I kinda gave up looking for this limited edition Zoom 505 because I recalled the pain of shopping and paying through various Taiwan based e-malls. Then while using the Shopee app there it was… for sale, both the 0.5 and 0.9mm. No need to pay crazy prices on Mercari!
Nothing much to add; you know the 505 and its good and bad points. It IS a pen-first design that was adapted for the capped format MP, so nothing smart like the Kerry’s ‘pass-thru’ eraser button. I do have to say, I am super stoked that they made it for 0.9mm, AND the rubber finials are properly aligned to the clip. The 505sh was made to be a thicker lead sketch pencil. It will always be, to me, more of a ‘capped Lamy scribble’ than a ‘thicker Pentel Kerry’.
I got one of those 505 in all black and with a different pocket clip shape from the era when they still had the word “Superpen” imprinted on the cap, and I have to say I like the model.
I think it is fair to say that it is indeed a direct contestant of the Pentel Kerry, but in a sense they are so different that the obvious, inevitable comparison makes little sense in the end: the Kerry is compact and light, the 505 — or at least the one I have — is bulkier and heavier, but not necessarily in a bad fashion. Also, since I never use it posted, and I rarely have my Kerry posted as well, the hassle with the cap button is partly relieved. Both end up being amazing writing tools, each one with its own quirky sides.
Some days, I feel I prefer my Tombow “Superpen” over my Kerry, also because of its full black appearance; other days it is the opposite, but never in a belligerant and vicious way; I am just happy I can choose between two very different ways to craft one’s vision of what a pencil might be, or become. What I know for sure is that carrying both would be pointless.
Which is why, ultimately, I settled on a Uni Kuru Toga Dive for my EDC.
