Zebra M-701 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil

The nice folks over at Zebra offered me a few items to take a look at recently, and one of them was this really cool .7mm stainless steel Zebra M-701 mechanical pencil.  I think I’ve made it clear that I’m not a big fan of writing with a pencil, so I’ll keep this focused on the pencil itself and my feelings about pencils in general.

Zebra M-701 Mechanical Pencil Clip

As I already said, this mechanical pencil is made of stainless steel, or as the Zebra product page says “Designer steel from clip to tip,” very catchy.  It isn’t just the look of the stainless steel that makes this mechanical pencil so nice, the build quality and construction are also top-notch.  There do not appear to be any gaps, ill-fitting parts, or loosely attached parts.  It feels like a very solid writing implement when you hold it in your hand.  Since we are zoomed in on the clip up there too, I thought Id mention how I really like the subtle way hat the clip has the Zebra brand name and the model name imprinted,  I hate when companies go overboard with the branding and their product looks like a giant billboard.

Zebra M-701 Stainless Steel Pencil Grip

Moving on to the grip you can see that the stainless steel body has a knurled section designed to provide lots of friction for the grip area, giving you a good deal of control while you write  Initially I was a little bit worried that this section might be a bit rough to the touch, but it definitely was not.  It is just rough enough to be grippy, but not so rough that its uncomfortable to write with .  As I was writing with the pencil I was impressed by its overall balance and weight.  Considering it is made of stainless steel, it’s not overly heavy, but it certainly has a nice hefty feel to it.  Like most other mechanical pencils, the eraser on this one is stored under a metal cap on top of the plunger that you use to advance the lead.  The plunger has a nice rigid and responsive feel when you click on it to advance the lead, and it does its job of keeping your eraser handy at all times.

Zebra M701 Writing Sample

A writing sample with a mechanical pencil isn’t as telling as when I do a writing sample with a pen because its more a reflection of the lead itself which can be changed.  Overall though the pencil wrote well, and I had no issues.  Advancing the lead with the plunger worked well, and as you can tell from the photo above, the eraser dutifully did its job when called upon.  I think that the Stainless Steel Zebra M-701 Mechanical Pencil is a very solid choice for anyone looking for something durable, sturdy, and just plain cool looking.  You can also check out the review by Brad over at The Pen Addict for his expert opinion on this great little mechanical pencil.  Thanks again to the folks at Zebra for providing this nice sample of the Zebra M-701 for review, as it was a pleasure to get to try it out.

© 2010 – 2011, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

You might also like: