it is amazing. I hope to find it someday hiding in a box (hopefully with my stack of unused checkbooks). It isn't at all like those thick ones with sliders like I think you're talking about (I remember having one that was about four time the size of a standard ballpoint and had little sliders that you slid down to extend the color -- red, blue, green or black). This one you switched the mechanism from red to black to pencil by twisting the head.