“Made of wood.” “Pre-sharpened.” If those were the only selling points, one would really have to wonder. But these pencils come from Staedtler, so the expectations are higher.
The Rally seems to come from an alternate Staedtler universe, with different centres of production. I’m not sure if the two versions represent different generations or not.
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There is also a “Cadet”, which is available online.
The Rally is mentioned by Staedtler at their website. My guess is that it is a discount school pencil meant to compete with other discount school pencils.
Have you used or seen this pencil?
I’ve never used them but I’ve seen them at Office Depot (in Downtown Chicago).
I have the cadets, and they are a good pencil. I think the General Pencils, and Cal cedar pencils write darker, and are better. I will give the cadet pencils high marks for good looks.
I remember trying to get my hands on some of these after reading about them previously. Thanks for the pictures. What do you think about these? Are they any good?
I’ve got some of the Rallys, and they seem fine. I agree with Eric’s comments that Rally lead is generally a bit lighter than most, including Ticonderogas and similar pencils.
I remember the cadets from college. I always found that they fell into the light and scratchy category of HBs. I prefered just spending the little extra and getting the Mars Lumograph. I remember thinking these weren’t worth the $1.50 per pencil I was charged. That might have been the store overcharging though.
I saw the Rally dozens last week and passed them up — and immediately regretted it. The price was nice ($2.99 USD), and I like the colors a lot.
All, thank you for comments. I agree with the consensus – the Cadet/Rally is relatively scratchy.
The pencils are about one sixth the price of the Mars Lumograph, so to be fair they should be considered a budget pencil.
Does anybody know if the Staedtler Norica writes just as scratchy as the Rally? Both those brands are budget offerings from Staedtler. Just curious..
Really? Then it was the store over charging. They had cadets at $1.50 and the Lumograph at $2.00 per pencil. But then again they would charge $200 for text books that were $75 on amazon so I guess I shouldnt be surprised. Still you can understand why I would go with the Lumograph in those circumstances. an extra 50 cents for a much better pencil? I’m guessing I may have judged it a bit more harshly than I would have had it been sold in its proper price range.
I used these on a mock AP test for Psychology last year. It was OK, (for filling in scantron bubbles) but the eraser was shameful, to say the least.
I’ve also seen them in the package to the right at Office Depot (in Colorado). I almost bought them, but then realized that I have enough pencils for 20 people… I keep adding however.
I keep wanting to like them, but they’re kind of nothing, scratchy – as noted – although I like that at times. They just aren’t very black and for as often as I return and keep trying them: they leave me cold.
I like the Rally pencils made in Thailand. They sharpen well, write well and the lead doesn’t break as easily as the cheaper pencils, whether made in the USA or China.
Just got some Rally pencils last week (2/2/13) – $2.50 for a dozen at a branch of University (of Washington) Bookstore in Seattle. Happy to grab them and try them. They seem scratchy at first but then smooth out, but the erasers are really awful. I like the blue and white stripes a lot though.
We’ll just for the record I found a Rally pencil in a load of scrap metal at a junkyard
I picked it up because it was in one piece and still had a point on it
It fell out of the trunk of a car that had been wrecked
That was on Saturday afternoon
On Sunday I needed to mark a piece of plywood for a little trim and I remembered the pencil
It was still stashed in a tool bucket on the truck
So I used it
Normally it’s not a big deal or even noteworthy to use a pencil to mark a line but for some reason this pencil came across like a laser, drew beautifully and had nice balance
I might buy a pack to try out cause the lead seems to wanna write on practically anything
Very aggressive little marking tool
Who would have guessed