That looks mega. Is that a selectable lead dial just above the grip? The rOtring is similar but the selector is at the top.
Do you find 0.9mm too fragile or not dark enough?
The "selector’ is so you can indicate what hardness lead you have loaded. The color of the hand grip rubber and the sticker on the eraser cap indicate the lead thickness.
The one weakness (literally) is that it’s only plastic between two aluminum tubes. This means the maximum leverage point is the weakest when there’s risk of bending. I’ve had two 0.5mm break from impacts/pressure to a backpack/pocket while in school. The 0.3mm has survived just fine and is my preference. I also fit 3 detailed QSO log entries stacked vertically on a single line of ruled paper, so it may not be for everyone.
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…2B or not 2B, that is the question… 
Geoff vk3sq
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The rOtring is the same. Plastic body with metal grip and clutch. So is the Mars Technico, minus the selector dial.
The prices start to climb when you move up to full metal body mechanical pencils. All depends on your use case I suppose.
EDIT: Flagship rOtring is the 800. There is an 800+ with a touch tip for tablet use. It’s not cheap though, about £70/€80 rrp.
Oddly, the rOtring 600 is the mid tier pencil and comes in various limited editions and can command £100+ depending on rarity.
HB all the way! 
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I didn’t even realize 
Of course this indicator has little utility for us mere SOTA activators. A nice and useful feature though is the possibility to retract the metal tip fully by pressing the hook.
Neither too fragile (never saw it broke) nor not black enough. It is just really good.
One drawback is the weight as it’s full metal; I don’t carry it on multi-day hikes (as I try to shave a few grams of most items in my bag).
I’m a phone logger since I started radio and I find it excellent. Soon or later I will try my first CW activation. And that’s a thing I’ve been thinking about. As a beginner in CW, sometimes I need to hear the call sign multiple times before I can decode it. On the paper it’s easy to write partial call signs and fill in the missing letters after a second round. I find this exercise very difficult on the phone. So when the day will come, I will also bring a piece of paper and a not so fancy pencil.
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Hi Ian,
try this one or another one ! a lot with a paper !
by Heinz HB9BCB
by Mario DJ2MX
Maybe you find a winner
For me using a Staedtler 2B or 3B is ok, but you know here not necessary a “Rain something” with Brexit too much expensive 
maybe From US
Don’t forget the keyer 
73, Eric
F5JKK
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Yep! Pencil and paper (or a rollerball - in preference to gel and obviously fountain so it has less opportunity to bleed or smudge) all the time.
I use an app occasionally, though get flustered with it if things get busy - no chance in hell i will use an app for CW yet. Ham RS is alright but I like the one that bloke here has made:
If I don’t use it in the field, I tend to add my QSO’s in manually later as I like that it can export logs in different formats, versus having to do it all manually in QRZ.
Side note; what happened to fruit Polo’s? Or Lemon Polo’s for that matter? And while on the subject, you can never find red Bounty’s or Topic bars any more. Disgraceful.
@M5RJC Sounds fantastic. Any chance this is open-source and perhaps on github?
Yes, the dark chocolate ones, my all time favourite! Even the blue ones are not always available near me.
(Slightly OT, but Bountys are my SOTA comfort snack / emergency energy source of choice)
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Ask the Swiss.
Over the years I found that I broke quite a few pencil leads. I’ve always struggled with handwriting and I developed a heavy handed style in order to maintain control of mark making. I am quite hard on pencil leads! I’ve tried a variety of mechanical pencils but by far my favourite is the PaperMate Non-Stop. The PaperMate Non-Stop suspends the lead in a loose spring, which provides two benefits; the lead is sprung, hence has a bit of give to prevent breakage, and, the lead is continuously adjustable so you can obtain the optimal length.
The PaperMate Non-Stop pencils are often discounted and come in various pack sizes. I have quite a number stashed away in my shack.
The older Non-Stop pencils were transparent, which aesthetically please me. My most treasured pencils are the clear orange ones, obviously! 
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I would like to, and I might in future, but it’s not release quality at the moment
I don’t want the support headaches that would come from releasing it part done
Not least it needs an import/export tool so that there are ways of getting data on and off the device other than direct to my database !
BTW it’s written in B4A (Basic4Android) - see https://www.b4x.com/b4a.html
But here are a couple of screenshots anyway
PS - a couple more features I forgot to mention
- Automatic update of callsign for UK RSL’s based on the summit country
- Callers’ names are remembered
- The green buttons are user programmable and can be used for the callsign or S2S field
- Past QSOs list which can be filtered by the current callsign
- Automatic sparse update of the SOTA summit lists based on the GPS position (it doesn’t store the worldwide list, just the associations/regions where you have been)
Cheers
Rick
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Hello,
I made my own Android app, it has what I need:
Basically
-
it generates a valid adi for SOTA Database and for my log.
-
It has a quick callsign entry
-
it sends CW N1MM style, a video
-
and much more
you can try it and of course use it, the download link
73
I ever use paper log (blank paper, 2 pencils and knife, of course) and FLE when at home or in hotel.
I’m not able to hear CW, decode it and write on a Phone at the same time with my big fingers. With a blank paper I’ve more chance to correct and write again several times the calls, then report it on a paper log.
73 de Claudio
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I made my own Android logger. It’s been working fine for 10 years.
I’m happy.