The highlighting pencil is one of those specialty pencils that never really worked for me – the idea is great, but the ones I’ve tried from Lyra, Staedtler, and International Arrivals had weak pigmentation, and were not very effective.
I’m very happy to report that I’ve finally found a woodcase highlighting pencil that works as well as the liquid felt tip alternatives.
Faber-Castell’s Textliner 1148 is oversize, and in Faber-Castell’s popular “Grip” format – triangular with raised “grip” dots.
Announced this year, it appears to supersede a hexagonal predecessor, even assuming the same bar code. I actually have a couple of the hexagonal variety that I never got around to trying.
Available in five colours, the lines are fluorescent and saturated, just as they should be.
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Close-up photos reveal that they leave a bit of pigment residue, the only minor flaw that I observed. They have become a standard office supply for me, and I have no trouble recommending them as a great specialty pencil.
I have a feeling these aren’t available in the U.S. Sigh. :(
They look nice. Pity they seem to crumble a little, and haven’t spotted them in the US either.
They appear to be very similar to their Staedtler counterpart (which is unavailable in the North American market – or at least is not reported on Staedtler US website)
http://www.staedtler.de/Textsurfer_dry.Staedtler?ActiveID=1196
How are these different from regular color pencils?
Memex, yes, it appears that Staedtler unsurprisingly also has an entry in this category. I haven’t come across one.
Hi Matt, the core appears to be made of fluorescent pigments. Technically, I suppose they are just a type of colour pencil.
Great poroduct.
These are being sold in Canada at Chapters (www.chapters.ca) and at fine stationery stores (like Reid’s in Calgary).
I hope they will also come out with other colours, like purple
I just grabbed some of these at Indigo; there was a sign saying they’re “easy to sharpen” but I’m just wondering, what’s the best way to sharpen these? they’re so fat and weirdly shaped, is a normal sharpener okay? or a knife? @_@ I feel so bad wasting so much pigment ^^;
Try Faber’s own suggestion for sharpening:
http://www.misterart.com/g4395/Faber-Castell-Trio-Sharpening-Box.htm
Where can I buy these in the United States? I really want to try this pencil highlighter out!
Durable. Reliabe. I really prefer these pencils to all other highlighters.
I’ve been using the predecessor for years. Got them through Levenger, Tools for Readers (they have a website) but only in 3 colors. Just ordered from Cult Pens in England. They ship to the US. Shipping was $10 for 12 pencils, but I use them so much, I feel it is worth it. I use a regular hand held sharpener with two sizes of sharpeners – available at Office Depot. I learned years ago to never use an electric sharpener on any colored pencil. The wax in the lead kills the sharpener. Also, with the hand held you don’t waste pigment since you can control the amount of point you wish to create.
Wow it’s been exactly one year since I commented here before XD
My poor pencils are shortening so I came to see if anyone’s found a good place to buy them and it looks like you have!
I’ve been sharpening mine with a knife carefully to shave off only wood, and save all the pigment (but sometimes I slip and take off a chunk XD)
It’s kind of therapeutic for me. During long lectures or studying at the library…. sometimes I look forward to using them just so I can sharpen them… :)
(I say “sharpen” but I keep them blunt, since I only take off the wood)
I love these things. I discovered them thru Levengers, and picked up additional ones when I could–they are easier to find in Central Europe. In 2003 I heard that they were being discontinued, so I cut a deal with an English supplier to special order two gross of them for me. I’ve been working my way through them, but still have 14 unopened boxes.
I’ve got the previous generation hexagonal ones–the water-based lacquer might be more ecologically sound, but I have to admit that I liked the original paint better.
The blue is almost too dark to be useful, and I only rarely use that color. I’m not too keen on the orange either, but the three traffic signal colors are perfect.
A small number of these seem to suffer from cracked crayon syndrome, but carrying a pencil sharpener around is a small price to pay to avoid bleedthrough.
I hoped to get some of these at my local stationer’s. No such luck. Thanks to Texas Mom I’ve just found them on Cult Pens, so next time I order from them, I’ll be sure to put one or two of these on the order. Which are the better colours? Yellow, green or orange?
I used to get them from levenger.com but I’ve not seen them for a while. I love these highlighting pencils! If you don’t press overly hard they do not leave bits of pigment residue as the article and comments stated. These are far better than ink highlighters and are beefy enough to fit in your hand. Durable, too, while not running out of ink in the middle of your research and note taking…