Today I’m reviewing one product in my personal collection that may actually be nearly 30 years old: the Pentel PD345 “Quicker Clicker” mechanical pencil. Those of us who came of age in the early to mid-1990s might remember this mechanical pencil as “the one with the clicker on the side that holds a ton of lead.” I constantly had two or three of these in rotation throughout my middle and high school years, and one of them seems to have survived in the back of a desk drawer. I got curious: Was this pencil still available, and was the modern version as good as the vintage?
My early 1990s-vintage Quicker Clicker (center) alongside two modern versions, which still have their plastic eraser caps. I lost the original cap long ago.
I happily discovered that you can still get the Pentel PD345 today, with the design mostly unchanged. The aspect of this pencil that I always appreciated was that it seems to be made for actual writing, as opposed to drafting or engineering like many knurled metal mechanical pencils. The “Quicker Clicker” features a round barrel with a convex grip section coated in soft rubber. Despite the tendency for the grip to accumulate lint and other backpack detritus, and get kind of grungy over time, this pencil was insanely comfortable to use for long stretches, making it a go-to for test-taking and essay writing. I distinctly recall never having to refill this thing, and true to form, when I pulled the eraser from the original pen nearly a dozen leads fell out the back, all still intact.
Unfortunately the texture on the modern version of the Quicker Clicker probably makes it more likely to accumulate dirt, lint, etc, though it might be fairly easy to clean with compressed air.
If there is one drawback with the Quicker Clicker, it’s that you have to rotate the pencil if you’re interested in keeping a uniform point on the lead, and the placement of the plastic lever on the grip may make this uncomfortable for some people. For that reason, I’m not sure it will ever replace the Uni Kuru-Toga as my go-to inexpensive mechanical pencil recommendation, but hey, some things still get points for nostalgia, and anything that’s managed to hang around in my desk for 25-30 years isn’t going to be replaced altogether.
Takeaways and Where To Buy
Few items have had as much staying power in my collection as the Pentel Quicker Clicker, and at $8 for a pack of two (or $40 for a box of 12?!?), its hard to argue that this mechanical pencil isn’t a great deal. It’s a solid Amazon or big box stationery purchase, and with the enormous lead capacity and comfortable grip, one of the relatively few mechanical pencils on the market actually intended for writing.
I purchased the pencil featured in this review from Amazon, with my own funds, for my own personal use. Last time I checked, you could still find this pencil at Staples, Office Depot, Target, etc., though Amazon seems to have the best pricing, especially if you’re looking to acquire a good, inexpensive mechanical pencil in bulk.
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