Best Mechanical Pencil

natenaaron said:

If you like the Mars, then get one or a bunch of Uni Mitsubishi 2mm Mechanical pencils. I have been using them almost exclusively, when I use pencils, for over a year. They have a clutch system so you just advance the lead. I had no issue with the Mars and one is still in my desk but I just keep going for the Uni. No sharpener in the cap but those just get messy. Buy a Staedtler rotary action lead pointer and you are good to go.

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I went to the link and I have to agree that is a nice looking pencil.

I ended up getting another one. I got a Staedtler model 925 25-20. In 2.0 mm. Here is a bad picture of it. I'm not good with a flash.

I had to take a better picture of my Staedtler model 925 25-20 in 2.0 mm.

The only problem with those little Uni pointers is they are little. Really little. I lost 2 and missed one in a pocket. It did not handle the wash and dry too well. They do a fine job if you are not a scatter brain like me.

LAMY Scribble for modernists, Yard-O-Led for traditionalists. Hard to beat either. Both are built to last longer than any of us will.

demerson said:

LAMY Scribble for modernists, Yard-O-Led for traditionalists. Hard to beat either. Both are built to last longer than any of us will.

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Let's see some pictures or links. I'm curious now. What size lead do they take?

I just looked up those 2 pencils. the Lamy Scribble is nice with the 3.15 diam lead. Wow, that is thick but nice. The Yard-O-Lead at $435. Wow again. That's out of my price range. but also nice.

perfaddict said:

I use only the Pentel Graphgear 1000 with .9mm lead.

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This. But I use 0.5mm lead. I like a very thin crisp line because my handwriting is normally less than ¼" tall. So huge leads make for a jumbled mess.

The GraphGear 1000 is an outstanding, durable mechanical pencil.

I use to use a Pentel with a 0.9 mm lead but when I wrote fast I would break the lead. Because of this thread I discovered the 2.0 mm pencils. I think they are great for someone like me who breaks the leads all to often.

I love the old Scriptos and Autopoints (and Parker 51s/Vacumatics and old Sheaffer MP workhorses) usu w/ 1.1 mm leads. Can still find 'em on the bay or 'in the wild' from time to time. I also (because of this thread) will start using my 2.0 lead holder if I can find it...

My all time favorite mechanical pencil was a green Parker Frontier .5mm that I used throughout college, but, alas, I lost it.

Currently I use a Zebra M-301 .5mm stainless steel pencil, which it isn't as elegant the Parker but gets the job done. I have one of those Staedtler lead holders that I used for drafting RFI's or something quick. Also Staedtler makes the best block erasers.

The best mechanical pencils are the Staedtler 925-25, Rotring 600 and Pilot S20. They are the only three I've kept and use them pretty often. For pure durability, Rotring 600 wins, but on looks, Pilot S20 is hard to beat with its wooden barrel.

A Staedtler 780 jumped into my basket at Staples today.
HB lead, 2 mm. As soon as it was in my hand i recognized the mechanism from my school days. Love this pencil already.
I am tempted to upgrade to the metal 925 but will see how much I use the 780 first.

I am jumping into this conversation late. As much as I liked drafting/mechanical pencils I have found(literally found one) a new pencil to enjoy. It is the Uni Kuru Toga. The pencil comes in different lead thicknesses up to 0.7. The nifty thing about this pencil is the mechanism in the holder, it spins the lead as you write, given you a consistent line. I also found out that Uni has designed leads to work with these pencils that are softer on the outside and harder inside.

I really like this pencil and they have several different styles and colours.