Our Picks For Filling Your Bracket

We know that Office Supplies Talk is not the first site you'll check for advice on filling out your NCAA tournament bracket this year. Except for picking all four Final Four teams in 2009 (and still losing the office pool to our warehouse manager), my record has been less than outstanding. But although we can't help you decide who will win that crucial Vanderbilt-Richmond game, we can still help you fill out your bracket by answering the most important question: which pen or pencil should you use?

Like many people, I fill out about a dozen brackets while trying to determine which one is worth entering in the office pool. This year, I tested several different writing instruments to find one ideal for picking winners. As the choice between pencil or pen is a personal decision, I tried a good sample of both.

Unfortunately, my pencil test was somewhat flawed as some of my stock are 0.7mm and some are 0.5mm. Some of the slots have very limited space, so 0.5mm is preferred. Other criteria included how well the lead disperses, the eraser erases and your hand holds up. Hand cramping must be avoided to have a deep tournament run. Otherwise you may pick BYU over Florida just because it has fewer letters.

Pentel Twist-Erase CLICK

Despite only having a 0.7mm on hand, Pentel's Twist-Erase CLICK impressed me the most. It writes well, features a latex grip for comfort and lead advances with a side click instead of through the eraser. The eraser is sturdy, effective and can be replenished with a twist at the top. Best of all, it is available in a 0.5mm to make sure you can fit "Connecticut" in that little box. Honorable mention goes to the Uni-Ball Kuru Toga, which has strong, fine lead and writes smoothly. As mentioned before, it does have a small eraser with a troublesome cap, so the indecisive should be cautious. It is, however, lighter than the Twist-Erase, so consider it if you fill out several brackets in pencil.

Pilot Precise V5 RT

For pens, the important factors were smoothness, legibility in small spaces, lack of smearing, weight and strength of schedule. While I don't normally prefer them in everyday writing, needle point pens became the clear choice for all bracketing needs. The needle point allowed detailed writing in tight spaces with no noticeable smearing. None stood out more than Pilot's Precise V5 RT, which is light and keeps your hand fresh for several brackets. Best of all, it is available with an extra fine point. While a little heavier, Pentel's EnerGel Needle Tip is worth a flier as well.

If you must know who I have winning the actual tournament, mark me down for Kansas.

B2P Pen: Made from a Bottle

Have you seen these B2P pens that Pilot makes?  You can read about them on the official Pilot B2P pen site and see a number of thier youtube commercials already available.  Sure lots of people have already talked a lot about them, but that doesn't mean I can't continue to talk about them.  Sure you already know that clear blueish plastic pen body is made from recycled plastic bottles, but there is more than meets the eye.

Red B2P Pen

The people at Pilot always want to show off their pen with the label in place because it allows you to easily identify the pen, but that label is a sticker that is pretty easy to remove.  Then you get a pen that is unlabeled and looks cool.  It hearkens back to the days of semi-translucent electronics.  Of course once you remove those few stickers you can easily see your G2 ink cartridge which means you can see how much ink is available until you need to refill it.  All the standard G2 ink refills and G2 compatible work flawlessly in this pen.

Black B2P Pen

One thing that isn't always advertised is that this pen is completely manufactured and assembled in France.  This means that you can rest assured that the people building this pen were paid a fair wage and that is is really 89% recycled and not just a counterfeit.  Before you blow your nose at the French as a bunch of frog-leg eating surrender-monkeys, remember that they totally save our collective American bacon in the Revolutionary War, and they still make some fantastic food.

Blue B2P Pen

Don't this pen is 100% sunshine and rainbows just because it is 89% recycled though.  That means there is a full 11% of this pen comes from some other sources.  To make matters worse, the G2 ink cartridge isn't even included in that 11% of unrecycled materials (they don't count it because it is replaceable).  Using some very unscientific science I'd say it is closer to 50% recycled content.  I'm not really sure what you can do with the refuse from the pen after it breaks on you.  I don't think any of it recyclable, and I know the ink refills are just supposed to be disposed with the rest of your trash.  Sure there are bigger fish to fry (like my neighbors who put all manner of recyclables in their trash cans), but this in the Internet so I'm allowed to gripe about any small thing I want.