Whats Your Choice Of Mechanical Pencil?

[mrcharlie]

The rotating led feature is revolutionary.

 

Bad jokes that make me grin.

[Dillo]

Hi Dillon, good to see you're still here. You once modified a Lamy 2000 nib for me (still use it today!).

I never heard of the Pilot DelFul. I tend to avoid all plastic mechanical pencils. Do you know the Uni Kuru Toga? Amazing MP. They have all plastic versions as well as metal. The rotating led feature is revolutionary.

 

Yes, good to see you here too. I come in here only occasionally. Good to hear that the Lamy 2000 is working out well for you! I do have two Kuru Toga pencils actually, a 0.3 mm one from when they were still made in Japan and a 0.5 mm one. I used to have three, but I sold the high grade version. I didn't like the metal much. It doesn't seem that I have a picture of my two Kuru Toga pencils side by side, but you can see one here:

 

 

 

and the other here:

 

 

As you see, I rather like the all plastic, so those were the ones I ended up keeping. I also have two Uni alpha gel slims which are 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm as well. I tend to get things I like in pairs.

 

Dillon

Edited May 29, 2016 by Dillo

[tragique]

These days I mainly use my Pilot S20. Amazing pencil and I love the wooden barrel.

 

I also use a Rotring 600 and Staedtler 925-25, but they get less and less use.

[Tasmith]

These days I mainly use my Pilot S20. Amazing pencil and I love the wooden barrel.

 

I also use a Rotring 600 and Staedtler 925-25, but they get less and less use.

Same here. I got the S20 a few months ago. The shape and weight are just perfect for me. My Rotring 500 and 600 remain pretty much unused now.

[MYU]

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/Pilot_VP_MP_all-steel_01.jpg

 

Well, I won it (auction on Yahoo Japan). I should have it in a couple of weeks. Very eager to see if these Pilot vanishing point mechanical pencils are all that they are cracked up to be. Some of the lesser models have sold between $150~$200+, but I have no idea how well regarded this one is. I wouldn't mind the H-3005 model, but it bidding competition is always so feverish, driving prices to ridiculous levels.

[Dillo]

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/Pilot_VP_MP_all-steel_01.jpg

 

Well, I won it (auction on Yahoo Japan). I should have it in a couple of weeks. Very eager to see if these Pilot vanishing point mechanical pencils are all that they are cracked up to be. Some of the lesser models have sold between $150~$200+, but I have no idea how well regarded this one is. I wouldn't mind the H-3005 model, but it bidding competition is always so feverish, driving prices to ridiculous levels.

 

 

That's a lovely pencil. I used to have an H-3003 actually, and there were things I really liked about it. The metal grip, because Pilot uses stainless steel, wasn't so bad at all. I have problems wearing the chrome or nickel plating off grips. My Pentel Graphgear 1000 lost the plating on the grip section and on parts of the body. They simply wore off. I also wore the nickel off my Staedtler pencils and leadholder grips. With the stainless steel grips, I don't seem to have this problem at all. That aside, I didn't like how the mechanism puts out such long lead stubs. Basically it wasn't the most efficient with lead, and that drove me crazy. Pilot pencils such as the S3, Dr. Grip G-spec, Symmetry, Super Grip, G2, and others have very short lead stubs. They use most of the leads. Even the Pilot Del Ful, which is another Pilot double knock pencil, puts out very short lead stubs. My Pilot H-3003 pencil being 0.3 mm, this was kind of significant because it would waste so much lead, and 0.3 mm leads are expensive. I would take the used lead stubs out of my H-3003 and put them in my Pilot Airblanc pencil to finish them off. With the Airblanc, I could finish up half of the lead stub before finally having to get rid of it.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Dillo

[MYU]

^ Yes, I hear you about the lead advancing. My small Pilot mechanical pencils are conservative and extend lead "just right" for me. It would be a bit disappointing if this VP MP ends up being wasteful. It's 0.5mm, so lead cost isn't as high as 0.3mm.

 

Rotring is fairly good with lead advancing although I have seen some variations in the length. One can always "hold and push" to glide the lead back inside if it comes out too far.

 

Do any of those highly adjustable OHTO mechanical pencils have a lead advancement adjust as well? That would be pretty cool!

[Dillo]

^ Yes, I hear you about the lead advancing. My small Pilot mechanical pencils are conservative and extend lead "just right" for me. It would be a bit disappointing if this VP MP ends up being wasteful. It's 0.5mm, so lead cost isn't as high as 0.3mm.

 

Rotring is fairly good with lead advancing although I have seen some variations in the length. One can always "hold and push" to glide the lead back inside if it comes out too far.

 

Do any of those highly adjustable OHTO mechanical pencils have a lead advancement adjust as well? That would be pretty cool!

 

 

Ah, I meant the waste lead stubs once the lead is past the point where the clutch in the pencil can grip it. The H-3003 I had put out quite long waste lead stubs. Once it couldn't grip the leads any longer, I would drop it in my Pilot Airblanc which would be able to use half of that stub before it would not grip it any longer.

