Perhaps my expectations were too high. I've tried writing, to varying degrees, with all four pen(cil)s and the result is the same for each of them: inconsistent ink/graphite flow. The pen itself is comfortable to hold, with a nice rubberized grip, and I was pleased with the extra erasers provided in the package (eight total, including the pair already installed in the two writing instruments). But, the ultimate purpose of a pen is to provide clean lines and steady ink flow. Based on this, I'm afraid I cannot recommend the Sharpie Liquid Pencil without reservations. The liquid graphite seems to be too thick or lumpy for the ball-point delivery system, as blobs of the stuff are continuously shed onto the page, leaving your handwriting with a "gooey" look. Plus, the flow is unsteady at best. About 75% of the time, the written line is solid and legible, but this is marred by occasional ink drop-outs, where the liquid graphite simply ceases to flow from the tip, forcing you to go back and rewrite what you've already written.
The erasability, which is arguably the primary selling point, is the real deal. The liquid graphite erases cleanly and evenly, leaving nary a trace on the page. In this respect, it is far better than the previous generation of erasable pens, which tended to leave a residue on the writing surface. I've also noticed that you don't even need to use the eraser to erase the lines. If you take your finger and rub firmly, the liquid graphite will simply flake off the page. This does require a bit of force, however, and simply brushing your hand over it during the normal course of writing will not cause accidental erasure. After about a day, the ink becomes mostly permanent and the Liquid Pencil does exactly what it claims to do in that regard.
Overall, I'm pleased that this product meets Sharpie's claims, but I'm disappointed in its writing performance. It's a mixed bag. If the cleanliness and consistency of your writing is important to you, I would suggest that you skip the Liquid Pencil. But, if the erasability is important to you or you plan on just carrying this around in your glove compartment or pocket as a tool of convenience, then perhaps you may want to give it a try. Sharpie Liquid Mechanical Pencils, 2 Mechanical Pencils (1770244)
Sharpie has come up with a great product idea: a writing implement that includes the best features of pencils, pens, and permanent markers. Unfortunately, they did not deliver on that idea. Instead, they've created a product that includes the worst features of pencils and pens.
This pencil doesn't even write well. If you press down while you're writing, it writes like a cheap ballpoint pen that ran out of ink a year ago. The pencil does erase pretty well immediately after you write with it, perhaps even better than regular pencils. But unfortunately, it erases just as well days later. Contrary to the marketing hype, this liquid pencil does not become permanent after a few days. As an added annoyance, when the writing tip is extended, the eraser-end of the pen floats loose, making it cumbersome to erase.
Save your money and use regular pencils or pens. The Sharpie Liquid Pencils I bought are now in the trash.
Disappointing ink flow and poor writing performance. This pen lacks the smoothness of either a pen or a pencil, but instead offers a somewhat gummy writing experience with poor lines. Some letters in a word will be completely unmarked by this pen. I had high hopes, but it's not worth purchasing.
You should instead find a mechanical pencil, the Staedtler Elite 9705 or the Faber-Castell Grip 1335. They are nearly identical and nearly perfect.
The Sharpie Liquid Pencil meets my expectations. I'm not having any of the clumpiness issues reported by other reviewers. The flow is consistent for the most part. I see traces of fading in the parts of my handwriting that have weaker strokes.
My primary reason for choosing the Sharpie Liquid Pencil is because I work in a call center and take down a lot of notes while I'm on the phone with customers. I prefer writing with pencils because I have an issue with most pens: they either bleed out or smear. Either way, I tend to end up with ink all over my hands after a long day of taking notes. So I figured I'd give these things a shot. I ordered from Amazon and even though I was told it wouldn't ship for a few weeks, I got an email notice the next day from Amazon saying it would ship sooner than expected. I received my two-pack within 3 business days.
After a couple of days of use, I haven't noticed any clumpiness or gunky build up. The ink (or liquid graphite) does not easily smear across the paper and there is no signs of bleeding ink. My hands are not stained by any of their liquid graphite. Erasing works like a charm. I actually think the liquid graphite erases much better than a lead pencil. The eraser is not too harsh on the paper either. The two-pack came with six extra eraser heads.
The only reason I am deducting one star is because the clicking mechinisim on the pen is very loose. This causes the pen to be noisey to write with as the top half of pen rattles around from your pen strokes. I stuck a piece of tape on it though as a quick remedy to reduce the rattling noise. I would definately like to see Sharpie address this, though...even if it's in the form of pen and cap version as opposed to a retractible pen.
I'm a Sharpie fiend - I've bought every pen and marker they've released at least once, in every color. I love their products.
Correction: I love their marker and pen products.
The Sharpie Liquid pencil was a dream come true:
-mechanical pencil that's erasable
-will become permanent after a few days (no smudging)
-I get to give more money to Sharpie
And life would have been good if this product wasn't utterly useless.
Problem 1: It's not permanent. It's well documented with a response from Sharpie here: [...]
So the permanence (whether 1 day, or 3 days, or 5 days) is a complete load. Look, I don't mind if you can erase what you wrote - the eraser could use some chemicals that break down the graphite whenever. The only thing I wanted to avoid was inadvertent smudging by hand.
Does the Sharpie Liquid Pen prevent accidental hand smudging 3 days after writing? Absolutely not. Sharpie can argue the finer points of ISO certified permanence 'til their eyes stay blue, but an errant hand swipe can still render your notes unreadable.
Problem 2: OK, so it isn't permanent. Worst case scenario it's an overpriced mechanical pencil, right? Wrong. The writing angle on this pencil is terrible. What I mean is that I use my sharpie pens at a very low (~30 degree) angle from the paper. These pencils will not drop liquid graphite onto the page for anything less than 60 degrees in my experience.
In general, to get good graphite flow you're forced into a near-upright position - dangerously close to a painful and awkward 90 degree perpendicular angle for best results. It's a roller ball system, but unlike ink roller balls this one is terrible from almost all angles.
That, and generally it won't "ink" reliably for most of the first word if you'r not immediately continuing a sentence.
tl;dr: It doesn't write as good as a pencil and it doesn't stay as good as a pen. We expected the best of both worlds, we got the worst instead.
Note to Sharpie: I'll give you another change - just perfect Liquid Pencil 2.0 and MAKE IT WORK before you release it.'
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