In March, we looked at the Lyra Mega Liner highlighting pencil. The offerings in this category are few, but there is at least one alternative.
I just discovered that Staedtler Austria also manufacture highlighting pencils. The ones I found are packaged in a “blister pack” and are sold as “Bible Highlighters”.
The pencils are round, and finished in white with black text. The caps are dipped in a colour corresponding to the highlight colour – blue, green, yellow, and pink.
A couple of nice touches – each pencil is supplied with a protective plastic cap, and there is a sharpener included in the kit.
I tried them on a pocket Larousse French-English dictionary, and on newsprint. (The packaging specifically mentions dictionaries.) While they are definitely gentler than liquid pigment highlighters, and thus probably a better choice for finer papers, I wasn’t completely sold. The highlight looks more like a faint smudge than a “highlight” to me.
Overall, I suspect they could be useful with the right paper type, but weren’t great on the paper types I tried. They are also a standard pencil size, so sharpening should not be a problem.
PencilThings carries them (that’s where I got mine).
I went with the Lyra Megaliners after reading about them here and really love them. I often highlight smudgy pencil or ink, and besides smearing the text I’m highlighting, felt tips get dirty and then can transfer graphite or ink to other documents. Not only does the Megaliner smear less, but a couple of turns in the sharpener, and I have a clean, new tip. Considering how often I have to discard dirty felt highlighters, the Megaliners are well worth the expense.
Along with the Lyras, Pencilthings included a sample highlighter pencil called Spotlight 1330, Hemusmark from Austria. I find it too dry and the result is much smudgier (like the photos in the post). Also, it’s normal pencil size, and so I have to run the tip across most text twice to highlight it fully. The Lyra does it in one sweep.
Thanks for sharing your observations! You make a very good case for the pencil format highlighter vs. the felt tip variety.
Heh, nobody will read this but just in case they find this blog like I did:
I swear by Fluorescent Highlighter Pencils, which I purchased from Traylor Papers
http://www.traylorpapers.com/flhipe.html
They come in six colors. They cover very very well and don’t bleed. Traylor ships immediate and I think the price is reasonable for the quality of the product. At this writing, one pack is listed at $6.95 + shipping.
The lead is soft, which is an advantage when using them but a disadvantage because they need to be replaced more often than with a harder lead. As well, they are thicker than an average pencil. Once again, this is a great advantage in covering and highlighting but a disadvantage in sharpening. That said, there are large diameter pencil sharpeners available because children/teachers use them in the younger grades as do artists.
As far as use? I agree with DCC above. I have no intention of ever going back to felt highlighters.
luxlioness, we’ve looked at them in the past. They aren’t just oversized like the Ticonderoga Beginner – they require a specialized sharpener, not just a typical large diameter sharpener.
The Lyra Megaliners are excellent. If you prefer a mechnical clutch type, I recommend the 5.6 mm fluorescent leads from Levenger.com. I have tried Bexley and Kaweco and they are not great.
Combine that with a 5.6 mm clutch pencil by Standardgraph from pencilthings.com you have a great performing dry highlighter. The Levenger leads will also fit in a Koh-i-noor lead holder available from couple of sources on ebay.
I just found these a couple of weeks ago at Hobby Lobby in Lima, OH.
I’m on a quest for some good quality dry high-lighters in Toronto, Canada. I’ve been using Berol (Zap!) since my freshman year, and am using Lyra Mega Liner right now. I liked both. I have not tried Staedtler 146 nor Faber-Castell Textliner yet. I’ve located some “Bible Highlighter”, yet I’m not sure of the quality. Can anybody help me?? Main use will be on textbook, photo-copied paper etc.
Zoe, sorry for the late reply. I’ll bet you can find the Faber-Castell Textliner 1148 highlighting pencil in Toronto. I think they are very good. Good luck!
I just bought Stabilo GreenLighters here in Copenhagen. I am thrilled to bits. I don’t care how deep the colour is on the paper – from what I’ve seen of university students (in Canada), they highlight print regardless of whether the book is from the library or their own. I would want a highlighter ink to fade over time for that very reason. So I like how the pencils look on paper, their potential erasability, and I like the control I get with the fine tip.
I also love that, although Stabilo highlighters have been refillable for as long as I’ve known them, the pencils come from FSC-managed forests, so the only pollution they will leave behind is the trace metals used for the bright colours – which are present in the inks anyway.
I just tried the Staedtler dry highlighter pencils because I love and use Staedtler pencils for drawing. I am disappointed with the highlighters. I like the Sanford Dry Highlighters much better. They are softer, retractable and don’t smear the text. The Staedtler is so hard that to get good coverage if damages the printed text.
Derwent also does some highlighter pencils, anyone tried them? http://www.pencils.co.uk/products/everyday.aspx?sid=2
I am looking for Sanford highlighters or Sanford refills. Anyone know where I can find them?
Ahhhh I am constantly sharpening mine!!
They go by VERY fast, and the lead is very delicate: one has to sharpen them by hand; neither hand sharpener nor mechanical will give you a fine point (or any at all) without actually breaking the pencil…
I think I might invest in a different drylighter from now on…
Where can I find the STAEDTLER TOPSTAR DRY FLUORESCENT HIGHLIGHTER PENCIL (#126 64-4)? I need it to mark on “Bible papr.”