 

Pilot has two different lead advance lengths depending on the intended use of the pencil. If the pencil was made for writing (usually with a conical or retracting lead sleeve) like the Pilot Dr. Grip G-Spec, Pilot Delful, Pilot Symmetry, Pilot Airblanc, and Pilot Super Grip, the pen will extend the lead somewhat longer with each click. If the pencil was intended for drafting (usually with a tubular 4 mm fixed (at least when the point is extended) lead sleeve) like the H-3003, H-3005, S3, S10, and others, it will not put out as much lead with each click. One thing I have liked about the Pilot pencils is that they are consistent. One click will always get you the same amount of lead. Whether it is a writing pencil that puts out more lead per click or a drafting pencil that puts out less lead per click.

 

Also of interest is that the name that I found that they called the H-3003 in the catalogue was technically the Pilot Holder. At least in Japan.

 

Dillon

Edited June 3, 2016 by Dillo

[MYU]

^ Ah, now I got you. My mind was stuck on the advance/click mechanism, but now I see your point about the smallest usable length, or "stub". For most of the Pilot pencils I have, it looks like the lead grip is very close to the tip. I'll have to do some testing to see how short the stub can go before it won't hold. I think part of it must also depend upon the support sleeve. On my small Pilot MP's, the sleeve is short. On my newly acquired Rotring 800, it's quite long... so I expect it will leave behind longer stubs.

Edited June 4, 2016 by MYU

[flipper_gv]

I don't have as much experience with quality mechanical pencils as with fountain pens, but I only use my trusty Rotring 600 0.5mm. It writes very well, it has great balance to it and a nice grip. But, it's a bit on the thin side, but I got used to it.

[pensuponpens]

Today it's a Pentel Technomatic 0.5 (Model No. PN3015). It's light, dependable, and The pencil extends the lead automatically as you write.

[MYU]

 

Well, it has arrived. I have it in hand. Wow... extremely well made. Thick steel walls. You can feel the heft, although not as weighted as a Rotring 600. Just perfect, IMHO. The spring of the click mechanism is very firm. Feels solid. Absolutely no wiggle of the lead holding piece -- it locks firmly into place. The only caveat is that the advance and extender are managed by the same click button. When you first click the mechanism to extend, it locks in place and then a gentle push will advance the lead. When you go to retract, it inevitably feeds a little lead before reaching the release point. What that means is if you open/close it a number of times, you'll find the lead extended too far. So when you close it, you sometimes want to push on the lead to slide it back inside the feeder. It's a very minor complaint though.

 

This is a beautiful instrument. Now I know why I faced some bidding competition on it. Still... probably got it for a good $100 less than if it had been on eBay.

Edited June 18, 2016 by MYU

[MYU]

[MYU]

[sd10521]

Great Photos!

Now I need on of these. I will spend the rest of the day trying to build up justifiction to actually get one.

Thanks...

[dkirchge]

I've been using a Pentel Sharp Kerry in 0.5mm. I find myself using it as often as my favorite pens, which is saying something as I haven't really used pencil much since college.

[sidthecat]

I've used the ugly-ass Pentel .9 mm pencil for literally decades. when I worked with animators in the past I'd use one of those big lead holders so my drawing wouldn't intimidate my assistant. There are times when fluency isn't wanted.

[MYU]

I have a weakness for stainless steel pen bodies with black engraved stripes. Pilot made a number of great writing instruments with that motif. Platinum and Sailor came out with a few as well. But then I discovered Mitsubishi did too. Yeah, the company that owns the Uni brand. I picked up a 1+1 pen (ballpoint and mechanical pencil) that's a terrific thickness and weight. The retractable tip is almost completely rock solid, with maybe 0.02mm of play. And you don't feel any wiggle when writing with it. Very impressive.

 

Edited June 30, 2016 by MYU

[majorworks]

 

Well, it has arrived. I have it in hand. Wow... extremely well made. Thick steel walls. You can feel the heft, although not as weighted as a Rotring 600. Just perfect, IMHO. The spring of the click mechanism is very firm. Feels solid. Absolutely no wiggle of the lead holding piece -- it locks firmly into place. The only caveat is that the advance and extender are managed by the same click button. When you first click the mechanism to extend, it locks in place and then a gentle push will advance the lead. When you go to retract, it inevitably feeds a little lead before reaching the release point. What that means is if you open/close it a number of times, you'll find the lead extended too far. So when you close it, you sometimes want to push on the lead to slide it back inside the feeder. It's a very minor complaint though.

 

This is a beautiful instrument. Now I know why I faced some bidding competition on it. Still... probably got it for a good $100 less than if it had been on eBay.

 

I had no idea they ever made a VP pencil, so I checked on eBay. You're not kidding about the prices. There's guys selling the *instruction sheet* for $25!

 

Congrats on finding one at a decent price.

[williamisthe1]

^{I use a rotring 600 the most I like the weight on it.}