Last month’s look at the Faber-Castell Textliner pencils elicited a response from a reader in the Netherlands, who asked me to compare them with Stabilo’s new GREENlighter products. Fortunately, the request was accompanied by a set of the pencils!
The modest packaging is appealing. A cutout reveals three highlighting pencils, and the text indicates the pencils are FSC certified, with the cardboard package made from 80% recycled paper. The FSC Chain of Custody number is also listed. I tried to look it up – it is held by Stabilo’s Czech branch and covers the purchase and sale of slats, and the production and sale of pencils, in cedar, basswood, Weymouth pine, and jelutong. Does jelutong (a rainforest species) grow in central Europe? I don’t think so. This “Chain of Custody” could be more transparent.
So the product – they are 12cm (70% the length of a typical pencil) oversize triangular highlighting pencils in yellow, pink, and green. The presentation and ergonomics are fantastic. They remind me very much of the Lyra Ferby.
As to highlighting – the results vary by colour. On index cards and a trade paperback, the green and pink had the general issues associated with this pencil category – faint marking, even scratchiness. The yellow was excellent – rich and saturated. Side by side with the Faber-Castell textliner, I noticed that the Stabilo didn’t crumble, another plus.
So the yellow is a winner – but the other colours are a disappointment.
If possible to obtain, check these:
https://obchod.activa.cz/product/koh-i-noor-dry-highlighter-20456/
The Koh-I-Noor Astras, though slim in pencil width have a nice highlighting ability and smooth marking (colouring almost on par with Faber-Castell’s, almost as smooth in terms of pressing, a bit more crombling) and ridiculously low prices – I got a set of 6 for 1.33 Eu, while a single Faber-Castell dry highlighter costs 1.20 Eu in the same bookstore.
How can I purchase the yellow Stabilo Greenlighter pencils to try them out? The link goes somewhere else.
I saw some of these today in a stationers’ in SW England. Unfortunately I did not have enough cash on me to buy one but next time I will get one in yellow.
I finally managed to buy some today. Based on your review, I bought three of the yellow Greenlighters. I’ve only used one a few times but found it to be very nice indeed, though I had to press quite hard on the paper to get a good layer of yellow highlighting.
The Greenlighter is a rarity in English stationery shops and quite hard to find unless you order via the internet. I’ll get more of them if this trial works.